While SSD is not a political blog, I thought that our readers might enjoy this simple tool to help examine their political beliefs. The Advocates For Self Government’s “The World’s Smallest Political Quiz” examines beliefs in personal liberty and economic issues to determine the participant’s political beliefs. With only 10 questions, it doesn’t look at every issue, and certainly not in any detail but it does give a general sense of where you fit in. Mine seemed to be in the right ball park. Enjoy!
Thanks to RYP for the find!
Not surprised by my results either.
Nope. Same as I claim.
30% and 30%
Then again, it’s on your scale.
In another (longer) quiz I occupy a centre-left position on the economic scale and centrist on the authoritarian/libertarian scale.
Well the questions are leading, but I happen to agree with where they are going. Libertarian, minus the baggage tacked-on by butthurt liberals and conservatives, ftw.
Mine scored libertarian, but I disagree as I don’t support drug use or alternative lifestyles as it suggested.
What about other people’s alternative lifestyles require your consent or support?
What about this quiz discussed alternative lifestyles?
It wasn’t a direct question, but I believe it’s associated with this question: There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults.
It placed me as Libertarian and then gives the following:
Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.
To me, it’s a pretty broad point. There are plenty of people with the viewpoint that if you are having relations with your spouse for anything other than procreation, in the missionary position with the lights out, then you are a pervert. And then, you’ve got the other end of the spectrum. Since I don’t think it’s anyone’s business what my wife and I do in the privacy of our bedroom, I didn’t have a problem answering that. In general, no matter the subject, I ask myself, “How does this issue affect me and mine?” And, “How could this affect us if someone with a different life outlook were able to determine right and wrong for me?” I don’t want folks from either end of the spectrum determining how I should live. Because, you might think it’s ok for the Government to have a certain power when the guys you like are in charge but then you wake up one day and you realize that a bunch of folks you don’t agree with can read your mail or listen to your telephone or walk into your bedroom.
Just as I thought… Centrist-Libertarian.
I came out a libertarian, which makes sense because the quiz was created by Libertarians to promote Libertarianism. I am still probably a Libertarian, I just want to point out the inerrant bias.
That is a very valid point.
+1
Thanks for sharing that Kevin.
If you say “Maybe” to everything the test says you’re a centrist. Go figure.
True but it doesn’t change the truthful questions the quiz present.
The real question to non libertarians is, why should you have your freedom but other people can’t have theirs?
You have a right to life liberty and pursuit of happiness, not to control others, unless that action violates natural/common law..i.e. murder, robbery, rape, etc.
Hear, hear
Keep it in the 10 ring ya wingnuts! >:D
Seriously these statements are way too broad. Had to go dead-center Centrist.
Interesting test but 90 degrees wrong. Came out as a centrist libertarian and I’m a conservative with some libertarian sympathies but hey the test only has a handful of questions.
People should take it. It get’s one thinking.
Maybe you aren’t really a Conservative. For years I thought I was when in fact, I’m a Libertarian.
^Made the same discovery as SSD not very long ago.
Many of us have made that journey.
agreed
No, I’ve done a lot of searching. Libertarian foreign policy is unrealistic. Drugs for everyone? No I grew up in a drug infested ghetto. I’m generally a live let live guy which is why I sympathize with some libertarian beliefs but libertarianism ignores some of the dark nature of humanity and foreign gov’ts.
+1
I agree to a certain extent with both of those sentiments. Unfortunately, Libertarianism completely ignores the inherent nature of man. It also believes that markets will take care of themselves and that corporations will inherently do the right things. Unfortunately, neither Liberalism nor Conservatism looks out for me and my rights. And, by extension, neither of the current American parties that tend to Left and Right do either.
I’ll take the Libertarians because reality will force them to deal with evil but nothing is going to force either side of the political spectrum into respecting my inherent rights as an individual.
We’ll agree to disagree with your position that conservative American political school of thought won’t respect individual rights. There are numerous examples to counter that perception.
+1.
There are always those that are inherently followers that need to be herded and there are those that just need some guidance and leadership for them to fully blossom to their respective potential and that guidance or help may need to come from the civil society which is typically represented by the government. Thus I can’t fully agree with with the pure libertarian policy, or the liberal nanny state idealism, or the narrow moral purview of the right wing. I should have ended up somewhere in the middle too but the way the questions are phrased in such a black and white manner.
