How free is your state?

[Crowish]

#7.

I guess my perceptions of VT, ME and AK are wrong. I had assumed they were strongly "freedom-leaning."

 

[slothman]

That site looks right-winged.
It's various requirements make the right seem better.
I wouldn't give it much credibility as it seems biased.
Obama's states are last and Mccain's are first.

BTY I live in NY; number 50. Yeh.
I like it here and won't move.

 

[Pauls' Revere]

#47 = Socialized Hell

 

[Zuras]

That site looks right-winged.
It's various requirements make the right seem better.
I wouldn't give it much credibility as it seems biased.
Obama's states are last and Mccain's are first.

BTY I live in NY; number 50. Yeh.
I like it here and won't move.

Ya, it couldn't possibly be that the big gubment blue states are more interested in infringing on rights than protecting them. No way, Jose. That's unpossible(blue state public ed). Who can I charge for hate speech on this one?

 

[Chosen]

Washington State #44.

I would have thought Montana to be higher.

 

[Semper Vigilans]

Whoo hoo! Number 21!

At least we came in something better than 49th.

I like it here in Alabama. I won't move, unless it's to Texas.

 

[ChaosControl]

#44, but hey I plan to move. I just haven't decided where to.

 

[JohnJay]

You'd have to agree with the criteria and the weight applied to the criteria to accept this ranking - I don't.
I think the courts are the biggest factor - Iowa's high state income tax and a general fascism mentality to deny due process should put it in the bottom 10.

I think McCain is an american hero

At the bottom of his Naval Academy class, crashing planes off the Texas coast and in the Iberian pennisula/Meditterrean
before being at the start of the biggest Naval aircraft carrier disaster - the USS Forrestal catastrophe,
all after being born in Panama and of course not even eligible to be President yet taking millions in political donations . . .

McCain is no hero.

 

[Natalie]

I moved to Texas from New York. What a huge difference!

My best friend who lives in New York said they just passed an "entertainment tax" there. Now it's like an additional $3 every time you go to the movies. New York sucks.

 

[Maverick]

That site looks right-winged.
It's various requirements make the right seem better.
I wouldn't give it much credibility as it seems biased.
Obama's states are last and Mccain's are first.

As someone already pointed out, Obama won NH and Colorado, the states occupying the #1 and #2 spots in the study. And the study even criticizes states that adhere to traditional "conservative" standards on marijuana policy and same-sex civil unions. I don't see where you get the idea that the study is "right-wing" biased.

If anything, the study is biased towards freedom. And as well it should be, as they tell you straight from the beginning that freedom indicators are the crux of the study. Also, according to how they've defined their interpretation of freedom, I'd say it aligns fairly well with libertarian principles.

We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on
explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on another individual’s ability to do the same.

Sounds like the NAP to me.

This understanding of freedom follows from the natural-rights liberal thought of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Robert Nozick...

 

[Zuras]

You'd have to agree with the criteria and the weight applied to the criteria to accept this ranking - I don't.
I think the courts are the biggest factor - Iowa's high state income tax and a general fascism mentality to deny due process should put it in the bottom 10.



At the bottom of his Naval Academy class, crashing planes off the Texas coast and in the Iberian pennisula/Meditterrean
before being at the start of the biggest Naval aircraft carrier disaster - the USS Forrestal catastrophe,
all after being born in Panama and of course not even eligible to be President yet taking millions in political donations . . .

McCain is no hero.

Shall I launch into the litany of reasons Washington/Jefferson were failures and douche bags? You sound more like a dumbocrat propagandist still stuck in election robot mode than anything else. His grades in the Naval academy? Heh. Ya that's on my hero checklist. Right below using the correct hand to wipe his ass with.

 

[Maverick]

Shall I launch into the litany of reasons Washington/Jefferson were failures and douche bags?

Please do. Although I think you'll find that we've covered this topic a few times around here, so I suspect it would mostly be a re-hash of what most of us already know. Also, if you mean to imply with that statement that you think most of us believe these men are somehow beyond criticism, you'd be wrong.

You sound more like a dumbocrat propagandist still stuck in election robot mode than anything else. His grades in the Naval academy? Heh. Ya that's on my hero checklist. Right below using the correct hand to wipe his ass with.

