8 Political Values That Shape Your Political Opinions

Often people align themselves with a political party or candidate without having a clear understanding as to why. This activity can help you explore the underlying values that shape your opinions about public policy.

This quiz differs from the original political compass test by measuring your views on eight opposing values aligned across four different political axes.

1. Liberty

Liberty is a positive concept that means freedom from restraints or freedom to act as one chooses. Those who score higher in Liberty prioritize individualism, free will and self-determination and resent authority that restricts liberty. They tend to be Libertarians.

People who have LibertyValues of paleo often value heritage and are skeptical of woke culture. They may like neoclassical economics. They may also prefer 12Wackies, a modified version of 8values that measures alignment with off-compass ideologies.

2. Equality

Equality is the belief that people should not be treated differently because of how they are born, where they are from, their race, religion or disability. It is a very important value for political communication, particularly when it comes to welfare politics and the distribution of wealth.

Proponents of equality argue that greater equality of outcome reduces relative poverty and promotes social cohesion. However, critics of equality argue that it can actually lead to more absolute poverty if it deters people from working hard.

3. Justice

One of the most important political values is justice. This includes not stealing or lying, but also a duty to help the poor and not interfere with others’ work.

In the Republic, Socrates has a discussion of this value with his interlocutors. They agree that a completely good society requires wisdom among leaders, courage in defenders and temperance among the producers. Whatever is left over must be justice.

This quiz can help you understand your political beliefs and bridge the gap between different ideologies. You can also take a more in-depth look at your ideology with 12Wackies and 8dreams, modified versions of 8Values that focus on off-compass ideologies.

4. Openness to Change

Researchers have found that people’s personal values and core political values shape how they approach politics. These values are important predictors of their beliefs about the role of government.

Across the world, those on the ideological left of the spectrum are more likely to believe that their country will be better off if it is open to change. In contrast, those on the right of the spectrum are more likely to believe that the country will be better off if it sticks with its traditions and way of life.

5. Freedom

The freedom of people to express their opinions publicly without government interference (except for defamation, inciting panic, creating fighting words, promoting crime or sedition). This includes the freedom of press and the right to protest.

The freedom of people to participate in democratic elections and to hold officeholders accountable for their policies. This entails the freedom of citizens to advocate for their interests, including political minorities. This also requires a strong rule of law. A free economy depends on these conditions.

6. Free Enterprise

Free enterprise is a core American value and the cornerstone of a conservative philosophy that seeks to limit government involvement in economic matters. It advocates for market efficiency, consumer rights, financial security and stability, growth opportunities, and justice.

Free enterprise values connect with a laissez-faire economic system that emphasizes private property ownership, profit as an incentive, and competitive bidding in the marketplace. However, this does not preclude a role for government regulations to help manage market instability or nurture new industries.

7. Individualism

Individualism is the belief that people should be judged by their actions, rather than their membership of a group. Individualists are also likely to have higher tolerance for differences among individuals.

Governments in countries with high levels of individualism may be more reluctant to impose mobility restrictions. This can thwart the fight against COVID-19 by reducing policy adherence. However, a pool of collectivist values also gained in importance, including those related to family and close relationships, personal integrity and interpersonal harmony (“logical”, “mature love” and “true friendship”). These have an opposite effect.

8. Tradition

It is a crucial question for political analysis, that of why certain traditions gain resonance, whereas others do not. This is why I use the term resonance rather than hegemonic or dominant – terms that carry connotations of power and which are arguably less suitable for work on traditions in their own right.

Traditions are partly constitutive of the beliefs that uphold them and they bind actors together in unacknowledged inter-subjective communities. They can help to explain the relative success of certain ideologies in particular contexts.

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What Is a One Political System?

A one political system is a country in which a single party has legal or de facto monopoly of formal politics. This can occur through restrictions on political parties or a refusal to allow competing views.

Using the word politic can mean “expedient or prudent.” For example, a teenager who asks for a raise will be told to be politic about it.

Electoral system

The electoral system is one of the most important institutional decisions a country makes. It defines how elections are conducted, how votes are counted and how power is distributed. It has a profound impact on political life and can affect how citizens interact with their governments. It can also help “engineer” specific outcomes, such as encouraging compromise and accommodation in a divided society.

