Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Center · Politician · From history

Benjamin Franklin

American founder, diplomat and inventor, 1706 to 1790

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Helped draft the Declaration of Independence, won French support for the Revolution and invented the lightning rod, and turned against slavery late in life.

Benjamin Franklin sits in the right-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: leaning free market and leaning libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly tech-optimist on technology, leaning libertarian on liberty and authority and leaning institutional on institutions. The profile is close to the middle on interventionism.

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Where Benjamin Franklin sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyLeaning free market
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityLeaning libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureSlightly progressive
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationSlightly nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentSlightly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyStrongly tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceSlightly peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsLeaning institutional
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionSlightly secular
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismCentered on interventionism
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Benjamin Franklin

Tyler Cowen American economist and blogger99%Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Belarusian opposition leader98%Bjørn Lomborg Danish author and policy analyst98%John Locke English philosopher, 1632 to 170497%Montesquieu French political philosopher, 1689 to 175597%Ray Kurzweil American inventor and futurist97%Lai Ching-te President of Taiwan, 2024 to present96%Isaiah Berlin British philosopher and historian, 1909 to 199796%

People furthest from Benjamin Franklin

Ruhollah Khomeini Supreme Leader of Iran, 1979 to 198916%Mojtaba Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran, 2026 to present19%Benito Mussolini Prime Minister of Italy, 1922 to 194319%Hibatullah Akhundzada Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, 2021 to present20%

Political views closest to Benjamin Franklin

Civic republicanismValues citizen participation, civic virtue and freedom from domination, and often…98%Liberal nationalismHolds that nations have a right to self-government and a shared identity, provided they…97%Classical liberalismIndividual rights, limited government, free markets and the rule of law.97%Eco-modernismArgues that technology such as nuclear power, intensive farming and urbanization can…96%

Read more about Benjamin Franklin

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Biographies of Benjamin FranklinBooks on civic republicanism

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Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.