Liberty Maven

Who gets your vote now that Ron Paul is no longer on the ballot in most states? Liberty Maven’s newest contributing author, Mark Keller charts the candidates on the Nolan Chart to help you decide.

Some people seem to always vote for the candidate from their chosen party.  Others vote for whomever they believe to be the “lesser of two evils”.  I, personally, am a great advocate of voting on principle ― voting for the person who most aligns with your views, no matter their party or chance of winning.  Determining who that candidate is takes a good deal of research.  Detailed analysis of a candidate’s positions on a wide variety of issues is highly important.  But when you’re slogging through so much information, it can be hard to compare the different people running for office.  How much are these two guys alike?  Exactly how authoritarian is this person’s viewpoint?

And that’s where fun stuff like graphs and quizzes come into play.  A great way of displaying how a certain political philosophy fits into the spectrum of thought is by means of the Nolan Chart.  This is a square (or diamond-shaped) diagram, with a coordinate system charting varying amounts of economic and personal freedom.  With the four corners mapped to the extremes of libertarian (absolute freedom), conservative (economic freedom, but government regulation of personal lives), statist or authoritarian (absolute government control), and liberal (personal freedom, economic regulation) viewpoints, any person or candidate’s beliefs can be pretty well reduced to a point on the graph.

An excellent way of figuring out where you (or the candidate you’re considering) fits on the spectrum, is by means of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz.  In it, you indicate whether you agree with ten statements about economic and personal freedom, and then are shown where your views fit on the Nolan Chart.  It’s quick, it’s simple, and it’s pretty accurate.

I got the idea, a few days ago, to try to figure out what answers the six major presidential candidates would give, if they took the quiz.  So, after a lot of research and discussion, I took the quiz for each one of them, and put all their scores together on a single graph, for easy comparison, as you can see in the image above.

The findings were kind of surprising.  I would have expected Chuck Baldwin to be closer to the conservative part of the chart, and I didn’t think Bob Barr would be quite so libertarian.  Nor did I realize how nearly identical McKinney and Nader were on everything!  But McCain and Obama both are, predictably, found in the statist quadrant.  Now this isn’t a completely comprehensive score (there are, after all, only ten questions), so there’s a little room for error.  And there’s no indication of their views on foreign policy, for example.  But you can check the data for each candidate, yourself, at the bottom of this post, where I’ve got an explanation on why I gave them the answer I did on each question.

I doubt anyone will be changing their mind on who to vote for, this late in the season (today, is, after all, election day), but this info should, at least, give you something to think about.  And if, in fact, you haven’t voted yet and are still undecided, taking the quiz and comparing your score to the candidates might be helpful.

I’ll leave you with this quote from John Quincy Adams:

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone; and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.

And now, get out and hit the polls!

The Data:

Bob Barr

Personal Issues
Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet. ― Agree
Bob agrees, even opposing laws to stop the concentration of media ownership.

Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ― Maybe
The only quote from him on it I could find is from this 2004 article, in which he sort of supports it, halfheartedly. This was written after he endorsed Badnarik for the 2004 election, and presumably had his political conversion, so it seems likely he has the same views today.

There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. ― Maybe
He’s a states’ rights man, so he’s against the federal government getting into it. Whether or not he’s against all such laws is hard to tell. He won’t take a stance on the legalization of prostitution, for example.

Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. ― Agree
Barr used to be the biggest proponent of the Drug War; but not anymore.

There should be no National ID card. ― Agree
Agreement, for sure.

Economic Issues
End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business. ― Agree
He opposes corporate welfare, and opposes the bailout, too, though not quite as forcefully as others . . .

End government barriers to international free trade. ― Agree
Kind of hard to find much data on this one (a lot of Google search results talk about his votes against free trade, back when he was in Congress), but there is a statement at the bottom of the Foreign Intervention page on his website that indicates he’s for freedom in this area.

Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security. ― Agree
This is one issue he’s not changed his views on in the past few years. Bob is in favor of privatization, and has been for quite some time.

Replace government welfare with private charity. ― Agree
That is his exact plan, in a nutshell.

Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ― Agree
Cutting spending is job #1, to him. And then, at the same time, tax reform (he says anything, nearly, is superior to the current income tax). So I think this is an “Agree”!

Chuck Baldwin

Personal Issues
Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet. ― Maybe
This is the only article by him that I could find on the legislation of morality. In it, he says that that sort of thing is not Uncle Sam’s job, but it’s all right for states or cities to ban porn, etc. But then he’s in favor of repealing campaign contribution limits, to add a little freedom to his First Amendment views.

Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ― Agree
Believes the draft to be a violation of the 5th amendment.

There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. ― Disagree
Again, the only evidence I can find is the article linked above, in which he says that, while the federal government shouldn’t get into that sort of thing, it’s alright for the states to legislate it.

Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. ― Agree
He’s for a rethinking of the Drug War, and his results on VoteSmart’s test indicate he’s in favor of legalizing the possession of at least small amounts of marijuana, as well as less harsh sentences for non-violent criminals. So I guess that would be an “Agree”, though not a very forceful one.

There should be no National ID card. ― Agree
A quote: “We will not advance, we will not tolerate, we will not accept any form of a National ID Identification card!”

Economic Issues
End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business. ― Agree
He agrees, and opposes the bailout as well.

End government barriers to international free trade. ― Disagree
He’s said “We have to get back to Washington, to Jefferson, to the founding fathers; free trade with all, entangling alliances with none.” But he’s in favor of a 10% tariff on all imports, and the Constitution Party’s platform opposes truly free trade, too.

Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security. ― Agree
In favor.

Replace government welfare with private charity. ― Maybe
He says that welfare programs need to be examined for their benefit to Americans, and then decide on whether to cut them or keep them.

Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ― Agree
Quite definitely. He wants to abolish the income tax, and then cut enough spending so that we’re making more than we’re using, including disbanding several federal Departments.

Ralph Nader

Personal Issues
Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet. ― Agree
Well, it’s pretty hard to find out the answer to this one. A google search on “Ralph Nader” and “censorship” mostly comes up with articles about how he considers people’s requests for him not to campaign to be censorship. But according to this site, he no longer supports hate crime legislation, and he’s in favor of dissenting websites, so it’s an “Agree”.

Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ― Agree
Very much against the draft, I believe. Though he’s warned that there’s one coming . . .

There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. ― Agree
And is in favor of gay marriage, as well.

Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. ― Agree
Definitely in agreement.

There should be no National ID card. ― Agree
As he says here (wish I’d found this site earlier, it’s got everyone’s views on National ID ― everyone who answered, that is . . .).

Economic Issues
End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business. ― Agree
Yes, in fact, he coined the term.  He’s written an article called Stop Corporate Welfare (his definition of corporate welfare includes rent-free radio shows, too). That’s pretty decisive. And he’s very much against the bailout!

End government barriers to international free trade. ― Disagree
Well, he’s against the sort of “free” trade we’ve got now (which, I’m afraid, is the sort McCain and Obama like). And he doesn’t think real free trade is possible, and so is against it.

Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security. ― Disagree
He’s against privatization.

Replace government welfare with private charity. ― Disagree
A quote: “You burn yourselves out doing charitable work. But if you get into politics and go to the cause of these problems, you will have a just society where you don’t need so much charitable work.” That would be against.

Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ― Disagree
He’s for tax reform, but not that kind of tax reform.

Cynthia McKinney

Personal Issues
Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet. ― Agree
She opposed the Communications Decency Act and flag desecration laws, when in Congress.

Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ― Agree
She cosponsored H.Con.Res.368, which pretty much tried to abolish the draft.

There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. ― Agree
She very strongly supports gay marriage, so I don’t think she’s for depriving anyone of freedom in this area.

Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. ― Agree
She wants to end the drug war, and legalize medical marijuana.

