The great WSC political poll

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

So what's your ideology, then, and which party do you feel represented by / vote for?

Please try to be a bit more precise than "left of the centre".

[Guest]

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Paolo Maldini is my ideology and religion. The rest can suck my c***

[Bruno]

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Just left of left-of-center.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The great WSC political poll

ganja wrote:

Paolo Maldini is my ideology and religion. The rest can suck my c***

Err...well, yeah, I suppose he's a handsome young man...

Bruno, out!

[meregreen]

The great WSC political poll

I don't really have an ideology as such. I think the world is set up so that the rich get richer by exploiting the poor - everything else is just details. I generally vote in the hope (but not the expectation) of redressing this balance and you'd have to go back to 1992 to find a time when the party I've voted for didn't lose their deposit. Only the fact that ordinary people made sacrifices to win the right to vote, keeps me voting.

[Wyatt Earp]

The great WSC political poll

Non-Marxian trade-unionist democratic socialist, socially liberal. Ex-Labour, now of no fixed political abode. Seeks similar. (Not really; already has similar.)

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The great WSC political poll

Wa ayat al Urbi wrote:

Non-Marxian trade-unionist democratic socialist, socially liberal. Ex-Labour, now of no fixed political abode. Seeks similar. (Not really; already has similar.)

We're opposites in a way. I'm a Marxian in as much I think there is a before and after Marx in historical and economic analysis, and we can't overlook that. Yet I wouldn't consider myself a socialist, not in the usual sense of the word. I'm only a socialist in the sense that, unlike Thatcher, I believe in society as opposed to autistic individualism.

[ad hoc]

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Broadly: Humanitarianist. Though since that doesn't really align itself with an economic ideology, if I had to pick an economic position I'd go with collectivist-anarchist, which I'd downgrade to something like what Wyatt said in terms of something that I might in optimistic moments actually vaguely believe could one day come about somewhere.

Not represented by any party

[Duncan Gardner]

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Conservative Party rebrand as NF.

I will be voting to reopen nominations (there are likely to be only the big three parties standing in my area).

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The great WSC political poll

Do you people vote? Not being nosy, just curious about how people translate their views into the political marketplace.

[Wyatt Earp]

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... the political marketplace.

[winces]

[Errorist Sympathiser]

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Increasingly socialist - believe in nationalisation of essential services, a solid welfare system, taxing the rich much more than the poor, etc - but with a punitive edge.

Old, old labour used to represent me. Now no-one does, really - the Greens get nearest but are still a way off my ideology.

I guess it's too much to hope Mark Steel starts a party?

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The great WSC political poll

Wa ayat al Urbi wrote:

... the political marketplace.

[winces]

My choice of words was deliberate. Sadly, that's what it is. A market place where they sell you pre-packaged products which are nothing but a hollow brand, which can be altered at will depending on the direction of the wind.

[Wyatt Earp]

The great WSC political poll

Yeah, see, this is where I part company with a lot of people. I think representative democracy is a much, much better thing than that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

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Tax and spend, pro-EU.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

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Duncan Gardner wrote:

Conservative Party rebrand as NF.

Perhaps not the most fortunate name. Echoes of Fuerza Nueva and Forza Nuova.

[San Bernardhinault]

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Fiscally fairly centrist. Free trader, on the whole. Increasingly Keynesian in terms of response to a downturn like we have now - very much in favour of large borrowing to stimulate the economy building huge public service projects like TGV networks, Severn tidal barrages, pyramids, volcano monitoring systems, etc.

Socially very liberal like, I imagine, everyone on here.

Very much in favour of free movement of labour to go with the free trade, thoroughly opposed to restrictions for "cultural" reasons, whatever they are. I imagine that's like everyone else here, too.

Environmentally broadly green, but the green movement doesn't represent my views at all because it seems to be based a lot on emotional response rather than analytical response - I'd like to find zero/low emission solutions that allow us to carry on using the same amount of energy as before, rather than anything hairshirty. Anything focussed on hairshirts is not really in my political make-up.

