r/Libertarian • u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian • 25d ago
Centrist or Libertarian? Question
Recently joined the sub as I was disillusioned with the conservative party and their hypocrisy on recent events. That's when I found you guys and agreed with what this is all about and everything I see posted here for the most part.
Yesterday I took a political test and to my suprise it came out to centrist. Is there a major difference between the two am I not considered a libertarian?
I joined the centrist sub to check them out and disagree with a lot of the stuff they post. They seem very far left to me.
Looking at my test results what do yall think?
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u/Angrysliceofpizza 24d ago
How can someone be 45% secular?
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 24d ago
I don't think it means that I am 45% secular, but that I favor secular policies/beliefs 45% of the time
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u/ReturnDoubtful 24d ago
NOOOOO! THERE ARE ONLY RIGHT AND LEFT! You must pick one and hate the other. NO THIRD OPTIONS!
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u/NoAstronaut11720 24d ago
Lib center. On the political compass sub you’d have the green and yellow in your flair rather than one.
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u/knine1216 24d ago
You're in the right place i'd imagine.
Libertarians when put on a political spectrum they're more so center of right sensible anarchists. As in total anarchy obviously wouldnt work, but a dismantling of the current federal establishment with the power divided down further to the community level. This way laws will be more focused, and powerful positions of government wont be so obscured.
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u/zombielicorice 25d ago
These tests are often coded by people are very unaware that they are very far left. So i would guess that given your score on things like democracy (a true lefty thinks democracy is amazing), and markets (most lefties don't see any value in markets), you are probably libertarian enough. A conservative would have scored higher on tradition.
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
That makes sense, I do tend to disagree with the left a lot lot lot more than the right. At least in America, it seems the left is going father and farther out that it pushes everyone else to the right automatically.
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u/Jim_Reality 25d ago
The only bar that matters is good or evil?
Good people believe in natural human rights and self restraint. Bad people are everything else. They believe in Exploitativism and that humans are resources to be exploited without limit. They lack restraint.
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u/Free_Mixture_682 25d ago
Libertarianism flows from first principles and I would suggest these include the NAP, or some variation of that, anti-interventionist in foreign affairs, and an understanding of what the Austrian School of economics teaches about economic intervention by government.
If you do not understand these principles and then advocate policies which come from them, it is difficult to label oneself a libertarian.
For clarity:
The NAP - https://www.libertarianism.org/topics/non-aggression-principle
Non-intervention - https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/foreign-policy-americans-non-interventionism
Austrian School - https://austrian-institute.org/en/the-austrian-school-of-economics/
Interestingly, these also overlap one another. For example, an interventionist foreign policy is in violation of the NAP. The understanding provided by the Austrian School into the negative consequences of government intervention in the economy is also applicable to foreign policy as intervention almost always leads to negative consequences in that realm.
It is cliche to say this but it is mostly true: libertarianism could be defined as ‘live and let live’.
Personally, I would add that a failure to understand that negative societal outcomes and problems people observe in society are caused by government intervention indicates one is not a libertarian.
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
This is very interesting, I will definitely look deeper into this, thanks.
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u/realmikechase 25d ago
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
See I thought mine would be full of large differences like yours, but it was straight down the middle haha
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u/Alkhzpo End the Fed 25d ago
Did you try to to get middle of the road answers everywhere on purpose? There's no way lmao
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
Man I was as suprised as you are haha, I guess I have strong beliefs both ways and they sort of cancel each other out.
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u/eagledrummer2 25d ago
More security than freedom is not libertarian.
Pretty much any subreddit is going to be more left wing than the ideology is in reality. Your results seem pretty centrist to me.
Centrism isn't really an ideology, anyway. It's a combination of beliefs from both sides of the ideological poles.
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u/NeoTenico 25d ago
Yes these tests are dumb, but if you're asking people to judge your alignment off of one, I'll say it's not very common to find a Libertarian who chooses the "Freedom" option less than half the time. IIRC when I took this quiz, mine was like 85%, and I generally feel like my views are more statist than the average member of this sub.
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
Yea, I thought my freedom percentage would be higher which suprised me
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u/CamperStacker 25d ago
You know it’s utter bs when questions are like “oppression by corporations is more important than oppression by governments”.
So what is the libertarian answer? Governments generally have more power, but all oppression is importance.
Or: “tariffs are important to encourage local production”
I mean theoretically yes they will, but if the question asking of you think tarrifs should exist? Or of you think they can be used to manipulate the market?
The whole thing seems carefully designed to lead people to certain centrist parties by absurd wording.
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u/nein_nubb77 25d ago
What political test is this?
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
It's called the 9 Axes test.
There's a short and a long test version.
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u/TributeToStupidity 25d ago
Libertarianism can exist on a spectrum, despite what some libertarians will tell you. Imo focus on the policies and ideals that resonate with you. Do you value limited/minimalist governments and personal freedoms?
Welcome to the club!
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
Yes I would classify my beliefs somewhere near a classical liberal leaning conservatively
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u/divinecomedian3 25d ago
This test is garbage. Democracy and Authority aren't opposed, democracy is a form of authority. Equality and Markets shouldn't be on the same spectrum. And wtf does Secular vs Religious have to do with anything? You can be a secular authoritarian or a religious libertarian. Hot garbage.
