"The World's Smallest Political Quiz"

[David S.]

The discussion in another topic reminded me of a somewhat famous little quiz I though I'd share. I simply did a search for "World's Smallest Political Quiz" on Wikipedia and this is the version that they linked to, although I think the questions are the same in all current versions.

It works sort of like the Harry Potter "sorting hat", and tells you if you are a liberal, conservative, libertarian, centrist, or statist.

I just posted this for fun, not to start arguments or debates. People can feel free to post their results with text or by copying the image (if possible), or to just privately take the quiz to see where they end up:

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

[littlefuzzy]

I'm not sure how objective the quiz is, as the site is obviously Libertarian in it's view.

Edit:
I don't necessarily disagree with the Libertarian viewpoint on some issues, I just question whether that quiz is an accurate indicator of a person's political beliefs.

[disneyboy20022]

It said I was a Centrist (never heard of that before but the description they give pretty much says to a T on my poltical views)

Centrist prefer a "middle ground" regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what they describe as "practical" solutions to problems.

[David S.]

I'm not sure how objective the quiz is, as the site is obviously Libertarian in it's view.

Edit:
I don't necessarily disagree with the Libertarian viewpoint on some issues, I just question whether that quiz is an accurate indicator of a person's political beliefs.

Good points. To be honest I didn't realize the quiz would be appearing on a Libertarian-leaning website when I first searched for it (although I did score as one!), but I had just remembered seeing "The World's Smallest Political Quiz" somewhere in the past, so I looked it up. I'm pretty sure I've seen it on other sites in the past as well, but perhaps those were libertarian sites as well.

[Goliath]

Wow, big surprise...

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 70%

Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 30%

According to your answers, the political group that agrees with you most is...

Liberal

Liberals usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

Although I'm really a socialist.

[jpanimation]

I took that quiz a long time ago and found out I’m 100% libertarian baby!

Most people who take this quiz find out they’re libertarian, which is why the Libertarian Party links this on their front page. They know the vast majority of people registering as independents are actually libertarians who just don’t know it yet. The two major corporatist parties running this country use fear-mongering (their favorite tactic to justify illegal/harmful activity) to paint libertarians as extremists, when really it’s a viewpoint based on logic and reason, rooted in the constitution (whereas the other two self-serving parties base their stances on fear and empathy, which is just irrational and often leads to behavior that pisses on our rights and the constitution).

Just to note, there are other ‘worlds smallest political quizzes’, although none of them are as small as this (they get a little more detailed). From what I’ve seen, this is pretty accurate, so whatever you are here you will most likely be there. As I said, due to years of demonization of libertarians by the two major parties, many people’s gut reaction to finding out they’re libertarian is not positive and usually dismissive. Be proud you’re libertarian (small ‘l’).

[Goliath]

@ jpanimation: but libertarians are extremists when it comes to their political beliefs!

Just look at the most well-known libertarian politician, Ron Paul, who has said he believes, based on his libertarian views, that any store-owner should have the right to decide whom they want or don't want to serve, meaning they should have the right to refuse black people or gay people entrance and/or service. Ron Paul confirmed this on a political talkshow a few months ago.

Libertarians also don't believe in taxes. They think collecting taxes is theft. In their ideal world, there would be no taxes. But then how would we pay for hospitals, schools, infrastructure, police, firefighters, the military etc.? They never tell you that. And how will we take care for those who don't have a job, because of lay-offs or because they have a (mental) handicap? Libertarians will say charity will solve all this. But we already tried this. It's called the 19th century and it didn't work.

Libertarianism is extreme and it's not practical. There is no plot or smear campaign needed to convince the people of this. People love Social Security. They love Medicare and Medicaid. They want the government to take care of good education and good infrastructure.

In fact, I believe most people are socialists without knowing it:

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/rxzE8x2pnK4" frameborder="0"></iframe>

[Flanger-Hanger]

According to the quiz I'm a far left leaning "Centrist". 60% personal, 30% economic.

[ajmrowland]

i think i did something wrong-i believe in taxes.

