Does the pro-polygraph community tend to have similar political leanings?  What about the anti-polygraph community?  If so, what do you think those leanings are?

What are the political leanings and views of George Maschke and Doug Williams?

By the way, when using TOR to access this site, I had to get a "New Identity" a few times before I got access.  I appears that several of the TOR IP Address have been banned from this site.  Any comments on this?

Kill the poly!

I ask stupid questions:

I try to avoid discussion of partisan politics on AntiPolygraph.org, as I don't think polygraph policy is or should be a partisan issue. However, while I appreciate Arkhangelsk's succinctly expressed viewpoint, I'll be happy to address the questions you raised in a general way.

If the "pro-polygraph" community is taken to be polygraph examiners themselves, then it appears to be overwhelmingly conservative Republican.

But if we extend the "pro-polygraph" community to policy makers, then it is more bipartisan. For example, one of the biggest backers in Congress of the expansion of polygraph screening of U.S. Customs and Border Protection was Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat.

With respect to the "anti-polygraph community," such that it exists, I don't think there are any obvious generalizations to be made. Some thirty years ago, however, when efforts were being made to enact the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA), the Democratic party took the leading role in supporting it, and the Democratic party controlled both houses of Congress. However, it was a Republican, Ronald Reagan, who signed it into law. My understanding is that Republicans played a key role in inserting the governmental exemptions to the EPPA.

Since that time, neither party has staked out a position on polygraph policy, though the handful of politicians who have spoken critically of polygraphy at times tend to be Democrats.

If the "anti-polygraph community" is taken to be people who have been victims of polygraphy, then again, I don't think any obvious generalizations can be made. Many polygraph victims are individuals seeking employment with law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies. They're more likely to have politically conservative views and more likely to be Republicans.

But then again, there are well-educated people who oppose polygraphy because they understand that it has no scientific basis. In academia, such critics of polygraphy may tend to have a liberal world view.

I'd prefer to refrain from discussing my views about political topics other than polygraphy here. I'm happy to work with people with a wide range of views on other issues to advance the cause of ending our government's misplaced reliance on the pseudoscience of polygraphy.

With respect to getting blocked when using Tor, I very much regret that. AntiPolygraph.org, and this message board in particular, has been beset by aggressive spam bots, and I resorted to blocking certain blocks of IP addresses from which such spamming is most prevalent. Unfortunately, these sometimes erroneously include Tor exit nodes. I'll see what I can do to mitigate this problem.