My Position

The graph below plots my position on the Political Compass graph. I'm in the bottom right sector with ratings of:

Economic Left/Right: 4.38

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.21

I regard myself as one of those small but strong government types. I'm all for free markets, lower taxes, abhor the nanny state, support individual rights and believe the government has no business telling consenting adults what to do. However I want the government to do its proper job well. I expect it to protect my rights with ruthless efficiency if necessary.

I believe Australia needs a strong and independent defense force and a co-operative but active foreign policy. I'm no isolationist, so have no problems with the ADF helping the Americans secure world order by getting rid of dangerous dictators like Saddam Hussein.

I expect the police and legal systems to enforce the law not just keep the peace. So wouldn't mind a dash of Giuliani style zero tolerance to lock up crims who are getting away with an endless series of property crimes. (Try leaving a car ungaraged overnight and see how long before it gets broken in).

The politician I most admire is President Ronald Reagan who had this to say:

I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is....

......There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to insure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I think that libertarianism and conservatism are travelling the same path.

Sounds good to me.