Does your vote matter?
the Political Compass and how to judge ideas in 5 minutes
If you have lots of idling time, I would suggest heading over to Political Compass and giving a short test of 10-15 minutes before coming back to read on ahead. It asks you questions about your economic and social opinions and assigns you into one of four categories, determining what kind of political thought and ideologies you practice.
The short 6-stage quiz collects your frank opinions on topics which are considered divisive in current society; so it has questions about homosexuality, vaccines and governance styles. While it is not perfect in its predictions, it comes quite close to the real beliefs you have, provided you didn’t enter false data (read politically correct).
It divides the understanding of polity into two subsets - Economic policy and Social policy. The Economic policy can be Right or Left - with the right representing free markets and enterprise with minimal government interventions and the left being state control of industries and manufacturing. On the Social scale, there is authoritarianism and libertarianism, with the former advocating for strict regulation of the codes of conduct in society and the latter batting for freedom of choice, including in terms of religious and moral matters.
Let us understand the 4 quadrants of the compass and how you can use this to make an educated choice in the voting booth.
Authoritarian Right
This is where most of the 21st-century leaders lie - wishing to create social obedience and favouring industrialists over state control. What is interesting is, the individuals we generally associate as being on opposite sides, are on the same side - Joe Biden and Donald Trump both fall in this category. Then there are the expected ones, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, and Boris Johnson. Among historical figures, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler would belong to the extreme corner of this quadrant - being the most absolutist in their power.
Enabling free enterprise comes forth with lower corporate taxes, friendly policies and economic zones - which has been a common pitch for both Biden and Trump - mainly because both sides receive campaign donations from industrialists. Although Trump comes off as more authoritarian, Biden follows, and with the recent action to label political opponents as ‘extremists’ the Political Compass scoring seems appropriate.
This segment comes to power in times of confusion, indecision or political turmoil - a strong man arises who promises sweeping change and gives a sense of direction to the lost populace - in India, it was Modi after the scams of the UPA era, in the UK it was Boris Johnson after the Brexit vote and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil after an impeachment. For the USA - the pandemic and rising authoritarianism were the springboards for Biden to come to power, though the scale considers him very much similar in policy to Donald Trump.
Takeaway: It is important for individuals to critically evaluate political leaders and policies, and not simply vote based on a perceived lack of direction or purpose in their country.
Authoritarian Left
These are the despots of the past century - not many made it into the current one, chiefly because the kind of economic practices followed were not conducive to growth and sustainability. This group includes communist leaders like Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe.
What the left means is state control of all things - “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” - which means that all citizens are equal and will be treated equally, with everything regulated by a central authority - the Soviet. In effect the state promoted no religion but had strong views on issues pertaining to morality - homosexuality was one prominent target. With the focus being more on sustenance, the state in most cases failed to promote growth in their economies - as a result, most stagnated and became living fossils in the 21st century.
While China moved to “socialism with Chinese characteristics” - essentially capitalism (right lean) - North Korea and Cuba failed to make this pivot, leaving them as the last islands of true Left policy in the world. It is rare to see this form of government as a functional country anymore.
Takeaway: There are no representatives with major sway in this segment at present.
Libertarian Right
An ideology that is all about individual freedom and keeping government intervention to a minimum in both social and economic spheres. They want a society that's based on free markets, personal responsibility, and protecting individual rights. Some well-known figures are Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ron Paul.
According to the Libertarian Rightists, people should have the freedom to make their own choices without the government stepping in and regulating everything. They see government as something that should only protect individual rights and enforce the rule of law. This also means they favour corporates and monopolies, with full liberty to establish market dominance and have no government anti-monopoly measures to stop it - generally seen as the evil in this segment.
This ideology is often linked to classical liberalism and free-market capitalism. It's all about emphasizing individualism and property rights. They believe that free markets and entrepreneurship are the best ways to promote prosperity and social justice. They also think that too much government intervention can actually hold back innovation and growth.
Takeaway: This political direction is more suited to expansionist nations; it contains much of the explorer spirit characteristic of the European settlers in the colonial era - however it is not a practicable system when dealing with nations the size of hundreds of millions.
Libertarian Left
The Libertarian Left advocates for social and economic freedom while opposing centralized authority and hierarchical power structures. This ideology emphasizes individual liberty and autonomy, with a focus on creating a society that is based on voluntary association and mutual aid. Prominent leaders include Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bernie Sanders, and Noam Chomsky.
They believe that individuals should be free to make their own choices, as long as they do not harm others or infringe on their rights. This includes freedom of speech, religion, and sexuality. They also advocate for a society that is based on cooperation and community, rather than competition and individualism.
This ideology is often associated with anarchism and socialism, with a strong emphasis on decentralization and bottom-up decision-making (read here). They believe that the best way to achieve social justice is through a grassroots movement that is based on mutual assistance, rather than relying on centralized institutions or top-down policies. With the decentralisation enabled by the blockchain - it may be possible to implement after all.
Takeaway: While there are existent leaders in this space, they fail to attract voters probably because of a lack of defined policies - essentially deregulation and micro industries are not viable alternatives yet in modern politics.
Conclusions
While there is not a very wide variety of politicians available to choose from, and it might seem like the vote ends up with the same type of individual eventually - all is not doom and gloom. When voting, it is important to choose your local representative based on their policies and promises, not on the party lines as has become common practice - dividing votes into binaries destroys the beauty and dynamicity of democracy that is intended and possible.
At the end of the day, the choice is yours. But don’t forget to make one.
Very well explained, Yash