2020 US Presidential Election Political Compass
Political Compass has already published a compass for the 2020 US election.
The only capital L libertarian on the chart is Arvin Vohra for now.
The libertarian Republican Bill Weld is also on the chart. All other Republicans (Donald Trump, Mike Pence, John Kasich, Bob Corker, Larry Hogan, etc) are clustered at the clearly authoritarian top.
Note: Justin Amash, Tom Steyer, and Wayne Messam as well as any possible additional candidates have yet to be added.
Greens have two radically different choices in Howie Hawkins versus Jesse Ventura (who isn’t even officially running yet). Will a libertarian Green get the nomination, or even be a big option in the election?
If you ignore economics, Ron Paul endorsing Tulsi Gabbard in 2020 or saying Jill Stein was the most libertarian option in 2016 (and 2012) makes sense.
What logic does Political Compass have? (If you haven’t gone to the link or put it in another window while reading this)
We regret that time and resources do not allow us to engage in exchanges about particular placements.
The Political Compass is a universal tool, applicable to all western democracies. It shows the whole potential political landscape, not simply one within the confines of any particular country. For example, Bernie Sanders is popularly perceived in his own country as an off-the-wall left figure; in other western democracies he would sit squarely within the mainstream social democratic parties that regularly form governments or comprise the largest opposition. Conversely, a US candidate who believes in unfettered market forces or capital punishment may be seen at home as mainstream, but ‘extreme’ in other developed countries. Similarly, ‘Obamacare’ is seen as a liberal/left initiative in the US, while in other developed countries it is viewed as a tepid version of the long-established universal public health care systems that are broadly supported by conservatives as well as social democrats.
In the crowded field of candidates in the US 2020 primaries, there are some interesting clusters of attitudes. For example only nine candidates are opposed to increases to the military budget, including some who are nevertheless also against foreign intervention. Some with a strong commitment to countering climate change nevertheless uphold an equally strong commitment to unlimited economic growth, and sometimes even to the further deregulation of corporate polluters.
We have analysed speeches, manifestos and, crucially, voting records in the compilation of this chart. There are three instances where we were unable to find any opinions on record for a significant number of important issues. It is therefore so far not possible to properly place Messam,Steyer or Amash. In the light of further information, they will, of course, be included. As the campaign proceeds, the chart will be amended to reflect policy changes and other relevant developments.
While the Democratic camp boasts a more interesting diversity of ideologies than usual, the Green Party holds the biggest surprise. While Howie Hawkins wants to keep the party firmly to the libertarian left, Jesse Ventura is pulling in a quite different direction. A fiscal conservative of the neoliberal right, his apparent social liberalism is compromised by his mixed views on capital punishment. Similarly Vohra’s libertarian outlook is more strongly in evidence on the economic scale than the social one.
With the exception of Weld, there are few significant differences between the GOP candidates. While the Democratic outcome, especially with the emergence of billionaire Steyer, may be surprising, the successful Republican is a foregone conclusion. The big surprise there is that even a majority of Christian fundamentalists favour the candidate that Jesus would probably have been least likely to choose.
Even more Democrat honorable mention links
The speeches, manifestos, and voting records of various Democrats muddy the waters on where they stand. A lot are positioning themself to the left rhetoric wise, but Political Compass feels they’re only primary-standing as way more left than they really are. The Democratic field is being winnowed by the third debate higher standards anyway, so expect a lot of dropouts due to lack of polling and/or lack of donor numbers.
Recommendations/Endorsements of who to donate to: Bill Weld, Arvin Vohra (as well as any Libertarian not on the Compass yet with donation links which is all of them except John McAfee who isn’t accepting donations as they are running a social media only campaign, so Dan Behrman, Adam Kokesh, Kim Ruff, Vermin Supreme, etc), and Jesse Ventura (when they start running if they do and have a donations page).
Max Abramson and Joe Exotic are also running, but I haven’t found their campaign sites or if they have donation link on them.
Also, I’m waiting to see what Justin Amash (Independent Congressman) is going to do in 2020.
Will he run for President or for reelection in the House?
