One of the more interesting things about watching debates unfold here is that not only do different people have different "litmus issues", they do not hew to a single slate of ideology. And that is how it should be. It's enough of an echo chamber here as it is. What happens sometimes, though, is if someone is to the right of the "norm" on a particular issue, that person's "progressive credentials" get called into question--often by a person who might be to the right of the first person on
another issue.
So in lieu of a demographic survey I am doing back to back political surveys. I will list some topics and you should choose which one you have the most "leftist" position for the first, and which one you have the most "rightist" position for the second. This is "left" and "right" only relative to yourself. Your most "rightward" position may still be several steps to the left of Dennis Kucinich, but is still the closest to the right of the positions that you hold on various topics. I know there will also be some dispute over what the "left" and "right" positions actually are. I'll leave that to your own interpretation, but standard generalizations should be in order (leftward includes pro-unions, pro gay, pro affirmative action, pro choice, anti-war for example)
Some of you may be pure progressives up and down, but it's probably more interesting, and more accurate, to say that as individuals, we trend more leftward and rightward depending on the issue. Also, I'd like to cut down on the "more progressive than thou" pissing contests that occasionally arise here. As long as you're not trolling, differences of opinion should be acknowledged.