Propagation: Seeds & scions (5)

5 ideas sprouting »

1. I thought the questions were great, until I found out that my views corresponded most closely with the NPD! But looking closely, I found that I agreed with them on only sixteen of the thirty-six issues, also if you look at each issue, the NPD appears well to the left of the CDU.

   In other words, the problem with these sites is that they completely ignore party positioning and party records. If you are happy with German democracy, you would never vote for the NPD, but you can only show that by weighting that statement double from that on child care policy or speed limits on the autobahn.

   When deciding to vote in real life, I look at a party’s commitment to the democratic process, its reputation for corruption, and its record of competence when in government well before I look at the issues.

   There were also three issues, pulling German troops out of Afghanistan, admitting Turkey to the EU, and weapons exports, where my response was basically “yes, but now now or not unless some other things happen first”. The only options are to agree, disagree, or be neutral.

   Seed planted by Ed — 17 September 2009 @ 18:22

2. Sure, these sites need to be taken with a bit of a grain of salt. Those that actually map you, in relation to the parties, in two or more dimensions are better. (For instance, Political Compass, or the test for the recent Israeli election.)

   As for the NPD, of course a neo-fascist party would be to the left of the CDU, if one means by left-right the dimension of economic policy. (See Political Compass on the 2005 German election.)

   Seed planted by MSS — 17 September 2009 @ 18:37

3. My views are very closely align to that of the CDU/CSU and/or the FDP party. So I am on the border between the two. If I were German, I would split my vote between the two, and vote for the CDU/CSU in my local district, and give the FDP my party list vote. The question is who is going to win the election. Will the Center-Right bloc win the election?

   Seed planted by Suaprazzodi — 18 September 2009 @ 00:12

4. Professor Shugart,

   You have not written anything on the election we had here in Norway, and I must admit I’m a bit disappointed! Are we really that unimportant? (OK, I guess we are, but…)

   For this election, I have wasted a lot of time arguing for the Christian Democratic party here, but even more arguing against silly political tests that, without a thought sacrificed to method, accountability or integrity, wants to tell people how they should vote!

   Der Spiegel is slightly better in this regard, since they at least reveal what positions they have ascribed to various parties. But they still don’t say how the questions are selected or how they are weighed…

   For the record, the test claimed I was Linke/Grüne/CDU in that order. I did find it interesting to learn that Germany is considering a home child care subsidy for parents not using the kindergarten subsidy, similar to what we have here in Norway (“Kontantstøtte”). It’s quite popular – even though it undoubtedly harms integration of immigrant children, people are still not comfortable shipping off their one-year olds to kindergarten! I thought it was heartbreaking even when he was almost 3…

   I wish more people would make tests like Chris Lightfoot’s political survey.

   Seed planted by Harald Korneliussen — 18 September 2009 @ 05:49

5. Harald, the presence or absence of a topic on this blog says much more about my time than it does about the importance of the topic.

   Wilf had some interesting comments that I would refer you to.

   Seed planted by MSS — 18 September 2009 @ 12:51

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