So he mentions the Naval Academy grades, and you discount them, but he also questioned McCain's skills as a pilot and you ignore it. Seems telling to me that you would simply jump over that point.

 

[pcosmar]

Having lived in a few of the "good"states I would have to say that it is not that accurate.
I was born and raised in Michigan, and can see a drastic difference between what it was 30 years ago to what it is today. I would say the same for Florida, From my first visit in the 70s and then moving back there after some years. I lived there about 16 years and saw it going downhill.
I suspect that the Downhill slide is nation wide.

 

[Zuras]

Please do. Although I think you'll find that we've covered this topic a few times around here, so I suspect it would mostly be a re-hash of what most of us already know. Also, if you mean to imply with that statement that you think most of us believe these men are somehow beyond criticism, you'd be wrong.

So was Washington or Jefferson a hero? That's the only question. You are largely a bunch of dumb kids here, drunk on your ignorance. Ooooh. I can talk trash about McCain. He's such a terribe person! Oh, I'm so cool! Look at me!

So he mentions the Naval Academy grades, and you discount them, but he also questioned McCain's skills as a pilot and you ignore it. Seems telling to me that you would simply jump over that point.

Oh, yes, you know how good of a pilot McCain was. Uh-huh. You probably have a better chance of knowing how good of a pilot Washington and Jefferson were. Aside from the utter stupidty of that proposition, who even cares? How good of a pilot someone was? Tha's really on your list of what makes someone a hero?

 

[Truth Warrior]

Do I have a state? I thought I just lived here.

 

[WRellim]

One underlying assumption here is that such "freedom" is uniform across an entire state.

I assure you it is not.

And by assuming that, it totally ignores the (IMHO, major) impact that local governments and bureaucrats (including their attitudes) can have on your life.

Consider the difference in a town that has an "Andy Griffith" type as Sheriff; then contrast it with one that has a MODERN version of "Barney Fife" as Sheriff and/or SWAT Team leader?

Likewise, while all counties in your state may have exactly the same "uniform building codes" and be equally subject to "zoning laws" -- there can be worlds of difference between an "exurb" are that has a bunch of "smart growth" bureau-nazi's running around; versus a really laid back rural area (which may only be 50 miles away).

My point?

Simple -- just because Colorado is the "free-est" on that list (versus my state being nearer the bottom) does NOT mean that I would want to switch places with people living in Denver (indeed not, I know people who live there, and they have plenty of their own gripes).

I prefer living in a "BFE" area of my own state (I can choose to venture into the city any time I want, but am otherwise mainly free from it's problems).

 

[Danke]

I can't understand why Alaska is so low? I heard if you live in the countryside, there are no property taxes?

 

[Truth Warrior]

I can't understand why Alaska is so low? I heard if you live in the countryside, there are no property taxes?

A LOT of turf, NOT many folks.

 

[gls]

I can't understand why Alaska is so low? I heard if you live in the countryside, there are no property taxes?

from the pdf

Alaska’s big problem is fiscal policy. Over a quarter of the state’s workforce is employed by state or local government, and that figure does not include federal employees. Alaska has the third highest debt ratio in the country and the second highest state and local government spending ratio. However, Alaska does extremely well on personal freedom, scoring 1st on our ranking. Reasons for its score include: fully legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana (accomplished through a court ruling), the best (least restrictive) gun laws in the country, recognition of same-sex domestic partnerships, and possibly the best homeschooling laws in the country. On economic regulation, Alaska could do better by reverting to the federal minimum wage, adopting right-to-work, and going much further with eminent domain reform. Alaska has done relatively well on health insurance egulation and occupational licensing.

 

[JohnJay]

. . . a dumbocrat propagandist still stuck in election robot mode . . .

The dumbocrat propagandist here would be anyone who after following McCain's disasterous military career and his pandering political career -
could still consider him some sort of American hero. What is he a hero of ?
Illegal immigration ?
Picking a gimmick Vice-President candidate that showed he does not really care about the disaster he would be willing to leave the nation in . . . ?

Sorry you got fooled by McCain . . . most didn't.