NM Ping
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Oregon?! You can’t be free with an 11% state income tax amd nannyism up the wazoo.
Maine? No thanks. Full of moonbats, and the “personal freedom” they’re talking about here is the “freedom” to kill your babies and marry your same-sex “partner.” As far as REAL freedom is concerned - like property rights, etc. - Maine is pitiful.
Maine???? These “free people” elected Olypia Snowe and mini-me, Susan Collins.
Is New Hampshire such a lost cause at the “Live Free or Die” state doesn’t even make the list?
Not sure what the formula was, but if Arkansas is on it they need to adjust it a bit.
Virginia just passed a ban on smoking in restaurants. Free? not any more.
Maine ahead of Texas.....? oh my..that can’t be allowed to stand.... Corrections please....
Utah and Oklahoma vote Republican by the highest margins but also have a ton of laws that restrict “personal” freedoms.
I suppose it is a matter of determining what is free, and what is conservative. Obviously Republican doesn’t equal personal freedom in some circumstances.
Main, Oregon & New Mexico? Yeah, right. We once thought about moving to New Mexico eventually. But that state hasn’t lost its Democrat corruption persona, and that dream is over. As for Main, there’s too much Snowe. And Oregon is way too liberal. Madison, WI, 100 miles North would be the equivalent of that...
The listing above is for Personal Freedom. There are several other rankings in the report, here:
http://www.mercatus.org/uploadedFiles/Mercatus/Publications/Freedom%20in%20the%2050%20States.pdf
Not surprized that Mo.’s on the list.
Perhaps one of their standards for the list was a state should have a large rural region. It’s in those areas that true freedom (or something almost close to it)can exist. I know I’m deep in the boonies and I LOVE IT!
Maine????
You kiddin me????
This is crap....I live in Maine and you can’t even build a shed in your yard without a two year planning board process...guns are easy to have and conceal but other than that everything else is heavily regulated
.
MAINE??????
Typical bull from a Capitol Hill organization. Until we eliminate atheistic socialist public school indoctrinations we will never have a single free state. How can we ever say we have a free state when most of the persons within are taught to be totalitarian?
Alaska is the only free northern state. Maine? Part of New England probably not all that free.
Oregon? Where the idea of a mandated GPS tracker in your car to tax you for every mile you drive is a plausible idea? You’ve got to be kidding!
that’s a joke!
new mexico is socialist.
New Mexico? No way. They aided and abetted the Texas RATs who ran completely out of state and hid out in New Mexico.
Isn't it rather sad (”deeply”) and depressing that we even have to have a pathetic survey about “freedom” and that it's not taken unquestioningly for granted? It used to be.
The “liberal” nanny, socialist, left wing, commie fascists are everywhere interfering with every aspect of our lives and controlling and imposing PC baloney on our lives.
The left is in control of this country and when the poo hits the fan, will simply have to be killed to wrest control of this country back to real freedom and for it's survival.
Freedom, real freedom is the most radical political idea of all time. Many, if not most people simply “can't handle freedom” and many don't want to. They want a nanny/mommy/daddy/big brother government to put them to bed and tuck them in at night and tell them what to do as long as they have “health care”, illusory “peace” and benefits, etc.
The left has brainwashed our culture into submission.
Virginia is pro-business, but not pro-individual freedom. There’s a difference, and it’s crucial. Everything in Virginia is managed by the highest level of government possible. Schools are run by counties, not districts. The smallest of local roads are maintained by the state, not counties or municipalities. Rural areas have been awash in tax dollars from Northern Virginia, while the lack of road projects chokes off Northern Virginia, so citing a low state-wide tax burden is assinine, when there are massive local taxes approved by the state to perpetuate this robbery.
But the big kicker is there is no such thing as private property. Everything is owned by the “commonwealth.” As such, moderate-income folks need to commute from West Virginia because Virginia imposes 30-acre zoning laws in the counties between West Virginia and the jobs in D.C. So how does anyone have a place to live at all? Simple: fantastically wealthy corporations pay off local boards for zoning variances, then build enormous housing projects, selling off individual homes at obscene profits.
It’s true that Virginia isn’t a socialist state, like New York or Massachusetts, two other states I’ve lived in. It’s a fascist state. And be very afraid of anyone upholding Virginia as a model of freedom, or next thing you know, America will be indistinguishable from China.
