So... how libertarian are you... really? Libertarian Purity Test! ***

What was your score on the 'Libertarian Purity Test'?


  • Total voters
    294
The poor could find opportunity and purpose in free markets, if the powers-that-be would just let them.

Won't the free market exploit the poor without the government making sure they get a proper job?

There will always be some indigent people that cannot perform menial tasks, and I have no problem with being taxed to help them out.

The fact that most people agree with you makes the coercion of taxation unnecessary to help the poor.
 
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Won't the free market exploit the poor without the government making sure they get a proper job?
I do not see how free markets would exploit the poor. Please explain.

The fact that most people agree with you makes the coercion of taxation unnecessary to help the poor.
Perhaps. However, I know a lady who when she was two years old became paraplegic from an auto accident. 40 years later after she married a nice guy, he died young. Now she is out of the measly insurance money and has been dealt a pretty tough hand in life. Some people deserve help from the collective body, imo. If part of my taxation went to help keep deserving people from going to bed hungry, wet, or cold, then I'm for it.
 
I do not see how free markets would exploit the poor. Please explain.

I wasn't serious. :p

40 years later after she married a nice guy, he died young. Now she is out of the measly insurance money and has been dealt a pretty tough hand in life...
If part of my taxation went to help keep deserving people from going to bed hungry, wet, or cold, then I'm for it.

Right, and since most people agree with you, taxation is not necessary.

 
I was a moderate libertarian when I first took this test about a year ago, but have later become an anarcho-capitalist. The term "anarcho-capitalist" seems to be very poor branding however; I wish it simply had been called "libertarian anarchist" instead. There's probably a good reason I'm not aware of.

Stephan Molyneux creeps me out however. There's something off about him. The way he smiles and tries to make his voice sound extremely pleasant, seems fake. I get a shiver whenever I accidentally click on a video by him. I don't know if his movement is a cult or not, but he certainly seems like the cult leader type. :eek:
 
I was a moderate libertarian when I first took this test about a year ago, but have later become an anarcho-capitalist. The term "anarcho-capitalist" seems to be very poor branding however; I wish it simply had been called "libertarian anarchist" instead. There's probably a good reason I'm not aware of.

Voluntarist is the best term to describe the libertarian anarchist philosophy, imo. It's all about making things as voluntary as possible.

Stephan Molyneux creeps me out however. There's something off about him. The way he smiles and tries to make his voice sound extremely pleasant, seems fake. I get a shiver whenever I accidentally click on a video by him. I don't know if his movement is a cult or not, but he certainly seems like the cult leader type. :eek:

You're free to have your opinion of course, but to accuse someone of being a possible cult leader with no evidence other than "he seems like the type", is pretty a pretty shallow thing to do, imo.
 
I was a moderate libertarian when I first took this test about a year ago, but have later become an anarcho-capitalist. The term "anarcho-capitalist" seems to be very poor branding however; I wish it simply had been called "libertarian anarchist" instead. There's probably a good reason I'm not aware of.

Market anarchism.
 
I was a moderate libertarian when I first took this test about a year ago, but have later become an anarcho-capitalist. The term "anarcho-capitalist" seems to be very poor branding however; I wish it simply had been called "libertarian anarchist" instead. There's probably a good reason I'm not aware of.

Stephan Molyneux creeps me out however. There's something off about him. The way he smiles and tries to make his voice sound extremely pleasant, seems fake. I get a shiver whenever I accidentally click on a video by him. I don't know if his movement is a cult or not, but he certainly seems like the cult leader type. :eek:

Voluntarist, (austro) market anarquist.
 
I got an 89...

The thing is, first I have my beliefs, then I find a label for them...not the other way around.
 
I got a 145. Would have gotten higher, but I voted against loosening restrictions on immigration. Not willing to do all that until all tax-funded freebies are abolished.

I also don't think you can have a comprehensive libertarian test without asking questions about abolishing gun laws for private citizens.
 
137

Some of the questions though are kinda stupid...especially like illegal immigration. I am for abolishing immigration laws if we can ensure that people can't abuse the system to rob each other.
 
I got a 145. Would have gotten higher, but I voted against loosening restrictions on immigration. Not willing to do all that until all tax-funded freebies are abolished.

I also don't think you can have a comprehensive libertarian test without asking questions about abolishing gun laws for private citizens.

Exactly my point, you can't remove immigration laws without getting rid of all the freebie programs first.
 
You guys aren't against immigration, you are against the welfare system. It would logically follow that you are also against any population growth.
 
"Purity tests" are silly in my opinion. "I"m more libertarian than you are!"

I think you're silly. :P ;)

On a serious note, I think it's a test of logical consistency. I believe Ayn Rand is correct when she says that in a legitimate debate, whoever is more consistent, 'wins'.
 
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"Purity tests" are silly in my opinion. "I"m more libertarian than you are!"

Usually I'd agree, because most "purity tests" senselessly bundle a bunch of arbitrary mismatched ideals together. For instance, to be a "pure" neoconservative or progressive, you'd need to have serious cognitive dissonance bordering on multiple personality disorder. ;) In those contexts, purity tests are solely about partisanship and one-upmanship. In contrast, libertarian views all follow from the same singular principle, so if you value that principle highly, it can be useful to test how consistently you follow it (or how well you understand it). It's not for everyone of course, because some people like the flexibility of piecemeal beliefs, but the appeal is still different (and IMO more valid) than that of most "purity tests."


As far as my results go: I had several "maybe, but it depends" responses and a LOT of "yes, with caveats" responses. (The devil is in the details...and lol about the "vigilante justice" question, which has quite a few caveats. ;)) I translated most of those to "yes." I also had a few, "no, but only because that's not my preferred alternative to the state" responses, which I translated to "no."

When it comes to the final questions, I think it's normal for even full-blown an-caps or voluntaryists to take issue with some of the specifics or the wording. (I wouldn't put myself firmly in that camp anyway; I think the anarchism/minarchism question has some shades of differentiation, and there are several defensible options that could use practical experimentation). For instance, I answered "no" to the question, "Should all legislation be replaced by judge-made law, arbitration, and other private rule-suppliers?" This is not because I believe in arbitrary legislation, because I sure as hell don't. Instead, I answered "no" because I'm not sold on the emphasis of the stated alternative. (Implementation issues aside, my preference would be for juries to make civil/criminal decisions based on their interpretation of how a well-worded non-aggression principle applies to their specific situation.)

Long story short, I garnered a 145/160, after answering "no" to questions 54, 59, and 64. (My "no" responses were more like "not so to speak" than "absolutely not."). That's a lot higher than I got when I first saw this test in the mid-2000's, and I thought, "Holy crap, these guys are insane!" ;)
 
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