Test Your Freedom IQ

From the OC Register comes a test worth taking in this crazy world:

Are you a rock-solid freedom lover, a closet authoritarian or an in-your-face socialist? Take the Register's first Freedom Quiz and see. It's devised with new graduates in mind, to help them understand their political philosophy as they head out into the real world or back into the not-so-real world of academia.

Register editorial writers Alan Bock, John Seiler and Steven Greenhut developed these questions to highlight aspects of "small l" libertarianism, the freedom philosophy that animates our pages. We believe in limited government, respect for the individual, self-responsibility, free markets, free trade and property rights. Enough of that before we give away too much of our testing bias!

Take the quiz here.

And then make time to read Alan Bock's 1993 Reason masterpiece, "Ambush at Ruby Ridge."

Comments

[jonathan]

I thougth this was going to be good, but the questions are so leading -- I mean "can government be a force for good?" Of course it can, that doesn't mean I like BIG government. And Martha Stewert didn't go to jail for anything related to her business style or success, she went to jail for perjury on an insider trading deal whcih has NOTHING to do with capitalism or her business. I didn't read past that -- disappointing link.

[The Virgin Mathias]

Agreed. Governent, in many cases can improve life in many ways, but it becomes stagnant.

I hate these things.

Mathias

[Mo]

I got 19. My answer for the eucalyptus tree one was a combination of b, c and d. While I wouldn't go there and chop down the tree I would politely ask if they would top it off (and pay for them to top it off). If they did not heed my reasonable request, I would use every legal means necessary to reciprocate my annoyance.

What can I say, I'm a vengeful guy.

[joe]

What a stupid test. To gauge your opinion on the Martha Stewart case, you are asked whether you think she should have gone to jail for the rest of her life for being part of the evil capitalist system.

In the next question, we're asked about a coffee shop owner who "organizes a campaign" when a Starbucks opens nearby. We're not told what sort of campaign this is, merely that it is a campaign organized by the shopkeeper. Then we're asked how we feel about it. Apparently, if you agree with, say, a shopkeeper handing out "Buy Local" bumper stickers, you're anti-freedom.

I think the OC Register has less of a handle on the concept of freedom than the people it's talking down to.

[SR]

"And Martha Stewert didn't go to jail for anything related to her business style or success, she went to jail for perjury on an insider trading deal which has NOTHING to do with capitalism or her business."

If you read Reason, you'd know that was incorrect.

[Madog]

I'd secretly release a horde of koalas to eat his trees. 🙂

[Marcvs]

Quiz Question Template:

Are you an evil, government-supporting statist?

A) Yes, I believe everyone should submit their necks to the jackboot of the state.

B) I don't know, I'm just a stupid college kid.

C) Of course not! I am one of the enlightened saints known as libertarians! Bask in my glow.

[Homer Simpson]

I thougth this was going to be good, but the questions are so leading...

These quizzes are never wrong, jonathan. They're put together by the finest scientists in the magazine business.

[linguist]

Well said, Marcvs. The quiz was not very well done.

[Postmodern Sleaze]

Marcus:

My feelings exactly.

[Larry A]

Lighten up. Yes, the questions were obvious, and the answers as red/yellow/green as traffic signals.

Had the purpose of the quiz been actually testing opinions so readers could discover unsuspected libertarian or statist leanings that's a problem. OTOH if it was a fun exercise for folks who already know where they fit on the political chart, as I expect most of us do, then it succeeded and threw in a couple of chuckles for a bonus.

I think I'll go plant some eucalyptus.

[Rhywun]

They're put together by the finest scientists in the magazine business.

Just ask this scientician!
(Scientician) Wha-?
See, he agrees!

Yeah, marcvs, that template was spot on.

[paleolib]

I scored a 17. But there were three or four other questions that I put down c only because I think the b option was written in a way to make it look less savory than c. In truth, on three or four of these other questions I would have probably marked some option between a 'b' and a 'c.' The tree question was a good example of this as was the local shopkeepers vs. Starbucks. In my home town there was a local grocery store that was very popular. But the land owner decided to raise the lease to a much higher rate. This made it difficult for the local store to pay it and in swooped the large chain. Before the large chain moved in and the local closed down people held rallies, pickets, etc in support of the local, which was very popular in the neighborhood. I see nothing contradictory about being in favor of capitalism as a system and yet wanting to support the local store in particular - as long as no violence is used to support the local. But the question was worded in a such a way that this option was not really offered. It would be a more interesting quiz if there were a few more questions that raised examples of situations where there are tensions between individual and communal concerns or where the line is blurred between one's property right and another's.

[Armed&Hammered]

I really liked the bit about the chainsaw. While I don't see how one can "sneak" while chainsawing a stand of trees, this course of action was my first, gut reaction.

[Warren]

Your uphill neighbor's septic field often overflows onto your property. Do you?

A) Claim that his runoff endangers the blue speckled beetle that lives on your hill, and get an injunction against flushing in his house, thus making his property uninhabitable. Thus forcing him to move and robbing him of the financial means to retaliate in one blow.

B) Invite him over for a backyard BBQ. Then calmly and thoroughly explain your position and what you would like him to do about it while your family sits on him and pushes his face into your soggy lawn

C) Plant tall eucalyptus and cottonwood trees in your yard, then charge him through the nose to top your trees once a month, kicking back a portion of the rent for every day his shit don't stink.

[TomHynes]

How can you have a libertarian quiz without questions on prostitution and drugs?