Topic: About the Chart
How many want to edit the Nolan Chart test? How many people I wonder want to edit the Nolan Chart test to more accurately reflect their views?by Michael McDonnough
(libertarian)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
FROM THE NOLAN CHART NUMBER 7
7. Trade and Money
Trade that isn't fair isn't free. Fair trade practices should be enforced as needed to ensure free trade while maintaining reasonably open borders. The Fed's policies should be revised to help the poor rather than the rich. The government should involve itself in the regulation of trade as needed to ensure a healthy economy at all times. The Federal Reserve system has made our money supply the most stable in all history. End government barriers to international free trade. The regulation of trade tends enrich selected interest groups and industry captains at the expense of everyone else. We must move away from the inflationary approach of the Federal Reserve by re-adopting a hard money approach and dissolving the Federal Reserve system. Ever wonder why prices of everything (including real estate) keep going up over time? The Federal Reserve system is the culprit. President Woodrow Wilson, who signed the Federal Reserve Act into law regretted his decision three years later saying, "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country." Trade should be free in general, but it should be controlled as needed to ensure that our borders are protected against outside threats. Monetary policy under the Fed has generally been good for our economy. Hard money can't keep up with a modern economy.
I remember when I went through this the first time I wanted desperately to change up the answers. Maybe it is my Libertarian nature to want to color outside the lines but the restriction this puts on my desire to convey my true political nature feels limiting and makes clicking on an answer an exercise on compromising my values for the sake of required a required conformity to play someone else's game of question and answer.
I am interested to know how many others thought the same thing or had made the same observations as I did?
This article was spurred by my recent login to the system to post an article and of course the obligatory static greeting page reminds everyone they can take the chart quiz again any time. So I revisited it and in doing so remembered why I found that I wanted very much to change the order of things in those answers last time i had taken it and it had for a time prevented me from even wanting to retake the test since I cannot answer in what is to me an adequate way where my views are actually expressed accurately.
I will go first with my changes so others will bother to post some of their own below in the comments section.
Trade that isn't fair isn't free, Fair trade practices should be enforced by adherence to the rule of law and equal enforcement under the law. Trade is best maintained in a reasonable manner when borders are protected but people can come and go freely. The Fed's policies should not exist because to give one private corporation that much unelected power is unwise and has lead to where we are today.
The government should involve itself in equally enforcing the rule of law in trade as needed to ensure fair and healthy economy at all times. The Federal Reserve system has made our money supply nearly worthless compared to the value of the dollar before they created this central banking system and then took that central bank private looting the wealth of the USA into oblivion.
End government barriers to international free trade. The regulation of trade tends to enrich special interest groups like corporatist, cronies, and big political contributors at the expense of everyone else. We must move away from the inflationary approach of the Federal Reserve by adopting an advanced electronic system for clearing hard money backed transactions safely and securely by electronic means augmenting the private exchange of such assets as is commonly used today and dissolving the Federal Reserve system.
Ever wonder why prices of everything (including real estate) keep going up over time? The Federal Reserve system is the culprit. President Woodrow Wilson, who signed the Federal Reserve Act into law regretted his decision three years later saying, "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country."
I think we can bring it back from ruin if we work together and rebuild it as a private sector backed free market system based on advanced technology and timely cooperation between government and innovators building on our tremendous technological growth of the last few decades. By taking that new level of efficiency and technological sophistication with us as we reach for the stars we can put an end our mutual limitations and finally let go of our self limiting fears.
Let me know your thoughts on this as well. Perhaps we can find more common ground with a little more editing.
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Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2009-02-22 17:20:45
I couldn't be sure what parts of your article were from the quiz, what were your opinions and what were your recommended changes. You should try labeling or numbering or something to distinguish kinds of information.
In a free market trade that isn't fair, isn't done. Only two parties in a trade can decide if it is fair, the buyer and the seller. If either feels the trade is unfair they are free to trade elsewhere.
Only government intervention can cause unfair trades to be the only trades available. These unfair trades are the result of subsidies, tariffs and taxes. Any kind of "Trade Agreement" is a documented instance of unfair trade being backed by the force of legislation.
I wouldn't change the Nolan Chart quiz, I'd take the Political Compass quiz if I wanted an objective result instead of one deliberately slanted towards libertarians.
