* Please excuse another serious rant on the important stuff in life today. I'll get back to posting lighter fare and nonsense soon.
In light of yesterday being the 4th of July and our country celebrating the founding of our great country, I want to talk about freedom.
Seems apropos to do so now, right?
We puff out our chests every year at this time and congratulate ourselves on being Americans and being the "Land of the Free".
But how free are you really?
Let's look at your economic freedom, shall we?
Brought to you by the fine folks at Bankrupting American.....
See a large view HERE.
When will the endless appetite for redundant and stifling legislation at both the state and federal level stop?
When they have driven all businesses(except the megamillion ones)out and more than half of Americans can no longer find jobs?
Here's a great little site to poke around at. I caution you though, as what you may find there may challenge your concept of freedom and how free you, as an American citizen, really are, compared to other Americans.
There was a fairly comprehensive study done at George Mason University comparing each states' level of freedom in many categories. The states were then ranked #1-50 on each point, as well as given a ranking for their overall Level of Freedom for each citizen wherein.
Go have a look at the data HERE.
You can click on each category that was measured and see how you, as a resident of whichever state, rank in our country's Freedom index.
Here in Pennsylvania, we got an overall ranking of 31st out of 50. We got a better score than all of our neighbors except for Delaware. But considering that we border some of the most unfree states in American(New York, New Jersey, Connecticut & Maryland)THAT isn't saying much!
The least free states in America are, in order from 50th to 46th....New York, California, New Jersey, Hawaii and Rhode Island.
The most free states overall are, in order from 1st to 5th......North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.
Of course this study is using data from 2011, but it does show a general trend of how the states compare to each other at present.
So how does your state rank?
Are you surprised by it's ranking on any of the categories measured?
Do you still feel "free" after reading this?
Sluggy
I'm wondering about some of the freedoms in America all the time...And not just financially.
ReplyDeleteAlabama ranked 18th. However as I read, the personal freedom was ranked 45th.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I am rankled by the requirement to wear a seatbelt. Failure to do so gained me a warrant for my arrest and suspension of my driver's license.
Okay, there is more to it. Anytime I receive a ticket (three times in last five years), I rush to court before the ticket date. I lost the last ticket, failed to appear, and "failure to appear" was the cause of my warrant and suspension. However, I was no informed of all this until five days later. I was driving without insurance since my insurance only covers licensed drivers.
The hoops I had to jump through included driving 60 miles to personally turn in my license. HA! and drive without a license with a warrant out for my arrest? I don't think so. Plus, I would be without a license for two month while I applied for a new license and waited for approval.
I finally called the DMV in Montgomery, and the woman said I did not have to do all that was written on my notice. All I had to do was send a money order for $50 and immediately my rights would be restored.
I am reading a fascinating book on happiness: what makes people happy and why some nations seems 'happier' than others. It is a complex matter (with the cornerstone of how does one define and rate happiness). Things like money, democracy, and 'freedom' are not strongly linked to national happiness. What appears to have the most correlation to happiness is trust. Trust in ones government, neighbors, fellow citizens, job and one's health system. Americans don't rate high in happiness (despite being the richest and most powerful nation). Hypothesis: we don't trust each other/the government and various systems.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, twice I received a ticket for a tail light violation. Once was for not being able to find my insurance card. So, I am not out willy nilly breaking laws. I feel like I have lost freedom when someone else decides it is for my own good to wear a seatbelt even though I can barely get it hooked with the torn rotator cuff. Then, it hurts my shoulder, causing pain later.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I'm in North Dakota and I mostly agree with their analysis. We are conservative on a whole and could stand for less regulation on marijuana and now gay marriage but we don't have a ton of taxes. I disagree that we should cut state jobs to less than 15%. We can afford it and not all state jobs are about the money. We have several state universities that are losing money. They need to be kept open because they are in poorer areas and the people there need that chance at higher education. We are also now benefitting tremendously because of the oil money.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing, we might not score so high now because we just passed the strictest abortion laws in the country this past spring. If you look at it as giving the unborn fetuses the most freedom, we're way ahead of the game. Unfortunately not too many people agree with that sentiment.