You’re nuts! Oregon, Maine, and New Mexico are run by demonrats and libtards. You can’t have freedom in a socialist state. Give me Montana’s Big Sky country for real freedom!
This list is tainted.
Oklahoma is a glaring omission.
Maine? Barbara Streisand!
What about TN? Despite Gore, no state income tax and low property taxes. And OK, probably the state with the two best senators in a single delegation.
Ok, so apparently the "personal freedom" rankings have to do with the degree to which you can enjoy some illicit drugs with your same-sex prostitute while you make plans for an eventual same-sex marriage which can later be terminated by an assisted suicide if you wish. A more useful ranking/index would be the OVERALL Freedom rankings. Here are the top 15 states in overall freedom - some of which are still rather surprising.
Table V: Overall Freedom Ranking
|
Rank |
State |
Index |
|
1. |
New Hampshire |
0.432 |
|
2. |
Colorado |
0.421 |
|
3. |
South Dakota |
0.392 |
|
4. |
Idaho |
0.356 |
|
5. |
Texas |
0.346 |
|
6. |
Missouri |
0.320 |
|
7. |
Tennessee |
0.284 |
|
8. |
Arizona |
0.279 |
|
9. |
Virginia |
0.275 |
|
10. |
North Dakota |
0.268 |
|
11. |
Utah |
0.250 |
|
12. |
Kansas |
0.210 |
|
13. |
Indiana |
0.208 |
|
14. |
Michigan |
0.206 |
|
15. |
Wyoming |
0.193 |
Oregon comes in on the overall freedom ranking at #27.
What is not at all surprising is the bottom five on the overall freedom rankings:
|
46. |
Maryland |
-0.405 |
|
47. |
California |
-0.413 |
|
48. |
Rhode Island |
-0.430 |
|
49. |
New Jersey |
-0.457 |
|
50. |
New York |
-0.784 |
Please, the masses here just voted into office the most liberal hacks I can imagine, and they passed every tax increase that was on the ballot last fall.
Oh, wait, is this the list for illegal imigrant freedom or citizen freedom?
I was just reading my wife a couple of the replies to this thread that had comments like “when the poo hits the fan” and “what freedom” and I told her (she is Eastern European) that the U.S. is headed for civil war. That so many people are so angry about the turn toward socialism. Her reply:
“What? Civil war in front of the computer?”
So I guess we are all “Digital Tigers”
MAINE???? Where they’re taxed to death?? Is this list backwards?
Both Dakotas missing? - no way.
That eliminates them, automatically.
NM Ping
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Virginia?
Home to a lot of D.C. red tapers.
Maine is hard to believe.
Some areas of Oregon are incredible but others like Eugene are Gaak!
Virginia is pro-business, but not pro-individual freedom. There’s a difference, and it’s crucial. Everything in Virginia is managed by the highest level of government possible. Schools are run by counties, not districts. The smallest of local roads are maintained by the state, not counties or municipalities. Rural areas have been awash in tax dollars from Northern Virginia, while the lack of road projects chokes off Northern Virginia, so citing a low state-wide tax burden is assinine, when there are massive local taxes approved by the state to perpetuate this robbery.
But the big kicker is there is no such thing as private property. Everything is owned by the “commonwealth.” As such, moderate-income folks need to commute from West Virginia because Virginia imposes 30-acre zoning laws in the counties between West Virginia and the jobs in D.C. So how does anyone have a place to live at all? Simple: fantastically wealthy corporations pay off local boards for zoning variances, then build enormous housing projects, selling off individual homes at obscene profits.
It’s true that Virginia isn’t a socialist state, like New York or Massachusetts, two other states I’ve lived in. It’s a fascist state. And be very afraid of anyone upholding Virginia as a model of freedom, or next thing you know, America will be indistinguishable from China.
Missouri’s in the top ten..
Yippee! My state is on there. But...if mine is one of the free-est of states, that’s frightening. I think government is way too involved in our lives here in Missouri and getting more involved every day.
What kind of "freedom" are we talking here? Dope and prostitution?
Where the hell are obama’s other 7 states? I didn’t see them on the list.