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2009-02-23 07:38:50
I have often invited people who criticize our survey to rewrite it. In the past I've repeatedly said that no one seems willing to rise to the challenge, which is to actually come up with questions and answers that include four different, representative answers: one liberal, one conservative, one libertarian, and one statist for each question. (Centrist positions are arrived at in general by choosing answers from a variety of the four main camps for various questions. I think of the Centrist positions as being "gray area" rather than a distinct political viewpoint.) So far, I can still say a year-and-a-half later that no one has taken up my challenge to date.
It's illuminating how often people will generally criticize our survey as being "biased" or "unfair" but won't take the time to actually offer alternative answers to the questions. I strongly differ with such rants and note that the complaints are themselves biased and unfair. It's a whole lot easier to criticize from the peanut gallery than it is to climb on stage and actually lay your nuts on the line and write some specific questions and answers. Try it sometime, and you'll see what I mean.
I'm not opposed to changing the survey questions and answers. In fact, I do make amendments to them on occasion if I have good enough reason to. do so. I do not consider them set in stone. For instance, one person pointed out that there really wasn't an answer for someone who wanted to favor gay marriage so that gays could gain government benefits, so I rewrote the liberal answer on that question to better reflect that viewpoint.
Don't want to come up with your own complete set of questions? Then take just one question from the survey and give me four modified answers that you think better reflect the four distinct camps.
You want a different survey? Write your own questions and answers, and be prepared for me to criticize your choices too!
By the way, I did have one person who thought I should throw out one of the "unimportant" question categories and replace it with a question that would distinguish between anarchist and Randian views regarding property rights. I rejected that approach for the same reason you criticized the current survey...because that kind of question would certainly make the survey too libertarian.
I'd also like to state that I don't think that the current survey is biased toward libertarian answers. To the contrary, I think it's quite balanced and fair. Want to prove me wrong? Take my challenge! Rewrite the answers to the ten questions, which represent a wide swath of the most popular and relevant issues facing America today.
How about we just get rid of the stupid thing altogether? I'm more and more convinced that it is not helping the movement whatsoever. This is a movement that has been failing since 1971.
I think all questions in the Nolan Chart survey should be phrased in a strictly secular manner. For example, the sentence "Homosexuality is an abomination, is banned by the Bible, and should be illegal in all cases," should be rephrased "Homosexuality is socially harmful and unnatural, and should be illegal in all cases."
Posted By: Not Impressed
Date: 2009-05-21 11:14:32
I'm not impressed by the categories - the political compass is much better. I don't even know what statist means and if libetarian can get its own category then why isn't anarchist or socialist entitled to a category.
Posted By: Michael Hargett
Date: 2010-01-29 23:49:28
The Nolan Chart and test aren't meant to be comprehensive. Their purpose is providing a quick insight into which direction an individual is inclined.
To answer the criticism about "libertarian" being an entire section, it isn't "Big L" libertarianism that is meant by the label. Libertarianism is the absence of governance and any subsequent "security" by degrees, ranging from minarchy's small government to anarchy's no government. Totalitarianism is the absence of liberty and choice by degrees with a promise of greater "security," ranging from democratic-socialism and American-crony-capitalism to the full-fledged and realized governments of Stalin's communism and Hitler's Nazi fascism.
One suggestion for a more comprehensive analysis of where a person stands on issues would perhaps be a variety of tests that determine a hyphenation. Anarcho-Pax-Austrian would be my "label."
If you want a more detailed determination of where you stand on economics, for example, I recommend the Mises Institute economics quiz. http://mises.org/quiz.asp
I think the brief chart is good for people who want brevity, but would like a more detailed chart to reflect a more complete political + philosophical spectrum. For instance, it's possible to note philosophical differences between "Konkinist anarchists" and "Randian objectivists", even if politically they would be almost identical (in location on the chart). The LP in the USA is generally Randite, but not explicitly so.
I think it's possible with detailed questions to always note the role of state involvement in any issue, and to note moderating effects in some issues. For instance, I believe that certain crimes are worthy of the death sentence, but that no state is capable of objectively determining what those crimes are, without giving in to the urge to categorize all crimes that endanger the state as "the most severe crimes". For instance, the crimes of George Bush and Barack Obama are far greater than the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, and Timothy McVeigh, objectively (but not Randite "objectively") speaking. The same for the murderers of Waco, etc...