Your PERSONALissues Score is 80%

Your ECONOMICissues Score is 60%

According to your answers, the political group that agrees with you most is...Libertarians support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. 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.

[jpanimation]

@ jpanimation: but libertarians are extremists when it comes to their political beliefs!

You know I disagree with that and firmly believe that libertarians are in the center of the political spectrum, with conservatives on the right and liberals on the left (fascism to the extreme right and socialism to the extreme left).

Just look at the most well-known libertarian politician, Ron Paul, who has said he believes, based on his libertarian views, that any store-owner should have the right to decide whom they want or don't want to serve, meaning they should have the right to refuse black people or gay people entrance and/or service. Ron Paul confirmed this on a political talkshow a few months ago.

I agree with him. This is called property rights, you can refuse anyone you want and make up whatever silly rules you want, you have the right since you own the property (not the government). Just as customers have the right to boycott you out of business.

Ron Paul has also said he wouldn't have supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and once again I agree with him. click here to read what he has to say about it. We believe that the free market would solve any racial discrimination in the end, since the country was already heading that way without the expansion of government power, and that by 1964 most people would've been uncomfortable walking into a business that discriminates (ultimately putting them out of business).

I question government involvement in almost everything, as most of it's bureaucratic nonsense that interferes with business and citizen rights. The government acts as if businesses would willingly participate in bad practices that would harm their customers if they weren't there to regulate them. That just doesn't makes sense. If you harm your customers, you loose business. Takes Chi-Chi's for example (a restaurant chain that used to be around me). They served raw green onions that were imported from Mexico to some customers and gave them Hepatitis A. A few months later the whole chain went out of business.

Just a little bit of bad press is enough to ruin a business and that encourages businesses to self regulate.

Libertarians also don't believe in taxes. They think collecting taxes is theft. In their ideal world, there would be no taxes. But then how would we pay for hospitals, schools, infrastructure, police, firefighters, the military etc.? They never tell you that. And how will we take care for those who don't have a job, because of lay-offs or because they have a (mental) handicap? Libertarians will say charity will solve all this. But we already tried this. It's called the 19th century and it didn't work.

This is part of the problem I was talking about. People often confuse libertarians with anarchists. We believe that a government is necessary to protect our rights and defend our liberty. We also believe that taxes are necessary to accomplish that. What we don't believe in is the income tax. We should get everything we earn, the government shouldn't be able to touch it and punish productive citizens. What should be in place is a flat tax on consumption, in which that revenue would be entirely adequate if we reduced the size of government. This would eliminate the IRS, corporate handouts, lobbyists, and all other forms of government favoritism utilizing tax leverage.

As for "hospitals, schools, infrastructure, police, firefighters, the military etc." First off, hospitals and schools shouldn't be government run, but private. I'm not sure if there are government-run hospitals but I do know that Medicare and Medicaid (a major source of hospital and clinic's income) are inflating prices for everyone else, as does all government interference. I support school choice that would use vouchers to fund private schools for children to go to and I also would love to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, which has cost us billions and done nothing to improve education (test scores have remained flat since creation). Infrastructure, local, would be covered under local property and/or consumption taxes. Things like highways should be privatized. Police, firefighters, and the military are necessary to protect our rights, but the abusive use of our military is not.

It's also not the government's obligation to take care of those out of work. People are responsible for themselves and should live within their means and plan for emergencies. If anyone has a physical or mental handicap, it is the obligation of their family to take care of them (unless it's a work related injury/illness, then it's the business' obligation). If their family is unable, then they will have to rely on the goodwill of others through charity. The government shouldn't be forcing anyone to help others.

Libertarianism is extreme and it's not practical. There is no plot or smear campaign needed to convince the people of this. People love Social Security. They love Medicare and Medicaid. They want the government to take care of good education and good infrastructure.

Of course everyone loves free handouts, but here's the problem; ponzi schemes like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid aren't practical. If we 100% taxed everyone in this country, we still wouldn't be able to cover all these unfunded obligations. I believe that no one should be forced into anything and everyone should have the right to opt out if they choose (I would, as I want to plan my own retirement). They should start putting plans into place to phase out these entitlements (raising the retirement age, privatizing, offering vouchers, etc. any kind of action is better then letting it just disappear all at once) while still making good to those who paid in.

