I’ve Become A Libertarian
- August 11, 2005
- 9 comments
The last time I took this quiz, I was almost smack in the middle of the chart. A true Centrist. I took the World’s Smallest Political Quiz again today, and apparently I’ve become more of a Libertarian.
LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.
Other notable Libertarians include Clint Eastwood, Drew Carrey, Dave Barry, Milton Friedman and Kurt Russell.
They even have their own Web site, Libertarianism.com, which explains more about who they are and what they believe. It’s certainly interesting to see where they stand on the major issues. I don’t agree with every single one of their stances, but I found myself agreeing with a lot of them.
8/21: I retook the Libertarian Purity Test and got a score of 63. That means I’m a moderate Libertarian apparently. The last time I took the test in March 2004, I scored a 55.
Russ
August 12, 2005
Russ, that was almost below the belt, but still funny. Knowing Missy, she read and reread the questions. If she says she’s conservative, I believe her.
Missy Martin
August 12, 2005
Russ
August 13, 2005
It’s OK Missy… I was just giving you a hard time. 
I was about as conservative as anyone could be from about the mid-80’s to the mid-90’s. I noticed myself gradually pulling back more and more, as some of their ideas started getting on my nerves. I don’t see myself voting for Hillary Clinton though, so don’t start worrying about me just yet…. Haha.
jENG
August 20, 2005
I’m pretty close to true north Libertarianism, and even stray a bit left. Like Russ, I used to be more towards the right. What has moved me left are a number of things probably. Namely, my opinion of my “fellow conservatives” has diminished greatly in the last 6 years. Republicans used to be famous for their foreign policy and diplomacy expertise. I still admire the greats like Kissinger and Reagan. However, the hatred for all things “liberal” in the last decade or so has begun to disgust me. This reactionary venom is fueled by a new breed of conservatives who grew up on MTV and have disregarded concepts such as “respect”. Now it’s just KILL KILL KILL the Democrats. It’s absolutely gross. The “neo-conservatives” (I didn’t coin it: blame Irving and Bill Kristol, the people who invented the term to describe themselves) have become immature, pseudo-intellectual anti-intellectualists (Ann Coulter is the epitome of this), table-pounding angry bastards and I want nothing to do with them.
Umberto Eco once wrote a great piece called something like “11 ways to spot a brownshirt” (brownshirt = fascists / nationalists circa 1920s adn 1930s Italy and then Germany) and what’s scary is that all 11 can be found among the right-wing pundits on FoxNews and talk radio. Their disdain for any questioning, critique, analysis, discussion, their immediate knee-jerk ability to label “liberals” as “traitors” and “terrorists sympathizers” falls in line perfectly with Eco’s descriptions.
What’s sad is they’re doing all the same things they claim to have hated the Left for doing to them, calling them fascists, racists and Nazis for so many years.
Long gone are the days of intellectual conservatives and “classical liberals” I feel. We’re all holed up in the Libertarian wing now, with more and more lefties and righties becoming radicals and reactionaries.
I agree with you that the days of classic liberals and intellectual conservatives is over. That seemed to have ended with Clinton and only gotten worse (much worse) with Bush. The other day I was thinking how bad political partisanship has become. I don’t remember it ever being this bad before.
I disagree with you over who has become more extreme though. The left’s hatred of anything related to Bush is ridiculous. The Democrats are falling apart before our eyes, and they don’t even realize it. Yes, the Republicans are changing too, but not like the Dems. I have never seen so much bitterness, bile, venom and hatred from a political party before. Anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a “religious nut”, “stupid conservative” or “brown shirt”. It’s always the same.
The media’s continual hyping of Cindy Sheehan as some great civil movement icon is absurd as well. The media is continually reporting nothing but negative stuff about anything Bush-related or the war. Even if there’s positive news, they will always tack on something negative to it that’s not even related. I also can’t remember a time where media bias was so obvious. They don’t even hide it anymore.
I don’t see the “disdain for any questioning, critique, analysis, discussion” on Fox News that you do. Talk radio is talk radio. It’s the same for either party, so don’t try and pawn it off as a conservative problem. I have also never seen Fox News call any liberal a fascist, racist or Nazi. I have seen and heard Dems call conservative those things and more quite often in the news, on radio and on the Net.
When political partisanship becomes as extreme as it is now, it’s not good for the country. There is no longer any debate, just political crossfire and sniping.
I’m going to have to split this next post in two since it’s too long…
Umberto Eco wrote Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt. Let’s list those 14 things out:
1. “cult of tradition” – according to Eco, only hardcore religious nuts fit this description.
2. “rejection of modernism” – where do you see this on the Right? I don’t really see it anywhere in the US. The US embraces modern technology all the time.
3. “action for action’s sake” – in other words, ‘acting without thought because thinking is wrong’. I find it funny that the Left thinks the Right are idiots who don’t think. The Right views the Left the exact same way.
4. “disagreement is treason” – I absolutely disagree with his description of the scientific community’s reaction to disagreement. There is also a line between disagreement and true treason. There are some on the Left who are acting treasonously.
5. “fear of difference” – if you believe this of the Right then you think all conservatives are racist. Such a belief is absurd.
6. “appeal to a frustrated middle class” – so Eco let’s it out of the bag that he doesn’t think a middle-class should exist since it’s where fascism finds a foothold. That’s classic liberalism and doesn’t jibe with the origins of the Nazis.
7. “obsession with a plot” – to somehow label this as a conservative problem is also absurd. People of all political stripes believe different loony conspiracies or plans are happening all over the place.
8. “humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies” – the enemy is both too strong and too weak, in other words. Where do you see this among conservatives here in the states? If anything, many, many other countries view the US this way.
9. “life is permanent warfare” – again, I don’t know any conservatives who want to continually be at war.
10. “contempt for the weak” – the leaders believe the masses are dumb and weak and need a ruler. This isn’t a Republican belief, but a Democrat belief. They’re the ones who want a big government that directs and manages the lives of its citizens.
11. “everybody is educated to become a hero” – or in other words, death is longed for, according to Eco. I don’t know any conservatives who long for death.
12. “transfer of will to power to sexual matters” – here, Eco goes off the deep end. Eco says that because sex is a difficult game to play, they would rather play with weapons which becomes an ersatz phallic exercise. If you believe this, then you think all conservatives are sexists who would rather shoot guns. That is also an absurd belief.
13. “selective populism” – if you believe this of the Right, then all conservatives hate the US government and don’t vote, they just follow their leaders. While there are nutjobs who believe this, this is most certainly not a Republican belief. This is most obvious with the last several years of elections where Dems have been getting their asses kicked on a regular basis.
14. “Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak” – Newspeak coming from Orwell’s 1984 book where the language was dumbed down to discourage higher thinking. Here, Eco again shows his liberal leaning by somehow connecting this with popular talkshows.
If you believe those 14 points describe Republicans or conservatives in general, then you have a highly warped and unrealistic view of conservatives.
I’m a conservative!
CONSERVATIVES tend to favor economic freedom, but frequently
support laws to restrict personal behavior that violates “traditional
values.” They oppose excessive government control of business,
while endorsing government action to defend morality and the
traditional family structure. Conservatives usually support a strong
military, oppose bureaucracy and high taxes, favor a free-market
economy, and endorse strong law enforcement.