More Green Than Red

There has been this quiz going around the internet called the “I Side With Quiz.” I have been seeing it go around social media sites for, as for as I have seen, a few weeks now, especially Facebook where I spend most of my time now on the interwebs. Friends of mine have been posting their results with who they sided with the most and how surprised, or not, they were with it. I decided to finally take the quiz for myself to see where I stood.

Basically, answer a bunch of questions, and the websites calculates which presidential candidate from the 2012 election you side with the most. It was actually quite enjoyable to take. The questions are set up with yes, no, and “choose your own stance.” Under that last one are different perspectives and stances from what might be alternatives to the dichotomy.

I liked this option, because some things are not so cut and dry. Some things I said yes or no to only on certain conditions or even went further than the yes or no, such as the question which asks if the federal government should regulate and monitor the internet more. There was the obvious no, but I wanted to see if there were more, and there was. I chose “No, and enact legislation preventing any level of government policing the internet.” Always check if you agree more with the other options.

Some of the “choose your own” were stances from the presidential candidates themselves. While taking the quiz I did not know this, but I suspected it when I noticed some of the answers seemed to be some of Ron Paul’s usual rhetoric. As well, you can rate how important the questions and issues are to you on a five point scale ranging from least important to most important.

The only thing I did not like was that they give you the option to answer more questions for certain sections (e.g. domestic policy, science, environment) if you click for a drop down; the button to do this is kind of inconspicuous, and I almost missed it.

Once I finished with all the questions, including the ones I almost missed, I found out that I sided most at 85% with the Green Party’s candidate Jill Stein. I have been a big fan of the Greens since I first discovered them, but I know that they, and pretty much any third party in America, don’t have much of a chance of winning in such a political climate that is dominated by Democrats and Republicans. Even if they did have a chance, that would actually be a bad thing, as liberals and progressives would obviously be divided between Democrats and Greens, letting Republicans win more elections.

Some of the candidates I had never even heard of before. Who the hell is Virgil Goode, who by the way I only sided with at a whopping 5%?

All in all, these are most of my results:

So apparently Ron Paul has it right on only about 33% of things.

There were some I didn’t include, such as Gary Johnson, the one running under the libertarian banner. I agreed with him 51% of the time. Mostly on immigration and domestic policy. Looking at some of what Johnson has said recently though, he seems to have some economically liberal stances as well.

However, as we can clearly see, Jill Stein and I agree on the vast majority of things with President Barack Obama trailing not far behind at 80%. Stewart Alexander is the socialist candidate, and I actually was expecting to side with him the most, as I am a socialist. At least, I think I am. Maybe I really am more green than red. That may be because some of the questions I did forget to check what the other options were and just answered yes or no. Always check!

Nonetheless, it was fun, and I recommend everyone take it. Even if you know who you are voting for (I do), just see how much you really agree with them. There might even be a lively discussion between friends about who really is the best candidate once you share your results.