Sightings from Navigator 4, 7

Robert A. Levy, a senior fellow in Constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and a member of TOC's board of trustees, recently debated Richard Daynard of the Tobacco Products Liability Project on MSNBC's "Mike Barnicle Show." Although the program was originally broadcast on June 7, a link to it is available on the Cato Institute's Website and can be viewed using Real Player, or a similar program.

In the last three months, Levy has appeared on four television shows and over a dozen radio broadcasts, including programs on the Talk America Radio Network and BBC World Service. He has discussed a wide range of issues, such as the Microsoft antitrust case, gun control, and tobacco issues.

Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute has been receiving a great deal of attention lately. For instance, it was featured in a June 11 New York Times article. The institute works to train young conservatives how to communicate their ideas effectively in both print and broadcast media. It also operates a job bank and fosters networking among program alumni.

The Leadership Institute offers a variety of workshops and training sessions throughout the country.

On October 6-7, Freedom Summit—an annual seminar dedicated to advancing freedom—will be held in Phoenix, Arizona. Speakers this year include Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation; Don Boudreaux, chairman of the department of economics at George Mason University and past president of Foundation for Economic Education; Robert A. Levy, senior fellow in Constitutional studies at the Cato Institute; and Butler D. Shaffer, a professor of law at Southwestern University School of Law.

According to the Freedom Summit's Web site: "[This event] is a forum for the vigorous and peaceful exchange of ideas about how humans ought to interact with each other. People recently introduced to the concepts of freedom as well as life long supporters of freedom are encouraged to attend. Additionally, those who support a coercive government are also welcome to attend and reassess their views in light of the ideas and arguments presented."

The registration deadline is September 21. For more information, visit their website or write to the Freedom Summit at 1630 South Stapely Drive, Suite 230, Mesa, Arizona 84204.

Many Objectivists and libertarians like to take tests to determine their position on the various political dimensions. To satisfy this craving, the Institute for Humane Studies now offers Politopia, "a magical land where you can customize your government simply by moving." Try out IHS's quiz.

The quiz attempts to locate a person politically by asking him to take a fifteen-question test. Most questions are of the form "The government should. . . .," and concern such topics as labor regulation, public education, the drug war, taxes, immigration, and so forth. When the test-taker is finished he is automatically placed on a map that uses a north-south axis and an east-west axis to define various political stances, and nine well-known people to exemplify the various regions. One interesting feature of the map is that the extreme southeast is occupied by Hitler and Stalin (so much for the old Left-Right spectrum), while the extreme northwest is occupied by Ayn Rand. But a note to IHS mapmakers: Jesse Ventura needs to be replaced. It is no longer clear what, if anything, he stands for.

For a more somber, though less insightful, questionnaire, one can take the "Where Do You Fit?" quiz at the Pew Research Center. Here, one answers thirty-one standard political questions and ends up placed in one of ten categories, of which three are species of Republicans, three are species of Independents, and four are species of Democrats.

What is perhaps most interesting about such tests is not the result—which often seems ill-fitting—but the realization that this is how others see one