If you were to listen to any of the major news networks, political shows, political commentators or state university college professors, the American political spectrum is a continuum with Communism on the far left, then Socialism as you move to the right, then what the news calls “Liberals” or “Progressives.”

Then… “Moderates” in the middle…

As you move to the right of the middle… There are “Conservatives”, “Libertarians” and “Fascists” on the far right.

This is obviously completely false because libertarians have nothing to do with fascism, and fascism is not representative of a desire for more personal and economic freedom that the jump from conservatism to libertarianism represents…

So what is the REAL political spectrum in the US… AND… Why does the monopoly media and monopoly academia misrepresent the political spectrum?

First, what is the real political spectrum… It is best thought of as a continuum of MORE State/governmental control on the far left and REAL freedom (voluntaryism/peaceful anarchy/Human Respect) on the far right.

Why does the monopoly media and academia lie about it?

Because if they were honest about the political spectrum, it would make the engineered two-party system look way less attractive than it is now, it would illustrate that both parties support violent “government” control, and it would expose that there are more and better options than “Democrat” and “Republican”

Keeping the population in the fake left-right paradigm allows the inter-generational organized crime system behind “government” to offer a fake “Hobson’s Choice” of two political parties that represent the two largest identifiable blocks of potential participants: “Republicans” are marketed to appeal to rural conservatives while “Democrats” are marketed to appeal to urban liberals. At the Presidential and senior party leadership level, the potential rulers are 100% aligned on the issues important to the fractional reserve bankers and recipients of the TRILLIONS of dollars being siphoned out the back door.

What is the Honest Map of the Political Landscape?

Introducing the Nolan Chart aKa The Diamond Chart aKa The World’s Smallest Political Quiz.

I “Pro-Modified” a version of the Advocates for Self-Government’s World’s Smallest Political Quiz to better identify where voluntaryists fall on the chart and the chasm that separates them from Statists (People who believe in having a State or “government”). You can take the 2025 version of the quiz here: https://www.TheAdvocates.org/quiz/

MIT student David Nolan first published his version of the chart in an article named “Classifying and Analyzing Politico-Economic Systems” in the January 1971 issue of The Individualist, the monthly magazine of the Society for Individual Liberty (now Liberty International).

In December 1971, David helped found what would become the Libertarian Party.

A Chart from David Nolan’s 1971 paper, where he plotted various governments/countries, politicians, and political organizations to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the approach. He used the term “Anarchy” for a stateless society where all the cool kids today are using the term: Voluntaryism. He also invented the word: Omnarchy for “government without limit or restriction”. Rotate the chart 45 degrees counter-clockwise, and you get the Diamond Chart/World’s Smallest Political Quiz.

Nolan argued that the significant difference between various political philosophies is the amount of government control over human action that is advocated, and he reasoned that virtually all human political action can be divided into two broad categories: economic and personal and his original chart mapped the political spectrum to the amount of freedom along those two axis.

The “Right” tends to advocate for more economic freedom: Low taxes, low regulations, etc. while it is less tolerant of personal freedoms: drug legalization, gambling legalization, sex workers, etc.

The “Left” tends to advocate for more personal freedom: legalized drug use, legalization of sex work, abortion rights, etc., but is against economic freedom and generally proponents of “government” control of the economy.

Everything maps… BUT… What if you are an advocate for BOTH economic and personal freedom? BOOM! The Nolan Chart correctly aligns a preference for both economic and personal freedom with libertarianism, anrcho-capitalism, peaceful anarchism, and voluntaryism.

Enter Marshall Fritz & The Advocates for Self-Government

Marshall Fritz, a former salesman from IBM whom I was blessed to get to know in my twenties, founded the Advocates for Self-Government in 1985 to help libertarians effectively “sell” the ideas of liberty, and in 1987, he invented the World’s Smallest Political Quiz to help people better understand the REAL political landscape.

It was one of the most brilliant moves in political activism. There have been tens of millions of people who have taken some version of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz and discovered a political philosophy that I would argue has been purposefully hidden and minimized: libertarianism! The “umbrella term” that encompasses the “Big Tent” of liberty advocates that includes everyone from the Big “L” Libertarians of the Libertarian Party to “small “l” libertarians, voluntaryists, and anarcho-capitalists that don’t believe in “government” at all.

Mapping the Political Spectrum vs. Morality and Consciousness

While many people might not realize it, what many view as a political battle is actually a spiritual battle. The advocates for voluntaryism are not just exposing the illegitimacy and criminality of “government,” but they are helping their brethren understand the spiritual implications of advocating for violence. You can’t have “government” without violence/extortion, and people who are advocating for “government” or their preferred puppet ruler are advocating that violence be used on their friends, family, neighbors and colleagues who disagree.

