14

Suppose I have the following political views:

  • I am for greater government regulation of economy and oppose privatization

  • I am for greater taxes for the rich and less taxes for the poor

  • I am for free universal medical care and education

  • I am against recognition of gay marriages although I support sexual freedom

  • I am strongly against feminism, anti-pedophile hysteria, "harrassment laws", rising age of consent, quotes for women in the government and business

  • I support a ban on abortions

  • I am strongly against "affirmative actions", compensatory discrimination, quotes for the blacks and Hispanics in the universities

  • I am strongly against civil possession of weapons (except hunting ones for certified hunters)

  • I am strongly against legalization of drugs, including marijuana.

  • I am strongly against any kind of euthanasia, including consensual.

  • I am strongly against influence of the religious organizations, especially in education

  • I am also against any forms of racial discrimination. I would also support a ban on any Neo-Nazi propaganda and parties as well as historical revisionism.

  • I am strongly against the US participation in the wars abroad and financial support to various revolutions

  • I am against extension of copyright protection terms and software patents, I support declaring not published for a long time works a public domain. I am against the concept of "intellectual property".

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    <comments removed> Please keep comments focused on improving the post and try to not to turn comment threads into miniature chat rooms and debates. Thanks. – Robert Cartaino Mar 8 '13 at 17:58
  • 4
    isidewith.com has a quiz which asks you for most of those questions and more and matches you to the stances of politicians and parties. – Sicco Mar 15 '13 at 0:53
  • 4
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because while a valid question to ask as an individual, it sets a precedence that we likely don't want (everyone posting personal lists of criteria asking us to figure out who they should vote for). (Ie, it's simply too narrow) – user1530 May 13 '16 at 20:31
28

OK, there are different alternatives, none of which is a full fit, and most of which don't actually represent any viable (or even registered) party in modern USA.

The fit would depend on which of the bullet points you are most willing to sacrifice.

Let's group these together into larger themes:

  1. Economic statism/populism

    • I am for greater government regulation of economy
    • I am for greater taxes for the rich and less taxes for the poor
    • I am for free universal medical care and education

    These obviously immediately exclude libertarian type parties as well as GOP.

    But these fit perfectly well with any/all "left wing" parties.

  2. Social anti-progressivism (opposition to typical progressive social policies)... I'd call it social conservatism but there are subtle differences there, such as the fact that American social conservatism is almost invariably PRO-religious and conflicts with #3 below.

    • I am against recognition of gay marriages although I support sexual freedom
    • I am strongly against feminism anti-pediphile hysteria, "harrassment laws", rising age of consent, quotes for women in the government and business
    • I support a ban on abortions
    • I am strongly against "affirmative actions", compensatory discrimination, quotes for the blacks and Hispanics in the universities

    This immediately excludes most of "left wing" parties, from Democrats to most socialists/communists. Those of Stalinist bend would fit this but those are pretty thin on the ground in USA in practice.

    OTOH, this is a good-to-halfgood fit with "right wing" parties, from GOP to libertarians (the latter fit 2 of 4 bullet points).

  3. Anti-religious.

    • I am strongly against influence of the religious organizations, especially in education

    Now, this gets even muddier. You are now an obviously bad fit with most of GOP (where typical religious social conservatives have great power), but fit both libertarian wing of GOP as well as any/all leftish parties.

  4. Foreign policy isolationism

    • I am strongly against the US participation in the wars abroad and financial support to various revolutions.

    Oh, goody. Muddier and muddier. You are still good friends with assorted left wing parties - but ALSO, with both peacenick wing of Libertarians (Ron Paul) - AND with isolationist ultra right wing of GOP (Pat Buchanan and co). The latter is important.

  5. I am also against any forms of racial discrimination, especially, Anti-Semitism.

    This clearly excludes nazi type parties, or Islamists (anyone who thinks Islamists are against racism need to go research history if Islam in Sudan).

    The complication arises when you deal with racism.

    Leftists accuse GOP and libertarians of racism because of opposition to affirmative action or any preferential treatment for minorities.

    Rightists accuse leftists of racism against whites AND subtle racism against blacks for insisting on preferences that support blacks (even prosperous ones) over whites (even poor ones).

    To top that off, many right wing type people accuse hard left ones of anti-Semitism, due to very-anti-Israel stance (e.g. hating on Israel for killing 10 arab militants and totally ignoring Al Assad or Saddam killing hundreds and thousands of same exact Arabs) as well as deep belief of far left in typical anti-Semitic accusations (Jews run Wall Street, masons, Jews caused war in Iraq, etc...).

    Given your views expressed in #2, you will most likely disagree with left wing trying to paint GOP or libertarians as violating this; and might possibly agree - not sure - with right wing accusing hard left of this.

