# How Libertarian Are You? (Quiz)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 21, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267 "2016-05-21T00:46:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/1 "2016-05-21T00:46:29Z")
I mentioned in another thread a political quiz that assesses the extent to which you are a libertarian.
Here it is:[Libertarian Purity Test](http://www.bcaplan.com/cgi-bin/purity.cgi)
No such quiz is perfect, of course. And I have my own criticisms of this one. But I think it’s a cut above the typical online political quizzes you see. I’m curious what results people get.
I’ll reveal and discuss my result in a separate post.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/2 "2016-05-21T00:51:25Z")
I scored a 53. But it depends a little on the interpretation of some of the questions. So I really fall somewhere between 40-60.
I suspect this will turn out to be higher than the average for this board, but I’m hoping we can get enough responses to get some kind of loose, unscientific sense of where that is.
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### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/3 "2016-05-21T01:05:49Z")
I scored a 12. But I’m a social democrat, so that wasn’t really unexpected. And some of those proposals - abolishing the FDA’s drug regulation, privatizing the police, replacing the Fed with bank-issued notes - are horrifying. To me, that is. YMMV, of course.
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### Author:  [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/4 "2016-05-21T01:21:21Z")
I scored 18.
I don’t consider myself very libertarian, but I would like to see most drug and immigration laws abolished.
I regard government,and the Fed, as mostly good things though.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/5 "2016-05-21T01:26:21Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#):
>
> I scored a 12. But I’m a social democrat, so that wasn’t really unexpected. And some of those proposals - abolishing the FDA’s drug regulation, privatizing the police, replacing the Fed with bank-issued notes - are horrifying. To me, that is. YMMV, of course.
I scored 11 and am also a social democrat. I feel kind of ashamed that the test is telling me I have “Libertarian feelings.” Maybe because I think pot should be legalized.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/6 "2016-05-21T01:26:38Z")
I scored 60. I took issue with the wording of a number of the questions. A lot of the questions that said, “Should all X be abolished (or whatever)” I answered no, but what I would have liked to answer is, “No, but a great deal of it should be.”
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/7 "2016-05-21T01:29:54Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> I mentioned in another thread a political quiz that assesses the extent to which you are a libertarian.
You misspelled Libertarian, which is not the same as libertarian. The big-L denotes an insane political party that can’t tell the difference between anarchy, liberty, and being a spoiled child.
I scored 18.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/8 "2016-05-21T01:45:48Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> You misspelled Libertarian, which is not the same as libertarian. The big-L denotes an insane political party that can’t tell the difference between anarchy, liberty, and being a spoiled child.
>
> I scored 18.
I think I’m aware of the difference. Notwithstanding my score, I have never voted for a Libertarian candidate, and don’t plan to do so any time soon.
IMHO, the Libertarian party in the US is conservative-leaning. They tend to take full-on libertarian positions and bite the bullet when it comes to state regulation of economics (like the minimum wage), but they hedge on things like state regulation of abortion or marriage. I would reverse those. I also think the kinds of battles that libertarian politicians might actually win in the real world are in areas where I disagree with them most. They might actually win a battle against anti-discrimination laws because those tend to be hard-fought close calls, but they’re never going to win the battle to substantially cut military spending because spending trillions on the military enjoys deep and broad bipartisan support.
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### Author:  [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/9 "2016-05-21T01:47:07Z")
I scored 7. Was this really a Libertarian test? It read much more like an anarchist test to me. Or like those whack militia groups, I can’t remember what they are called.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/10 "2016-05-21T01:47:35Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> I scored a 53. But it depends a little on the interpretation of some of the questions. So I really fall somewhere between 40-60.
Same score. I would have probably been much higher but I’ve always had issues with the word “all”.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/11 "2016-05-21T01:50:11Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#):
>
> I scored 7. Was this really a Libertarian test? It read much more like an anarchist test to me. Or like those whack militia groups, I can’t remember what they are called.
