no1tovote4
Gold Member
I am shocked that it found me to be a Libertarian... NOT!
World's Smallest Political Quiz
- Thread starter Mr. P
- Start date
You're right it is totally flawed. If you choose that Government should interfere with Free Speech, it gets scored as conservative, if you answer government should not restrict Free Speech its scored liberal/libertarian. And we all know its the leftist socialist/communists that cannot stand free speech, just look at Europe - jailing Priests for repeating what the bible teaches against homosexuality, banning the swastika in Germany.....and lets not forget the Clinton crowd that got that Path to 9/11 show censored. I don't think anyone can argue that such governments and laws are "conservative".
Below the link is some of the contents of this site without any commentary on my part.
http://www.theworld.com/~mhuben/rupright.html
Flaws in the quiz
Many of the flaws in the quiz present themselves immediately. Others require a little analysis.
Size
The selling point of the quiz is that it is small. It attempts to tell you what your political philosophy is based on the answers to ten questions. But smaller is not necessarily better. On the contrary, there are countless issues woven into the political tapestry. Read any internet political discussion group and you'll see. Often even one thread may split into tangents covering more topics than the quiz. The fewer the questions, the less likely we can determine anything significant from the answers.
Dimension
The other selling point of the quiz is that it is = two-dimensional. Rather than trying to put a person on the standard one-dimensional Left/Right scale, the quiz adds a dimension, drawing a distinction between opinions on economic and personal issues.
Of course such scales, one and two-dimensional, are mostly intended for convenience. When faced with a choice of two or more political candidates we cannot compare each candidate's stand on every issue with our own. We have to get a more general idea about where we land on some simpler scale, and how the various candidates compare. In reality, an accurate scale would have many more dimensions. Ideally, at least one axis for every major political issue. But that's not practical, so we reduce the number of dimensions.
The authors of the quiz, however, have chosen two axes which unnaturally inflate the significance of libertarianism and authoritarianism in the space of political ideologies. The quiz improves the standard classification of political ideologies by recognizing that there are people who believe the government has a role in nearly nothing, and others who believe the government has a role in nearly everything. But the quiz authors ignore very important political questions which determine not whether the government has a role, but the nature of that role. It leaves us with the same left/right dichotomy for those people who believe that the government has a limited role in society.
Indeed, if the quiz were written to address the variety of real political issues in America, it would include a number of other axes beside ‘economic’ and ‘personal’. The result would be a drastic increase in the number of potential data points which do not fall within the ‘libertarian’ and ‘authoritarian’ regions. We would see the prominence of libertarian ideology decrease with each new axis.
So the quiz limits the questions to those libertarians are interested. Does that in itself skew the results toward libertarianism? No, but it does inflate the potential that respondents might end up classified as either libertarian or authoritarian. Every question provides a choice between government action and inaction. Each choice categorizes the respondent as more libertarian or more authoritarian. All the authors have to do now is phrase the questions in a way which will incline the respondent to answer ‘yes’ more often than ‘no’.
Leading questions
The questions in this quiz are designed to lead people to a ‘yes’ response. This is not to say that people will always answer yes, or even most of the time. Indeed, many readers will consider the questions thoroughly and answer ‘maybe’ or ‘no’. However, given the already exaggerated prominence of libertarianism in the political philosophies the quiz measures, it only takes a few leading questions to get most respondents to score as libertarian.
Many of the questions are over-broad. Respondents who might support the repeal of regulations in a specific case may answer ‘yes’ to a question which actually covers a much broader class of cases they wouldn't necessarily agree with. Some of the questions are so broad it's not actually clear to what they're referring. Which ‘regulations on sex’ are they talking about? Sodomy laws? Prostitution? Libertarians want to repeal laws against both. Those who support the repeal of sodomy laws, however, may answer ‘yes’ even though the question covers prostitution as well.
Some of the questions make unsupported (not necessarily = unsupportable) statements followed by questions based on them. That is more than a little leading. Questions that exploit a sense of fairness (‘let peaceful people...’) are also leading.
Notice also that the questions listed especially appeal to youth, and cover subjects (draft, drugs, taxes) about which netizens tend to be the most anarchistic.
For these reasons and more it's not surprising that the questions tend to get more ‘yes’ answers than ‘no’.
http://www.theworld.com/~mhuben/rupright.html
Flaws in the quiz
Many of the flaws in the quiz present themselves immediately. Others require a little analysis.
