This is hardly a surprise to me

http://www.redstate.com/warner_todd_huston/2009/05/06/new-study-americas-most-liberal-states-rank-least-free/

According to a new study released by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, some of our most liberal states rank at the bottom in a measure of personal freedom. “Freedom in the 50 States, an index of personal and economic freedom,” finds the most free states to be first New Hampshire, then Colorado, followed by S. Dakota, Idaho, Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, Arizona, Virginia and N. Dakota.The bottom ten least free states in the U.S. are (in descending order) Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, Hawaii, Maryland, California, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and bringing up the bottom is New York.

It is striking that some of the most Republican states are the most free and all the least free are Democrat states, isn’t it? (2008 Election Map)


In keeping with the institute’s namesake, American founder George Mason, the rankings are based on some supremely American concepts. Rankings were determined by measuring the personal and economic freedoms of the citizens of the various states coupled with the size and cost of government, education regulations, Second Amendment restrictions, as well as the amount of interference via regulations and police agencies on the populace.

“We develop and justify our ratings,” the paper’s summary reads, “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.”

Along with the various graphs and ranking lists, the report reviews each state in turn. To get a flavor of the criteria used to rank the sates, here, for instance, is what the report says about the least free state in the union, New York:

New York is by far the least free state in the Union (#50 economic, #48 personal). One of us lives in New York and can attest to the fact that few New Yorkers would be surprised by such a finding. Sadly, equally few New Yorkers seem to believe that anything can be done about the situation. New York has the highest taxes in the country. Property, selective sales, individual income, and corporate income taxes are particularly high. Spending on social services and “other” is well above national norms. Only Massachusetts has more government debt as a percentage of the economy. Government employment is higher than average. On personal freedoms, gun laws are extremely restrictive, but marijuana laws are better than average (while tobacco laws are extremely strict). Motorists are highly regulated, but several kinds of gambling are allowed statewide (not casinos, except on reservations). Home school regulations are burdensome, but asset forfeiture has been reformed. Along with Vermont, New York has the strictest health insurance community rating regulations. Mandated coverages are also very high. Eminent domain is totally unreformed. Perversely,the state strictly limits what grassroots PACs may give to candidates and parties, but not what corporations and unions may give.

Imagine my surprise upon learning that Mercantus, a conservative think tank decided that conservative states were more free. Not that I don't see how they came to that conclusion.

Gun control laws are definitely going to be more strict in blue states than red states. Also there's more "redistribution" of wealth in blue states. It's not rocket science figuring out that liberals believe that there is merit in social programs like welfare and are in favor of universal health care and conservatives are not.

Liberals are more likely to believe that one can't really be free unless they have access to acceptable health care, without your health how can one be free? Conservatives would view this more as the government is forcing me to pay for someone's medical bill I should be free from this and they should be free to just be sick.

You could also say the South before the Civil War was more free, they were free to own slaves the government didn't tell them they couldn't have slaves...thus more free.

Also conservatives tend to acquiesce to government intrusion in regards to wiretapping its own citizenry, spying on internet usage etc when it's for national security.

If we simply define freedom as less government intervention, well that is a basic tenant of conservative ideology. I see freedom as being more complex.

Regardless, I have never done anything in a red state that I could not do in a blue state. I'd rather smoke pot than buy a gun any day of the week. I'd rather go to a science conference than attend mass on Sunday. I prefer living in blue states (mostly on the coast) because of the large diversity and having such close access to all sorts of foods and cultures from all over the world.

Anyone care to see quality of life index for countries around the world? How much do you wanna bet you'll see a lot of so called socialist countries on that list?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_index

How bout lets look at GDP per capita by state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP_per_capita_(nominal)
lots of blue states high on that list.

Very well said, geek.

Doin good, boo. Doin my best to combat the Rush Limbaughs of the world. Damn hard job sometimes.

We need a country just for them.. grin!

I don't need Rush or anyone else to tell me what I already know.I posted this article because it makes a excellent point.People just want to be left alone.They don't want more government control they want less.I post these topics because because probably only about 2% of the American population knows the difference between a liberal and a conservitive.If people knew they were voting in liberals they would stop voting for them as we all know they just make our life more miserable.I also don't need any charts or websites to tell me where the highest taxes are,who has the most restrictive environmental regulations,who has the most toll roads,who has the most absurd laws because it is always liberal states.California,Washington,most of Oregon,Illinois,and everything from Virginia on up.It will be no surprise at all when I learn that these states want to ban guns and other weapons.Anything that has to do with the gay agenda they will be backing 100%.It won't surprise me at all if they want mandatory recycling and sky high taxes.

I don't need Rush or anyone else to tell me what I already know.I posted this article because it makes a excellent point.People just want to be left alone.They don't want more government control they want less.I post these topics because because probably only about 2% of the American population knows the difference between a liberal and a conservitive.If people knew they were voting in liberals they would stop voting for them as we all know they just make our life more miserable.I also don't need any charts or websites to tell me where the highest taxes are,who has the most restrictive environmental regulations,who has the most toll roads,who has the most absurd laws because it is always liberal states.California,Washington,most of Oregon,Illinois,and everything from Virginia on up.It will be no surprise at all when I learn that these states want to ban guns and other weapons.Anything that has to do with the gay agenda they will be backing 100%.It won't surprise me at all if they want mandatory recycling and sky high taxes.