I don’t think there’s that much daylight between anarchist and libertarian when we’re talking about political philosophies. I think the areas in which they disagree mostly involve what kind of power structures ought to replace the state, which means their disagreements are mostly not captured in a quiz that is asking about which parts of the state you would abolish.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/12 "2016-05-21T01:54:02Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> I don’t think there’s that much daylight between anarchist and libertarian when we’re talking about political philosophies. I think the areas in which they disagree mostly involve what kind of power structures ought to replace the state, which means their disagreements are mostly not captured in a quiz that is asking about which parts of the state you would abolish.
I got a 12. I got the impression that they want the state eliminated with survival of the fittest and richest replacing it.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/13 "2016-05-21T01:56:20Z")
I didn’t complete the test. Too many so very general polarized questions. “Are taxes too high?” Well, that depends. Are you a rich guy using inventive loopholes? Are you scraping along paycheck to paycheck and praying for a refund?
The quiz could have been simplified by asking: “Do you consider yourself Libertarian? How much?”
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### Author:  [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/14 "2016-05-21T02:06:07Z")
17
Soft-core libertarian. Or I guess in American terms, a social democrat.
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### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/15 "2016-05-21T02:06:45Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#):
>
> I scored a 53. But it depends a little on the interpretation of some of the questions. So I really fall somewhere between 40-60.
>
> I suspect this will turn out to be higher than the average for this board, but I’m hoping we can get enough responses to get some kind of loose, unscientific sense of where that is.
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> I scored 11 and am also a social democrat. I feel kind of ashamed that the test is telling me I have “Libertarian feelings.” Maybe because I think pot should be legalized.
I’m a social democrat too, who generally feels that government has the potential to be good. I was shocked when I scored a 28. I guess thinking pot should be legal even though I have no intention of using it, and immigration laws are too strict go a long way.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/16 "2016-05-21T02:08:47Z")
I scored a 20. Apparently I’m a “soft-core libertarian”. Which is much more libertarian than I would have expected or that I would identify myself as. This quiz seems designed to attribute libertarian beliefs to people.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/17 "2016-05-21T02:13:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> This quiz seems designed to attribute libertarian beliefs to people.
I strongly disagree. For an example of such a quiz, see this one:[Political Quiz - The Advocates for Self-Government](https://www.theadvocates.org/quiz/quiz.php)
If you scored a 20 as a Democrat, there are some major areas in which you would side with the Libertarians over the Democrats. I think that’s enough to call you a “soft-core” libertarian.
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### Author:  [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/18 "2016-05-21T02:38:27Z")
I got a 28. I identify as a libertarian and that is normally how I vote. A lot of those higher end questions I consider anarchist rather than libertarian. There is a role for government to insure that people have the information needed to make sound decisions and to avoid tragedy of the commons. That said there is a lot of room to reduce our current regulations and reduce our taxes.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/19 "2016-05-21T02:42:15Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#):
>
> I got a 28. I identify as a libertarian and that is normally how I vote. A lot of those higher end questions I consider anarchist rather than libertarian. There is a role for government to insure that people have the information needed to make sound decisions and to avoid tragedy of the commons. That said there is a lot of room to reduce our current regulations and reduce our taxes.
Oh, how interesting! If I predicted that you’d vote GOP if forced to choose a major party, would I be correct?
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-libertarian-are-you-quiz/755267/20 "2016-05-21T02:44:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> I scored a 20. Apparently I’m a “soft-core libertarian”. Which is much more libertarian than I would have expected or that I would identify myself as.
A “straight ticket” score based on the actual behavior of Democrats or Republicans in office wouldn’t earn more than about 5 points. They’re both pretty far along the authoritarian scale, so it’s not surprising that lots of people would lean libertarian by this way of reckoning.
I got 27. But I “rounded down” on a lot of the more polar questions. Also, some questions that I would have answered “yes, but only if X” I answered no to.
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