> Frankly, I find lib-left to be the least understandable quadrant to me. "Yes, we need government to regulate economics and provide social programs, and, oh yes, reduce the size of government!!"

A post of iwpg's got deleted by mistake. He explained how lib-left is a viable political stance. My response is that I know that, which is why I wrote the paragraph following the one quoted above. I'm simply saying that that quadrant seems to me to be the most paradoxical of the four, which is another reason why I disbelieve that it represents a majority.

I agree with James that much of this is due to the wording of the questions. The FAQ on that site defends their wording, but I think their defense only justifies the wording for people with political views well thought out enough that they don't need a political compass.

For example, how many people are going to answer in the negative to "Women with children should stay at home and be homemakers" (I forget the exact wording) who would also answer "Women with children should be parents first" in the affirmative? Of course, I don't know how the question was scored, but I'm inclined not to trust it.

Another example is the first question, which talks about benefiting corporations or humanity first. If you've thought out your political views enough to understand trickle-down economics -- the supposition that helping corporations be economically productive will in turn affect the people the same way -- then you know whether you agree or disagree with this premise. But if you've not thought that through before, who *isn't* going to immediately side with "humanity"?

Similarly, many questions ask about morality without asking about the legal implications. For example, Stephen and I answered the questions on the last page quite differently -- he was permissive, while I was not -- and yet we share our political views about what government regulation (or more accurately, the lack thereof) should be in place about it. Had I been as permissive as he on the last page, thereby reflecting my political views as opposed to my moral views, I'm sure I would have wound up stronger on the libertarian side than I did.