Monday, March 1, 2010

The Nolan Quiz

My favorite Libertarian Evangelism technique is to use something called "The Nolan Chart".  It's a 10 question quiz that asks you to agree, somewhat agree, or disagree to a few propositions. 

Go here to take the original quiz and see your results.  Or if you're in a hurry, you can take the shorter version.  While this little test still doesn't give a true picture of a person's total political makeup, it does allow for something other than our current Left-Right false dichotomy.  The red dot at the top of the chart shows where I fit on the Nolan Chart:

I bet I've gone through the Nolan Quiz with a thousand people.  It's a great conversation starter.  Believe it or not, you can use this to show gun rights/2nd amendment advocates that they have a lot of issues in common with the drug legalization movement and gay rights advocates.

I repeat:  I've probably given the Nolan Quiz to a thousand people.  Give me a legal pad, and I bet I could give someone the test and score it from memory. 

Now, imagine you're a Christian evangelist.  Imagine that you base your evangelism on "The Roman Road" evangelism plan, a conversion strategy that uses four vital Bible verses from the Apostle Paul's book of Romans. 
If you were this evangelist, would you be excited about meeting the Apostle Paul? 

And at this weekend's Libertarian State Leadership Alliance meeting, do you think I was excited about getting to meet David Nolan, the inventor of The Nolan Quiz? 


Dang right, I was excited. Nolan is the one on the right. 
Be sure to take the quiz, and then work out your own salvation as best you can.  There's a great day a'coming !  Repent !  THE END is near ! !

Thanks to Big Daddy John Spivey for the picture.  Go here for more info about the conference. 

6 comments:

Hot Sam said...

I took the short test an was a libertarian with a score of 60%, about where I expected to be. But at least two of the questions lacked sufficient detail to make a clear choice.

On the national ID card, we already have one - a passport. State issued ID are de facto national since they all share the information. I see no power of fed govt to either require or regulate ID, but under the Commerce clause they could certainly bar air travel for people who don't have ID which doesn't conform to tamper-proof standards.

I would also distinguish between different types of drugs. Certain drugs like meth, crack, and heroine are too addictive to consume safely.

I'll take the longer quiz when I have more time.

TarrantLibertyGuy said...

I was kinda giddy to meet him too, but I hope I came off all cool and non-chalant. I honestly thought he'd be older. I mean he was there when this all began!! Very cool.

Dr Ralph said...

Okay -- I've taken this before (the short version) and just so every one knows where I'm coming from, once again I'm Liberal:

PERSONAL issues Score is 80%.
ECONOMIC issues Score is 30%.

...disturbingly enough, I may have shifted slightly in towards the cent from the outer fringes.

FYI - the long version was busted when I tried to take it. I wonder if it would have given a more nuanced description of my failings.

Hot Sam said...

The long version was busted for me too. Either the world is clamoring to test their political sentiments, Nolan's server is too small, or the government is blocking it.

I'm fairly sure the long test scored me in the same place the short test did - in the libertarian quadrant but leaning toward conservative. Most libertarians I know would probably disagree because they'd emphasize our differences rather than our similarities.

Although the test said to select the closest answer I found several questions where no answer sufficed.

I'm a "none of the above" kind of guy.

Jeff_Fulcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeff_Fulcher said...

Thanks for writing about the Quiz and the Nolan Chart. I just wanted to clarify a quick point though:

The Advocates created the first Nolan Chart-based Quiz, with David Nolan's input and approval, in 1987. We also created the diamond-shape for the Nolan Chart and labeled it the World's Smallest Political Quiz. David Nolan is on our board and is a strong supporter of the Advocates.

NolanChart.com is NOT David Nolan's website.He has for decades publicly credited the Advocates for Self-Government with rescuing his political chart from obscurity and bringing it to the prominence it now enjoys. Nolan has said that if it weren't for the Advocates, the Nolan Chart may well have disappeared.

On NolanChart.com, they acknowledge that they based their Quiz on ours. They use the diamond-shaped Nolan Chart that we created and publicize. Their ten questions also use much of the same wording that we originated.

You can take the original quiz at www.theAdvocates.org/Quiz

Jeff Fulcher
Director of Programs
The Advocates for Self