Here is a good website to help illustrate just how much money people could have saved for retirement vs what they get:

http://www.mygovcost.org/results.php

In fact, I believe most people are socialists without knowing it:

In Europe, no question. In the United States, I'm not so sure.

This is my only contribution to any kind of debate in this topic. All future responses will be via PM to save CJ and others any hassle

[Linden]

My personal score is 50%
My economic score is 100%

I guess that makes me a Conservative. On the graph they show, though, my dot is right on the line between Conservative and Libertarian.

[Goliath]

@ jpanimation: All I can say is: I'm glad neither Ron Paul nor you were in charge in 1964. I'm glad all people are required to be treated equally in the US and that Apartheid (which existed until '64 in the US) has been abolished. I'm very, very, very sad to read you would support discrimination and racism like that. Because that's what it is, plain and simple, no matter how you try to spin it. And it's also a perfect example of the *extremism* of libertarians.

[Goliath]

Some things I wanted to add:

The economic principles of libertarianism don't work. It's all about less regulation for corporations and less government intrusion of the 'free market'. We tried that ever since Reagan got into power (most of the current problems start there) and it lead to economic disaster in 2008. It's a laissez-faire kind of politics that lead us to the Great Depression of the 1930's. And it is thanks to the 'big government' of Franklin Roosevelt, a real liberal, that literally tens of millions of American lives have been saved because of his New Deal. Had he been a libertarian, he wouldn't have done anything to help the people out, because he would have trusted 'charity' to solve the problem.

Libertarian view of society doesn't leave any room for understanding or emphaty for the less fortunate. The dogma is that people who are poor just don't work hard enough. Because, if they would work hard enough, surely the fair and holy market would have provided them with a decent salary, right? But the 'working poor' (people working 2 or 3 jobs without getting paid enough to make ends meet) and those who are unable to work have no place in libertarianism. Government can't help them out, because it would have to use taxes to pay for them. Better pray and hope charity saves them. And if charity isn't enough...? It's the 19th century again. We invented Social Security because we saw it was *needed*.

And there we have the essence of libertarianism: it's naive. It trusts corporations and business (and ordinary people) to do the good thing. But they don't. Libertarian economics is textbook economics: it only works on paper, in theory. And we know that --except libertarians. They rather rant against 'big government' (even though we deregulated and privatized almost everything the past 30 years). But government in and of itself isn't inherently bad. It depends on the people who govern. Unfortunately nowadays everybody in politics is following Reaganomics (including president Obama) instead of following FDR's proven results.

[ajmrowland]

Yeah, I'm so *not* a libetarian.

[Rose Dome]

I'm a Centrist.

My personal issues score was 80%, while my economic issues score was 50%. This put me on the line between Liberal and Libertarian on the graph.

[Scarred4life]

I'm a Liberal:

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 80%

Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 0%

Liberals usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

[Goliath]

@ jpanimation: you said the extreme right end of the political spectrum is fascism and the extreme left end is socialism, but that's incorrect. The extreme left end of the political spectrum is communism, not socialism. An important difference.

By the way, I think it's a pity you have moved our political discussion to PM. I've never seen anybody make a better case *against* libertarianism than you, yourself --unintentionally, of course. I'd like to post our conversation here, in this thread, with your permission of course. I think it would be interesting to discuss it further and allow other participants to join in.

[Goliath]

A more elaborate political test is the political compass, where you can see where you stand on the left-right and authoritarian-libertarian axes. You'll be amazed to see how many political leaders who are being called 'left-wing' are in reality right-of-center and authoritarian. You can post your results here and let us know where you stand and which politician is closest to you:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

A funny cartoon I found for jpanimation:

[Dr Frankenollie]

I'm a....

Liberal!

My Personal Issues score is 80%, whereas my Economics Issues score is 10%.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't know how to post results, but I ended up in the bottom-left (around the middle of the box).