NationStates Jolt Archive

I did a google search for political quizzes and this was about third or forth down on the list:

http://madrabbit.net/webrabbit/quizshow.html

It only takes into account the "left-right" spectrum, and I'm a libertarian, so I expected to score somewhere near the middle. Instead I finished with a score of 37, three marks short of a complete conservative. Curious, I had a look at the way they calculate the scores and found out that:

a) Liberals trust the federal government more readily than conservatives do.

b) Liberals trust trial lawyers more than they trust doctors.

c) Liberals don't think the federal government is too big.

d) Liberals think that deceptive political campaign commercials should be banned.

e) Liberals think that talk radio shows should be regulated.

Now this seemed odd to me. I would have thought that distrusting the government was a virtue found in people across the political spectrum, that Liberals were in favor of freedom of speech and that a person's opinion of doctors and lawyers was independent of his or her political beliefs. So what gives? Is this just an outdated quiz (it was made in '94) concocted to make liberals look bad, or is my definition of liberalism off the mark?

Dumbass quiz while some liberals may have those traits it seems like a massive oversimplification

Harmless yet amusing...

Definite oversimplification in the questions more so than the results. I don't trust the business executives over the union leaders nor visa versa, "4. The federal government should do more to solve the nation's problems even if it means higher taxes on (pick as many as you want.):" assumes I want the gov't. to be solving more problems, and some of the questions are way too narrow in options (to the point that I didn't think either one was good). Some of it does follow the stereotypical view on liberal/conservative, but I don't think it's a very accurate view. Also, a flaw is that if you leave a question blank, it defaults to liberal.

that Liberals were in favor of freedom of speach Far liberal and far conservative in the stereotypical sense are both quite restrictive of rights, they just tend to be in different ways. Stereotypically, far liberals want to have parts of "freedom of speech" restricted in the name of equality, while for far conservatives, it would be for morality. At least in the US from what I've seen.

Which is why I perfer being a "left libertarian". I wouldn't read too much into the quiz (even though I scored about where I should have).

Now this seemed odd to me. I would have thought that distrusting the government was a virtue found in people across the political spectrum,

Not really. I find the widespread belief that 'GOVERNMENT= EVIL NAZIS' to be ridiculously paranoid. Assuming competent people are elected that actually represent the people, there's no reason to distrust the government.

that Liberals were in favor of freedom of speech

Yep.

and that a person's opinion of doctors and lawyers was independent of his or her political beliefs.

Agreed; that question was rather ridiculous. I trust a lawyer more in legal affairs and a doctor more in medical affairs; I don't think it should have any bearing on one's politics

So what gives? Is this just an outdated quiz (it was made in '94) concocted to make liberals look bad, or is my definition of liberalism off the mark?

Yeah, I think it's slanted to make liberals look like loons, both by the results and by the nature of the questions (a distinct lack of questions regarding role of religion in government and traditional values vs. free choice). To take them point by point from a guy that's pretty much the definition of American liberal:

a) Liberals trust the federal government more readily than conservatives do.

Assuming the right people are in power, yes. Oh, for the days when Andrew Johnson, a taylor could become vice president...

b) Liberals trust trial lawyers more than they trust doctors.

A pointless question for the quiz. For the record, I answered doctor; really, it was 50-50.

c) Liberals don't think the federal government is too big.

An example of the slant- the question is very vague. 'Too big' in what areas? Under whose administration? For example, I think that the Bush administration is much too big in regards to religion and personal choices about one's life, while it isn't big enough in promoting truth in science and world prosperity.

d) Liberals think that deceptive political campaign commercials should be banned.

Well, yeah. False campaign ads about one's opponents are either libel or slander (hard to tell which applies to television), while making false campaign promises is lying. Lying in and of itself isn't illegal, but lying while running for office may count as perjury. Freedom of speech doesn't apply to outright lies.

e) Liberals think that talk radio shows should be regulated.

I don't. I can disagree with them all I want, but with the exception of NPR, radio talk shows are privately owned and can say whatever they want so long as it isn't slanderous.

Not a single question on economic positions, freedom of religion, seperation of church and state, civil rights... The questions are all designed to make liberals look like tyrants. Aye, definitely rigged.

