left wing, right wing, which side are you on?

[JAKQ7111]

I'm pretty left-wing, and in favor of freedom/equality for all, and to me, that means I am incredibly anti-totalitarian, regardless of the totalitairan regime's economic policies. The USSR and Maoist China do not paint a pretty picture of communism, at least not on a big scale, but the oligarchy-in-making in the US doesn't do any favors to capitalism, either. I would say I am an anarchist, but I'm afraid anarchy would lead to social collapse and a lot of unbridled death and destruction. I have thought long and hard about what my ideal system of government would be, and I ended up deciding on an Athenian-styled democracy (so, not a representative one like the US) with a bill of rights that cannot be voted down. That way, people can all have basic rights to food, shelter, education, health care, safety etc, and no one person or group will be able to exert any arbitrary power over any other person or group.

[booksoversex]

Well, the King in Norway got less power than the President in Germany (so no at all), however in theory he got a lot of power :P

So what's been preventing the Norwegians from taking on huge debt for short-term benefits the last century? Did the people as a whole vote against it, then? In most countries, parties will spend over their budget in order to gain popularity, it seemed sensible to me that a monarch who's going to be in power for more than 8 years would be more interested in not taking on debt.

What's been preventing us? A combo of many things. One, we've only been rich for a few decades. A lot of people, especially old people, still have that humility which follows poverty or the need to ration food and spread it out through the year to make sure you would survive the winter. This trait is also a favoured cultural trait, we have something called "janteloven" which is basically a cultural norm where people look down upon those who are very flashy/trying to stand out/pretending they're better than anyone else, a sort of anti-snobbishness I guess. Although some rich people here have embraced that sterotype and want to seem obnoxious as sort of a "rich norm", but that's another story.

That's the first one: Recent wealth, still people remembering what's it's like to not have much. The other reason, I would say, is that at least up until recently, we were politically quite monogamous. The Labour party basically ruled for the entirity of the 1900s (from about 1920-ish to the end of the 1990s) with some periods in between of Conservative rule. Because of this, getting "used to" ruling I guess and assuming they would keep doing so, they made wiser choices and thought more long-term. It was their decision to create an oil fund when we found the oil, and putting a cap on how much any government could spend of it in a year. An ingenious idea, which has ensured our economic stability to this day. They probably did this because thet were thinking long-term and realizing if they were to fulfil their social reforms (free education, more jobs etc.) they would have to invest the money properly and not just spend it all or sell it to foreign companies.

I would say a combination of these two factors is the most important reason we haven't acted very irrationally with the oil money. There is a consensus between most of the parties that any government can only spend 4% of the INTEREST PROFIT of the oil fund each year (not digging into the actual fund itself) and that the fund itself was reserved for future pensions. Personally I don't think it would hurt using a bit more in a Keynesian way to lubricate the economy (random happy ace moment: being able to use the word "lubrication" without everyone thinking about sex right away) when it's not going so smoothly, but I respect the general principle - also as a way to battle inflation. This, and the interest rate is set centrally by the National Bank each year, making the economy more stable.

[Tarfeather]

This trait is also a favoured cultural trait, we have something called "janteloven" which is basically a cultural norm where people look down upon those who are very flashy/trying to stand out/pretending they're better than anyone else, a sort of anti-snobbishness I guess.

OK, that's it, I'm emigrating.

...

Or I would if I didn't have a partner tying me down here. Never thought that would come in as a disadvantage.

[Tetus]

This trait is also a favoured cultural trait, we have something called "janteloven" which is basically a cultural norm where people look down upon those who are very flashy/trying to stand out/pretending they're better than anyone else, a sort of anti-snobbishness I guess.

OK, that's it, I'm emigrating.

...

Or I would if I didn't have a partner tying me down here. Never thought that would come in as a disadvantage.

Generally speaking, people living in the Nordic countries consistently report being the happiest in the world.

Not being from there, I'm sure living there has its own challenges, and nothing's perfect, but they have to be doing something right.

[eeriesilence]

Preeeetty left-wing.

My teenage-self would probably spit in my face while screaming about their disappointment in my extremist ways.

/shrugs/

[Amorphous]

My first political identity was as a regular left-winger, since that was the popular opinion amongst my friends. Then I saw the wonders of the free/open source software communities, and how very few volunteers could sustain a vast ecosystem of software used by millions. Based on this observation, I decided to identify as a socio-anarchist, believing that through decentralisation and a shift in culture, we could somehow create a society in which everyone would instinctively (or through a sense of obligation) behave ideally within a certain margin, for society to flourish. Then I became pessimistic and older and started university and stopped believing I could ever change other peoples' attitudes, so it would be much easier just to enforce it through a meritocratic communist agenda. Then I went to China, learned more about Chinese history, found a Chinese girlfriend who could tell me stories about her grandparents living during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution and how they really tried to share the workload in an equal way between everyone, sending people to the fields. And it failed, and millions died of hunger. Then I lost faith in my ideology, and became much more pragmatic.

So now I'm just a confused individual trying to survive who didn't even vote at the last election because I forgot to register with the embassy. And now Denmark has a right-winged government.

[Kuebiko]

I'm left-wing.

I;m not very involved in politics but there's this political compass test that's pretty accurate. https://www.politicalcompass.org/test

[foodsobber]

I consider myself a left-wing social liberal...about -5,-5 on the political compass. More times than not, I'm more likely to deviate from left wing economics if the left choices promise less in the way of social liberalism: I have found myself voting for social issues more so than fiscal position. However, I would prefer both left wing and social liberalism.

[Sally]

Socialist living in an increasingly right-wing country. :(

[neoclasic]

I am Venezuelan. My national id ends in 9. That mean I may buy food the Fridays. Usually in the middle of large lines of people. Last time I did, I wrote my name in a list at 21:00 of the night before, and check my place at midnight, and at the 4:00. I end buying my two fringe chickens, my piece of beef, tow liter of oil, two kilograms of corn flour and a couple of miscellany at 14:00 Friday. No flour, no rice, not cheese, not anything more but 17 hours of line. Why I did that? Because my government destroy everything in my country in the name of its ideology.

Oh, they have biometric controls so I need to let them read my fingerprints.

People, you may be left or right, top or bottom, reds or blues, squares or circles... that do not matter. What truly matters is keep the train moving. Once you do that you may choose where to go.

I am bit depressed. Sorry for that.

[witchjack]

Left wing, but my economic views really vary

[Skycaptain]

I'm an empty convert to anything if it gives me personal advantage now. Me first and %&*! the others

[Alex97]

Oh boy. Way left-wing for me. I find myself getting into fights when it comes to politics, especially if I happen to critique Israel (WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE JEWISH IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT TO ME!)

Also, don't have much faith in the political compass, and I get legitimately angry when someone tries to use horseshoe theory on me.

[Midnight Star]

I tend to throw in with democrats here in America, but I don't really consider myself one. If Bernie Sanders gets the democratic nomination, then I will be voting democrat again for this presidential election.

Texas will most likely go red anyway, but that might change sometime soon. This may come as a surprise to people who don't live here, but there are actually plenty of liberals here in Texas. The problem is that many of them don't vote or participate in any meaningful way.

I have friends that consider themselves conservatives, liberals, libertarians, and also ones that simply don't care. But people from the hardcore factions on all sides hate my guts.