There should be no National ID card. ― Agree
“I am against Real IDs!”

Economic Issues
End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business. ― Agree
She thinks the bailout is a bad idea (and has an alternative plan), and wants to eliminate corporate subsidies.

End government barriers to international free trade. ― Disagree
She’s for fair trade, not free.

Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security. ― Disagree
Opposes privatization.

Replace government welfare with private charity. ― Disagree
Considering how she wants to reduce the concentration of wealth, I think she doesn’t want to do away with welfare.

Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ― Disagree
The only tax cut she voted in favor of was doing away with the marriage penalty. She’s thinks we need to cut military spending, but that’s about it.

John McCain

Personal Issues
Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet. ― Disagree
On his old campaign site from 2000, he says he supports internet censorship. Though whether that’s federal censorship or he just thinks parents need to do the right thing, is hard to tell. But then there’s his War on Blogs, too. So I think a “Disagree” is warranted.

Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ― Disagree
He’s open to the concept, which shows he doesn’t oppose the draft ideologically.

There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. ― Agree
He’s in favor of civil unions for gays (and doesn’t think homosexuality is a sin: why are conservative Christians voting for him?). And while I wasn’t able to find any views of his on prostitution, there’s rumors that back in Vietnam . . .

Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. ― Disagree
He’s for the continuation of the drug war.

There should be no National ID card. ― Disagree
He’s in favor of REAL ID (and, interestingly, Palin’s against it).

Economic Issues
End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business. ― Disagree
He supports the bailout, voted for it, and even suspended his campaign to promote it.

End government barriers to international free trade. ― Agree
He says he’s a free trader.

Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security. ― Disagree
He used to be for it, is now against it?

Replace government welfare with private charity. ― Disagree
Nope.

Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ― Maybe
He’s for cutting taxes and government size, but not that much. He’ll only cut taxes 4.4% for the richest folks, and they’re the ones he’s cutting the most on. However, he talks a lot about cutting spending on pork, and wants to balance the budget (which’ll take a lot of cutting), so we’ll give him a maybe.

Barack Obama

Personal Issues
Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet. ― Maybe
Obama has said that it’s the parents’ job to make sure their children don’t see objectionable things on TV, the internet, etc.; not the government’s. But he’s tried a little too hard to squelch smears against him, so I give him a “Maybe.”

Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft. ― Disagree
While he doesn’t want to start drafting folks, he thinks women should also have to sign up for the selective service, which is anything but repealing it. And he’s advocated mandatory community service, too.

There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. ― Agree
He says homosexuality is not immoral, so I doubt he’d try to have laws passed against it. I can’t find any evidence of him supporting laws restricting such freedom for other types of people, so I’m giving him an “Agree.”

Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. ― Disagree
Obama’s for decreasing sentences for some drugs, and giving offenders the choice of being sentenced to rehab instead of to jail, but there’s no repealing here.

There should be no National ID card. ― Maybe
This one’s a toughie. There’s nothing about it on Obama’s website, and Google searches on “Obama” and “Real ID”/”National ID” almost unanimously return repostings of this. Obama did vote for the bill which contained the REAL ID, but so did everyone else in the Senate, since it was attached to all kinds of other stuff, so it’s hard to tell. He’s criticized the REAL ID, but on a practical, not ideological basis.

Economic Issues
End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business. ― Disagree
Voted for the bailout. Has some reservations, but he did. End of story.

End government barriers to international free trade. ― Maybe
He opposes our current free trade agreements, but isn’t opposed to free trade entirely . . . I think. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.

Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security. ― Disagree
“Obama and Biden are strongly opposed to privatizing Social Security.” Can’t get any more forceful than that.

Replace government welfare with private charity. ― Disagree
He wants to give a $500 Tax credit to persons making under $75,000 a year. And hasn’t said anything about decreasing welfare.

Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. ― Disagree
Not at all likely. His plan only decreases taxes by 0.3% average. And it’s likely spending will go up, too.