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Where Do You Stand Politically?

Liberal, Conservative, Right, Left, Libertarian? Where do you stand? Take this fun quiz and find out where you

stand on The Political Map.

World’s Smallest Political Quiz

Instructions: Read each statement one-by-one and consider if you agree or disagree with it. Circle the A when you agree with the statement. Circle the D when you disagree with the statement. Circle the M for maybe when you are unsure if you agree or disagree.

A. Personal Issues

1. Government should not censor speech, A M D press, media or Internet.

2. Military service should be voluntary. A M D There should be no draft.

3. There should be no laws regarding sex A M D between consenting adults.

4. Laws prohibiting adult possession A M D and use of drugs should be repealed.

5. There should be no National ID card. A M D

102 Beverly A. Potter

B. Economic Issues

1. End “corporate welfare.” No government A M D handouts to business.

2. End government barriers to international A M D free trade.

3. Let people control their own retirement: A M D Privatize Social Security.

4. Replace government welfare with A M D private charity.

5. Cut taxes and government spending A M D by 50% or more.

Scoring:Starting with the statements under Personal Issues, count the number of A’s circled and multiply that number by 20. Multi-ply the number of M’s circled by 10; and multiply the number of D’s by 0 (zero). Then, add the total of the A’s, M’s and D’s to get your PI score. Repeat the same process to obtain your Economic Issues (EI) score. (Note: for both issues, the highest possible score is 100 and the lowest is 0.)

Write your scores below:

PI score ______ Personal Issues EI score _____ Economic Issues

Plot Your PositionLooking at The Political Map (page 99), notice the line on the bottom left just above “Personal Issues Score” going from 0 (zero) to 100. Place an “X” where your PI score falls along this line. Next, put an “X” where your EI score lies on the line that goes from 0 (zero) to 100 on the lower-right side of the Map, just above “Economic Issues Score”, Then going out from each mark, follow the grid lines until they meet. Circle this intersection point.

The Patriots Handbook 103

The intersection point is where you stand—your political position. This is not a fixed position, rather the Quiz measures tendencies, not absolutes. Your score shows who most agrees with you in politics, and where you agree and disagree with other political philosophies.

The Political Map

For years, politics has been represented as one-dimensional, a choice between left (or liberal) and right (or conservative). Growing numbers of thinkers agree this is far too narrow a view—and excludes millions of people. The Political Map is two-dimensional, which gives a more accurate representation of the true, diverse political world.

104 Beverly A. Potter

Political PhilosophiesLibertarians support a great deal of liberty and freedom of choice in both personal and economic matters. They believe government’s only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence. They value individual responsibility, and tolerate economic and social diversity.

Left-Liberals generally embrace feelings of choice in person-al matters, but support central decision-making in economics. They want the government to help the disadvantaged in the name of fairness. Leftists tolerate social diversity, but work for what might be described as “economic equality.”

Right-Conservatives favor freedom of choice on economic issues, but want official standards in personal matters. They tend to support the free market, but frequently want the gov-ernment to defend the community from what they see as threats to morality or to traditional family structure.

Centrists favor selective government intervention and empha-size what they commonly describe as “practical solutions” to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on political issues. Many centrists feel that government serves as a check on excessive liberty.

Statists want government to have a great deal of control over individuals and society. They support centralized planning, and often doubt whether liberty and freedom of choice are practical options. At the very bottom of The Political Map, left-authoritarians are usually called “socialists”, while right-authoritarians are generally called “fascists”.__________________________________________________CREDIT:The “World’s Smallest Political Quiz” chart, political map, and description of polit-ical philosophies at the beginning of the chapter are based upon the work of David Nolan, cofounder of the Libertarian Party and reprinted by permission. Copyright by Advocates for Self-Government, 269 Market Place Blvd., #106, Cartersville, GA 30121-2235, 800-932-1776, Email: Quiz@TheAdvocates.org., Fax: 770-386-8373. Web: www.TheAdvocates.org.