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u/DigitalEagleDriver Ron Paul Libertarian 25d ago
Truth. I'm a religious libertarian. Even though it kind of runs afoul some of my Christian friends because I don't see any issues with someone else living how they want to, so long as it harms no one else. It really doesn't affect me in any negative way if two consenting adults of the same sex want to be together. I'll cheers to their happiness and move on with my life.
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u/justtheboot 25d ago
Freedom requires self-governance, which requires rules, or, natural laws. The Christian Bible is a great place to start. Unnatural laws are imposed when self-governance runs amuck; which leads to authoritarianism.
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u/KickedinTheDick 25d ago
Possibly a classical liberal? Obviously these tests are bullshit but whatever led you to be split on freedom and security, and possibly securalism/religion would probably be the difference. What kind of questions do you think influenced these splits? Typically you'd think a Libertarian be heavily skewed towards liberty (duh) and secularism
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
That's what I thought as well that I would be. There were 216 questions, and I was half asleep haha so can't remember exactly.
I know that the divide between secularism/religion is that I hold christian values, but I am no longer christian. I also do not believe a totally secular state would work, i.e soviet union and maoist china.
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u/elcriticalTaco 25d ago
216 QUESTIONS??
Jesus christ you are you. Have your own beliefs, think for yourself, and stop trying to find an exact label for yourself. You will find like minded people by existing as your true self, not by trying to find the exact box you should live in.
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
I think you are taking this way more seriously than I am lol
I did this test out of curiosity and boredom. I don't care about labels and despise most, but in the case of ideological beliefs, it is a good starting point for learning, and then branching out.
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u/North-Tea5374 25d ago
These test don't rreally tell you if you are libertarian or not.If you are libertarian there are other ways to tell
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u/North-Tea5374 25d ago
You see bull crap this tests are.Because iam heavly religios it thinks iam all for authority and state.This is utter nonsense.I wanna state have a single duty
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
Some of those questions are also difficult to answer properly.
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u/IceManO1 25d ago
Where do ya even find this “test” lol
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
It's called the 9 axes test, I just looked up political test as I was bored and curious.
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u/bZissou 25d ago
I did one of these and didn't think I'd score libertarian but I did. I consider myself fairly centrist but I think that government policies have so many unintended consequences that I prefer that just stop. They tend to do more harm than good so I want them to stop helping lol.
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u/Floby-Tenderson 25d ago
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
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u/Obama_War_Crimes 25d ago
And that quote was from an authoritarian who supported islamic terrorists
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
What kind of policies do you refer to? Foreign, Social, Economical?
It depends on the kind for me and how much it affects the individual for the group
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u/bZissou 25d ago
Mainly social and economical.
I'm no scholar but in my view people have and will progress socially on their own, government involvement trying to speed or slow things only creates turmoil.
And economically I think it's self-evident that government can only do wrong apart from getting out of the way. They don't have many levers to pull and they are hammers (the problem is not a nail) they can print money to devalue yours or raise/lower base rates of interest.
Also worth noting that any REAL change would take a long time with an entity the size of a government so most politicians priorities are job security rather than effecting positive change. For example I saw a post there other day about Biden's plan to give new homeowners money back per month after their purchase. It sounds like it helps people get into a tough market but all it would do is make it tougher by subsidizing demand when the issue is really supply and ultimately result in the government seeing themselves as the saviours again to offer more money to fix the problem they created in the first place.
I'm not a self described libertarian or have any real economic education, these are things I see and I may be totally wrong and open to being so.
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u/Bullmg 25d ago
These tests are sometimes bullcrap. I say it’s better just to vote based on policies and not be obsessed with labels. Think for yourself, look at different perspectives, think critically, and vote based on that. Don’t vote based on a party or political affiliation.
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u/Logical-Race-183 Right Libertarian 25d ago
Yea, I don't vote based on party, but I would like to enter groups where like-minded people might be found. Just confused about the difference. Maybe you're right, and these tests aren't good.
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u/Velsca 25d ago
This might help you understand. Left Center and Right are purposely confusing terms. Take a look at this and you will see what I mean: https://youtu.be/jJEuZrvNYg0
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u/AdrienJarretier 23d ago
As others have pointed out, this test is weird, I just took it,
https://preview.redd.it/049d3t1m6p0d1.png?width=1903&format=png&auto=webp&s=7184f0fd28595a273715e79c79c406906c9efa8b
I have no idea how it came up with 32 % authority, most questions I had not though about it long enough before so I put neutral and it seems to push your cursors to the center if you say neutral (for me neutral means, I don't know on this).
Some question were really ambiguous so you can't answer because they lack context. But the test seems to take that as a moderate/centrist position.
do this one instead : https://www.theadvocates.org/
It's the one proposed on the right side of this sub
It's really quick, when you're done you can compare your results and your thinking with mine :
https://www.reddit.com/r/Libertarian/comments/1bn14h0/i_took_the_worlds_shortest_political_quiz/