To your right, just below the "About Me" verbiage, is an invitation to take a test. Hit the green button, and get back to me.
Here's a direct link, just in case I ever move the button to someplace else.
If you don't score at least 40% on this test, please lean back from your computer. (All that dripping saliva harms the keys....)
Fortunately, many of the people who ruined the word "liberal" in the U.S. are now calling themselves "progressives", since words aren't the only things those people screwed up.
For more links on how the word "liberal" has been corrupted, you can click here.
Liberal. It means "one who is willing to leave everyone the hell alone". It comes from the same root as Liberate, Liberty, Libertine (heh !), Libertarian, and several other currently unfashionable terms. A good, solid, honorable word.
HT to Chris with the Feline Enumerators for the link.
18 comments:
I scored a 60% (I know you are shocked) but the questions (as is often the case) were simplistic and lousy.
Not overly impressed, sad to say.
PS -- youngest son took the test and scored exactly the same, with absolutely no prompting by me.
Booyah!
I scored 100%... ho hum. I agree with Dr. Ralph. I have to say that I like some of the questions in www.politopia.com or even the Political Compass on facebook. However, the Pol. Compass was written by a Brit too ( and was a little confusing at times).
I would like to know where Dr. Ralph ends up on both of those.
Dr. Ralph,
I have been lax in my blog reading lately... And haven't been able to do any political thumbwrestling with you lately.
I saw Whited this evening and I told him that I had fallen behind and hadn't seen anything from you in a while. Then I said "So, what's Dr. Ralph like? I'd like to meet him one day...." Then I said, "No. Actually, it may be best that Dr. Ralph remains an unseen character in my life.... some characters are better like that.... like Norm's wife, Vera on Cheers - or Carleton the Doorman on Rhoda." Then we laughed and laughed.
TLG -- I'm sure meeting me would be a great disappointment. WS will tell you, I'm extremely boring in real live.
Dr,
I admit that I showed him the pictures (the one with the Harleys where all your tattoos are visible, plus the one with all your wives from that Vegas/Vatican vacation, and the one where Chairman Mao is signing your copy of "The Little Red Book".)
One other thing....Look for #2 son's score to approach 100% if he goes to Virginia. (BWA HA HA HA HA !!!)
I've been reading more and more of the Brit bloggers and a ton of the UK commentary about the current U.S. situation. It's interesting to see how their political parties have aligned themselves in almost the exact same way ours have. Even more interesting to see how a 3rd-party's test remains somewhat valid across national boundaries.
haha. I scored 50%, but I tried to take the statements and apply them to my KISS Party Principle.
The one about forcing people to change to fix the climate for example. The KISS Party Principle is "you can do anything you want as long as you aren't hurting someone else".
If driving your car and releasing carbon monoxide is proven to be harmful to other people then you can't do it. No more driving!
Well done!
You scored 100%
You are completely liberal
My first 100 since I graduated from government schools.
100% Liberal.
Because the word has been tainted that sounds so taboo to say...
By the way, maybe you should update your counter on the right to also include the war in Afghanistan.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1880253,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/video/?bcpid=1485842900&bctid=1726708918
60%
Although I've scored very extreme libertarian on other tests, I found some questions on this one to be a bit broad and possibly misleading.
I'm curious, though, to see which questions Dr. Ralph and Jr. chose that were deemed "illiberal."
As a proud left-winger, I decided to take your test. I scored 70%. Not sure if that's good or bad.
The problem here (as in many places) is that everything has been reduced to a sound bite or bumper sticker. Just what we need for a reasoned intelligent debate.
But mostly the people responsible don't want a reasoned debate: they want to score points.
Not that you couldn't have figured it out, but here are my answers, with an explanation (where I feel it necessary):
1) Yes - duh!
2) No - duh!
3) Yes - a witlessly simplistic question, which ignores the complexity and interconnectedness of our economy. Yes because in some cases, failing corporations in this economic climate create chaos for more than just the heads of the corporation; it affects workers, it affects suppliers, and the ripples can have far reaching consequences.
4) No - (I'm sure you're shocked) but that says nothing about regulating ownership of guns. We regulate ownership of many things, including houses and automobiles.
5) Yes - as long as I, as a private citizen, have the right to publicly express my outrage over these views, should I be so moved to.
6) Yes - and another witlessly simplistic question that can mean almost anything to anyone. Boo.
7) Yes - another poorly worded question. How about anyone convicted of a felony?
8) Distasteful but no - as long as no crime was committed while it was being made. Otherwise you are essentially an accomplice to that crime. Child porn anyone?
9) Yes - although this one is a bit of a challenge. Almost a maybe. Again - witlessly simplistic. Should we have prevented the Holocaust if we'd been able? Or were we able?
10) No - duh! I'm not even sure it should be forced on us.
