Internal Contradictions in Political Ideologies

For Each Quadrant of the Political Compass

Pew Research Center Survey Results

A Pew Research Center survey of the U.S. general public, in 2021, showed clusters of political beliefs and values. The origin of these Pew labels and type descriptors are detailed in an earlier post.

Internal Contradictions of Ideologies by Pew Type

I’m told I should state this is opinion-based. I listen devotedly to podcasts from each of the quadrants in an attempt to understand and accurately represent their views.

Pew Type: Stressed Sideliners

This largely apolitical group is the least likely to vote, as they don’t believe their participation will make a difference, which ensures that their concerns will not be considered by politicians.

Thanks for reading. Here’s a related post about Complaints Largely Ignored by Other Parties and a similar article about contradictions in ideology.

Repeat of Quadrants Content

This section repeats the writing in the quadrants, for any who have difficulty reading in that format. Groups are presented in order of political party size.

Auth-Left Quadrant

Pew type: Democratic mainstays

Liberals believe strongly in pluralism. We do not agree with totalitarian governments who can easily lock up people who are a threat to their social order. Democracies let subversive and intolerant people have their say like everyone else in the marketplace of ideas, while they gradually undermine the philosophical bases of liberalism.

Pew type: Establishment liberals

Philanthropists among this group are known for humanitarian work in Africa. They install water wells (thousands of which are non-functional, as villagers often lack access to parts and expertise to repair them), dispense mosquito nets, distribute the excess grain crops from the “developed nations,” and provide medical care. This generosity results in more generations of hungry impoverished people because in general their males have a cultural value of virility as established by more children, so women can be abused if their use of birth control is detected.

Auth-Right Quadrant

Pew type: Committed conservatives

Freedom is sacred, so millions of our young men must die in someone else’s war to make sure they choose the right kind of freedom.

Pew type: Faith and flag conservatives

Life is sacred, so embryos must be protected even if a woman (a) doesn’t want to go thru with a life-threatening pregnancy or (b) doesn’t want to raise the child and therefore would not likely provide optimal nurturing. Further, from the Republican personal responsibility perspective, if said woman was either not responsible enuf to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, or not chaste, why promote the genetic traits of these unworthy individuals to continue into the next generation?

[apologies to the author whose name I cannot find] “I learned growing up in Lubbock Texas that (a) sex is dirty, and you should save it for someone you love; and (b) God loves you, and if you displease him, he will throw you into a lake of fire and brimstone for eternity.”

Lib-Right Quadrant

Pew type: Populist right

The “freedom to” of some inevitably limits “freedom from” for others. My neighbors own private property upstream from me. Their freedom to dump and swim in the stream imposes on my freedom from pollutants.

Pew type: Ambivalent right

The desired small government could leave our nation vulnerable to takeover by a large foreign government.

Lib-left (Green) Quadrant

Pew types: Progressive & Outsider left (lumped together)

Race is purely a social construct. Race or ethnicity shouldn’t be any reason to make pre-judgements about someone, except that Black and indigenous people should be given reparations and preferential placement in positions of power, until their numbers match the percentages of their presence in the population, regardless of whether applicants to these positions have current circumstances more privileged than white people in poverty lacking access to college. 

Outside the Quadrants

Pew Type: Stressed Sideliners

This largely apolitical group is the least likely to vote, as they don’t believe their participation will make a difference, so their concerns will not be considered by politicians.