American Choices from 'e.the people'

e.the People has a very nicely done quiz tool to help in seeing what (by their measure) your beliefs on foreign police are. Their goal is to get 100,000 people to take the survey and, hopefully, participate in other educational and activism related efforts to help Americans understand more about what issues are involved in setting foreign policy and where, perhaps, our country's efforts should be focused. You can find it at the e.thePeople : American Choices website.

Here are the results from my quiz, and, for the most part, I think they're reasonably accurate - at least as accurate as something like this can be. The "*" on the scales under each question show what my score is.

Your Foreign Policy Priorities:

Primary: Protections
Secondary: Military, Human Rights, Cooperation

1. Should we increase emphasis on diplomatic or military means to secure peace?

Diplomacy |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----||--*--|-----|-----|-----|-----| Military

As the world's only superpower, we can lead an effort to maintain peace and stability. This is best accomplished by building wide coalitions with allies, but we must reserve the right to act unilaterally when necessary.

2. Should we aggressively promote human rights in other countries or respect their sovereignty?

Sovereignty |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----||-----|--*--|-----|-----|-----| Human Rights

As 9/11 demonstrated, repression abroad can feed terrorism and threaten our freedom at home. Where possible, we should use our economic and military power as a "carrot" to encourage positive reforms in repressive regimes.

3. Should we push the development of free global markets or allow for protections of local industry, labor and the environment?

Protections |-----|-----*-----|-----|-----||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| Global Markets

Globalization is running rampant over the rights and well being of people everywhere. We need stricter control of our borders, better protection of working standards and greater regulations on the conduct of multinational corporations.

4. Should we emphasize cooperation with other nations or the pursuit of national interest?

National Interest |-----|-----|-----|-----|-----||-----|--*--|-----|-----|-----| Cooperation

As the wealthiest nation, the US has an obligation to help others , and a large stake in seeing a strong and stable international order. So as not to waste money, we should make sure our priorities are focused and our oversight is diligent.

In taking the quiz, I went with my gut instincts. The next question for me, of course, is to determine if that's where my beliefs should be.

One thing I found a bit frustrating - which, as with any "forced choice" survey tool, is actually part of the point - was the way some of the questions looked like they were setting up polar opposites when they really were. Some of the questions were structured about like the following (I'm using a "pulled out of think air" example so as not to ruin the questions on the survey itself:

In your opinion, which of the following is more important?

Option 1: Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, including, when necessary, those with mayonnaise.

Option 2: Avoiding mayonnaise at all costs, even on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Where I got tripped up is that I like peanut butter and jelly a lot and I don't like mayo - but rather than just being able to choose having PB&Js without mayo, I had to choose whether I wanted PB&J so bad I'd be willing to have some with mayo occasionally OR if I hate mayo so much, I'd be willing to give up PB&Js all together.

Even though they were frustrating, though, they were good questions - I really had to think about what my answer would be for that....

Anyway, go take the quiz and see where you come up.

Posted by thorswitch at November 3, 2003 05:38 PM | TrackBack