I found this visualization online without attribution and “pro-modified” it to better represent the political spectrum vs. the amount of personal consciousness/enlightenment among the individual proponents. I actually believe that society’s tax-slavery is the karma of so many trying to impose their preferred ruler on others. Because so many have been indoctrinated (tricked) into advocating for and voting (praying) for the violence of “government,” they themselves are enslaved by the same system.

Chris Rufer is a successful entrepreneur who took over the Advocates for Self-Government after Marshall Fritz’s passing in 2008 and chairs the organization today. His Foundation for Harmony and Prosperity is addressing the problematic issues of changing how society has been indoctrinated into solving problems with easily rigged and fundamentally immoral “government.”

In the visualization below, he breaks down the moral difference between Republicans, Democrats, and Voluntaryists.

In the diagram, he uses the term “Human Respect,” which is explained below, but you can swap out the term: voluntaryism.

The Basics of Human Respect: https://www.harmonyandprosperity.org/one-lesson

“The Uppists” vs. “The Downists”

James Corbett, documentarian, author, and host of the popular podcast The Corbett Report, in his new book Reportage, breaks down the political landscape between “The Uppists” who want more government regulation, taxes, surveillance and war and “The Downists” who want more political liberty, peace, freedom, and decentralization.

It is interesting that even though “The Uppists” are vastly outnumbered, the power of their unlimited fractional reserve dollars, monopoly media, puppet politicians and “non-governmental organizations” can constantly “trump” the will of the people who want to be left alone… For now…

About the Project - We are Taking it Global!

Because this is a global issue where, essentially, all the “governments” of the world are running the same playbook of tricks, including trying to keep their populations in the same fake left-right paradigm, we are going to creating a version for other countries. Paul Hellier, of the Fair Food Forager & Friends podcast, helped me with this version for Australia. Ron Manners from Australia’s Mannkal Economic Education Foundation thought it was spot on! Can you help us create a version for your part of the world? Send us the details to Evidence@ArtOfLiberty.org

We are going to archive this article and the global versions at ArtOfLiberty.org/REAL-Scale.

Canada

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Venezuelan - Espanol

About Etienne de la Boetie²

Etienne de la Boetie² is the founder of the Art of Liberty Foundation, and the editor of Voluntaryist.News, our daily survey of the best of the alternative media from a voluntaryist perspective, and Five Meme Friday, which delivers hard-hitting voluntaryist memes and the best of the alternative media. He is an internationally recognized expert and speaker on voluntaryism and government illegitimacy, criminality and corruption. His original writings and research can be found at ArtOfLiberty.Foundation.

He is the author of multiple books exposing the illegitimacy and criminality of government, including:

● The Greatest Theft in Human History – How the Banks and “Government” Will Steal at Least $1.40 MILLION from the Typical Worker… “Legally” – which exposes the theft of inflation from fractional reserve banking and the real cost of confiscatory taxation and Social Security underpayment from government CPI manipulation.

● To See the Cage Is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many – an exposé of a variety of unethically manipulative techniques the organized crime “government” is using on the population in their mandatory schools, affiliated scouting programs, and through propaganda secretly inserted into films and television shows to trick the population into a system that will steal 58% of their lifetime earnings.

● “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! – How Intergenerational Organized Crime Runs the “Government,” Media and Academia – which breaks down how inter-generational organized crime centered around banking and central banking is robbing and controlling the population using the technique of “government” with puppet politicians and monopoly media/academia.

Links: About Etienne · ArtOfLiberty.org · ArtOfLiberty.Foundation · Voluntaryist.News · Five Meme Friday · Store · YouTube · Rumble · X · Telegram

Our new book, The Greatest Theft in Human History – How the Banks and “Government” Will Steal At Least $1.4 MILLION From the Typical American Worker “Legally,” is now shipping!

You can read a summary of the book on ArtOfLiberty.Foundation (Replaces Important News from Art of Liberty Foundation on Substack) that breaks down the basics HERE.

Our first order was for 200 copies; 39 went to sheriff's departments in North Carolina, and two went to Supreme Court justices in North Carolina with whom our supporter had relationships. The books were so well received that she ordered 200 more copies!

You can get a free copy by becoming a Liberty Member on our new publishing platform. Substack was censoring us, so we built our own censorship-resistant publishing platform.

Check it out at Voluntaryist.News, ArtOfLiberty.Foundation, and FiveMemeFri.org and become a Liberty Member at ArtOfLiberty.org/become-liberty-member/

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