There are many different electoral systems, but most share the same basic features. The most common is the majoritarian system, which assigns seats to parties based on their share of the vote. For example, if party A gets 40% of the vote, it will get 4 seats.

Another popular electoral system is proportional representation, which allocates seats based on the proportion of the total vote each party receives. This can be achieved using a variety of methods, but the most common is the Hare quota. Other variations include the Sainte-Lague modified system, which uses different divisors than the d’Hondt method and favours medium-sized parties.

Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness is the ability of people to stick together, and it’s important for team success. The stronger the cohesiveness, the more likely a project will succeed. Team satisfaction is also higher when there’s a high level of cohesiveness. This is because the work of each member is acknowledged and appreciated by the whole group.

Cohesion is a powerful force that can lead to better performance in groups, but it can also have negative effects. For example, in some cases, the desire to conform leads to avoidance of disagreement and groupthink, which can result in poor decisions. Additionally, cohesiveness can lead to a lack of individuality and autonomy.

The term “cohesion” comes from physics, where it describes the tendency of particles to stick together. The same principle applies to a political group. Cohesiveness is the force that keeps a political party together. It’s the force that makes people feel a deep loyalty to the group. This is often described as a sense of groupness or esprit de corps.

Economic development

Economic development refers to the effort of governments to meet a number of broad economic objectives, including price stability, high employment, and sustainable growth. This involves a variety of policy initiatives, such as monetary and fiscal policies, regulation of financial institutions, and trade and tax policies. It also includes programs that support small businesses, workforce development, and neighborhood networks.

Increasingly, economic development is based on science and technology. This includes the development of science-industry connections at local, regional, national, and multinational levels. This includes efforts to encourage the formation of new high-technology firms.

Economic development is also about empowering people to live better lives. This can be done by improving literacy, education, health, and life expectancy. It can also include boosting economic growth, which leads to greater wealth for all. These goals require the participation of many different groups, including social workers and business leaders. They also depend on public-private partnerships. In the end, the goal is to build a thriving community that benefits all its members.

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How Many Politicians Are in Congress?

The paths to Congress are as diverse as America. But many of those paths are long and winding, with material implications for legislation.

Each state sends two Senators to Congress, and each of those Senators serves a six-year term. Members of the House represent districts based on population. In general, most representatives have experience in the state legislature or local government.

United States Congress

When Americans talk about Congress, they usually mean the bicameral national legislature, which includes the Senate and House of Representatives (the latter also known as the “House”). The Constitution vests all legislative power in Congress. It is empowered to raise and spend money, approve treaties, make war, and impeach the President and Supreme Court Justices.

Although many of its members are elected from political parties, there is no parliamentary requirement that they must follow their party leaders. In fact, some of the most powerful committee chairmen have been independents.

The 118th Congress has marked several demographic milestones, including the first time that all 50 states have sent women to Congress. Similarly, Millennials and Gen Xers have begun to enter Congress, and the current House has the most ever members from the N.F.L., among other less-common occupations. Likewise, Vermont is now home to the country’s first openly gay member of Congress. However, congressional profiles still lag behind the nation’s population.

United States Senate

The United States Senate is one of the two chambers that make up the United States Congress, the other being the House of Representatives. It is made up of 100 senators, two from each state, who are elected to six-year terms.

The Senate has various powers that balance those of the President and other federal branches, such as conducting impeachment proceedings against high officials, exercising the power of advice and consent on treaties, and confirming presidential appointments including ambassadors and judicial court justices. It can also conduct special investigations and has the ability to censure and condemn members of the Senate.

Each party elects a floor leader and assistant leader who manage Senate activities and coordinate policy among their members. The Senate also employs a procedure called filibuster, where senators engage in open debate on a subject that can only be ended by using a procedural rule known as cloture. The oldest current senator is 81, while the youngest is 36.

United States House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is 435 members strong, with each state receiving a number of representatives in proportion to its population. States with large populations like New York and California send more legislators to Washington than tiny states like Wyoming and Delaware.

The majority of House members are lawyers in private practice, businesspeople (including employees in insurance, banking and finance) or medical professionals. That background can influence the types of bills they introduce, says Katie Francis, a professor at Western Governors University. For example, she says, physicians are more likely to sponsor health care legislation.

Other career paths are less common, but the new Congress has more people from minority backgrounds than ever before. And more than a dozen representatives identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, which is a record high for any Congress.

