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Friday, June 6, 2008

Are Libertarians Built To Achieve Success?

Today, a topic for discussion:

I remember being part of a discussion on the old LPUS listserv years ago about Libertarian Party members' personality types on the Myers-Briggs spectrum. While the survey was hardly scientific, a significant majority of those involved in the discussion said they were INTJs. Since INTJs are generally scientific-minded systems builders who look to "big picture" solutions, this makes sense for those attracted to the LP. But INTJs are a very small proportion of the population at large -- less than one percent, by some accounts.

Similarly, I have several times recently seen Libertarians' IQs on their blogs or websites. Putting aside the larger debate of whether IQ is a useful measurement, in many cases these LP members' IQs were quite high, even genius-level. Again, this makes sense; one needs to be pretty intelligent and engaged in order to investigate political philosophies and alternative parties. But again, those with IQs in the 130-plus range account for only about two percent of the U.S. population.

My question, then: Can a party that appeals primarily to an exceptional but proportionally tiny subset of the population ever achieve mass acceptance and victory?