I Know this Poll has been taken, but. . .

[True Democrat]

I know I only put Populist and Libertarian, because that is what I'm trying to figure.  Theoretically, Populists should believe people are not naturally good, as they wish to exert control over both a person's economic and personal lives.  Libertarians should be vice-versa.  Just wondering how it turns out.

For me, it's Yes, Libertarian.

[opebo]

'Good' and 'bad' are entirely subjective.

[True Democrat]

Bump for vigour and deciveness.

[Gabu]

Yes/Libertarian, I suppose.

[angus]

'Good' and 'bad' are entirely subjective.

and that distinguishes these terms from everything else??


Yes/neither.

[John Dibble]

Write in: Neither/Libertarian. As a whole, I don't believe humans are inclined one way or another.

[Gabu]

Write in: Neither/Libertarian. As a whole, I don't believe humans are inclined one way or another.

Personally, I feel that there's a tilt towards the good side purely because of the fact that the human race is still in existence and thriving in general; it seems to me that it would not be in very good shape if there was no such tilt.

[Alcon]

It is interesting that, according to these poll results, the philosophy that supports personal freedom more is also the philosophy that is less trusting in the goodness of people.

[Cashcow]

For once, I agree with opebo. These questions are ridiculous. We all believe that we're doing the right thing, but it's irrefutable that someone is usually harmed in the process of a "good" action.

[True Democrat]

It is interesting that, according to these poll results, the philosophy that supports personal freedom more is also the philosophy that is less trusting in the goodness of people.

That was the intent of this was to find out.  I expected the opposite results.

[© tweed]

You can't lump all people together.  Some are good and some are bad, and it isn't even as cut an dry as that.

[angus]

It is interesting that, according to these poll results, the philosophy that supports personal freedom more is also the philosophy that is less trusting in the goodness of people.

That was the intent of this was to find out.  I expected the opposite results.

alright then, I'll vote Yes/Libertarian, since among the four choices I suppose that's my closest match.  That, and I'm curious now to see the results as well.  Happy polling. 

[Gabu]

Libertarian are generally more cynical about people (from my own personal experience) and thus don't have an interest in helping the people, and would just like the government to leave them alone so they can pursue success.

From what I've seen, libertarians do have an interest in helping the people, and they feel that the best way to do so is to get the government off their backs.

[angus]

damn.  now that I've seen it I must admit I'm a tad surprised too.

I asume you'd have expected the rightists/small govt types to be overwhelmingly YES and the leftists/large govt types to be mostly NO.  Shows how little we know.  Anyway, don't get discouraged, Vorlon can tell you a lot of this has to do with your wording (And the odd choices.)  Let folks forget about it, wait a few months, then ask something like, "I believe in the innate benevolence of mankind"

YES/D
YES/R
YES/Other
NO/D
NO/R
NO/Other

[angus]

Preston, I have to say, I'm with True Independent and Gabu here.  I would have guessed Rightists/small government types have a basic faith (However misguided or misplaced!!) in the benevolence of mankind.  And Leftists/large government types do not fall into that category.  Not that they think mankind is innately malevolent.  Just not benevolent.  And this would explain a great deal.  Apparently, it would.

But then, obviously, given the poll results, we were mistaken.  (Though I suspect that this result depends more on the experimental conditions, the wording, the sampling, etc., than on the fact that we were wrong.  After all, you know I'm never really wrong in the greater universal aesthetic sense.)

[True Democrat]

damn.  now that I've seen it I must admit I'm a tad surprised too.

I asume you'd have expected the rightists/small govt types to be overwhelmingly YES and the leftists/large govt types to be mostly NO.  Shows how little we know.  Anyway, don't get discouraged, Vorlon can tell you a lot of this has to do with your wording (And the odd choices.)  Let folks forget about it, wait a few months, then ask something like, "I believe in the innate benevolence of mankind"

YES/D
YES/R
YES/Other
NO/D
NO/R
NO/Other

I don't think Democrats and Republicans would be the right thing to use.  I'm trying to focus on just these two quarters of the spectrum.

[True Democrat]

Libertarian are generally more cynical about people (from my own personal experience) and thus don't have an interest in helping the people, and would just like the government to leave them alone so they can pursue success.

From what I've seen, libertarians do have an interest in helping the people, and they feel that the best way to do so is to get the government off their backs.

I really doubt it.  I'm sorry, but most of the rhetoric I hear from economic libertarians is complaining about the lower classes or "welfare slobs" or complaining about people who depend on the government too much.  Why would a leader want to help people through goverment spending if they didn't trust them?  It seems the leader who doesn't believe in the goodness of people would advocated less government spending and involvement, such as a libertarian.

My thinking was that Libertarians would feel that people are naturally good.  They believe people are good enough to make their own decisions.  Populists on the other hand, would believe people are not naturally good.  They believe people do not naturally make good decisions as shown by the Populists want to control both a person's economic choices (i.e. welfare) and personal choices (i.e. opposing gay marriage).

[Democratic Hawk]

Yes/Populist

Dave

[Bono]

No/Libertarian.
I'm glad the preconcieved notion has been destroyed.
And btw, angus, id stil answer no to your poll. I have strong pessimis convictions.

[minionofmidas]

Most libertarians I've known in real life, ie not on this forum but during the time when I was studying economics and they were trying to drill that nonsense into me, were either VERY cynical (but some of them still very nice guys) or upper-middle-class boys who were obviously not the brightest tools in the shed. Which would explain this, I guess.

[CheeseWhiz]

Yes/Libertarian

I don't really have anything to say to this thread, Gabu said everything I was thinking!