Subject:
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Re: World's Smallest Political Quiz
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 17 Aug 2004 16:56:44 GMT
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Viewed:
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792 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Neb Okla wrote:
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“Scott A” dr_scott_arthur@yahoo.co.uk wrote in message
news:I2L399.1nDq@lugnet.com...
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There is an interesting critique of the quiz
here
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The site you linked says “Did you discover you were a libertarian? As the
results show, the overwhelming majority of the 800,000+ people who have
taken the test at that site are. Even accounting for the fact that this is a
libertarian political site, so libertarians are more likely than others to
take this quiz, the results are still remarkable.”
This is misleading.
The most current stats are:
3,197,615 people have taken the Quiz so far.
Libertarian 34.90 %
Left-liberal 18.90 %
Centrist 30.11 %
Right-Conservative 7.44 %
Statist 8.65 %
I know I’m more likely to ask conservative friends with Libertarian leanings
to take the quiz (which might account for the reason that there are a lot
more Libertarians than Right-Conservatives). Still, I wouldn’t call the
Libertarian segment an “overwhelming majority”.
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Please check the date on the site I cited.
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This is not a scientific poll (if for no other reason than the sample being
non-random). Most scientific polls have a margin of error for +-3% - I’d
imagine that this one has a higher margin of error - quite possibly as high
as 5% which would easily account for the difference between Libertarian and
Centerist.
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Can the results be slanted by some sort of “bot”?
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Also, I notice you post from the UK (I assume you are as well). Keep in
mind that this is a quiz largely intended for folks in the US.
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I’m sorry! Please don’t invade my tiny country! ;)
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You may see
yourself as a right-conservative within your national or contientental
political spectrum while being somewhere else on the spectrum in a different
place.
In another post you said:
“I find it hard to see how a ‘Right-Conservative’ could be against free
speech or
voluntary military service?”
You need only look as far as fascists.
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I’m not sure ‘Right-Conservative’ = fascist ?
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They would appear in the “Right”
area, or just across the border with “Statist”.
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From the quiz: “Right-conservatives favor freedom of choice on economic
issues, but want official standards in personal matters. They tend to support
the free market, but frequently want the government to defend the community from
what they see as threats to morality or to the traditional family structure.”
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Later in the other post you said:
“I’d also love to see how taxes could be cut by 50%...”
I guess to understand you’d have to estimate that at least half of the money
we pay in taxes is wasted on needless bureaucracy. By eliminating the
Bureaucracy (or attempting to), it would not be hard to save a lot of tax
dollars.
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50% on bureaucracy? Are you sure?
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In one prominent case, by allowing companies other than Halliburton (and
it’s affiliates) to support US forces and assist in rebuilding Iraq. One
need not look far for other examples of government waste.
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Hmm. Would “rebuilding Iraq” be part of a libertarian agenda?
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Hmm. I suppose it is a matter of perspective. I enjoyed this perspective;
“Critics have long compared libertarianism with religion in the sense that
both are highly ideological and offer easy answers to complex questions. It
should not be surprising that both use the same techniques to draw members.”
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Critics often make silly comparisons. Many of the critics of Libertarianism
are socialists (and we have many glowing examples of how well their system
works).
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This may scare you, but Socialism is not without its merits:
- Have you experienced the quality of life in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway or Iceland?
- Have you compared the Cuban healthcare system to that millions of your countrymen do not have?
- Did you know that the worlds best healthcare system (France) is state run, and that your private one is the world’s most inefficient?
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For one, Libertarianism extols a belief in ones self and personal
responsibility for the wellbeing of society. The religions I am familiar
with typically encourage a belief in an imaginary man in the sky who
protects you from personal responsibility.
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Are you sure about that?
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And with regards to the “easy answers to complex questions” part. As a
student in physics, I can say that more often than not, seemingly complex
phenomenon can often be explained (and predicted) by astoundingly simple
formulas. Not everything that seems complex actually is.
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By “predicted”, do you mean “approximated”? Libertarianism may be a theory, but
it is not physics.
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If we’re being taxed too much (by our own estimation) and we see a lot of
government waste going on, and we suggest that the government should “stop
wasting our money” and take less from us - it seems ridiculous to balk and
say “That solution is too elegant!”.
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Saying you’d abolish social security and reduce taxation by 50% without thinking
about the consequences is irresponsible. If social security were cut, what would
happen to crime?
Let’s pretend Bush cuts bureaucracy right now and reduces taxation across the
board by (say) 5%. What do you think would happen? I’d guess inflation (and
interest rates) would rise sharply. What do you think?
Scott A
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: World's Smallest Political Quiz
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| "Scott A" <dr_scott_arthur@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:I2LoEK.15Cw@lugnet.com... (...) leanings (...) lot (...) Or you could say "oops, that information is outdated". (...) It could be slanted by any nuimber of factors. The point of the quiz (...) (20 years ago, 17-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: World's Smallest Political Quiz
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| "Scott A" <dr_scott_arthur@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:I2L399.1nDq@lugnet.com... (...) The site you linked says "Did you discover you were a libertarian? As the results show, the overwhelming majority of the 800,000+ people who have taken (...) (20 years ago, 17-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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