  6. Anti-IP/pro-piracy.

    • I am against extension of copyright protection terms and software patents, I support declaring not published for a long time works a public domain.

    Now, you got two friends. Major one is the leftish wing of Democrats as well as more lefty parties... EXCEPT you're sh1t out of luck with Democrats as a whole party since a vast majority of their power structure are deep in the pockets of RIAA, MPAA and Hollywood, no matter how the individual membership feels. A second friend is libertarians, at least a subset of them; since they view SOPA and such as less of an expression of free markets and capitalism and more of government-run-economy-rent-seeking. ALso, many in GOP and libertarian party hate entertainment industry for leftist views, and tend to be a lot less opposed to piracy than their typical law and order ideology allows for.

So, where does that leave you? Depends on how much you're willing to sacrifice:

  1. The best fit for you would be a direct USA clone of USSR Communist party.

    Every single one of these 6 views matches them (down to foreign policy non-interventionism, where they are/were fully on board with Russia/USSR doing it but firmly against USA doing it).

    The only problem is that such a beastie does NOT quite exist in USA as a political party - a vast majority of US left wing parties, Communist included, tend to have much more progressive social policies (#2) - see below.

    Big Caveat - while on paper, KPSS was against anti-Semitism, in practice it was more antisemitic than almost any party in USA you can find except neo-nazis. None of them would, at least, support the concept of limiting the amount of Jews accepted to a university, which was a standard Soviet practice, well into late 1980s.

    SCORE: 4 fully supported (#1,#2,#3,#6). #4 as applied to USA but not as universal ideology. #5 supported on paper but NO in reality.

  2. If you are willing to sacrifice #5 (no anti-Semitism/racism), a second best fit for you would be some sort of real fascist party (Charles Lindbergh type people, not the fact that typical Democrats are calling GOP Nazis).

    Those people definitely match #1, #2, and #4. True fascists (Italy/Germany) mostly supported #3 as well, but the problem is that almost all American proponents, both now and in the past, were quite religious and would disagree on #3.

    The only possible deviation might be #6 (patents), I simply don't have a clue what fascists thought of that, but quite possible they would be pro-SOPA etc... for philosophical reasons.

    Another wrinkle is that #4 was supported in USA at least in part because any foreign adventures would be against Nazi Germany, and not out of ideological isolationism.

    SCORE: 3 fully supported (#1,#2,#6). #3 supported by originals but not USA clones. #4 as applied to USA but not as universal ideology. Definite no: #5

  3. If you are willing to live completely without #1 AND half of #2, you found an almost perfect fit. Objectivists and Objectivist bent libertarians.

    The main wrinkle here is that a lot of them are 1/2 divergent with you on #2 (social anti-progressivism).

    They all oppose militant feminism and affirmative action, and many oppose late term abortions for scientific reasons (e.g. after the age when a fetus would be viable if it was delivered in nICU).

    But many of them support abortions in first trimester, and a vast majority couldn't care less about opposing gay marriage (though an even greater majority would prefer marriage to be separated from State in the first place, gay or straight).

    NOTE: here's an interesting thing... if #1 is important for you as long term goal as far as "decent living for all" goal but not ideologically, libertarians would argue that their approach (less government control of economy) is MORE likely to lead to your goal than the opposite approach. If you have doubts, compare level of life of the poorest people in the an urban ghetto in USA vs. random poor worker or peasant in USSR who lived far from the center in late 1980s or 1960s (when people were not artificially subcidized by selling oil to the west as under Brezhnev).

    SCORE: 4 fully supported (#3,#4,#5,#6). #2 supported 50%. Definite no: #1

  4. If you are willing to live without #3, and care about #4 and #5 (isolationism AND avoidance of racism/antiSemitism, at least on official level) more than about #1 and #6, you may mesh to a degree with Pat Buchanan ultra right social conservatives.

    There, you have people most of whom don't have strong views on #1 (even if they proclaim the opposite, they frequently agree with more populist slogans)

    Unlike the next set of choices, they support #4 on philosophical/ideological grounds. So if #4 is very important to you, this fits better than fascists or Islamists we will talk about next.

    Admittedly, they were historically associated with racism and anti-Semitism, but these days many of them just no longer care about opposing #5. They definitely are less antiSemitic or racist than the next bunch.

    SCORE: 2 fully supported (#2,#4). No strong views on #1/#6. Definite no: #3. #5 is iffy, but more support than some other alternatives.

  5. If you are willing to live without #3, #5 and possibly #6, but care about #1, you would be a great fit with two different forces:

    • American style "christian-sourced" fascists like Lindbergh and neo-Nazis (admittedly, some of them would disagree about #1 to a degree, but most couldn't care less, and many think Hitler was right and economic populism FTW).

