Clicking on the above takes you to worlds smallest political quiz (10 questions). This a site run by The Advocates for Self Government . It’s a reasonable conclusion that these advocates are ‘libertarians’ and yet there is little evidence that any political administration is capable of being anything but ‘authoritarian’.
Clicking on either of the two graphics below takes you to a more detailed test devised by The Political Compass . In theory both tests should produce the same result.
The problem that I have with such tests is what I see as a naïve transposition of views into contemporary society, when they were not even valid in the historic context claimed for them.
Note the vertical axis inversion on the two tests.
The following are the political divisions set out by the advocates, which are of course North American but sufficiently generic throughout ‘Western Democracies’.
Liberals usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded “safety net” to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.
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.
Centrist prefer a “middle ground” regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose “political extremes,” and emphasize what they describe as “practical” solutions to problems.
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.
Statists want government to have a great deal of power over the economy and individual behavior. They frequently doubt whether economic liberty and individual freedom are practical options in today’s world. Statists tend to distrust the free market, support high taxes and centralized planning of the economy, oppose diverse lifestyles, and question the importance of civil liberties.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Hello Peter: I’ve seen these somewhere before and answered the questions with as much honesty as I could muster, each time I found just Milton Friedman and myself occupying the lower right quadrant, it was all very disturbing.
My most recent attempt put me on a par with Thatcher – even more disturbing (for me anyway)!
Apparently I’m a Librarian.
OMG: You should teach the Dalai Lama the Dewi Decimal system.
I’m down there with the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela…
Two cells down from centre on the left hand side, by just a cell…Nelson Mandela’s cell was down a bit and to the left of mine 🙂
This is my profile.
Sorry got the pic size wrong, but you get the general idea.
To echo OMG, I’m Conan the Librarian, by a considerable margin.
Nighty night, all
OZ
Sorry, but the American definition of “Liberal” is at odds with the Australian definition, and their views on what “Conservative” and “Fascist” imply are equally skewed. Just mark me down as anti-Imperialist Yanks, anti-EUSSR, anti-UK political bloody correctness, anti-UK wimpish ‘do nothing but moan’ and anti-Juliar and you’ll have me framed and plotted. AntiPolitician, that’s me (with apologies to the blogger of that name). 🙂
I am left of the middle and somewhere in between.
Although there are some very good treatments available, so I’m told…
I was about to say that I haven’t seen ‘antipolitician’ for a long time, but I think I mean ‘antireptilian’ – it was the blogger with a ‘thing about conspiracies’?
Peter – I think AntiPolitician left MyT well before you joined. He is a member of The Chariot under the name “Fieldshooter”, but he rarely finds the time to contribute since he’s taken up archery.
Thanks for that bearsy.
I got the same result as Ghandi. 🙂
I didn’t get any sort of strong result. I am a right-of-centre, slightly libertarian moderate closest to Angela Merkel.
The poll is a lot of rubbish …. Statists want government to have a great deal of power over the economy and individual behavior. They frequently doubt whether economic liberty and individual freedom are practical options in today’s world. Statists tend to distrust the free market, support high taxes and centralized planning of the economy, oppose diverse lifestyles, and question the importance of civil liberties.
None of those things are the things I believe in.
Apparently I’m supposed to support the ‘Free Market’. I might do if I thought such a thing could possible exist.
Right slap in the middle! A centre centrist.
I appear to be a centrist with Ghandi tendancies! An odd mixture abd a little of a surprise to me I must say. My bosses and colleagues as well as some family members will be ashamed! 🙂
I found some of the questions very odd – almost leading you to answer a certain way. Fun, but not to actually mean anything significant I’m sure