Where do you fall on the Political Compass?

17. You can't be libertarian and left wing

This is almost exclusively an American response, overlooking the undoubtedly libertarian tradition of European anarcho-syndicalism. It was, after all, the important French anarchist thinker Proudhon who declared that property is theft.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the likes of Emma Goldman were identified as libertarians long before the term was adopted by some economic rightwingers. And what about the libertarian collectives of the mid-late 1800s and 1960s ?

Americans like Noam Chomsky can claim the label 'libertarian socialist' with the same validity that Milton Friedman can be considered a 'libertarian capitalist'.

The assumption that economic deregulation inevitably delivers more social freedom is flawed. The welfare states of, for example, the Nordic region, abolished capital punishment decades ago and are at the forefront of progressive legislation for women, gays and ethnic minorities - not to mention anti-censorship. Such established high-tax social democracies consistently score highest in the widely respected Freedom House annual survey on democratic rank eg Denmark ranks 2, Sweden 3 and Norway 7, while comparatively free markets such as the US, Singapore and China rate 15,74 and 121 respectively (this detailed checklist can be viewed at http://www.worldaudit.org/civillibs.htm).

Despite their higher taxes, the social democracies' degree of social freedoms would presumably be envied by genuine libertarians in more socially conservative countries.

Our point is that a regulated economy and a strong public sector are not necessarily authoritarian, and a deregulated economy with a minimal public sector is not necessarily socially libertarian.

Interestingly, many economic libertarians express to us their support for or indifference towards capital punishment; yet the execution of certain citizens is a far stronger assertion of state power than taxation. The death penalty is practised in all seriously authoritarian states. In Eastern Europe it was abolished with the fall of communism and adoption of democracy. The United States is the only western democracy where capital punishment is still practised.

Senators are voted for directly in statewide fall elections. They cast votes on any Congressional bills. They also have six-year terms, and have a strong statistical trend of incumbents being re-elected, which makes them less susceptible to small shifts in the electorate and more representative of a state's long-term views. Also, since each state gets two, a state with relatively equal Republican and Democratic blocs will tend to have a senator from each party, while states with a clear preference for a party tend to have two senators from that party.

Plotting all fifty states on-screen would be a visual mess. However, using the controls below, you can pick any combination of states to display on the chart.

These readings are based on their senators' opinions, NOT on the general public opinion at any given time within the state. This might make some of the readings seem surprising. For instance, many states which are considered "battleground" states in the 2008 general election actually have two senators of the same party and/or two senators with similar voting records, pushing their reading away from the middle and toward a more "red" or "blue" position. The senators' views (the actual reading) often correlate with the public opinion in the state, making this chart an interesting way to look at state opinions. Bear in mind that this will not always be the case.