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Surprise Quiz! And No Peeking.
After reading Ricochet posts for a couple of years, I’ve figured out what goes into the makeup of an ideal Ricochet conservative. So I’ve devised a true/false test to see just how pure of a Ricochet conservative you are. So mark either a True or a False next to each of the numbered statements below.
You can check what your score means at the end of the test. (Though modest by nature, I will tell you that I did very well.)
- You think that Trump is egotistical, has a tenuous relationship with the truth, and is about a half-bubble off plumb. But you agree with almost everything he’s helped to accomplish and you’ll be voting for him if he runs again.
- You’re a practicing Jew or Christian and you bring up (or brought up) your children in a church or temple. If you belong to a mainline Protestant congregation, you probably feel out of step at times.
- You’re a strong supporter of the free enterprise system — with reasonable limitations, of course. For instance, you have nothing against the FDA overseeing the safety testing of drugs and other products.
- You have a general distaste for regulations and you agree with Trump’s efforts to reduce their number.
- You think that AOC, Bernie Sanders, and fellow socialists haven’t learned from history.
- You strongly support the First Amendment. Let the ideas fly, you say, and let us sort them out rather than let the government sort them out before they reach our ears.
- You strongly support the Second Amendment. In fact, you would allow firearms all the way up through the semi-automatic, combat-looking AK 47 to be legally sold. You also think that all adults — with the exception of convicted felons and the certifiably insane — should be able to buy those legal firearms. You probably have a firearm in your home.
- You think that colleges, especially the humanities, have become too political and left-wing partisan.
- You’re a proponent of limited government and suspicious of central planning.
- You’re respectful of the Founding Fathers and thankful for the blessings you received by growing up in America. And you’re not too shy to say so.
- You’re a strong supporter of property rights. And that means you believe that a person has the right to sell his stuff to whomever he wishes. That stuff includes wedding cakes. You also believe that a person has the right to rent his property to whomever he wishes. What goes on in your mind as you accept or turn away a prospective renter is none of the government’s business.
- Following the lead of the greatest conservative of them all, Edmund Burke, you think that long-established laws and habits have stood the test of time and therefore are probably based on human nature itself. So you’re cautious about change and innovation.
- You believe that life begins at conception and you, therefore, consider abortion murder.
- You believe in the work ethic, and you’ve probably shown up for work a bit sick — sniffles, sneezy, runny nose, tired, achy — more than once.
- You think that children need heroes so you disapprove of those who focus on the flaws of the American past. You would rather students hear stories of American greatness. It doesn’t even particularly bother you if children in the lower grades are told fictional, uplifting stories like Washington and the cherry tree. Truth comes in many forms, you believe, and some of those forms are mythic and legendary.
- You lead a conservative lifestyle. You invest conservatively, live modestly, and you even look conservative. You’re not a clotheshorse and you keep your hair neatly trimmed or styled.
- It saddens you that the mainstream media have moved away from objectivity and toward left-wing partisanship.
- You think that reducing taxes is good for the economy.
- You think that the policies of big-city mayors and the welfare state have helped to undermine the well-being of urban minorities.
- “Live and let live” is one of your mottos.
Here are your scores in the number of statements that you have marked false.
0 to 2: You’re conservative down to your toes. (This is what Bob the dog and my wife Marie scored.)
3 to 5: You’re conservative enough to annoy liberals. (This is what I scored.)
6 to 9: You’re flirting with liberalism, brothers and sisters. You’re still in the fold, but you need to back off just a bit before you fall off the conservative precipice and into the slough of left-wing despondency.
10 to 15: You watch CNN and believe everything you see and hear there. You miss dreadfully the professorial and sonorous intonation patterns that you remember coming from Obama’s mouth. “Orange man bad” is your mantra when you meditate.
16 to 20: You’re a Commie and report back regularly to your comrades in the Kremlin.
I have extras. Would you like to borrow one of mine?
Goose egg, here.
Spin, I’m not sure even William Buckley would have scored a 0.
15, but I think I was generous.
Oh wait, gotta get the phone, I’m expecting a call from Moscow….
You’re with Trump, then, in taking your marching orders from the Kremlin.
Nothing that elaborate. Directing Trump is an art form.
Some questions I gave a half point to my score. I have a minor quibble with #11. Don’t have a problem with a cake decorator not making a wedding cake for a gay couple but I’d have a problem with a renter not renting a house to a gay couple. Limited public accommodation laws are a good thing.
Gave myself a half point for the second amendment. Not a gun guy and not just that passionate about it.
Question #1. I live in a state that will overwhelming vote for Trump so I might go the protest vote route again. Like it really matters. If I lived in a swing state I’d more than likely hold my nose and vote for the bad orange man.
Question #15. We should have a balanced view of our founding fathers. They created something amazing but they were also way too human.
Question #18. Depends on the economic situation. When they increase deficits it’s probably not good to cut taxes. It always seems to be a Republican cure all but I’m not sure it’s always a good thing. I aint no economist anyways.
All in all according to my math. I scored a 4.178659.
Offer him a kilt, make TRN happy.
By the way, long hair on a man is truly the conservative option.
Amtrack , you mean that long hair of yours comes in the form of a powdered wig? Man, you are a hippy.
I got a 4. My hair’s not long, it’s just not very kempt. Besides, no matter what style it is, I always wind up the day with hard-hat hair.
I can’t be the only one here who remembers that Milton Friedman objected to the FDA and advocated for its abolition.
That’s why number 3 is a flawed question – the limitation that the FDA imposes on the free market is not reasonable.