Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Where I Differ With Anarcho-Mercantilist On The Political Compass

Anarcho-mercantilist has a good post up about how he answered each part of the political compass and why. On most of the questions we answered the exact same, but on a few I answered differently. At times, this was just because I interpreted the question differently. For starters..

If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.

I answered "strongly disagree," because it sounded like some stealth "fair trade" bullshit. If the question said "mercantilist globalization," my answer may have been different.

Controlling inflation is more important than controlling unemployment.

I said "strongly agree," because the question seems to imply that the government can "control unemployment" by "creating jobs" or some such nonsense.

Because corporations cannot be trusted to voluntarily protect the environment, they require regulation.

I said "strongly disagree." I think all government regulatory agencies should be abolished, so obviously I don't think businesses should be regulated. Voluntary certification, green capitalism, and free market environmentalism are all fine, of course.

The only social responsibility of a company should be to deliver a profit to its shareholders.

I said "strongly agree." The business has a responsibility not to commit aggression or fraud obviously, but they have no responsibility to give the public "healthy food" (as the lefties demand of McDonald's) or other drivel.

There are no savage and civilised peoples; there are only different cultures.

Sorry, but there are plenty of cultures and traditions I think qualify as inferior or worthless.

What's good for the most successful corporations is always, ultimately, good for all of us.

I said yes. If they weren't doing stuff we liked, we wouldn't be keeping them in business.

On most of the other stuff, I'm with Anarcho-mercantilist.

1 comment:

Anarcho-Mercantilist said...

Cork, thanks for your mention! I agree that there may exist many interpretations.

"Sorry, but there are plenty of cultures and traditions I think qualify as inferior or worthless."

No need to worry. I agree with you. I interpreted this differently, like the other questions.

I object to all kinds of political tests that I have taken, anyways.