The Orator blog has a link to a fascinating questionnaire which seeks to identify how "conservative" one is. You have to answer 40 questions and then it gives you a rating on a scale of 1 to 400. The lower the score, the more conservative you are. The average American scores 209.
My score was 187. Take the questionnaire HERE. I'll start a league table if some well known bloggers take part. Donal Blaney scored 68!!! But as Barry Goldwater might say: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue".
124 comments:
I am pleased to see I am even more libertarian now than I had realised!
I've lurched to the right with 146.
Good grief I'm more conservative than america (173).
Still a lot of the the question could have been answered yes, but...
316/400 - Should I even be reading this blog with a score like that? :S
I scored 175.
oh the disgrace of finding out i am a 'progressive'!
still, i can always plead the headaches
Old Holborn scores 193
83. Bugger. I was so chuffed when the last one of these had me more right wing than Donal.
I was exactly neutral with 200/400. Everything in moderation and all that.
I'm usually just left of centre on the co-ordinate polls. Blaney's podcasts are very gradually re-wiring me.
The man Blaney is some sort of Anarcho-Capitalist.
Dale was paid to get that score by The Conservative Party (& I was paid by Polly to say that.)
Minus 10 for oldrightie!
264. Though the questions aren't great for detecting liberals - I'll have answered a lot of the small state type questions the same way as conservatives.
129/400
160! Still a conservative but not as extreme as Donal!!
215 here (I gave some pretty Conservative answers!). 68 is pathetic!
Tory Bear got 137
TB
I came out at 215. No suprise there then.
211
Johnny Norfolk, so I am more Conservative than you. Remember that!
165 here. I suspect that is rather low for an academic...
I am a Progressive 217.
Jason Brown - Whipped Senseless blog, I got 210.
I scored 138 hmm...
I got 142 - nice to see colleagues' opinions of me confirmed.
And good to see you on Saturday evening iain.
339.
I scored 134, which I think is unacceptably high. I wonder why that quiz made me such a lefty. Maybe it is something to do with the fact it is primarily aimed at Americans. In general, I would have guessed my score should be well under 100.
I probably dont qualify as a well known blogger, so perhaps that will allow me to avoid the shame of being at the "liberal" (read lefty) end of your league table.
Having read the posts I see that 134 would put me at the good end of any table, but still not top of the league.
219.
222/400 - guess I need to read my blog more :)
350 - guess I'm far too progressive to read this blog. I'm going to give myself a right liberal talking to.
215 - must be something wrong there because i say Sarah Palin for President!?
191 - with 5 more liberal points I would have become a Baptist!
101 !!!!
I am 'very conservative'!!
And Tory head bangers note:
STOP PRESS STOP PRESS
Cameron at today’s presser reiterated (whilst saying no license fee rise) full Conservative party support for the BBC and its centrality to our life and the British way of life.
“I am a supporter of the BBC. I am a supporter of the license fee. I think the license fee can go on.”
I don’t think there’s much room there for the more idiotic rantings here (especially recently) about how the BBC will be broken up/abolished/castrated under any putative Cameron government.
For which I say - “phew”. As well as - “I told you so”.
I scored 246 which surprised me.
I scored 85/400, I was only a little surprised.
250 - I think I've just discovered that I am really a Lib Dem - the shame of it.
I scored 256 out of 400
127 - humph.
201 and yes Im over 64
Scored 159. Problem with the test is it mixes moral conservativeness with liberal economics. So I don't think I could have scored any less.
Also the idea that the Democrats are Liberals is laughable -- socialists would be a far better term.
277 for me.
Donal's 68 is slightly scary. How do you get such a low score?
161- so conservative rupublican in US- probably about right
It has been mentioned above but quite a few questions are very US- centric and hence based on their views, especially socially- where "conservative" in US is Government should ban XYZ, rather than libertarian.
214 - no surprise, would have been more, but I am a neocon on foreign policy
240 - A traditional American Democrat. Doesn't surprise me much, I'm right wing in Scottish politics and right of centre in british; thus left in American.
210...
Marks me down as a Progressive, although I'm normally marked as a Libertarian in these things!
