|
|
|
August 19, 2005
the path to impurity?
Every once in a while I like to check my political litmus -- stuff like whether I'm still a libertarian, or how much of a libertarian I am, or how I score in tests purporting to tell me that. So once again, I took Bryan Caplan's Libertarian Purity Test (which I found via Incite). My all time high on this test was a score of 105 on March 11, 2004. I don't know wy I was so high that day, but this time I only scored 100 -- out of a possible perfect score of 160. 91-130 points: You have entered the heady realm of hard-core libertarianism. Now doesn't that make you feel worse that you didn't get a perfect score?Not really. I find myself more and more inclined to resist such external judgments. I suspect I'd find the type of person who'd score 160 to be a bit on the impractical side. The kind who like to argue late into the night over things like whether handguns should be sold to children in elementary school vending machines, who'd open the borders to the entire world, and who'd eliminate national self defense. While I have no objection per se to libertarian purity, and I think it's good that there are such people, that kind of libertarianism would be a national suicide pact if implemented. Most of my friends -- whether liberal, moderate or conservative -- would probably fall into the 50 through 80 range. Which means I'm still a bit of a kook from the standpoint of most of my friends, as well as a less-than-pure sellout from the standpoint of libertarian purists. Can't please 'em, can't join 'em. posted by Eric on 08.19.05 at 02:13 PM
Comments
This test is misnamed: it should be "Anarcho-Capitalist Purity Test". I scored 92 and I am a very strong minarchist libertarian; that is, I do think there are some functions, though rather limited, that are valid for government and would almost certainly not be properly discharged in an anarchistic situation. IMO, anarcho-capitalist rhetoric and control, usually, of the LP since ~1983, are the main reasons libertarianism has failed to gain many more adherents. Aristomedes · August 19, 2005 06:29 PM 49. Yipee! Mrs. du Toit · August 19, 2005 06:34 PM Whatever happened to the nut: Pieter Friedrich? I got a 48 on the test! Anonymous · August 19, 2005 07:17 PM 134 "131-159 points: You are nearly a perfect libertarian, with a tiny number of blind spots. Think about them, then take the test over again. On the other hand, if you scored this high, you probably have a good libertarian objection to my suggested libertarian answer." Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · August 19, 2005 07:17 PM 40, this time. It was probably about there last time, too. "31-50 points: Your libertarian credentials are obvious. Doubtlessly you will become more extreme as time goes on." Dennis · August 19, 2005 09:15 PM I'm with Dennis. 42 - and actually, I've become less extreme. Kathy K · August 20, 2005 09:51 AM Fascinating results. I'm more of a kook than I thought, and I think I should revise my speculations about how my friends might test out. And Steven, what's happened to you? You seem to be more conservative, yet your score is more than thirty points higher than the last time I linked to this test. Spectrum drift? Eric Scheie · August 20, 2005 01:17 PM I'm an anarcho-fascist. Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · August 20, 2005 02:00 PM Actually, my (or Dawn's and Wanda's) ideal is anarchy (zero government, everything privately owned including missile silos), but I also know that that's impossible in anything like the foreseeable future, at least on this planet. In practice, I'm closer to Rand's limited government capitalism than to Rothbard's anarcho-capitalism, and I'll even settle for Friedman in the meantime over what we have now, which is Keynes turning into Marx or worse. Where I deviated from the Rothbard position on that quiz was where his anarchism becomes pacifism. I answered "no" to every question involving disarming the military or cutting military spending. I'm for increasing military spending. In fact, I would favor a Constitutional amendment mandating that our armed forces be kept at all times superior to all enemies or potentisl enemies, as well as explicitly establishing an Air Force. One quibble with that quiz: In the section for Rand, it listed killing civilians in war as morally wrong, yet Rand herself is explicitly on record as stating that killing enemy civilians in war is morally right whenever necessary to win the war and save the lives of our own soldiers. That is the position of Peikoff and the Ayn Rand Institute, and I agree with it. Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · August 20, 2005 02:14 PM I think this is one of those areas where the extremes on a spectrum converge, as both Wanda on the Far Left and Dawn on the Far Right both long for anarchy. The difference is that Wanda's idea anarchy would be scientific, atheistic, and chaotic, while Dawn's ideal anarchy would be mythic, polytheistic, and hierarchical, a high-tech feudalism with a symbolic monarchy. "God (and the Goddess: the Holy Quaternity) hath shapen lives three: Steven Malcolm Anderson the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · August 20, 2005 02:46 PM 65. Apparently, I'm a libertarian with a cooked white and a yolk that's solid but not dry: "You are a medium-core libertarian, probably self-consciously so. Your friends probably encourage you to quit talking about your views so much." This test hasn't met my friends. Sean Kinsell · August 21, 2005 06:29 AM 61. How shameful; my readers are all confessing scores higher than mine. Marzo · August 21, 2005 02:24 PM |
|
March 2007
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR
Search the Site
E-mail
Classics To Go
Archives
March 2007
February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 May 2002 See more archives here Old (Blogspot) archives
Recent Entries
• War For Profit
• How trying to prevent genocide becomes genocide • I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight • Wind Boom • Isaiah Washington, victim • Hippie Shirts • A cunning exercise in liberation linguistics? • Sometimes unprincipled demagogues are better than principled activists • PETA agrees -- with me! • The high pitched squeal of small carbon footprints
Links
Site Credits
|
|
I got a 61, but am "that crazy libertarian guy" to My friends and coworkers. I guess they are all in single digits or something.