World's Shortest Political Quiz - (10 Y/N Qs)

[Tristan Lall]

Come on, guys. This quiz is deliberately constructed as a promotional tool for the libertarians that operate that site.

All the questions are phrased in the form of libertarian policy statements; what matters is not so much that you provided an answer, but that you were exposed to the question (which states one of their beliefs). The whole point is to get you to identify with the libertarian viewpoint. That's a good thing, in that it diminishes the relevance of the standard right-left model. But remember that it's a political advertisement, and the results should be evaluated in that light.

Also, the questions are laughably simplistic. "There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults", for example. On the surface, it's an easy enough question for a lot of people—that sort of thing is no business of the state. But look a little deeper, and you realize "no laws" means, for example, no laws restricting sex between consenting adults in public places (apologies for the prurient imagery). In fact, the phrasing of those questions in such absolute terms appeals to quick, thoughtless respondents, rather than those who realize that there exist all sorts of special cases where a libertarian philosophy isn't necessarily practical. (There's my bias talking. But I trust that I'm still getting the point across.) Furthermore, referring to it as a quiz implies that there are objectively right and wrong answers—if only it were so easy.

And the scoring? Well of course it's biased. For example, it describes "statists" (nobody self-identifies as a statist) as the arch-enemies of libertarians, claiming that they "want government to have a great deal of power over the economy and individual behavior. They frequently doubt whether economic liberty and individual freedom are practical options in today's world. Statists tend to distrust the free market, support high taxes and centralized planning of the economy, oppose diverse lifestyles, and question the importance of civil liberties." That's just the inverse of the Libertarian party's current platform. But because the questions are so absolute, the honest answer (from a position of "some regulation") drops you into that category. It's a deliberate conflation of "some laws" with "too many laws", and "some government" with "big, wasteful government".

But that's why it's a short poll, and not part of the census. Bias is everywhere. Never forget to watch for it.