You would think that we live in America.
The great, exceptional, free republic to ever be seen.
NOT so fast!
The Mercatus Center, a Virginia think tank has been conducting a Freedom in the 50 States' (PDF) study for a number of years.
This study ranks the American states on their public policies that affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. With updates and expands to its report since its inception. This years study was conducted by William Ruger, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas State University and Jason Sorens, an assistant professor of political science at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
Their findings are that the least freest states in the nation are New York, California and New Jersey rounding out the bottom of individual freedoms study.
New York is by far the least free state and has had ‘the most interstate emigration of any state over the last decade’
The state also has ‘by far the highest taxes in the country’ and ‘only Alaska has more government debt as a percentage of the economy’.
New York’s smoking and gun laws are ‘extremely’ strict, cigarette taxes are the ‘highest in the county’ and ‘motorists are highly regulated’.
The report recommends New York should legalise same-sex partnerships, cut spending, privatise transport systems and cut taxes.
California ‘aggressively interferes in the personal lives of its citizens’ and ‘needs to cut government spending’, the report said.
It added that labour laws are ‘extremely strict’ and the state’s ‘liability system almost reaches the abysmal quality of the Deep South’s’.
The most free, the top 3... New Hampshire, South Dakota and Indiana.
It is also the only state in the U.S. with no seatbelt law for adults.
Or you can find your State below: Let Freedom Ring!
Or you can find your State below: Let Freedom Ring!
STATE FREEDOM RANKINGS
- 1. New Hampshire
- 2. South Dakota
- 3. Indiana
- 4. Idaho
- 5. Missouri
- 6. Nevada
- 7. Colorado
- 8. Oregon
- 9. Virginia
- 10. North Dakota
- 11. Florida
- 12. Oklahoma
- 13. Iowa
- 14. Texas
- 15. Georgia
- 16. Tennessee
- 17. Kansas
- 18. North Carolina
- 19. Alabama
- 20. Utah
- 21. Wyoming
- 22. Arizona
- 23. Nebraska
- 24. Mississippi
- 25. Wisconsin
- 26. South Carolina
- 27. Michigan
- 28. Arkansas
- 29. Montana
- 30. Vermont
- 31. Pennsylvania
- 32. Kentucky
- 33. Maine
- 34. Minnesota
- 35. Louisiana
- 36. West Virginia
- 37. New Mexico
- 38. Connecticut
- 39. Delaware
- 40. Washington
- 41. Illinois
- 42. Ohio
- 43. Maryland
- 44. Alaska
- 45. Rhode Island
- 46. Massachusetts
- 47. Hawaii
- 48. California
- 49. New Jersey
- 50. New York
3 comments:
I was proud to see Colorado hanging in there at # 7, despite a plague of democrats and swarms of Californians infesting the state.
I notice that the least free are also the ones most hosed up.
Alaska is a weird outlier, I guess because of the government involvement in the energy industry up there.
Well that's great! Now I'm moving from number 5 to number 42. The only saving grace in that reality is that I'm moving from a state with a Democrat Governor to a state with a Republican Governor.
The MO Governor yesterday, vetoed a bill that would require ID before voting. He gave the SAME old tired excuse of a hardship on the elderly and invalid....even though they would need a ID to use their credit card, cash a check and all the other things you need a ID for.
But I guess he didn't really want to tell the truth concerning the voter ID issue....such as lost Democrat votes from illegals and dead people. Liberals just have to cheat and commit crimes to stay in power.
Liberals just don't get it, but that's why they are now toast!
"I'm moving from a state with a Democrat Governor to a state with a Republican Governor." And as the years go by your new state will go up in rankings. Mine hasn't budged since 2009, thats because the morons in the city out number the voting public that is out state.
Regardless, seniors still need some kind of ID during their normal daily lives, so it's a lame excuse for MO Governor, for sure.
Silver, 7 is great, but in 09 it ranked 2 and now because of "a plague of democrats and swarms of Californians infesting the state." it's slipping... Hang tough, my friend. Hang tough! :)
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