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Surprise, surprise… I’m a liberal

April 14th, 2004 | brain-candy

I took the Neocon quiz over at the Christian Science Monitor, and it determined that I’m a liberal.

Liberals…

  • Are wary of American arrogance and hypocrisy
  • Trace much of today’s anti-American hatred to previous US foreign policies.
  • Believe political solutions are inherently superior to military solutions
  • Believe the US is morally bound to intervene in humanitarian crises
  • Oppose American imperialism
  • Support international law, alliances, and agreements
  • Encourage US participation in the UN
  • Believe US economic policies must help lift up the world’s poor

  • http://paxnortona.notfrisco2.com Joel

    I wasn’t especially happy with the choices. For example, there was no option which allowed me to state that I felt the United States should back away from being the world’s only superpower — all the choices implied that it was OK to have unparalleled strength. I disagree with that.

    Isolationist was what it awarded me, but I suspect that it was a narrow decision by the computer.

  • http://www.guydickinson.com/sheep evan

    How do we back away from being the world’s only superpower? Unless we were to create another superpower, I don’t think we have any option in the matter. I would prefer there were some more balance, such as we may see in the future from the EU or from China, but, short of total disarmament and disengagement from the world and the world economy, I don’ think it is possible.(BTW — I found a couple of the choices to be too limiting also, but a multiple choice survey is really a blunt instrument.)

  • http://whoviating.blogspot.com LarryE

    I agree with Joel – I was troubled by the same question. It’s true that multiple-choice is a “blunt instrument,” but the problem with this particular question is that all the answers assumed that being the world’s only superpower is an inherently good thing. Apparently, power does not corrupt when the power is ours.

    As for how do you back away from that, it’s not so much a matter of backing up as of not going forward. That is, there will be other nations, other forces, rising over time. (I frankly don’t see China taking that role for some years to come, but the EU, yes.) Right now, our policy is to try to prevent that, head it off, maintain hegemony. Simply, we should stop doing that – and instead seek to cooperate with such new forces where we can.

    That doesn’t mean “total disarmament and disengagement from the world,” it means engagement on different terms. The choice is not “superpower or isolation.” The choice is domination or cooperation.

  • http://www.guydickinson.com/sheep evan

    Really well put, Larry: “domination or cooperation”. I was thinking about our superpower status narrowly, simply as being the biggest kid on the block, while you express it in terms of what the superpower’s actions represent. Our current actions translate to “my way or the highway” — witness our message to the Palestinians yesterday. I guess I’ve been so overexposed to the debate with the Bushies, framed in black/white, good/evil, that it’s constricting my thoughts.

  • http://whoviating.blogspot.com LarryE

    Always glad to help. ;-)