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The political ground is shifting beneath us. Do you understand what's happening?
Also, what does this political shift mean for the future of assessing one's political ideology?
Quiz Theory
Advocates for Self-Government popularized a “Nolan Chart” quiz. We call it The World's Smallest Political Quiz. Our founder, Marshall Fritz, standardized the quiz questions and put them on a business card in the late '80s.
In 1971, political ideology was believed to be merely a left-right spectrum.
That year, David Nolan showed that a one-dimensional (liberal vs conservative) spectrum was incomplete. His "diamond chart" introduced a second dimension that measured freedom vs authoritarianism.
The result was a more diverse and accurate picture of individual ideology.
Nolan said his chart would also show...
- how you could "test" his theory.
- that some people would discover they weren't liberal or conservative – they were libertarians.
The inclusion of libertarians reveals something else…
- The political left agreed with libertarians on bodily freedoms and civil liberties. Nolan called this “social freedom.”
- The political right agreed with libertarians on fiscal responsibility, property rights, and markets. Nolan labeled this “economic freedom.”
Therefore, some questions could be based on the political left standing for social freedom, and an opposite set of questions could be founded on the political right working for economic freedom.
From 1971 until just a few years ago this theory accurately predicted left, right, center, and libertarian. But now, we're noticing some strange behaviors.
Maybe We're In a New Era?
It seems as if support for freedom is noticeably lower than it was just a decade ago. We can see this in response to our quiz questions.
- On economic issues, the right is sounding more and more like FDR.
- It’s becoming hard to find five issues where the left values freedom.
Should we update the questions? If so, how?
One of the people helping us explore this matter is our editor-at-large, Jim Babka. He's been working full-time in the movement since 1999, and he was a friend of the late Marshall Fritz.
Jim's podcast, Gracearchy with Jim Babka, devoted a recent episode to the political realignment we're witnessing across all ideologies.
Stephanie Slade, senior editor at Reason, joined this conversation. She's an expert on "fusionism" - the alliance between conservatives and libertarians. Ronald Reagan exemplified fusionism when he said things like "government is the problem" and "libertarianism is the heart and soul of conservatism."
Stephanie has also been following the realignment closely, and she has reported on it.
Jim asks Stephanie about the Quiz and its future. And the "show notes" include links to key, relevant articles she has written about the political realignment and fusion.
Every part of this conversation is compelling to me, and as a follower of Advocates for Self-Government, it should be interesting for you.
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