United States Government

The United States Government is one of the largest in the world and is responsible for things like handling taxes, maintaining roads and bridges, regulating the economy and more. It is divided into three parts, or branches: the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch.

The legislative branch is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state has two Senators no matter its population and members of the House represent districts based on their population size. Congress holds sessions that last about a year. The leader of the House is called the speaker and the leader of the Senate is the president pro tempore.

The executive branch is the president and 15 Cabinet-level departments that carry out the laws passed by Congress. The president makes policy and oversees the armed forces, and may also use the power of the veto to check Congress’s authority by rejecting legislation that has been passed.

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Who Sponsors Politico?

When German publisher Axel Springer SE purchased Politico in October 2021 for $1 billion, the media world gasped at the audaciousness of the deal. What wasn’t as much of a surprise was the new owner’s decades-long record of bending journalistic ethics to advance right-wing causes.

One example: when Playbook broke the story that the Supreme Court was poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, the paper’s readers reacted with anger.

The Allbritton Company

The Allbritton Company was a privately owned media and television conglomerate founded in 1975. The company owned several ABC affiliates and launched Politico in 2007.

Allbritton sold the company’s TV stations to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2020. The company also owns Morning Brew and Business Insider, both of which were acquired by Axel Springer in 2015.

In 2021, Allbritton sold Politico to Axel Springer SE. The new owner plans to expand the website and add more staff. The acquisition will allow Politico to offer its content behind a paywall.

The founder of the Allbritton Company, Joe Allbritton, has many ties to right-wing politics and business. His family’s interests have included a number of international financial transactions with the Saudis and other right-wing regimes, as well as long-standing connections to the Reagan circle. As a result, it seems clear that Allbritton’s political biases will have an impact on the news organization he created. And that’s a problem.

The Goli Sheikholeslami Group

Goli Sheikholeslami is the chief executive of Politico Media Group, overseeing the news organization’s operations in North America and Europe. She takes the helm from Patrick Steel, who left his position as CEO in 2021. Sheikholeslami previously served as CEO of New York Public Radio, including its flagship station WNYC and Gothamist. She has also held senior positions at Chicago Public Media and Everyday Health, and worked for The Washington Post and Conde Nast early in her career.

Sheikholeslami joins a company that has won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons and three George Polk awards, as well as a host of other top honors. She will be charged with guiding the Rosslyn-based business into an expansion phase, as its parent company Axel Springer has signaled a desire to accelerate its pace of acquisitions.

Sheikholeslami says the opportunity to work at POLITICO, known for its fearless and fact-based journalism on politics and policy, was what tipped the scales in her decision to accept the job.

Axel Springer SE

Axel Springer SE is a media and technology company that operates worldwide. Its offerings include classifieds media, news media, and marketing models. The company is based in Germany and generates revenues from subscriptions and advertising. Its portfolio includes newspapers, tabloids, and lifestyle magazines.

The Rosslyn-based news outlet Politico is reportedly in talks with German publisher Axel Springer SE for a sale. The two have been partners since 2014, when they launched Politico Europe in Brussels. Axel Springer’s purchase would mark the latest wave of consolidation in the media industry.

Founded in 2007, Politico has grown to be the largest political and policy news organization in North America. It is known for its coverage of insider-y political details and boldface birthday-party sightings around town. The company also has a successful European edition. Its sale to Axel Springer will likely mean more staff cuts at the site. Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner has said that Politico employees will need to adhere to the company’s principles, including support for a united Europe and Israel’s right to exist.

The National Association of Black Journalists

The National Association of Black Journalists is a group that supports minority journalists. The organization has a mission to prepare and encourage students who want to pursue careers in journalism. It also helps to create networking opportunities and provides mentoring programs for students.

Its sponsors include The Allbritton Company, which owns the Washington-area ABC affiliate WJLA. The Allbritton Company is owned by Joe Allbritton, a Republican donor and former Reagan official. The company has been accused of slanting its coverage to please its donors.

Politico’s sponsorship of the group could lead to serious conflicts of interest. As a result, it is critical to note who is paying for the publication’s content. This will help readers determine whether the information is biased or not. In addition, politico needs to be more transparent about its relationships with advertisers. This will increase its credibility in the eyes of readers. It should note when it is sponsored by IFA, for example, which has a vested interest in the story being reported.

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