And, in terms of health and education, everyone should have similar opportunities, and wealth shouldn't dictate outcomes, so - as much as possible - the state should do what it can to create a level playing field and get rid of the private sector elements.

OK. That's getting a bit long for what was a narrow question.

Nobody really fits my political position but, more than the rest in the UK, the Lib Dems are least far from it.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

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Wa ayat al Urbi wrote:

Yeah, see, this is where I part company with a lot of people. I think representative democracy is a much, much better thing than that.

I like to view my stance as healthily skeptic as opposed to anti-democratic.

[My Name Is Ian]

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Labour voter until 2005, Liberal Democrat in 2005. Undecided at this precise moment in time - the electoral constituency in which I live is pretty solid Labour, so I may be able to get away with a protest vote of some description. I think that my MP is standing down, so I don't even know what the replacement is like or will be like.

To answer the original question, I don't feel as if anyone represents me politically. They'd have to be pro-European, largely republican and libertarian. I have voted at every general election since 1992 when I was first old enough to do so, because I feel that I should. 2010 might see me spoil the ballot, mind.

[My Name Is Ian]

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Mark Steel stood for Respect or someone, didn't he?

[Wyatt Earp]

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I think he's also politically homeless now, though.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The great WSC political poll

Tying up with Fianna Fail thread I'd like to read the views of the Irish boys, given the largely ideology-free nature of the two major Irish parties.

[Guest]

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I would never vote for either of the civil war parties or for Sinn Fein.

Fine Gael have the virtue of not being Fianna Fail, but they have marched steadily to the right since being annihilated in the 2002 general election under Michael Noonan, and their latest generation of TDs is horribly Toryish and shrill.

I lost interest in Labour after they propped up Fianna Fail from 1992 to 1994, having earlier doubled their number of seats by running on an explicitly anti-FF/anti-corruption ticket. They then had two very uninspiring leaders in succession, Ruairi Quinn was about as much of a socialist as Bertie Ahern (his brother Lochlann Quinn is one of the richest men in Ireland) and Pat Rabbitte was more interested in grandstanding in the Dail and sucking up to Fine Gael than in pulling together a coherent leftish opposition. But their latest leader, Eamon Gilmore, appears to be extremely serious about repositioning the party as a genuinely left-wing entity, which is striking a major chord in these awful times.

So if there were a general election tomorrow, as things stand Labour would get my vote. There are also basically no real alternatives apart from fringe socialist candidates who get about 1,000 votes each.

[hobbes]

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Basically, I'm with LLR all the way.

taxing the rich much more than the poor, etc - but with a punitive edge.

See, I don't get this. Progressive tax I'm all for - if you earn more, you should contribute more - responsibility of membership of a society, innit. but punitive? you honestly think people should be punished for being successful financially?

[matt j]

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Both Wyatt and ad hoc's statements sound pretty good for me.

On the grand old political compass (multiple old threads), I fall far left on the economic scale and far to the libertarian side of the social scale.

I don't trust in the capitalist or corporate system. I think people should generally be allowed to do whatever they want on a social level (with the obvious 'do no harm' stipulations).

I used to have faith in government bureaucracy generally being reliable in providing to and supporting the people most in need, but the past 8 years showed me how easily this can be crushed.

I've voted Green, Democrat, and for various independents, and only briefly felt any of them really represented my views. The Green Party here in the US has basically (as far as I can tell) basically become its own caricature, the Democrats are really nothing but centrists and usually only marginally better then the other option (except when the Republicans are absolutely batshit insane, as they are now generally), and the various independents showed signs of solid green, pro-labour, anti-corporation traits.

I haven't read enough Marx to be a socialist. I haven't read enough Anarchist writings to be an anarchist. I don't participate in unions enough in general. I don't really do a variety of things anymore that I once thought I should do (protest, keep up with left-wing publications, argue politics).

I've described myself as liberal, leftist, progressive, and socio-anarchist (which is probably meaningless). I've increasingly become anti-religion and more vehemently pro-science (which is an odd thing to have to actually say... who in their right minds is 'anti-science'?).

So to answer your question, no party, and arguably no particular label.