    • Islamists who wish to institute sharia but also like socialist economics (not all do, but many fit). They don't have a party per se, officially.

      However, Islamists share a problem with real fascists in that their support for #4 (isolationism) is mostly due to whom USA would be opposed militarily, NOT deep seated philosophical objection. They are against wars in Islamic countries, but would be happy if US decides to fight Israel.

      So, if #4 is ideologically important to you, go with Pat Buchanan instead.

    SCORE: 2 fully supported (#1,#2). No strong views on #6. #4 as applied to USA but not as universal ideology. Definite NO: #3, #5.

  6. If you are willing to sacrifice #2 and to a large extent #5, you are on board with most of progressive left (socialists, communists, Greens, left wing of Democrats).

    While most of them loudly proclaim that they are against racism and anti-Semitism (and accuse right wing of those), a large chunk of them are hugely anti-Semitic due to ideological alliances with Hamas and co (discussed in detail above).

    Also, from Libertarian point of view, their insistence that minorities be treated differently than whites is a sign of TWO different kinds of racism, one against whites, another a subtle racism against minorities (also discussed in detaiol above).

    The only extra caveat is that Democrats as an official party won't be a good fit for #6 due to their leadership, as mentioned before, being a fully owned subsidiary of entertainment industry and thus strongly pro-IP, so #6 is thrown out along with #2 for Democrats as an organized party.

    SCORE: 4 fully supported (#1,#3,#4,#6). Definite NO: #2, and I would argue #5.

As an aside, you may notice that none of the 2 major parties that actually get to win nationwide elections fit at all.

  • GOP only fits #2 fully; the party largely doesn't fit #1, #3 and #4, and some elements of its leadership don't fit #6 (but less so than Democrats). #5 is debatable but the Democrats claim that GOP dones't fit it either (unfairly, IMHO, and given your views of #2 you probably agree with me).

  • Democrats only fit #1 and #3 fully. They don't fit #2 at all, their leadership doesn't fit #6 at all and doesn't really fit #4 for real either despite all the peacenick talk; and they are accused by right wing of not fitting #5.

Improve this answer
17
  • 2
    This is an amazingly well put answer to a question that I suspect we will (or at least should) see more of in the coming months. – Affable Geek Mar 4 '13 at 0:37
  • 2
    @Anixx - may be, but not substancially. Frankly I'm not going to rewrite the whole answer because the question was amended after I polished it, sorry. – user4012 Mar 5 '13 at 20:04
  • 2
    @Anixx - #1 option in the answer is even better for you even after your 2 changes (it agrees with both). Option #6 is also in agreement with both new items. #3 becomes much worse since it's against both new additions. #2 and #4 and #5 are a wash. – user4012 Mar 6 '13 at 17:51
  • 1
    @Bregalad - I won't even go into details of you being factually wrong on the likelyhood of the OP not liking Stalinism. Statisticlaly speaking, given where OP lives, they are quite likely to like it (as an individual, I don't know if OP does and don't care to speculate as it's irrelevant to the answer which is based on question's details and not OP's personality): themoscowtimes.com/news/article/… – user4012 Apr 17 '15 at 20:57
  • 1
    @Bregalad - an informed guess. This is an old question so when a DV and a comment appear at the same time, it's unlikely that 2 people accidentally stumbled upon the question and disliked it at the same time (this would be incorrect guess on a brand new question with tons of new views, of course). OP made it pretty clear in his prior comments/posts that they are from fUSSR. – user4012 Apr 17 '15 at 21:18
5

I think most of your statements fit well with Christian socialism. The only point that you'd probably be at odds with would be against influence of the religious organizations, especially in education.

Wikipedia lists a number of christian socialist parties, but none of them in the United States of America. The late Hugo Chávez is named as a Christian socialist. Let me try to see how your points of view agree with his:

I am for greater government regulation of economy and oppose privatization

I am for greater taxes for the rich and less taxes for the poor

I am for free universal medical care and education

Without sourcing, I am pretty sure you agree with Chávez here.

I am against recognition of gay marriages although I support sexual freedom

There are a number of groups in Venezuela campaigning for the recognition of gay marriage. Chávez did express his support to legislate against discrimination against same-sex couples, but not for recognition of gay marriage. Depending on your definition of sexual freedom, you might be agreeing with Chávez. See also Wikipedia.

I am strongly against feminism, anti-pedophile hysteria, "harrassment laws", rising age of consent, quotes for women in the government and business

This feminist is disappointed in Chávez lack of support of feminism, so you might agree with him here, too.

