exactly. we all apparently needed to take a shower after doing this quiz. lol. it did spur lively discussion, and I haven't heard from anyone but myself that they fell on the grid somewhere they didn't expect

That is precisely what I was saying above. To classify an artist as more or less valuable than a manufacturer is an indication of authoritarian thought. I may choose the works of one or the other for my personal consumption, but in total the free market will eventually decide who is valuable and who is not, and as an individual, not as a class.

The problem with this question is that more important to what? Without defining that, this is a nebulous question without any meaningful answer. For instance, if we say Freedom then there is no evidence that manufactures or business people are more important. If we say to my immediate standard of living, then the answer is yes. It was a poor question that failed to define it terms as did most of the survey. That question is more about whether you are pro-business for existing businesses. I am not for any particular business, I am for capitalism.

well, you have to be discerning. No gun is pointed at anyone. it is a philosophical question. Personally, any one of those groups can have exceptional producers and they are all important. A Roark was a shitty businessman but a wonderful engineer and artist. As a Free market supporter, you see creation everywhere. and an exceptional artist's work, for example, can inspire a Rearden. Reasoning that out, should not penalize me in the capitalist category.

Their FAQ also goes into an explanation that societies that don't have capital punishment are freer than those that do. So, if an individual commits a capital crime, they see him caged in a cell for the rest of his life as somewhow being freer than dead? Interesting logic...

it was painful to take

Seems that a point is being missed here: What gives you or I the right to state that one group or individual is more important that others? That decision in itself shows authoritarianism.

An amusing, but skewed test. So many loaded questions and false choices for answers... Nonetheless, I still scored in the lower right quadrant just behind Milton Friedman... for what it is worth.

I didn't like that question and its choices because my reaction was more like... "but who decides, and what does that kind of decision imply?!"

re: khaling... "they say in the FAQ that a "none of the above" response would be a cop-out. "...

To me, if NOTA is a frequent complaint... that may just indicate that the choices provided are poorly crafted in the first place. :)

Fun Quiz... I added the results to my site at http://www.plusaf.com/aboutme/mypolitics... ...

and
Economic Left/Right: 6.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.00

I wasn't very surprised...

Pretty consistent, I'd say... though I don't like the way they seem to equate "Libertarian" with "Anarchist"...

Eco +5.62
Soc -3.54

It'd be interesting to plot our little group,

It'd be really interesting to see where AR or LP land.

(How far have I strayed?)

I took a similar test with frustrating questions a few years ago. I'm still a conservative libertarian, according to the test.

It's not as complex. There are no questions regarding property rights or foreign policy questions, so I scored as a strong libertarian, which I am not.

Go for it winter

The test on theadvocates.org is better.

This reminds me of the Nolan Chart and "the world's smallest political quiz". They got pretty much the same of me as Marshall Fritz, +7.5 economically and -5 socially. The Libertarian quiz took just 10 questions.

I had to disagree with this one. To agree is to assume that artists and writers don't "produce". This is obviously not the case. However, I think the answer moved me up from the bottom.

"I think this is because I did not respond well to some of the statements that were intentionally written to evoke feelings or knee jerk responses."
I read about that in the FAQ. Based on that, it's better to have a moderate score, not at the extreme ends.

Newton and Franklin were far more than just writers. Franklin was one of the great business people ever. I'm not saying that writing is not important. Obviously writing is important. The underlying bias you refer to in the survey is the expectation that writers and artists are moochers. Some artists are moochers. NMA is a counterexample, of course. Manufacturers and business people cannot be moochers. However, as I am sure you will point out if I don't, manufacturers and business people can be looters.

That question is why I didn't get a "perfect" score on "economic freedom". That one had a false premise built into it.

Given the percentage of people that actually read, it seems to me that business/production is more influential. And growing more influential year to year.

I am not saying it should be that way, but sheeple do not read, they just want more stuff.

I consider this trend the main reason for the slowdown in advancement across so many fields of knowledge.

Art and writing INSPIRES people. How many people do you find inspired by anything external to themselves any more?

not just that one. what about the one regarding holding in high esteem those who manipulate money to create wealth. Part of me says go for it, then part of me says, it is not free market that the stock markets and those working in those markets have a huge esteem over other types of production. It is govt regulation and propping up and Federal reserve that gives these individuals prominence. that's f'ed up. That is not creating wealth, that is manipulating money supply. how brilliant is it to get loans at 0% and then loan that money (monopoly money) out for 1-2% that is not a brilliant creator.

ah, and so the work Ayn Rand did for free market thinking is less important than business people and manufacturing? Was Jefferson influenced by business people or Locke, Smith, Aristotle, Newton, Paine, Franklin etc. all writers. I just could not knee jerk on that one. Although that is the goal of the test. they want you to knee jerk. I think that shows bias.

It must have been that question about writers and artists vs. manufacturers and business people. ;)