vna-07/veritas

VERITAS — Where you stand. What is true. An open‑source civic instrument for the South African voter. # VERITAS — A Civic Instrument for the South African Voter **VERITAS** is a politically neutral, open‑source web application that maps your policy convictions onto the full South African political landscape. It does not tell you how to vote. It shows you where you stand — and then gives you the unflinching evidence to decide what to do with that information. --- ## Table of Contents - Overview - Inspiration - How It Works - Question Bank - Axis Calculation - Three Compasses - Party Matching - Outcome Tiers - Party Dossiers - Data Sources - Limitations - Technical Architecture - Running Locally - Contributing - License & Contact --- ## Overview South Africa's democratic participation faces a crisis not of apathy alone, but of information. Voters choose parties based on historical loyalty, personality, ethnicity, and inherited allegiance — not policy alignment. The result is a Parliament that frequently does not reflect the actual policy preferences of the people who elect it. VERITAS was built to close that gap. It offers: - **265 policy questions** across 20 thematic categories, each with a neutral context brief that expands to a full historical explanation. - **Three distinct political compasses** — one built specifically for South African reality, one mapped to the classic global left/right–authoritarian/libertarian model, and one that places you inside the full ideological taxonomy from Stalinism to Anarcho‑Capitalism. - **Party matching** against 100+ registered South African parties using their published 2024 manifestos and parliamentary voting records. - **Full critical party dossiers** — history, ideology, leadership, successes, scandals, critical flaws, and an honest "why vote / why not vote" verdict. - **Four outcome tiers** that honestly flag when a user has no strong match, is a pragmatic swing voter, or sits near the Constitutional ideal. - **Glossary highlighting** — key political terms are explained on hover. - **Multi‑assessment history** — a …