I support a ban on abortions

The Vatican expressed worries that Chavéz might water down illegal abortions, but not much has happened.

I am strongly against "affirmative actions", compensatory discrimination, quotes for the blacks and Hispanics in the universities

I am strongly against civil possession of weapons (except hunting ones for certified hunters)

Here is a big difference with Chávez, who has armed his population to protect against a possible foreign intervention (IIRC: I'll source this later).

I am strongly against legalization of drugs, including marijuana.

I am strongly against any kind of euthanasia, including consensual.

Pretty sure there's no difference here.

I am strongly against influence of the religious organizations, especially in education

From the same article, the Vatican is also worried that Chávez wants to make education less religious.

I am also against any forms of racial discrimination, especially, Anti-Semitism.

I am strongly against the US participation in the wars abroad and financial support to various revolutions

I am against extension of copyright protection terms and software patents, I support declaring not published for a long time works a public domain. I am against the concept of "intellectual property".

(NB: I'm still working on this answer, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela might be pretty close to what you're looking for!)

Improve this answer
2
  • I read that the Venezuelan government was pushing open-source software, which is consistent with the intellectual property point. – Mechanical snail May 30 '13 at 8:16
  • Also, given Chavez's deep seated friendship with Akhmadinijad and Hamas and Nasrallah, all of whom publicly declared their end goal to squeeze all jews into the sea, it's a bit naive to take his declarations about not being antisemitic seriously – user4012 Jan 8 '14 at 20:32
1

I am for greater government regulation of economy and oppose privatization

Democrats are for greater regulation. But aren't opposed to privatization.

Communists would be cool with both.

I am for greater taxes for the rich and less taxes for the poor

This would tend to fit the very definition of 'progressive tax policy' of the democrats.

I am for free universal medical care and education

Democrats are more for this than Republicans, but you likely are wanting to go with the Socialist party or perhaps Green Party.

I am against recognition of gay marriages although I support sexual freedom

As a blanket statement, the GOP would fit the bill there. But we'd have to have more context to really answer this (is it the terminology? The concept?)

I am strongly against feminism, anti-pediphile hysteria, "harrassment laws", rising age of consent, quotes for women in the government and business

That's a weird mix of things. Again, likely need more context to answer that.

I support a ban on abortions

Again, as a blanket statement, the GOP would fit the bill there. But, also again, we'd need more context.

I am strongly against "affirmative actions", compensatory discrimination, quotes for the blacks and Hispanics in the universities

Republican and Libertarian Parties would fit the bill. Depending on how emphatic you are about that, you may even side with some of the more extremist parties that tend to focus on segregation.

I am strongly against influence of the religious organizations, especially in education

There really isn't an anti-religious party. The GOP obviously tends to market their message to the religious more than the rest these days. So maybe stay away from that one.

I am also against any forms of racial discrimination, especially, Anti-Semitism.

This may be counter to your previous statement about being against affirmative action, given that that was implemented as a response to the fact that many do discriminate on race. We'd likely need more details to hash out that dissonance.

I am strongly against the US participation in the wars abroad and financial support to various revolutions

Likely need to go with one of the leftist parties. Green, perhaps.

I am against extension of copyright protection terms and software patents, I support declaring not published for a long time works a public domain. I am against the concept of "intellectual property".

Hmm...I'm not sure which party would specifically appeal to you there. There's a rather large spectrum there between 'against copyright extension acts' and 'abolishing the concept of intellectual property'. I'm not sure there is a party that would particularly fit the latter.

In the end, it's going to be rare that one particular party will meet a particular voter's list of wishes, unless the voter tended to have a very short list. As your list gets longer, the key is to start prioritizing them. Which are the major issues, which are secondary, tertiary, etc.

Improve this answer
9
  • This is not an answer it is a discussion forum thread response. That is not what SE is for. – SoylentGray Mar 4 '13 at 22:32
  • @Chad how is it not answering the question being asked? I'm stating which parties would fit each conviction. – user1530 Mar 4 '13 at 22:49
  • Ah, then the answer there is 'none - no party will ever match a list of 20-some agenda items exactly'. ;) – user1530 Mar 8 '13 at 19:53
  • 2
    @chad, I honestly don't know what your beef is. Either provide your own answer, edit this one, or just drop it. You're getting annoying. – user1530 Mar 11 '13 at 5:43
  • 1
    @DA., +1, although I would argue that the GOP does fit well with "I am strongly against feminism, anti-pediphile hysteria, "harrassment laws", ...". Don't worry about Chad. Talking with him is like arguing with a brick wall. He likes to lecture people about their adherence to a stack exchange purity ideal, while simultaneously providing so-so answers himself. – Nate Aug 1 '13 at 21:18

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .