Libertarian Purity Test

[David Floyd]

Is it just me or has the test completely taken away the idea of being Libertarian left? I am a liberal, and I believe the Government should have no say in peoples private lives, but I do not want to privatise schools, police, or anything else really.

Then you are not a libertarian, nor are you consistent. Government involvement in education, for example, is an intrusion into your private life, based upon the simple fact that such involvement requires heavy taxation on your property. Various other intrusions involve heavy taxes on your income.

[Drogue]

I disagree, there are many thinkers who are Libertarian and Left (Keynes, Galbraith, Ghandi, most of our Liberal Democrat Party etc.) You can believe in a Libertarian state, and have libertarian social values, while still having leftist economic values. Left and right does not measure Libertarianism. Since right can be both authoritarian and liberal (Fascist and economically liberal, such as Milton Friedman) why can't left?

I don't see why tax has that much to do with libertarianism. Just because you are taxed, may take away some freedom, but not freedom of speech, thought, action etc. I may have less money, but I have not had my liberties diminished. I guess it's different in America.

[Apocalypse]

93.

Not bad.

[St Leo]

31

I am sorry, but everyone who are against public education should be rounded up and gassed.

[Apocalypse]

Actually the public education is where I really disagree with Libertarians. I'm all for total standardization until your 18 or some other arbitrary age.

[Sava]

16, most of that stuff is plain stupid... I'm sorry, but if you believe in privatization of law, then you have problems.

[Sava]

on the socialist test

Your results are below...
#1 Shachtmanite
#2 Progressive
#3 Anarchist
#4 Libertarian Socialist
#5 Democratic Marxist
#6 Social Democrat
#7 Bookchinite
#8 Democratic Socialist
#9 Kimist
#10 Stalinist/Maoist
#11 DeLeonist
#12 Leninist-Trotskyist
#13 Christian Socialist
#14 Castroist

[Sava]

on the fascist one...
2.36666R
I'm a liberal airhead

[Hobbes]

53, hoy-ah!

[David Floyd]

I disagree, there are many thinkers who are Libertarian and Left (Keynes, Galbraith, Ghandi, most of our Liberal Democrat Party etc.) You can believe in a Libertarian state, and have libertarian social values, while still having leftist economic values. Left and right does not measure Libertarianism. Since right can be both authoritarian and liberal (Fascist and economically liberal, such as Milton Friedman) why can't left?

I'm sorry, but if you do not believe in Libertarian values of freedom, across the board, you are not a Libertarian. You see, Libertarianism is not primarily concerned with "economic policy" or "social policy" or "foreign policy". It is concerned primarily with freedom. Policies that encourage and promote freedom are good, while those that do not, are bad. That's a bit of a rough definition, but it'll do. In that sense, it is impossible to call yourself a Libertarian if you only believe in SOME freedom.

I don't see why tax has that much to do with libertarianism. Just because you are taxed, may take away some freedom, but not freedom of speech, thought, action etc. I may have less money, but I have not had my liberties diminished. I guess it's different in America.

Your liberty to use your money as you please has certainly been diminished.

[Mad Bomber]

13 in the Libertarian (some leaning on Libertarian ideas)
Socialist test indicated that I was a progressive
The Nazi test said that I was a Liberal Airhead (2.72)

pretty much a moderate or centrist person, though the Republicans really piss me off (due to their warmongering and partisan politics) Thought about voting for Nader in the last election, but Ohio was going Republican no matter.....

[SnowFire]

Hmm, I didn't quite imagine you as the arbiter of all things language DF. While you might be correct in that Libertarianism is mostly concerned about securing rights and freedom for people, you surely admit that there are possible degrees to that belief? There are anarcho-capatialists who might call themselves Libertarians as well as anarcho-socialists, and they probably have the most radical views on personal freedom of all, but they don't seem to try and monopolize the term. There are soft-core Libertarians who might just want a smaller government but not some of the more utopian provisions. There are Libertarians who seem Libertarian in most ways except for 1 or 2 issues that seem decidly statist to others (perhaps on abortion- the fetus's right to live overrides the mother's right to choose; or perhaps in education- they believe that public schools are invaluable for protecting freedom for the lesser priveleged.). Regardless of your disagreements on those issues, it would seem reasonable that they could still call themselves "Libertarians" with a clean conscience.

Now I can't say I know Drogue that well from 2 posts, but I'm sure he knows himself well, and I'm more inclined to agree with his assessment of himself than one gained from two posts. I know that your main concern is ideological purity and all that DF, but if you want to sell Libertarianism to the mainstream, you have to start somewhere- and wanting to privatize the police, highways, the FDA, etc. right off is not going to sit well with most people. I think it's perfectly fine to be a "moderate" Libertarian who might dramatically reduce government (especially as it interferes with private affairs) but not immediately privatize the whole shebang, myself.

[Dis]

Your Libertarian Purity Score


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Your score is...

48


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What Your Score Means
0 points: You are not a libertarian by any stretch of the imagination. You are probably not even a liberal or a conservative. Just some Nazi nut, I guess.

1-5 points: You have a few libertarian notions, but overall you're a statist.

6-15 points: You are starting to have libertarian leanings. Explore them.

16-30 points: You are a soft-core libertarian. With effort, you may harden and become pure.

31-50 points: Your libertarian credentials are obvious. Doubtlessly you will become more extreme as time goes on.

51-90 points: You are a medium-core libertarian, probably self-consciously so. Your friends probably encourage you to quit talking about your views so much.

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?

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. :-)

160 points: Perfect! The world needs more like you.

[Ramo]

In the Lib test, I'm 77 (medium-core). It probably would be more than that, but I voted different choices for a few questions because the wording is stupid (for instance, the anti-discrimination law question; I don't know if that was intentional or non-intentional, but the guy who made the poll ****ed up IMO).

[aaglo]

39... so what...?