Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Turns Out I Suck as a "Real" Libertarian

On Bryan Caplan's Libertarian Test...

...I got a 54.

"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."

I have always been afraid to take the darned thing. (Yes, I know it is old, and lots of you already took it, and hate me for scoring so low).

My friend Betsy Newmark got a 40 (but she is wobbly on fundamentals, as I think we all know).

William Sjostrom got a 72.

When I look at the questions, I can't imagine getting over about a 90. It's just not possible, unless....well, it's just not possible. (The "best" possible score is a 160, so draw your own conclusions).

I agree that government is evil, but like most social scientists (even economists) I think it is a necessary evil.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Redeem yourself...post the news regarding Pop the Cap...A REAL Libertarian would never support a 6% alcohol cap on the world's greatest liquid.

TtwbC

Anonymous said...

Holy Cow, I got a 48...three points behind Munger and he's really loony!

Tom, the Close to Libertarian, onetime wannabe Canuck

Anonymous said...

Grease I thought you'd gone soft on us, but then I took the test and got a 52!! I was doing great at the beginning but then the questions get a little weird. I even said I would call myself an anarcho-capitalist, but it didn't help me much. ANGUS

Anonymous said...

Only a 20...but then again, I'm not into the idea of completely disarming the government and cutting military budgets by 75%

WTOTW said...

The test may have tough standards for judging pure libertarianism, but it's awfully generous in detecting libertarian impulses. I scored a 16--right on the borderline between "libertarian leanings" and "soft-core libertarian"--and I'm all for public schools, public roads, and big-time domestic spending (hell, I even like giving lots of money to other countries so long as they don't spend it on nukes). Must have been my disdain for anti-pot and anti-prostitution laws that got me up to 16.

Anonymous said...

42... Apparently my libertarianness is obvious and will develop with time. I suppose I should be waiting for a flash of libertarian insight. Though I gotta say... dissolving l'estat (no matter how cool it sounds to say l'estat) is not sitting with me well. I didn't know to be hardcore libertarian you'd have to be so extreme.

" 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. "

Those last two are a bit too extreme...
-CL

randytsimmons said...

I only scored 63--I thought I was more hard core than that. Too much reading of Hume and Burke I guess.

Anonymous said...

I scored a 70, most likely because I haven't spent much time in the ivory tower yet. Now, I want someone to tell me what the difference is between "anarcho-capitalism" and socialism. Both of them seem to be utopian visions dependent on a view of mankind which is divorced from reality. Who's being unrealistic?

-James Smyth