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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Freedom In America

Hat tip to Freedom by the Way:



Information about the Mercatus Center HERE.

Check out the the Mercatus Center's evaluation of your own state by using the interactive map HERE.

15 comments:

  1. We've fallen to # 7 here in Colorado. Used to be up in the top 5, but a rash of elected democrats and a plague of Californicators moving in is taking its toll...

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  2. Silverfiddle,
    I know a few Californians who have migrated to other states because of the poor economic outlook in California. Many of the "migrants" bring with them the same philosophy that's taking down the state of California.

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  3. Always--saw the same thing in Florida. Huge migrations from liberal NE states brought their progressive attitudes with them. Thanks for the shout out.

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  4. My niece is stuck in Florida because of her husband's job. She hates it.

    Most of the folks who move there are elderly escaping the snow. For some reason they don't mind an intellectual Sargasso Sea.

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  5. You mean I have to live in New Hampshire to be in number 1? Painful thought!

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  6. This study is flawed mainly because it was conducted by Liberal University professors, who have a twisted idea of what Freedom means.

    For example, I checked the state I live in, Virginia, which is supposedly the number 9 freeist (sic?) state.

    Here is a statement from the report:

    "Gun laws are decent, with much room for improvement. However, open carry is allowed."

    As if "open carry" is a bad thing?

    That one statement delegitimizes the whole report for me.

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  7. Freedom and AOW, I lived in Nevada in th early eighties and watched it changed from a very conservative state to a liberal state as a result of Californians coming to Nevada to enjoy its much lower taxes.

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  8. Mark,
    The Mercatus Center is a mixed bunch when it comes to political leanings. See Wikipedia for more information as to who all sit on the board of Mercatus.

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  9. Considering the continuing federal assault on the 10th Amendment, I'm surprised any states have a positive freedom ranking.

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  10. I'm in California, I'm not looking at that thing! :-)

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  11. Very interesting find, excellent post. There's problems with their conclusions, I think, when it comes to California. I speak from experience, having lived most of my years there. The level of freedom you have there depends entirely, actually, on which county you live in. Move out to the woods of Mendocino County, for instance, and you can build a house and never be bothered for a building permit. Go deer hunting without a license, fell trees and cut lumber without a permit, and so on. In California, your level of freedom depends on how populated the area you live in is.

    Since I'm a country type, moving back to Calif., maybe the slopes of the Sierras this time, is attractive to me. 20 to 40 acres of hilly chaparral sounds pretty good after 5+ years here in rainy, wet, slimy green Washington. I'll tell you, there's a whole lot less freedom in Wash. state then there is in the backwoods of California.

    The part of that evaluation that convinced me it wasn't based on my personal concepts of freedom is the "same-sex" marriage criteria. Not having that legalized means you're less free? Horse apples! They went too far out on the Liberal limb with that one.

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  12. I was surprised about New Hampshire but given it's geographical location (liberal East coast) I would have to pick South Dakota.

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  13. I can't play the video because I'm on dial-up, but I'd guess that Fornicalia is one of the LEAST free states. Unless the stats were compiled by Leftists, then Fornicalia would be one of the MOST free states. Free, you see, from common sense, logic, rationality, proportion and adherence to rights of the individual over government.

    BZ

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  14. Mark, you're reading the stats wrong. George Mason University is certainly no bastion of Liberalism.

    In the Index, less regulation = more freedom. Less firearms regulation = more freedom and open carry is a good thing. What they are saying is Virginia needs "fewer" gun control laws.

    My State, Indiana, is number 3. Indiana is a "Shall Issue" State, meaning that a license to carry cannot be refused without cause and Indiana also subscribes to the Castle Doctrine. I possess a lifetime license to carry a concealed weapon. There is no gun registration and I may carry any firearm I legally possess.

    New Hampshire #1 and South Dakota #2, are both "shall issue" States that require no registration

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  15. Warren,
    Thanks for the clarification about GMU and the Mercatus information.

    I live local to GMU. Indeed, I attended GMU when it was still part of UVA.

    There a liberals and leftists at GMU, but the university doesn't have as many as a lot of other public universities. This is due, in part, to the endowments the school receives.

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