Size
The selling point of the quiz is that it is small. It attempts to tell you what your political philosophy is based on the answers to ten questions. But smaller is not necessarily better. On the contrary, there are countless issues woven into the political tapestry. Read any internet political discussion group and you'll see. Often even one thread may split into tangents covering more topics than the quiz. The fewer the questions, the less likely we can determine anything significant from the answers.
Dimension
The other selling point of the quiz is that it is = two-dimensional. Rather than trying to put a person on the standard one-dimensional Left/Right scale, the quiz adds a dimension, drawing a distinction between opinions on economic and personal issues.
Of course such scales, one and two-dimensional, are mostly intended for convenience. When faced with a choice of two or more political candidates we cannot compare each candidate's stand on every issue with our own. We have to get a more general idea about where we land on some simpler scale, and how the various candidates compare. In reality, an accurate scale would have many more dimensions. Ideally, at least one axis for every major political issue. But that's not practical, so we reduce the number of dimensions.
The authors of the quiz, however, have chosen two axes which unnaturally inflate the significance of libertarianism and authoritarianism in the space of political ideologies. The quiz improves the standard classification of political ideologies by recognizing that there are people who believe the government has a role in nearly nothing, and others who believe the government has a role in nearly everything. But the quiz authors ignore very important political questions which determine not whether the government has a role, but the nature of that role. It leaves us with the same left/right dichotomy for those people who believe that the government has a limited role in society.
Indeed, if the quiz were written to address the variety of real political issues in America, it would include a number of other axes beside ‘economic’ and ‘personal’. The result would be a drastic increase in the number of potential data points which do not fall within the ‘libertarian’ and ‘authoritarian’ regions. We would see the prominence of libertarian ideology decrease with each new axis.
So the quiz limits the questions to those libertarians are interested. Does that in itself skew the results toward libertarianism? No, but it does inflate the potential that respondents might end up classified as either libertarian or authoritarian. Every question provides a choice between government action and inaction. Each choice categorizes the respondent as more libertarian or more authoritarian. All the authors have to do now is phrase the questions in a way which will incline the respondent to answer ‘yes’ more often than ‘no’.
Leading questions
The questions in this quiz are designed to lead people to a ‘yes’ response. This is not to say that people will always answer yes, or even most of the time. Indeed, many readers will consider the questions thoroughly and answer ‘maybe’ or ‘no’. However, given the already exaggerated prominence of libertarianism in the political philosophies the quiz measures, it only takes a few leading questions to get most respondents to score as libertarian.
Many of the questions are over-broad. Respondents who might support the repeal of regulations in a specific case may answer ‘yes’ to a question which actually covers a much broader class of cases they wouldn't necessarily agree with. Some of the questions are so broad it's not actually clear to what they're referring. Which ‘regulations on sex’ are they talking about? Sodomy laws? Prostitution? Libertarians want to repeal laws against both. Those who support the repeal of sodomy laws, however, may answer ‘yes’ even though the question covers prostitution as well.
Some of the questions make unsupported (not necessarily = unsupportable) statements followed by questions based on them. That is more than a little leading. Questions that exploit a sense of fairness (‘let peaceful people...’) are also leading.
Notice also that the questions listed especially appeal to youth, and cover subjects (draft, drugs, taxes) about which netizens tend to be the most anarchistic.
For these reasons and more it's not surprising that the questions tend to get more ‘yes’ answers than ‘no’.
Adam's Apple
Senior Member
- Apr 25, 2004
- 4,092
- 454
- 48
Centrist with red dot touching the conservative line.
William Joyce
Chemotherapy for PC
I think libertarianism is fascinating in concept, and usually attracts a lot of cool, smart college kids who hate the uptightness of the social conservatives and the preachiness of the left.
But it'll never go.
First, the nasty truth is that people LOVE government spending, and they only SLIGHTLY DISLIKE paying taxes. Second, they want government to do stuff otherwise. And there is always someone in power who wants to expand his or her own power. The willingness NOT to use potential power you've been given takes EXTREME maturity. Modern politicians don't have that. And modern citizens don't, either. Third, multiracial America needs government force for all the "civil rights" laws that, ah, improve our lives and bring us together. As we become more multiracial, we'll need more of that enforcement.
But it'll never go.
First, the nasty truth is that people LOVE government spending, and they only SLIGHTLY DISLIKE paying taxes. Second, they want government to do stuff otherwise. And there is always someone in power who wants to expand his or her own power. The willingness NOT to use potential power you've been given takes EXTREME maturity. Modern politicians don't have that. And modern citizens don't, either. Third, multiracial America needs government force for all the "civil rights" laws that, ah, improve our lives and bring us together. As we become more multiracial, we'll need more of that enforcement.
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