Can We Guess If You Lean More Conservative or More Liberal?

By: Zoe Samuel

How do you read the meaning of the second amendment to the US Constitution?

Americans must be allowed to have weapons in order to protect themselves from the military.

Americans need to be in practice with firearms to serve in the military, but at the same time we don't want the military to get too big for its boots, so people should have guns so the army doesn't try pushing people around.
Americans must be allowed to have weapons in order to serve in the military, if needed.

The second amendment was written at a time when the musket was the firearm of choice. While owning some guns may be necessary, more legislation around guns is necessary.

Are the levels of illegal border crossings into the US going down or up?

They go up every year.

According to the statistics, they are going down. Are the statistics correct? I don't know.
Actually, they've been going down since 2007. They're less than half of what they were back in 2000.

Borders are a form of oppression.

How should the US approach its investment in public housing?

Build less of it. It is a poor allocation of resources.

It should put a bunch of commercial space in public housing, so it might actually pay for itself.
It should ask the experts how they would improve the system if they had their way.

It should spend whatever it takes to fix the system.

Does a right to privacy with one's doctor exist?

No. Your medical treatment is not private correspondence and thus does not get the privacy protections in The Bill of Rights.

I mean... maybe? I don't want everyone knowing about my rash.
Yes. I definitely don't want anyone knowing about my little... problem.

Yes, to the same extent as the right to privacy in one's documents or anything the government would need a subpoena to look at, as per the Bill of Rights.

What are taxes?

Theft.

A necessary evil.
Payment, so the country as such can exist, public roads and all.

A way to equitably redistribute the wealth of the nation, so the funds can benefit poorer people who rely on the state more.

Where should the marginal tax rate be for people making over $10 Million a year?

0%

5%
50%

70%. Maybe 80%

What is the Pax Americana?

The glorious post-WW2 era of American hegemony.

The era of post WW2 peace ensured through American strength and prosperity.
The era of peace after WW2, ensured by the US Navy and nuclear arsenal patrolling the world's oceans.

The tenuous era we live in where the US holds liberal - more like neoliberal - democracy together around the world through imperialism.

Who should be in charge of the economy?

The invisible hand of the market.

The players in the economy: captains of industry, et al.
No one should "control" it, but there need to be regulators who act as umpires and rule makers.

There should be powerful people in the government who have the specialist knowledge to keep the economy on an even keel.

Every other industrialized country in the world has a single payer health care system, but not the US. Why?

Because we aren't a communist country.

Because it wouldn't work in the US. It's too big a country.
Because we have entrenched interests too powerful to be stopped.

Because we got so used to being against the USSR that if socialists proposed people drink water, we'd nuke our own lakes and rivers.

What is the problem with the welfare system in the US?

That it exists. Ayn Rand would not approve.

It incentivizes laziness.
It's mismanaged and doesn't get to where it is needed most.

It is underfunded, and doesn't do enough for people below the poverty line.

What is the single biggest element of the solution to the illegal immigration problem.

Build a wall.

Fix the countries the immigrants come from.
Smart, high tech border security. Drones, etc.

Open the borders and stop meddling in the politics of other countries.

Who benefits from the welfare system in the US?

No one.

The lazy.
All of society. If the poor get angry enough, you wind up with revolution.

Poor people.

How should the US approach its investment in cutting edge military technology?

We need more troops, not more tech.

We need to have the deadliest weapons. Beyond that, who cares?
We need cutting edge technology so fewer deaths will be necessary, on our side at least.

We should draw back our spending on things like the military. The US spends hundreds of billions of dollars on the military. Let's invest more in education instead.

Should the theory of human evolution be taught in schools?

Only if all competing theories are taught as well.

Yes, but religious ideas about it should be taught as well, in a class on religions.
Of course. It's science. Science should be taught in science classes.

Yes, of course. Religion can also be taught, but in a class about the religions of the world.

Should "intelligent design" or "creationism" be taught in public schools?

Yes. Full stop.

Yes, if the district wants.
Only as a joke!

No. Full stop.

Should public school students be made to make the pledge of allegiance to the flag every morning?

Yes, just as I rise every morning to fly my flag and salute it on my lawn.

It would infringe on the religious freedoms of Jehovah's Witnesses to do that, so no.
Is that really the best way to spend time in school when there already isn't enough time to teach the actual subjects?

No. It's jingoistic propaganda.

Should public schools distribute condoms or other forms of contraceptive devices?

Absolutely not. It's a waste of money and it only encourages them to have sex.

No, because it takes away the incentive of the condom makers to find a way into the teenage market.
Yes. Teens should have condoms to stop the spread of STIs (some of which can lead to cancer) and pregnancies.

Yes, just as all healthcare should be free at the point of need.

Was NASA a good idea for America, during the Cold War?

Of course. It gave us the ICBM.

Of course. It gave us all sorts of technological breakthroughs, like Teflon.
Of course. NASA was an exemplar of how the government can work when it decides to tackle a problem in a full-throated way.

