Libertarian Purity Test
Bryan Douglas Caplan
Intro: This is the Libertarian Purity Test, which is intended to
measure how libertarian you are. It isn't intended to be any sort of
McCarthyite purging device -- just a form of entertainment, hopefully
thought-provoking. I like it a lot better than the more famous "World's
Shortest Political Quiz" because I haven't stated the questions with any
intent to give an upward bias to a test-taker's score, and because it
gives a clearer breakdown between hard and soft-core libertarians.
Enjoy, give it to your friends...And if you feel like reporting your
score so I can publish the results, feel free to mail me at
bdca...@phoenix.princeton.edu, thought I probably can't respond
personally to each message.
Part I (1 point each)
1. Are taxes too high?
2. Is government spending too high?
3. Are we over-regulated?
4. Are you for free trade?
5. Should the minimum wage be abolished?
6. Should rent control be abolished?
7. Are zoning laws too strict?
8. Do we spend too much on Medicare?
9. Do we spend too much on Social Security?
10. Should we privatize the Post Office?
11. Would school vouchers be an improvement over government schools?
12. Should we relax immigration laws?
13. Would housing vouchers be an improvement over government housing?
14. Should the government sell off more of the public lands?
15. Are worker safety regulations too strict?
16. Does drug-approval take too long?
17. Do you think we spend too much on anti-poverty programs?
18. Is occupational licensing (for doctors, plumbers, and other
professions) too strict?
19. Does the government spend too much on higher education?
20. Does the Federal Reserve have too much discretionary power?
21. Should marijuana be legalized?
22. Should all sex between consenting adults be legal -- even for money?
23. Do you believe in freedom of expression, even
for offensive and unpopular views and subject matters?
24. Should private clubs have sole authority to select their own
members, even if they are discriminatory?
25. Are you against national service?
26. Are you against the draft?
27. Does the U.S. intervene too much in other countries?
28. Should the military budget be cut?
29. Should the U.S. refuse to pay for the defense of allies that are
rich enough to defend themselves?
30. If it has to fight a war, should the U.S. try harder to avoid
civilian targets?
Part II (3 points each)
31. Should taxes be cut by 50% or more?
32. Should spending be cut by 50% or more?
33. Would you abolish at least half of existing federal regulatory
agencies?
34. Should we abolish anti-trust laws?
35. Should we abolish public schools and universities?
36. Should we abolish welfare?
37. Should we abolish Social Security?
38. Should we abolish Medicare?
39. Should all of the public lands be privatized?
40. Should we privatize sanitation, fire, and other local services?
41. Should immigration laws be abolished?
42. Should the FDA and medical licensing be abolished?
43. Should all of the Federal Reserve's discretionary powers be
eliminated and the monetary base frozen?
44. Should we abolish worker safety regulation?
45. Should the Supreme Court strike down economic regulation as
unconstitutional?
46. Should all drugs be legalized for adults?
47. Should anti-discrimination laws be abolished?
48. Should the military budget be cut by at least 75%?
49. Should the U.S. withdraw completely from Europe, Asia, and other
foreign bases?
50. Is bombing civilians in an enemy country morally equivalent to first-degree murder?
Part III (5 points each)
51. Should all taxes be abolished?
52. Should highways and roads be privatized?
53. Should the Fed be abolished and replaced with free banking and
private competing currencies?
54. Should all legislation be replaced by judge-made law, arbitration,
and other private rule-suppliers?
55. Is all government inherently evil?
56. Is government an unnecessary evil?
57. Should police be privatized?
58. Should the courts be privatized?
59. Should the law itself be privatized?
60. Should the state be disarmed and its military disbanded?
61. Is is morally justifiable to assassinate government leaders?
62. Is all government essentially exploitation of the productive
members of society for the benefit of a parasitic ruling elite?
63. Should the state be abolished?
64. Would you call yourself an "anarchist" or "anarcho-capitalist?"
Scoring:
Give yourself 1 point for each "yes" in Part I, 3 points for each "yes"
in Part II, and 5 points for each "yes" in Part III.
(Maximum Score 160)
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: You are a soft-core libertarian. With effort, you may harden and
become pure.
31-50: Your libertarian credentials are obvious. Doubtlessly you will
become more extreme as time goes on.
51-90: 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: 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: You are nearly a perfect libertarian, with a tiny number of
blind spots. Think about them, then take the test over again.
160: Perfect! The world needs more like you.
--
--Bryan
"The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.'
But perhaps you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself."--Szasz