Victorian Election 2014 - ABC Vote Compass Quiz

[AmericanBeauty]

ahahhaa compared to everyone else I'm so right wing.

[slothpomba]

ahahhaa compared to everyone else I'm so right wing.

Or maybe you're regular and we're all just far left :p

Anyway, according to the graph, its not so much that you show an unusual amount of support for the liberals. It's just more you hate every other party haha.

[vox nihili]

My result has changed quite a bit from last time. But here we are:

ALP 64%
Hippies 57%
LNP 49%

[chasej]

Exactly. However I can't right now think of any existing or proposed social policy that is too liberal, what did you have in mind?

Mostly policies which in the name of multiculturalism allow radical organisations and individuals to flourish unchecked and unfettered. Like something needs to be going wrong when I look on Facebook see a guy openly supporting organisations like Hezbollah/ISIS and/or proclaiming support to 'gas the jews'  and then when clicking on their profile it says they come from Essex, UK or West Sydney. I really don't know what policy change would fix the issue though, just that the current system is broken.

This is an interesting article about it http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4841/west-enchantment-islam (the writer is a widely respected journalist focusing on Turkey's religious and ethnic minorities and their persecution).

[spectroscopy]

we should have a party as socially progressive as labor, perhaps a tad more (according to the vote compass), and dead centre economically
would get all of the 18-25 year old votes LOL

[chasej]

we should have a party as socially progressive as labor, perhaps a tad more (according to the vote compass), and dead centre economically
would get all of the 18-25 year old votes LOL

I wouldn't call Labor socially progressive, they recently had 6 years in office and didn't introduce any sort of change to big social issues which have been around for a while - if anything they moved to the right in many respects in a last ditch effort for votes.

[Professor Polonsky]

The State ALP, under (one of the best A-G's on recent history) Rob Hulls, reformed our justice system, enshrined non-adversarial justice into the law, shored up programs to reform rather than put away in prison, and . The Lib Government has pretty much undo'd all of that, with abolishing suspended sentence, introducing mandatory minimums, and all sorts of other populist responses.

They also reformed abortion law (first state in Australia to do so), introduced a Charter of Human Rights (ditto), and banned discrimination in all walks of life on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (all the way back in 2000).

Not socially progressive? Great joke.

Social issues simply aren't so much a Federal thing. Labor did remove every single difference between married couples and de-facto (including same-sex) ones as far as the law goes.

[Phy124]

Despite my best efforts not to enroll the AEC was tipped off by centrelink that I existed and hence I was automatically enrolled for the federal election. Will the same have occurred for the state election? I don't particularly want to rock up and find out I'm not enrolled because that'd be a tad awks.

[Professor Polonsky]

I believe that usually, once you're enrolled Federally you're also enrolled for State elections. You can check here.

[ldunn]

In the interests of giving slothpomba more data to make graphs with:



ALP: 71%
GRN: 70%
L/NP: 39%

Not too surprising, I think.

[ninwa]

to the great surprise of nobody who knows me at all:

GRN 80%
ALP 73%
LNP 40%

[slothpomba]

we should have a party as socially progressive as labor, perhaps a tad more (according to the vote compass), and dead centre economically
would get all of the 18-25 year old votes LOL

I don't know if we have the same interpretion of what it means to be dead centre economically. You can not be truly socially progressive without being economically progressive. You can have all the gay rights you want but if people cant afford to eat, it hardly matters. A lot of the debate about womens equality surrounds the pay gap, that is fundamentally an economic issue and relatively speaking, women are an economically disadvantaged class. What point is a socially progressive policy on justice if entrenched poverty and disadvantage lead people towards a life of crime (i have seen in my own community).

See my point :p.

In other news, will reupdate graphs soon...

[vox nihili]

Has anyone noticed that Labor has mysteriously moved on Nina's graph?

[chasej]

What point is a socially progressive policy on justice if entrenched poverty and disadvantage lead people towards a life of crime (i have seen in my own community).

All institutionalised welfare does is put people into a cycle of welfare dependence where children grow up with role models who teach them to live of welfare. e.g. billions have been spent on Aboriginal welfare for decades yet it hasn't made any meaningful difference because economics is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself. If people were actually willing to look at social issues in a pragmatic way instead of throwing money at them and hoping for the best it would go a long way.

To understand progress to be constantly increasing government spending is to make the future even more unsustainable as taxes are raised to cover the spending and people just grow more dependent on government spending, requiring even more government spending.

Meaningful social policy should be able to reduce economic gaps in the long term without relentless spending which can't do anything but spiral out of control.

Also, I don't think there is anyone that goes without food on the table, even without government assistance one can go to soup kitchens etc. also the mechanisms for financial assistance for people who are starving at a government level are already in place. They don't require any progress for implementation. Any more increases in government provided welfare are just a continuance of unsustainable spending and crippling taxation which can only result in increasing inequality in the long term.

[slothpomba]

Has anyone noticed that Labor has mysteriously moved on Nina's graph?

Holy crap, you're right. It might be just the aspect ratio though, maybe like hers is more stretched in one direction?

All institutionalised welfare does is put people into a cycle of welfare dependence where children grow up with role models who teach them to live of welfare. e.g. billions have been spent on Aboriginal welfare for decades yet it hasn't made any meaningful difference because economics is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself.

Yeah, fuck the poor! Cut them off welfare when they have no means of purchasing goods. I'm sure that'll be good for social cohesion, social progress, crime and it's certainly full of compassion. There will always be people, who, for whatever reason, cannot find jobs. It's not that they're not motivated in all cases, there is something else going on. In poorer countries, these people have to result to any number of horrible outcomes - crime, prostitution or simply starve. Are we to believe that starving African families simply lack the willpower? Are we to honestly believe all or even most on welfare honestly enjoy it? That they simply lack the will to get a job? How are we to prove that?

To understand progress to be constantly increasing government spending is to make the future even more unsustainable as taxes are raised to cover the spending and people just grow more dependent on government spending, requiring even more government spending.

Has government spending grown significantly as a part of GDP though? Either way, the average person, especially from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, is far better off today than in any other time in Australian history. Money well spent i say.

Also, I don't think there is anyone that goes without food on the table, even without government assistance one can go to soup kitchens etc.

Tell me, how much do your parents make, what is their profession, what kind of house do you live in? Have you ever really experienced poverty yourself? If you have, i will withdraw my remark. If you haven't, it's oh so easy for you to say this from your position of financial privilege.

I do agree, however, that welfare is a bandaid solution. As Martin Luther King said in his Speech Against The Vietnam War (one of my favourites of his, give it a listen):

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see than an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.