Libertarian quiz

[muckefuck]

No, this isn't another lame, skewed quiz designed to reveal previously unsuspected political leanings; it's a very brief questionnaire from a friend trying to learn more about libertarianism. Reply in comments below (anonymously, if you wish) and I'll see that he reads them.

1. Do you consider people like Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek your gurus?
2. What period in US history comes closest to reflecting your ideals?
3. Do you approve of the FDIC?
4. What do you think of Franklin D. Roosevelt, on a scale of 1 (traitorously evil) to 10 (a personal hero)?

Comments

[lhn.livejournal.com]

Any attempt on my part to answer this as a quiz would rapidly run into a series of qualifications and hedging. I barely know anything but the names of the first two in #1, and the latter two are in the "I have a decent idea what their Big Ideas were and think generally well of them, but haven't actually gotten around to reading them." :-) #2 is almost impossible, especially given that any time stuff I was going on that I liked we also had slavery or Jim Crow or a massive interventionist state-- but I'm not as convinced as some that we needed all of the latter to get rid of the former. #3 likewise requires a paragraph or more and some work; I'm moderate enough to grant that state intervention does seem to have put an end to the recurring problem of bank failures (the 80s S&L crisis notwithstanding-- it caused problems, but managed to avoid the spectacle of individuals losing their life savings in the process). I'd have to do research to know if there's a libertarian alternative I'd find plausible. And #4 is going to wind up something like 3/10 depending on whether we're looking at his domestic policy and long-term effects on American government or his role as the indispensible man in the struggle against Fascism. (And then there's the question as to whether a less extreme domestic program would have just left the public clamoring for something worse, examples of which were to be found pretty much everywhere else in the world at thte time.)

If any of this is at all useful to him, feel free to pass it on. :-)

[princeofcairo.livejournal.com]

As a small-l libertarian, or as I like to call it, a "minarchist," I'll answer anyhow, and skew your quiz regardless.

1. Von Mises and Hayek, very much so. Also Karl Popper.
2. The Coolidge Administration.
3. Not particularly, although I'd be interested to see if there's any good economics indicating that the increased liquidity from increased small deposits produces a common good worth the distortion of the market.
4. 7.5, based almost entirely on his foreign policy of kicking the hell out of fascists.

[currawong.livejournal.com]

1)....who?

2) not one single solitary moment.

3)...the what?

4)He was one of the best US President, but like all US presidents he emerged from a plutocracy and had an absurd level of personal power.

Oh, ...I see...this survey was meant for Americans only

[currawong.livejournal.com]

Okay, maybe Lincoln and a couple of others weren't plutocrats.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Clinton? A caravan is the modern-day log cabin!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Oh, ...I see...this survey was meant for Americans only

Primarily aimed at Americans, but by no means exclusively. Only two of the four economists listed are Americans; von Mises and Hayek, of the so-called "Austrian School", are from Central Europe. All have international reputations. It makes sense for libertarians to look chiefly to US history for inspiration since it's had a stronger minarchist and free-market capitalist tradition for longer than almost any other country. And who in the world hasn't heard of FDR?

There is no Antipodean equivalent to the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It exists to safeguard depositers' assets in cases of banking failure.

[currawong.livejournal.com]

Ah-ha....economics isn't my strong suit...I find the dismal science so....dismal! To me, there's been no good news since the advent of Milton Freidmann.