Gar - I'm impressed you scored even lower than me!
WS - I'm less worried about youngest son scoring 100% in a few years than seeing Russell Roberts reduced to quivering incoherence by said son.
I'll be watching Cafe Hayek very carefully for signs of stress!
Okay, since it was vaguely connected with George Mason University, I did the Politopia quiz and was in...Centerville (although in the southwest quatrant--more personal freedoms, more government control of economy).
Surprised?
Better questions and responses, except the one that said "Generally speaking people are..."
I didn't see the answer, "Largely f**king idiots."
Not that I would have chosen it, but I at least wanted that choice.
OK Ralphie, My take.
1. Raise taxes on the rich to redistribute to the poor? This question should peg your redistributionalist leanings. Taxes should never be raised on anyone and never to simply redistribute to another. Taking money from others by force and giving away to other people while keeping a little for youself is called stealing... mafia style.
2. We should get rid of the minimum wage. Simple question - but not a bad one. The answer is yes. Minimum wages ALWAYS hurts those at the bottom run of the economic ladder and is really in place not to help anyone these days except for the Union bosses who need a rising minimum wage ... That means rising dues.
3. The state should bailout large corporations in distress?? Again, kind of simple, but a true 'liberal' knows that the state should never bail out any corporation in financial distress ever. This disturbs market forces and creates unfair competition against those who managed their business wisely.
4. It should be illegal for members of the public to own guns. It should not be illegal for members of the public to own guns. I assume that they're talking about sane people. I'll go out on a limb and assume they meant this of all people addressed by these questions. Otherwise, no probs here.
5. People who hold racist or extreme views should be allowed to express their ideas. Of course, I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will thumbwrestle you to the death to defend your right to say it. Lone exception being Jonas Brothers music being played within earshot of me.
6. The state should make people change their behaviour to tackle climate change. Disagree. First, I truly don't believe I have my head in the sand, but rather I have read quite a bit of credible evidence that climate changes experienced over the past several hundred years are not attributable to human behaviour.
7. It is wrong for the police to retain the DNA of anyone not serving a prison sentence... YES! My DNA is my property, taking it from me by force is theft and a violation of my Fifth Amendment right to not testify against myself (should they try to use it as evidence against me). Arrest me first.
8. The state should ban people from watching violent pornography... I'd say the only exception is if the people in the videos were involuntary subjects. Again, sane adults only. Mentally challenged/compromised or underaged? Then yes. Otherwise, spank away!
9. It is wrong for democratic nations to overthrow foreign dictators... YES. The assumption I made is that we go to a country, let's call it Shirack, that actually poses little to no threat to us, and forces them by bomb blast to become democratic. Wrong-o... However, if the government of a country gave a group training grounds, aid and comfort to a small army who attacked us (Afghanistan, for example), then we've got a beef with them. However, we simply get rid of the old government who jacked us up, and leave.
10. Free market capitalism should be forced on other nations to help create a better world.... Well Of COURSE! Actually, this would be great IF it didn't fly in the face of FREE market capitalism. So got to go against this too. Sadly.
When you start explaining your answers and "Ralphie" is impressed with me, I feel I must further explain the KISS Party Principle and how it relates to the Liberal Exam. Remember, you can do anything you want as long as you aren't hurting someone else.
1) Raising taxes on the rich is not hurting the rich. Of course, this depends on the amount of tax increase and other crazy things, but I was taking a simplistic approach. Currently, I think we all pay too much.
2) Get rid of minimum wage? It depends on how you are going to control the business owners. There are destitute people that will be willing to work for $1's or less per day and business owners more than willing to take advantage. Hell, there are ministers already taking advantage.
3) Bail out companies? No. No one is getting hurt.
4) Owning guns is fine, but if you shoot someone then you face severe consequences.
5) People with extreme views can talk publicly all they want. Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
6) The state can enforce climate change under certain conditions. If you are doing something that is hurting others you must quit. But they would have to prove that driving your car is the problem (or however else you may be impacting the climate). And further prove that the climate change is hurting other people.
7)Wrong for police to retain DNA? I said no because it's not hurting anyone. If they use that DNA to frame you or for any other hurtful motives then they should be punished. But the act of keeping the DNA is not harmful.
8)Ban from watching pornography? Watching pornography is not hurting anyone. Have fun!
9)It is not absolutely wrong for anyone to overthrow a foreign dictator. I kind of took liberty with this one. Depends on what the foreign dictator is doing. Then, it might be wrong.
10) Forcing free market capitalism is ridiculous.
And that, my friends, is how the founding member of the KISS Party scored 50% on the liberal quiz.
Thanks for your time.
I scored 70%. I had three illiberal votes.
I scored 100% liberal. Not sure if I would say I am a liberal, however one of my other favorite blogs is called classically liberal.
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