Where's my sunblock?

Okay, here's something to consider. Yesterday I was reading Digby at Hullabaloo and he provided a link to a post here that included links to a number of political quizzes, i.e., ones that try to place you on the political spectrum. There were seven and I tried all of them.

- Political Quiz said that on a left-right scale ranging from 0 (left) to 100 (right), I'm a 3.

- The World's Smallest Political Quiz concluded I'm a liberal:

Liberals usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

- The Political Brew's Political Quiz, again using a 0-100 left/right scale, gave me a 4 on fiscal matters and a 2 on non-fiscal ones.

- Politopia, which places you on a "map," put me me in their Southwest region:

You advocate a large degree of personal freedom and a large degree of government control over the economy. Your neighbors include such folks as Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton, and Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, and may refer to themselves as "liberals," "left-wing liberals," "civil libertarians," "democratic socialists," "egalitarians," or "anarcho-socialists."

- Political Quiz in 2-D called me a

Radical Social Liberal: You want government out of your personal life, great! But you seem fairly happy with the amount of government in your economic life. This puts roughly halfway between the views of Libertarian and Democratic politicians.

- Political Compass uses two scales, both ranging from -10 to +10: One is Economic Left/Right; the other is Social Libertarian/Authoritarian. I came up as -9.50 on the former scale and -8.00 on the latter.

All pretty consistent, all putting me around where my description of Lotus would put me: part of the radical nonviolent left. Okay, but there was still one more: Slate's quiz called Red or Blue, Which Are You? It measured things more related to pop culture, food preferences, and other non-political things. And my result?

Time to get out of the sun - you're looking a little Red.

Now, based on the political findings and how we usually hear things, I should have been expected to be among the bluest of the blue. I mean, isn't that what all liberals, all leftists, all progressives, all whatever it seems convenient to label us, are? Condescending cultural elitists who sneer at pop cultures, wouldn't dream of getting their fingers greasy with barbecue sauce, and don't know Dale Earnhardt (either one) from Dale Evans?

Well, as others have pointed out, there are a lot of folks in those "red" states who knew exactly what that pre-NFL game commercial was referring to, and they aren't all San Franciscan expatriates who thought they'd find better fresh arugala out in the country. And there are a lot of us here in the bluest parts of Massachusetts who are "a little bit country, a little bit rock'n'roll" and who are quite capable of finding "a little common ground we can dance on ... somewhere between the Stones and Jones."

And don't let anybody tell you different.