Freedom Starts In Your Backyard
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Liberty & Limited Government
On this blog I often highlight examples of the Federal government overstepping its bounds and limiting the freedoms of the people. It’s understandable, given how centralized our government has become, that I less often show such things at the state level. But maintaining and fighting for freedom at local and state levels is just as important as at the federal level.
The Mercatus Center has a new report that can help in this fight. It’s a ranking index of the states based on how free they are. Readers of this blog will not be surprised to learn that all of the states with the least freedom in the economic, social and personal spheres are all heavily democratic. New York was the least free state, along with New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland. Maryland, where I’m currently residing, was 50th in the personal freedom ranking. How depressing. New Hampshire, Colorado and South Dakota had the most overall freedoms.
They rightfully offer a bit of a disclaimer at the end, and point out that, “the variance in liberty at the state level in the United States is quite small in the global context. Even New York provides a much freer environment for the individual than the majority of countries. There are no Burmas or Zimbabwes among the American states.” Not yet, anyway.
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.