129/400 - on top Conservative form :D
I scored 192.
133 - As a libertarian, I'm worried about being described as very conservative!
@ Mark Fulford: it's because, as a libertarian, I voted no whenever a question sought agreement with government spending or government expansion.
233 for me. Less than I'd anticipated to be honest.
201! Thought i'd be more around the 160-mark, but am becoming more progressive as i get older.
Hmmm. TheEye got 50. Is this something to be nervous about?
Nicked for my blog, methinks.
309. Which I'm quite pleased about. Don't undetstand how anyone could get less than 100!!
I scored 320. Progressive! That's as good as being called Old European!
156 for me! Maybe we need another of these aimed specifically at the UK
207
289 out of 400 - very progressive.
I'm not surprised about that, I normally come out alongside Mahatma Gandhi on these sort of things!
I'm Progressive (250) by American standards, but by UK standards I'm exactly central on the left/right axis and slightly libertarian - which means I am out of step with all 3 main UK parties.
No wonder I feel disaffected. Mind you, I suspect there will be an outbreak of 'small statism' real soon now...
Can't understand less than 100 Bucket of Tongues?
Just by answering the questions realistically IMHO.
I'm guessing that you wouldn't want to live in my country and I wouldn't want to live in yours though.
127 and proud !
307
108
Woot!! 152=)
309/400
I am 30/400 but because I came third in my class for math but there were only 3 in the class I am struggling to tell what my score means.(Help.)
193 - just like OH
230- I blame the BBC.
203. I'm in the Centre. Does that make me a fence sitter? Would be interested in a UK version of this test!
I scored 211 which counts as progressive (just).
Perhaps this makes me a Cameroon.
221. Which makes me progressive apparently. It just goes to show that left - right is far too simplistic in terms of defining politics. I suppose it's just about fun though.
64/400
365....wrong place for me it seems.
196....says I`m Conservative.......Thank God for that then.
172 for me.
Obama voters 244 - Sh*t that's scary.
156 for me. About where I would have expected.
97 but as a libertarian some of the questions made me very uncomfortable
187 here - snap!
316
I'll get me coat.
152
250 (progressive)
There were 3 or 4 poorly worded questions.
70 - it was the "policies are geared toward the rich and corporations" question that hung me up. They're really writing from a Leftist perspective and not understanding that some of us most fervent rightwingers dislike the state because of how it inherently serves entrenched interests. Regulations aren't much of an issue for large firms but strangle innovation, while taxes screw people who are working and building businesses but are fairly easy to avoid by those who are already rich (see the Kennedys, Warren Buffet, Theresa Heinz Kerry, George Soros).
Lots of the social issues were horribly badly worded, for someone who disagrees with Leftists as well as social conservatives. It's fairly obvious that life begins at conception (arguments to the contrary are crap and represent the inherent weakness and cowardly nature of those proposing them), but I view abortion in the first trimester to be legitimate given viability, spontaneous miscarriage, and the requirements of women's liberty. Plus I'm a big fan of hypocrisy in terms of sexuality - adults should be able to do what they want, with whom, as long as it's behind closed doors and doesn't affect children. Too much of the current social liberal view thinks there should be no standards of public behaviour, instead of just no laws against behaviour...
I got 117! My IQ is 20 points higher!
Lets get the commies! Nuke them! I can be Donal's deputy!
250. Liberal it says but I prefer the tag progressive. Interesting though thanks Iain.
I scored 183. I'm thick. Is that good or bad? I still don't understand the whole right or left thing.
Mummy x
179. Insanity.
Iain
I scored 212!!
Oh dear, I scored 260...
169/400. I thought I would have scored a lower number.
263 - but I had a great walk today, so I must be feeling benevolent. If I'd done it at the end of a different day, it might have been quite different.
202
His Grace is throwing himself back on the faggots.
207 - slightly progressive
Probably because I'm keen on gays and minorities and such
same as you Iain - 187.
I was banking on 'Should we nuke Iran?' and 'Should we spey the underclass?' to get my score down a bit, but they didn't appear
Hey March 16, 2009 5:44 PM
but I view abortion in the first trimester to be legitimate given viability, spontaneous miscarriage, and the requirements of women's liberty.
