Anybody else taken the test to see where exactly they fall on the political compass. I was quite surprised to see I'm not as center-right as I thought I was. https://www.politicalcompass.org/test
Current politics piss me off. I'm 100% progressive - make the world a better place, make education affordable and without political bias but I live in Alberta We've been taught that the federal NEP caused a huge recession, and because of that, we have to hate Liberals - doesn't bear out AT ALL if you look at the recession that happened around the same time, it was a typical global oil price crash that just happened to coincide with the NEP, turns out it was just a provincial government who were looking for a fall guy... and people bought it, ate it up, and still cling to it. my problem with the Liberals is they're not nearly progressive enough, they do some good things (lifted like 90% of water advisories in their first few years, compared to the previous CPC government, who saw boil water advisories increase over their term and just didn't give a shit), but they haven't done anything major to protect public health care and education, or reduce costs for education. I'd like a government to expand universal health care to include mental health, dental heath, and prescription drugs, increase the focus on preventative health, and make overall health services a priority under the universal insurance plans in the country. I'd also like to see provinces pulled back from health, and given much less latitude so we have a truly universal setup with one health plan covering everyone in the country equally in every province. Private health that's been implemented needs to be nationalized. As far as media, we currently have a system that's almost fully owned by American Hedge Funds - which are controlled by Republicans. They report with a heavy conservative bias, and don't correct their mistakes when new information comes out. There needs to be a change so information comes through unfiltered, without a liberal OR conservative bias - it should be a 2+2=4 type coverage for everything, with relevant facts only, keep opinions out of it. We did have that until fairly recently, when media ownership was limited to Canadian ownership, and reporting false, misleading, or incomplete information was not allowed. I'd like to see 1) Media code of ethics revamped to include severe penalties for reporting false or misleading information if they do not retract as soon as they're aware of the false/misleading information with more coverage than the original information - regardless of intent. If something you say that you believe to be true becomes known to be false, it needs to be forcefully retracted through every available medium, and the falsehoods or misdirection portrayed as such in a way that nobody would think it was a truth. 2) Media companies back under 100% Canadian ownership 3) all health care services, utilities, and education nationalized, and under public ownership 4) corporate taxes increased to 50% on profits. Income can be used on hiring, training, development, community infrastructure, or general company infrastructure improvements, and have that money excluded from profits, the 50% tax would only be on profit income not spent, and in the bank at the end of the year (by in the bank, I mean in accounts, in investments, or spent on things that are not outlined as tax free) - in addition to that, a law in place restricting pay where the highest paid person in a company, including bonuses, benefits, shares, etc, is limited to a maximum of 5x the pay of the lowest paid person in the company. If the CEO wants to take home 500k a year once all is said and done, the janitor needs to make 100k. If the CEO ends up making more than 5x the lowest paid employee, any employee who made less than 1/5 if the CEO either get a bonus to bring them 10k over the 1/5 level, or the CEO has to pay back the difference with a 10% penalty. (company makes 30 billion in profit after all existing bills and expenses are paid, but they spend 10 billion on new hiring, infrastructure, space, equipment, software upgrades, etc, they pay 10 billion in tax instead of 15 billion) - idea is to reduce banked cash, and keep money flowing in the economy. 5) personal income taxes eliminated under $50,000, set at a 10% rate from 50k to 120k, then 35% on income from 120k to 250k, and 65% on any income over 250k - standard progressive rate structure, so you pay the rate only on the income in that range. Over 7 figures (so any money earned 1 million or higher), the rate jumps to 95%. 6) annual adjustment of rates based on inflation, so if cost of living goes up, tax thresholds adjusted to account for that. 7) Basic housing recognized as essential, and removed from market fluctuations - set standard pricing based on cost of materials, size, number of bedrooms, living space, lot size. Free market allowed, but basic housing not included in the free market, and must include 50% of the entire inventory. You can buy a non market house for a fixed price - but when you sell it, you sell it for the same, fixed price (adjusted for inflation). Availability of affordable housing should keep the entire market more affordable. 8) Government officials of the elected variety receive a moderate salary. They receive moderate housing appropriate for their family size, required services. Travel for business is covered. What is supplied should be enough for them to live comfortably, and maintain the health and wellness they need while they are working in that capacity. Pensions would be comfortable living wage level once they're out of office, so long as they completed their terms, and met requirements for the job. They would be barred from working in private settings during terms in office, any kind of private investments which would have to be divested before taking those jobs. No payments allowed from other sources. Government is a place where elected officials are tasked with doing the best they can do for all Canadians as individuals, not themselves. Being found to accept any kind of payment from an outside source to influence a government decision would disqualify someone from maintaining a government position, or holding one again in the future, and disqualify them from their pension as well. Non elected government employees paid as per comparable free market jobs. 9) UBI - all Canadians would receive what would be considered a living wage, adequate for housing, transportation, food, life expenses, and basic entertainment from the government. Re-indexed annually. Payments for children would be smaller, and directly to parents, since their parents would be supplying most of their needs for the first 14-18 years of their lives. At age 18, they get their own, full amount even if they still live with their parents. 10) Minimum wage set nationally, based on the current UBI levels, and modified based on inflation. Minimum wage for a full time position (based on a 6 hour, 4 day week, 24 hours per week) would match the level of the UBI. Companies can choose to pay more than minimum wage, but can't pay less hourly than the equivelent. 11) All working employees entitled to 4 weeks paid vacation, 10 paid sick days, as well as 12 months of maternity and paternity leave, paid at 50% wages, they're still getting UBI, as well as a stipend for the child. 12) interest rates for loans, debts, credit cards, etc, limited to 5% maximum. Banks required to be non-profit, with any profits taxed at 99%. Same benefits as corporations, so they can expand, upgrade, improve, hire, etc to move the taxable income levels down. The goal is an affordable, comfortable, educated society where everyone has access to clean water, quality food, safe streets, excellent health care, services and anything they might need without sacrificing - with the oncoming trend to automation, there will be fewer jobs available to a growing population, and poverty is a growing issue that can't be alleviated under the current system. only thing that would be sacrificed is poverty, and the mental and physical ailments and trauma that go along with it.