Mine ended up almost at the crossroads of the centrist, libertarian and right wing. Guess it could have been much worse, lol. But as most of the other posters have stated the questions were vague and leading.
They are vague but not leading. it’s up to you to interpret what they mean.
No, they are vague. The discussion of sex demonstrates that.
interesting. Although I was squarely in the libertarian sector it had me leaning towards “liberal” which I find incorrect and offensive. But one could argue that the current definitions of liberal and conservative are bastardized and insulting..
+1
exactly
Scored Libertarian leaning Liberal.
Suck it, Conservatives. 😛
Isn’t the separation of personal and economic issues a false dichotomy? How could you claim to max out personal issues if you have a zero in economic issues, which are ultimately a matter of personal sovereignty?
The problem I see with this graph is that the Liberal/Conservative paradigm actually shares an axis with the Libertarian/Statist. The only trick is how you choose to define Liberal and how Conservative. Historically, conservative has been the term for those upholding a statists/monarchist status quo, while liberal has been the term for the reformers in favor of more liberty. However, in the United States, where the government was founded on liberal principles, those who upheld those principles and opposed change were termed conservative, while reformers continued to be termed liberal. Needless to say, reform is not always in the direction of more liberty.
Further confusing things is the matter of “social conservatives”, who are conservative in the historical sense of wanting to preserve or return to a certain status quo – also not always in the direction of more liberty.
And of course this says nothing of the arbitrary headings of Left and Right and the associated political parties that currently claim those terms.
So that’s why some call themselves Liberal and favor Libertarian positions, and some call themselves Conservative and favor Statist positions and vice versa. The like-minded are only separated by the nebulous idea of (D) and (R).
+1
That chart is completely wrong about personal freedom. It gives more points to “liberals”, but lest our knowledge go down the toilet of history, remember that in the time of slavery, the part of the country that permitted slavery was firmly controlled by the people that call themselves Liberal. In the political sense, the term “conservative” refers to conserving the Constitution’s principles, which promotes individual liberty for all.
I’m not really sure where you picked up American history but it was most certainly a Conservative point of view to hold others as property in human bondage. The Democratic and Republican parties of the mid-19th Century were drastically different than now. As was pointed out by Evan, to be Conservative is to sustain the status-quo.
I think many of the hang ups with this quiz stem from a pre-concieved notion of where one fits into our current perception of left and right and Dem and Rep.
Sometimes you will be surprised about what you really believe and it will scare you.
SSD – and yet Lincoln was conservative and he freed the slaves.
You’ve got a warped understanding of conservative. It would be like evaluating all of libertarians based on the fact that the movement includes anarchists. Let’s not judge a whole movement by its extremists.
You have to put everything into perspective of the time.
The definition of Conservative is simple:
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
Was Lincoln Conservative in that he wanted to preserve the Union? Yes. Was he Conservative in his view to end slavery? No. Not in the perspective of his time. Set aside the personal liberty aspect of the question of slavery and concentrate on the economic impacts. That was the position of the South; maintenance of the economic status quo.
In fact, the founding of this great nation was hardly the product of conservative thought. The conservatives of the time would have been loyal to the crown.
Parties change points of view over time. That’s ok. Don’t fall in love with a label.
Agree definitions have changed over time. Not in love with a label.
lib·er·tar·i·an (l b r-târ – n). n. 1. One who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state
If you want to be as legalistic with the definition of libertarianism you have to say Libertarianism is synonymous with anarchy and that wasn’t in line with our founding fathers wishes either.
The test you posted is skewed with narrow or incorrect definitions of competing schools of thought. Try to make the test answer anything but in the libertarian box and you’ll see how difficult it is. The test is a trick by a libertarian organization to get folks to reevaluate their political beliefs which isn’t necessarily bad but it becomes bad when you misdefine other movements.
If one is legalistic in defining one school of thought and not others it’s bias.
Oh shit. according to this survey, my politics seem to be like how I sometimes shoot my Glock – I’m pulling left… i thought i knew me… If you post a sexual orientation test, I won’t be taking it. I don’t need any more surprises…
There would be no surprises.. 🙂
Good! Wait!… Hrrmm….
Indoctrination…
I’m a centrist right between libertarian and liberal…