Its very surprising that I haven’t written much about politics in last five years. I am as much interested in politics and history as I am in technology. I have been thinking about this post on my political philosophy from long time. But was lazy enough not to write about it until today. The time could not be better than the announcement of 15th Lok Sabha Elections.
In most of the discussions with friends, I end up facing the question about my political philosophy. Which one do I believe in? Its a very difficult question to answer as I don’t believe in any one philosophy. I am not completely leftist or right. Neither I agree with authoritarian nor I am supporter of freedom with out responsibility. I am sure a believer secularism but keep myself away from intellectuals. So where do I stand?

Yup. That red dot is me. I am mostly a Left Libertarian if that makes any sense. I believe in personal freedom and ownership but not at the cost of natural resources getting exploited by biggies. I believe in having big corporations as long as they don’t start selling vegetables or fish. I believe in freedom of expression with responsibility. I believe in democracy and secular system. As you see in the graph I am almost in the middle. I guess I have a balanced view or I am selfish enough to accept only the good points from all four.

Nothing makes much sense if there are no reference points. So here are few other leaders. I am almost in the center of the graph with little bias towards left and personal freedom.

But are my views or beliefs useful? Is there any party to which I can vote depending totally on ideology? I guess we all know the answer, NO, I can’t. So what do I look in when I go to vote?

I try to be very practical when I vote. I have voted four five times. Twice for state, once for center and twice for my gram-panchayat. I have voted for an MP by looking at his party’s POV than his personal. When I voted for state, I again saw party’s credibility at the state level. But when I voted for panchayat I looked at the man. Its because at this level I might get a chance to interact with him. So I felt its better to vote for the person who is approachable and listens to you. I am not sure if this is the right way to decide candidate. But I must agree, I am not totally unsatisfied.
What is your political view? How do you decide on candidate? Any suggestions?

In 2010 my views