What's my character's politics?

I have this character, he's intended to be an antagonist in one of my stories, and I would like to ask you guys a question. Judging by these quotes from him, what political philosophy does he espouse? I know it's a weird question, but it'll really help me figure out where to take his characterization.

Here's some of the things he says:

"If I had my way, I'd have every building older than 50 years burned to the ground."

"It's impossible to please anyone. You put cameras on the streets, they whine about their privacy. You get rid of the cameras, and they whine about the crime rate."

"People aren't complicated at all, really. Just give them plenty of food and a little diversion and they'll go along with anything. As for the ones who still aren't satisfied? Well, that's why we have the police."

"Some crackpot anarchist starts planting bombs and all the media is concerned about are whether or not we read him his rights."

"What? The prisons are running out of room? Just have a few hundred convicts shot, problem solved.Nobody will miss them."

"I'm not proud of what I do, but I've seen the alternative. It's ugly, very ugly."

"The common people are nothing more than nails to be pounded down."

At the risk of potentially raising a couple of hackles, he sounds like a modern American Conservative politician and an incredibly cynical one at that.

He's:

1. Pro-death penalty

2. Anti-Miranda rights for terrorists and such

3. Deceitful and manipulative

4. Apparently willing to abuse the power he was (presumably, if he WAS democratically elected) voted in to

The quote about the buildings over 50 years old doesn't really apply to American politics- he's pro-urban development? He also appears to be somewhat of a misanthrope, or at least contemptuous towards the people he's trying to serve.

More quotes would be good. As you have it right now there's not too much to go on.

Some more quotes:

"Never say the word 'torture' ever again. We don't torture people. We simply persuade them to cooperate."

"People crave discipline, it's the only way they learn."

"I don't trust the academics. They're far too smart for their own good."

"Everyone's a potential enemy."

"Who cares if one innocent man is jailed? It's better than letting twenty criminals walk free."

"Always remember that I do this because I care."

"In politics, honesty is a liability."

"People are like dogs. They need to know what happens if they don't behave."

"Of course I value human life. It's just that some life is more valuable than others."

You know what, I think I like your character already.

Hmm, is the last quote a possible Shout-Out to Animal Farm?

Indeed it is.

Yeah, this only makes me think he is more of a conservative. Focus on discipline etc. He's borderline Right-Wing Authoritarian. You may want to read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism

Have you tried taking one of those political spectrum quizzes as your character to see where he would fall?

Richard Nixon. 'Nuff said.

Sounds like a Statist to me. In "Conservative-Liberal" terms, I guess he could be called a Neocon

This character is the classic authoritarian personality masquerading as a modern conservative. In addition to being socially extreme, he's probably also economically fairly right-wing, if not a full-blown neoliberal. Basically, the kind of person that I really don't like.

They're so much fun to write!

Fun Fact!

^{I actually scored a 20 on the refined test, which is apparently rather rare. Had I been less reflexive, I might have gotten a 30 or so, but this is about opinion... In other words, I'm the logical opposite extreme.}

edited 7th Apr '11 8:51:38 PM by JHM

Does it matter? I mean, if he's the bad guy, let the readers decide.

Putting the reader's mind a certain political philosophy (god forbid tying him to one) will only piss some viewers off who are more conservative than liberal. Saying that he is conservative makes it look like it might be a political stab at people on the right wing, and deter from the actual work.

The only time you can get away with this of course is with communism, totalitarian regimes, and fascism, but if you in any way tie it with any major political ideology in America it has the potential to really, really annoy people.

I might say he is 'the end justifies the means' and 'the suffering of a this generation will ensure the well-being of the future' kind of guy.

Sounds like he will very likely going to abuse those powers. If you tie him with any current political group, I'd avoid anything direct.

But then again, it may not matter. I'm just saying don't over-do his association with a political group.

My initial thoughts is all, may or may not be good advice.

(in case anyone is wondering, I am a moderate, also slightly conservative leaning, and a democrat as well)

edit: but to answer the question, I really do not know what group he would be, an extreme version of some ideology, or a perversion of one.

He comes off to me as a type of anti-democratic party, though I wouldn't say conservative in the American sense, then again conservative means a different thing from country to country)

edited 7th Apr '11 8:58:29 PM by jasonwill2

I agree with jasonwill2, if him being in a certain political party have nothing to do with the work, it's a smarter and less Flame Baity idea to not specify which group he's in (though on the other hand, some people wll get pissed anyways, so . . .).

I would assume from that, though, he's very extreme right-wing, almost certainly over the line to authoritarian.

To re-state my earlier assessment of the "anti-democratic party" I was referring to the two I recently learned of in a Civics course.

antidemocratic-conservative: wants to return to older systems of governing and social/economic structure and wants to do so with peaceful and constitutional means in their country.

antidemocratic-radical: Approves of all methods for returning to older systems, including violence. (Texts claims that these groups are the spiritual successors of Hitler and Mussolini, though they do not often associative themselves with these two people)

Anyway, that's the two I was referring to, learned of them less than a week ago in school.

edited 8th Apr '11 7:48:10 PM by jasonwill2