Cutline · Grade 8–9 · one of sixteen

P·L·N·G

The Classical Liberal

private · decentralized · national · gradual

Libertarian capitalism

A small government, private property protected by law, your own country as the working frame, and change that comes slowly and legally. Suspicious of anyone gathering too much power, but in no hurry to tear anything down.

What the four letters mean

P Ownershipprivatenot collective (C)
L Controldecentralizednot centralized (A)
N Horizonnationalnot internationalist (I)
G Methodgradualnot rupture (R)

Where this has shown up

HistoricallyNineteenth-century British liberalism; Friedrich Hayek; most small-government conservatives today.

All sixteen

Columns: collective → private. Within each half, internationalist then national.

CAIRThe Permanent Revolutionary CANRThe Vanguard PAIRThe Shock Therapist PANRThe Strongman CAIGThe World Planner CANGThe Planner PAIGThe Technocrat PANGThe National Conservative CLIRThe Anarchist CLNRThe Syndicalist PLIRThe Exit Capitalist PLNRThe Secessionist CLIGThe Commoner CLNGThe Municipalist PLIGThe Free Trader PLNGThe Classical Liberal

Rows: centralized → decentralized. Within each half, rupture then gradual.

This page is not a diagnosis

The Classical Liberal is a box, and a box throws almost everything away. It keeps which side of each line you landed on and forgets how far. Two people in this box can be at opposite ends of it, and somebody two points the other side of a line has more in common with this type than with their own. The four axes are real. Where the lines were drawn across them is a decision a person made.

The point

Cutline tells you the margin it used to hand you each of your four letters — including when one of them was a coin toss. That is the part every other quiz leaves out. And you are fourteen. You are supposed to change.

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