Below you will find many web sites that are about finding out about what your political tendencies are, what party best suits you as well as a list of notes on the terms and ideas the quizzes will give you.  Read the notes first or else the quizzes are meaningless.

The Notes:

• Radical: Seen as being on the far left of the political spectrum, radicals call for wide-sweeping rapid change in the basic structure of the political, social, or economic system. They may be willing to resort to extreme methods to bring about change, including the use of violence and revolution.

• Liberal: Liberals believe that the government should be actively involved in the promotion of social welfare of a nation’s citizens. Liberals usually call for peaceful, gradual change within the existing political system. They reject violent revolution as a way of changing the way things are, often called the status quo.

• Moderate: Moderates may share viewpoints with both liberals and conservatives. They are seen as tolerant of other people’s views, and they do not hold extreme views of their own. They advocate a “go-slow” or “wait-and-see” approach to social or political change.

• Conservative: People who hold conservative ideals favor keeping things the way they are or maintaining the status quo if it is what they desire. Conservatives are usually hesitant or cautious about adopting new policies, especially if they involve government activism in some way. They feel that the less government there is, the better. They agree with Jefferson’s view that “the best government governs least.”

• Reactionary: Sitting on the far right of the ideological spectrum, reactionaries want to go back to the way things were—the “good ol’ days.” Often reactionaries are willing to use extreme methods, such as repressive use of government power, to achieve their goals.

Some background information that you need to know.

• Right refers to people who hold traditional values.
• Left is used to describe people who support change in society.

These terms originated from the French National Assembly during the French Revolution (Remember your World History class). All those who supported the monarchy went to the right of the speaker, while those who supported the revolutionaries moved to the left.

The terms republican and democrat have different meanings when written lowercase.

• A person who supports a republican form of government wants elected leaders rather than a monarch.
• A democrat supports a democratic form of government, or a government where the people rule through elected representatives.

The Republican and Democratic political parties have evolved over the years.

• The early political party of Thomas Jefferson was called the Democratic-Republicans, and they were the liberals of their day. That party developed into the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson, which championed the rights of the common person.

• The Republican Party was formed to fight the spread of slavery during the 1850s, and their views were seen as quite liberal, if not radical, during the time of Abraham Lincoln. The modern Republican Party, with its conservative reverence for big business, emerged during the economic boom of the 1920s under the presidential administrations of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

There are two key factors in determining a person’s political ideology:

• How much change in government the person is willing to allow, and how quickly he or she believes that change should take place.
• How much government interference in the lives of citizens should take place, especially in the area of the economy.

Before you begin the quizzes please look at what is written below for the first quiz.  When there might be some confusion try to give you a hit like below.  Please use them. 

For each website please write what you scored or what they told you about your political ideas. Be prepared to hand it in.  It will not always be the same for each site and they might use different words so don't cheat!  The Website  are marked with a RED number. If you are listed as a certian political party and you are confused what a word means, look it up online. 

1.  http://www.madrabbit.net/webrabbit/quizshow.html

For some clarification and help

Joycelyn Elders – Surgeon General under Clinton’s presidency

Rev. Pat Robertson – Presidential candidate in the 1988 Republican primary – owner and talk host for Christian Broadcast Network.

2. http://www.ontheissues.org/quizeng/XPolitics/quiz_main.asp?Page=1&Clear=Y

Are you a hard-core conservative? A libertarian-leaning liberal? Find out your philosophy.  Make sure that you print out your results. - PoliticsMatch - Your Political Philosophy

3. http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html

Remember to print out your results.

The Advocates for Self-Government's is a Libertarian site.

4. Party Matchmaking Service

Tired of all those dead-end relationships with the Democrats and the Republicans?  Perhaps you'd really like to find the 3rd party candidate of your dreams, but maybe you just don't have the time, or maybe you just hate the whole political meatmarket.

With our party matchmaking service all you have to do is answer a few simple questions about what you are looking for in a party, and we'll match you up with several parties who would love to meet a voter just like you.

http://www.3pc.net/matchmaker/quiz.html

entitlement programs – e.g., social security, medicare etc.

Remember to print off or copy your Party Compatibility Table.

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY--determine your philosophy

5. http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=no

Please take this quiz to find your political philosophy according to classical, consistent definitions. Collectivist, liberal, new left and new right.

The Most Comprehensive Political Quiz

6. http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=Polotiks

A SelectSmart.com® Selector

By Robert LeMichael Carter Jr. 

The selector will be used to determine your political philosophy and party match.

After you have complete the quizzes above go to the following website.  It will help in giving you some clarification on what a person from the left or right believe.

http://www.district94.dupage.k12.il.us/social_studies/political_spectrum/spectrummenu.htm

7.  Glassbooth connects you to the 2008 presidential candidate that represents your beliefs the best.

http://glassbooth.org/

REACTION PAPER

A reaction paper should contain your opinion or reaction to what you learned while doing the political quizzes.  It should reflect you, , your views on political parties and also new knowledge you acquired.  The point of the reaction paper is to carefully consider what you think or feel about the assignment. You might want to address any number of things.  Here are a few suggestions:

              * What did the findings say about your political beliefs?

              *  Were you surprised about what you learned? Why or why not?

              * What do you agree or disagree with what party the quizzes said you were?

              * Pull several specifics from different quizzes, and address those?