US election candidates positions in one pretty graph

[matgb]

The Political Compass has an analysis of the candidates in the US Primaries 2007:

Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel are depicted on the extreme left in an American context, they would simply be mainstream social democrats within the wider political landscape of Europe. Similarly, Hillary Clinton is popularly perceived as a leftist in the United States while in any other western democracy her record is that of a moderate conservative.

and plots the candidates like so on the graph:

It's telling how close together they all are, and I concur completely with their analysis on it being linked to the electoral system. It also shows why I keep getting Kucinich on all those "who should you vote for" things that are kicking around.

Of course, the US media is even more biased than in the UK, and is almost completely beholden to corporate/advertiser interests; at least in the UK the press is following market positions at the same time as trying to affect that market (if anyone really thinks Murdoch backed Blair for political reasons then they really weren't paying attention). The result of this is that candidates coalesce around a media friendly center, but the media/mainstream is so far to the top/right that anyone else looks extreme. Ah well.

Land of the free, home of the brave. As long as the corporations are happy with you.

Comments

[baseballchica03.livejournal.com]

It also, by the way, supports my theory about fucking Bill Clinton and his stupid fucking "New Democrats" pulling everyone in this country further and further to the right so that we have no actual Left to speak of. *grumble grumble worst thing to happen to the Democratic Party hate*

[matgb]

Oh, electorally what Clinton did was right—Downs et al—but it hasn't helped that the media has followed him and the left either caved in or allowed themselves to be portrayed as idiots for, well, acting like idiots.

We have similar problems over here, but our districts are small enough that concentrated ares of traditional left can get some fairly radical politicians elected to national office, unlike say over there where the Greens and similar are a power in San Francisco but barely scratch the radar anywhere else.

Then there's the whole race/class divide which splits the left far too much—Kanye said George Bush doesn't care about black people—untrue, he's got black friends. He just doesn't care about poor people. At all, but divide and rule stayed in effect even during the horrors of Katrina.

Better to be in power with a centrist than be in opposition with someone of your opinion. But better still to have an electoral system that allows your opinion a say as well. It's why I'm a Lib Dem and not a Green, the Lib Dems have MPs and a chance of government, the Greens don't.