NASA was a waste of money that could have been spent on eliminating poverty and disease around the world, activities that would have generated enough good will to win the Cold War.

Is climate change real?

I'm not 100% sold yet.

Yes, probably.
Yes, definitely.

Yes! Yes it is! Can we all just agree that's the case and get on with saving the planet!

Where should the corporate tax rate be?

0%

5%
20%

70%-80%.

Should the federal government reclassify cannabis to be more like alcohol?

No. They should sentence all drug users to prison time to teach them a lesson.

I think at this point, they probably should. It would allow the police to work on real crimes.
Obviously. Policing pot smokers is a giant waste of time and money.

All drugs should be legal, because drug use is about controlling the content of your mind, and that should be the ultimate freedom.

Do more Mexicans choose to live permanently in the US when the immigration laws are more relaxed?

Yes, of course they do. Don't be silly.

Actually, the penalty for being caught crossing encourages them to stay. Small government is better.
I imagine the risk of being caught crossing going up would make it more likely they'd pick one side or another, probably our side.

People should be able to live where they feel safe from harm.

Should US states give tax breaks to big businesses in order to attract them?

No. The free market should not have anyone advocating from the sidelines.

If a community decides that, on balance, it benefits them more to have the business than the tax revenue, then it should be up to them.
In theory, no one should have to do it, but in practice, it's all about the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.

No. Corporate welfare is no business of the state.

How should the US approach its investment in the school system?

The public school system isn't the most efficient use of money to educate the children. We should invest in charter schools.

In some parts of the country, the public schools aren't very good. We should allow voucher programs to exist.
Some parts of the country have pretty ragged schools, and need the money to improve them. Thus, we should not allow voucher programs.

The public school system is the most efficient use of money to educate the children. We shouldn't invest in charter schools.

Should the United States be the "global police"?

Yes. We must preserve the global order because we are the main beneficiaries of it.

In some ways, but we don't need to get involved in every single problem in the world. That's a waste. On the other hand, would you rather we trust China to protect our interests?
We should pick our fights carefully, because it's the source of much of the resentment toward the US, but on the other hand would you want Russia doing it for us?

The US should offer civil aid without paternalistic demands on other countries.

Is climate change caused by human beings?

No, I don't think so.

Historically, no. Now? Maybe. Probably. I don't know.
Yes, it is.

Yes! It is! Now please can we get on with fixing the climate so we don't drown all the coasts of the world?

Why can (or can't) the US successfully create a single payer healthcare system?

No one in the world can make it work successfully. It always has problems. The US may be able to put a man on the moon, but we can't do this.

We can't because the country is too big and complex to have a single system for the whole thing.
We can do it because the USA can do anything it sets its sights on. Anything.

We can't because we have private interests too powerful to stop from putting the kibosh on this every time it comes up.

Would building a wall along the entire southern border of the US do much to stem illegal immigration?

Yes. It's not just a physical barrier, it's a psychological one. Look at the Chinese! They built a wall, and so the Mongols never successfully invaded China.

Considering that, in 2018, 701,900 people overstayed their visas after entering legally (become illegal immigrants) but only about half of that crossed the southern border in the US, even if it works, it won't "work".
No. If you were faced with either a wall in the desert, or being tortured by a drug gang in Guatemala, what would you choose?

No. They'll just buy taller ladders, or better shovels.

Should the US continue to invest in NASA?

No, we have enough nukes.

Yes. There are new and exciting technologies we can discover, with useful applications.
The pure science done by NASA is invaluable to our understanding of the universe, and that will eventually have practical uses.

No, we have more nukes than we need.

Should there be a carbon tax, to mitigate climate change and encourage development of the technologies the world will come to rely on in a post-oil era?

No. Taxes are theft.

Yes. We use taxes to encourage good behaviors and discourage bad ones. This is a good example of that.
Yes. Adjust the rules of the market and let the invisible hand take care of the rest.

Yes. There should be taxes on everything.

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Image: Hill Street Studios/Digital Vision/Getty Images

About This Quiz

There was a time, back in the 1950s, when American polling institutions feared that American politics was not polarized enough, and that the two major parties stood for too many of the same things, a problem they felt would lead to disengagement.

Would those pollsters be happy to see how things look today? Political commentary is often prone to hyperbole, but it isn't that much of a reach to say that the polarization of American politics today is only surpassed by polarization in the days of the American Civil War.

Even the axes of politics have shifted. It was once possible to call one's self a small government conservative, but today many conservatives are happy to have big government so long as it is their big government. Similarly, it was once liberal dogma that government could provide solutions to society's ills, but today many of the government policies threatening to intrude on the lives of private citizens are most vocally opposed by liberals.

Setting aside the poles of authoritarianism, libertarianism, and heuristics around contamination v. purity and oppressor v. victim that can make the populism of one side almost identical to the populism of the other, let us parse out your political outlook and determine an answer to the question, "Are you more conservative or liberal?"

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