The state never believes its destruction is a crime. But do I believe that I would have the personal right to hunt down murderers who had effected me negatively? Sure. Do I believe that the state should ever condone such actions? No, because it can't objectively evaluate such actions.
Do I believe that much modern art sucks? Yes. Do I believe it should be banned? No. Do I believe it should be privately criticized? Yes. Do I believe the state should be involved in supporting or detracting? No. (This is from a question in another online version of the Nolan Chart that asked about art, but then failed to note what they thought the state's role should be.)
Much disagreement among libertarians is in the realm of strategy. Much of that disagreement is between Konkinists who incorrectly view reality, and Randites who equally incorrectly view reality, but in different ways. Neither side actually has much of a conception of voluntary action and decentralization, which is the real problem. A greater understanding of the law, and juries (as a check on abusive laws) would engender greater cooperation, and more successful activism.
A whole section should be added on "course of action", which could perhaps be viewed on a blow-up of the border along the top of the Nolan Chart (minarchist) and just off the top (anarchist). In addition, someone could be labeled as a voluntaryist in either section (even if they favored a minimal state).
The problem in understanding between these two areas arises from debate about the nature of reality. Confusion especially arises from these pooints:
1) Is it ever possible, (including in a future time when machine-aided intelligence of man possibly increases, due to incorporation of machines in the human brain) for a government to be 100% voluntary among all people who deserve equal protection under the law? (Not including criminals who have clearly violated others' rights.)
2) Is it possible that 100% self-government that does not provide for any retaliatiory force might --now or someday-- do a better job of dispensing retaliatory force, and minimizing the initiation of force?
3) Should Molyneux's DROs (Dispute Resolution Organizations) be considered governments if their arrival in the absence of a government allows for slavery and other violations of individual rights?
4) Should a 100% voluntarily-financed government not be considered a government, solely because it is voluntarily financed, and allows people to opt out of the financing? (But not out of the purview of retailiatory force.)
5) Should libertines who were identical to Randites in politics occupy the exact same space on the Nolan Chart, even though Randites would never agree to work with them toward a common goal (and thus neither group would ever be strong enough to win what they both professed to want)?
Answers to the above questions plot people to slightly different areas along the edge of "libertarian" and "anarchist". Or, they plot them to two different areas, but with two different philosophical designations next to the point plotted on the chart.
I personally favor a new party that solely focuses on specific strategic/political changes suggested for the USA. Perhaps it could be called the "jury rights party". Many Democrats and Republicans could agree with such a party's ideas, and it would be able to appeal to patriots of all kinds, as well as independents, without requiring the level of education and relinquishment of personal biases that the LP currently requires.
Essentially, such a party/movement only requires people to agree on one more check on abusive government power.
http://www.fija.org
I am a decentralist, voluntaryist, free market, anarcho-libertarian, jury rights activist who believes that electoral politics will nearly always disappoint, but that it is nonetheless a valuable tool for effecting social change. Where's my spot on the Nolan Chart?
The Nolan Chart Survey is very good, yet it is biased towards a Libertarian viewpoint. I always scored very well in school, on multiple choice tests, because I knew that the longest answer was usually the correct one. So it is with the survey - the longest, most thorough answer, is usually the Libertarian one. All of the answers should be rewritten so that they are aproximately the same length - this will work to eliminate some of the bias. Just offering a helpful critique. Thanks.
I found that agreed with one part of some questions, but not the rest. I believe that trade should be regulated to ensure a healthy economy, but I also believe that it should be controlled enough to protect our borders from outside threats. I do not believe in completely open borders, not in today's world. The Fed should not have the power it has and should probably be done away with, but in all fairness, I am no expert on the Federal Reserve System. After some head scratching I picked the Woodrow Wilson answer.
With regard to Foreign Policy, I was torn between parts of two answers. I believe we need to maintain a strong military. But I do not believe we should be isolationist or the aggressor. But in this world of terrorism, we need to be prepared for any possibility. I ended up agreeing with Thomas Jefferson, but not entirely.
The test said I am a Libertarian. Kind of surprising. Not sure where I would fit if I could redesign the test.
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2010-03-06 08:05:13
I've set up a forum at forum.nolanchart.com for our readers and columnists to make constructive suggestions regarding how to modify the survey's questions and answers in order to make it better. Please feel free to login and participate.
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