----------------------------------
Yeah that poor first-semester foetus about to be injected in the heart, decapitated, or whatever the execution method of choice is, might have a view on what is and isn't 'legitimate'.
You can be pro-abortion if you want, but don't try and 'legitimise' it with cod-intellectualising.
Murder is what it is.
Nothing more, nothing less.
@ Cranmer
"His Grace is throwing himself back on the faggots"
Would you care to reconsider the phrasing?
Anyway, this is an American definition of 'Conservative'. Nowhere near what the UK definition might be.
I'm ultra-'conservative', with 142 - sounds about right... But I'm not entirely sure that this is the right scale any more - e.g. I disagreed with the 'conservative' opinion on gay rights...
Those who know me will not be surprised when I suggest my score was a somewhat progressive 262.
I tried to be as sound as I possibly could as well. Time to book myself on the next YBF Conf methinks.
iain said... “Yeah that poor...”
Aah. Hence the repellant Nadine Dorries thing. I had wondered.
Incidentally, I don’t know what you’ve done to your blog but it’s suddenly started consistently crashing Safari this evening and I’ve had to move over to Firefox temporarily For Iain Dale purposes (which is a pain). Presumably Camino would still be OK.
Any idea what’s going on?
[Your US quiz actually crashed my router!]
Tried the quiz again and it froze at Q.39 - sex 'n' violence. At least it didn’t crash the router this time.
The one thing that I think many people don't seem to understand is that a true Conservative may have views about cultural issues, but at the same time does not wish the State to enforce those views. Hence, I think that a lot of the gay subculture is awful, but I certainly wouldn't want the State to act in any way to supress that subculture or interfere with it in any way. Neither would I want the Government to support that culture in any way nor prevent me from expressing my opinion on the matter. Simirlarly, I think single parenthood should be avoided, but I don'r want the Government to campaign against it or ban it. Though, I certainly don't think the Government should subsidise it by paying benefits to teenage mothers.
The one thing that I think many people don't seem to understand is that a true Conservative may have views about cultural issues, but at the same time does not wish the State to enforce those views. Hence, I think that a lot of the gay subculture is awful, but I certainly wouldn't want the State to act in any way to supress that subculture or interfere with it in any way. Neither would I want the Government to support that culture in any way nor prevent me from expressing my opinion on the matter. Simirlarly, I think single parenthood should be avoided, but I don'r want the Government to campaign against it or ban it. Though, I certainly don't think the Government should subsidise it by paying benefits to teenage mothers.
I got 176
253.
What I don't understand is this statement:
"Free market solutions are better than goverment at producing economic opportunity."
The lower a score you give that, the less you agree with it and so the more conservative you are. So conservatives believe that government runs the economy better than the market.
Eh? Isn't that statement arse about face?
207. I'm an average American, oh joy.
G.O.T. score of 214
177 Conservative
Got to agree with the comments above. This is a quiz by American leftists that lacks any understanding of a Conservative position that isn't Mary Whitehouse.
172.Conservative Kiwi
I got 69.
184
Phew - just plain 'conservative'
taken the quiz and scored 89 making me 'extremely Conservative'.
Very proud of that score indeed.
271/400, and I didn't think I was that progressive!
247/400
It just goes to ahow you can't be too careful.
A perfect 150. But how on earth did a bunch of socialist imbeciles manage to get themselves called 'progressive'. They should be called 'retrograde'. And the word 'conservative' is increasingly being used in a perjorative context. For instance the BBC love to call Ahmadinjead's crew 'conservative' - especially after they've just hung a gay person. The bleedin' left are hijacking the language along with everything else.
I find myself in good company, Mr. Dale: I scored 196! I'm relieved. I can't imagine scoring 68, but honestly--anything over 215 would have had me severely panicked.
Uncork that Martinelli's, now.
I got 107. WOW!!
307
Unbelievable, canvas. Congrats on not following your result with a series of frustrated expletives.
234, but I agree the questions are not so relvent to the Uk and the phrasing is sometimes ambiguous
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