I did a google search for political quizzes and this was about third or forth down on the list:

http://madrabbit.net/webrabbit/quizshow.html

It only takes into account the "left-right" spectrum, and I'm a libertarian, so I expected to score somewhere near the middle. Instead I finished with a score of 37, three marks short of a complete conservative. Curious, I had a look at the way they calculate the scores and found out that:

a) Liberals trust the federal government more readily than conservatives do.

b) Liberals trust trial lawyers more than they trust doctors.

c) Liberals don't think the federal government is too big.

d) Liberals think that deceptive political campaign commercials should be banned.

e) Liberals think that talk radio shows should be regulated.

Now this seemed odd to me. I would have thought that distrusting the government was a virtue found in people across the political spectrum, that Liberals were in favor of freedom of speach and that a person's opinion of doctors and lawyers was independent of his or her political beliefs. So what gives? Is this just an outdated quiz (it was made in '94) concocted to make liberals look bad, or is my definition of liberalism off the mark?
You seem to think that left-right is independent of the vertical axis at the political compass thing. But to people in 'the mainstream' the important scale is along one diagonal on the map. "Conservatives", "right-wingers", are in the top right corner, "libertarians" (and "classic liberals") are bottom right, "liberals" and "anarchists" are bottom left and "populists" and "socialists" are top left. The quiz is quite correct, but you are not in the American mainstream (democrat-republican) so you need to think an extra time about descriptions of political position.

EDIT: After actually looking at that quiz, the title should probably be "What mainstrem US party are you?"

Hmm . . . I just noticed this on the bottom of the page explaining how the scoring works:

Victor Kamber is a veteran Democratic consultant and the president of The Kamber Group, a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Bradley S. O'Leary is a Republican consultant. Together they write the Kamber/O'Leary Report, a political newsletter.

Maybe it isn't anti-liberal propaganda . . .

Yeah it's just a badly written political quiz that uses vague generalizations and hot-button issues as its yardsticks. Plus recent events have made a few questions fairly tricky.


12. Even if it means cutting programs, spending must be cut to reduce the federal deficit.

Agree Disagree


13. The federal government is too big.

Agree Disagree


Before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan blew the US government budget right out of the water, these were fairly straightforward questions. Only Conservatives would agree with either of them. But now? With defense spending on a pair of new wars being pretty much _the_ major causes of a multi-trillion dollar budget deficit that didn't used to be there? And with security and law enforcement taking on a range of new powers and organizations from an entire new Homeland Security Department down to the FBI and Justice Department deciding to start aggressively prosecuting all pornography it can on obscenity charges? Even the most dyed in the wool welfare state liberal is gonna be sorely tempted to agree that the deficit needs to be reduced and hte government's getting too big, so they're useless questions in this day and age.

I did a google search for political quizzes and this was about third or forth down on the list:

http://madrabbit.net/webrabbit/quizshow.html

It only takes into account the "left-right" spectrum, and I'm a libertarian, so I expected to score somewhere near the middle. Instead I finished with a score of 37, three marks short of a complete conservative. Curious, I had a look at the way they calculate the scores and found out that:

a) Liberals trust the federal government more readily than conservatives do.

b) Liberals trust trial lawyers more than they trust doctors.

c) Liberals don't think the federal government is too big.

d) Liberals think that deceptive political campaign commercials should be banned.

e) Liberals think that talk radio shows should be regulated.

Now this seemed odd to me. I would have thought that distrusting the government was a virtue found in people across the political spectrum, that Liberals were in favor of freedom of speech and that a person's opinion of doctors and lawyers was independent of his or her political beliefs. So what gives? Is this just an outdated quiz (it was made in '94) concocted to make liberals look bad, or is my definition of liberalism off the mark?

What you are describing kind of puts you as a paleo-conservative region as myself. The way the poll probably defines liberalism is the way I myself evaluate the liberal/conservative map.

It isn't the political hot button issues of the day that classifies one as liberal and a conservative, but the person's position on government interference and government intervention and regulation.

This difference allows me to pinpoint if someone is a damned neo-con. Neo-cons tend to be the political idiots in power who are on this whole dubbya must be worshiped powertrip. They are mostly suffering during this political mudpit.

How I classify the political spectrum:

Neo-cons are like Dubbya, Rove, Cheyne, Ashcroft, Wolfowits, Bolton, Delay, Frist, and Hasert. A group of VERY VERY bad people who ARE in charge.

The real types of conservatives are like John McCain. Sandra Day O'Conner, and the late Reinquist.

Liberals tend to be like the Tom Daschel.

Ultra-libs tend to be such as Ted Kennedy.

Figures. This quiz only covers right and center...
I got a 9.

I tend to shy away from over-simplified quizzes. This one is no exception.