Are you an authoritarian or a libertarian?

a reply to: John_Rodger_Cornman

Do you mean Authoritarian vs Libertarian as it's commonly used as the up/down axis on a political compass? If that's the case I'm close to the middle drifting towards Authoritarian, I rank about a 1.5-2.0 on the scale of -10 (Libertarian) to 10 (Authoritarian).

This fits with my general philosophy towards life which is that I don't believe in absolutes or ideology, with rare exception I prefer something of the middle ground. For example with your centralized power example, in some cases I prefer a decentralized approach while in others I like having a centralized power. The federal government is something that I think should be centralized in a nation as large as the US (or even any individual state) because a unifying power is needed to control the various territories, but I prefer the decentralization of our education system so that states can compete and find the best methods, with the caveat that certain minimum standards should be met by all.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: John_Rodger_Cornman

Libertarian.

I don't think you'll get anyone to say they are for authoritarianism. They'll say they are for "smart government", they'll say they are for socialism, but they'll never use the word " authoritarian".

Until they gain control. Then it won't matter anymore because YOUR opinion won't matter.

Socialism falls on the left/right axis, not the up down. Up/Down is largely about the strength of the government, should it be strong enough to enforce it's will or weak enough that the people can enforce their will? Socialism instead is about the individual (right) vs the collective (left). You can have a right wing authoritarian government which focuses on individual achievement within a government defined structure. Most people parenting ideals follow such a model, and in recent history that would reflect Pinochet's government.

originally posted by: jellyrev
for example democracy will not persist in a country if the average IQ is below 90. There is not even a point in trying to create one there it will fail.

The average IQ is 100, by definition. It tends to go up at a rate of about 3 points per year due to improved education systems, but that just realigns everyone to a new baseline of 100.