The concept of The Nolan Chart was popularized by its namesake David Nolan in 1971.

(Not coincidentally, that is also the year he helped found the Libertarian Party.  Such is the power of thinking different.)

So long as politics are viewed in a left/right-either/or way, we will always be stuck with the same two choices.  Is it any wonder we often vote against candidates rather than in favor of one?

Certainly there are differences between left and right, but there’s another standard between freedom and authoritarianism that generally gets ignored..  Liberals and conservatives both, unfortunately, can conspire together to deny you your rights.

But that also means it’s possible to be a liberal or conservative that tends toward freedom, and frankly we would be better off with either than what we have today.

The more people we get to think in two dimensions, the more possible it becomes.

And once someone understands this different way of thinking, it is hard for them to forget.  Just by taking the little quiz associated with the Nolan Chart, can change their attitudes forever.

The iPhone is already changing the world.  Why not help it along a little.

The Nolan Chart is a simple two-dimensional chart with x and y axis which is turned on edge so that the left of the political spectrum is shown on left, and the right to the right.

The x-axis is represented by Economic Freedoms: Lower taxes, smaller government, less regulation, privatization, etc.

The y-axis is for Personal Freedoms:  free speech, gay rights, medical marijuana, etc.

Tapping the ‘Show History’ button will plot the scores of previously taken quizzes.

When the program launches you are presented with the empty Nolan Chart:

Each star on the chart represents someone’s purported ideology:

Tapping any color on the chart pulls up a brief description of the corresponding ideology:

We tried to be as fair as possible, but the truth is we are Libertarians and proud of it.

Our attempt was to focus more on philosophy than on issues.

We couldn’t stop ourselves from a little ding at the status quo parties under the Statist description.  We are only human.

Hit ‘Done’ to return to the main screen.

From the main screen, tapping the info button at the top right will show you the settings screen:

From this screen you can turn the sounds on or off.  Nolan Chart ships with the sounds off, but we think its much better with sound.

Tapping the ‘Clear History’ button will erase all taken quizzes and reset the data.  Nolan Chart will ask you if you really want to do this before deleting anything.

‘Email History’ will send you directly to the Mail app, where you’ll have to type in an address or select from your address book.  Nolan Chart just sends a really simple summary of the data in text format, not unlike what you see on this screen.

The data, we hope, is self-explanatory.  ‘A/M/D’ stands for ‘Agree / Maybe/ Disagree’.

If there is a tie for the favorite or least favorite topic, the first on the list is chosen.

There are only ten statements.  Nolan Chart is designed to be quick and easy.  Its much more fun that way, and probably just as accurate.

Choose ‘Maybe’ if you need more information to answer confidently or if it depends on the situation.

You can cancel the quiz and be sent back to the main screen by hitting ‘Cancel’.

You get to the next statement by flipping the screen from right to left, as you would in Apple’s photo app.  You can also flip back to change a previous answer if you like.

Again from the main screen, tapping ‘Take The Quiz’ sends you to the first statement:

After the tenth statement, you are presented with your result:

Congratulations!  You may be a libertarian!

Your result is represented by the star on the chart.

As at the main screen, you can tap any ideology to see its description.

You can also flip back to the statements to change any answer and see how it affects your result.

Thanks for taking a look at Nolan Chart.  We believe it can be a fun and interesting outreach tool, or just fun and interesting between friends.

Just be careful who you hand your iPhone/iPod to.  We would hate to upset some Statist while he has your device in his hands.

On second thought, no we wouldn’t.