Electoral Compass

I came across a site, Electoral Compass USA, which asks a series of questions on various issues and compares your position to the various presidential candidates. As is often the case with such sites, I had to answer “no opinion” on some of the questions because my actual opinion is one that most Americans are apparently unable to conceive of. Some examples:

People with higher incomes should receive less Medicare benefits

Since there was no option for “nobody should receive any Medicare benefits,” I settled for no opinion.

The death penalty helps deter crime

I left this one neutral, as I’m not convinced one way or the other. However, of greater importance (to me) is the fact that it’s been abundantly demonstrated by the advent of DNA testing that a great many people convicted of crimes (even those who confessed) weren’t actually guilty, which makes the death penalty a very bad idea.

The government should spend money on keeping drugs off the streets, not on treating drug addicts

Again, I chose no opinion because there was no option for “the government doesn’t have any business doing either.”