An extremely important report!

Thanks to an e-mail from Tod W., I was alerted to a report by William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. It's titled 'Freedom In The 50 States: An Index Of Personal And Economic Freedom'.

I spent almost an hour today reading this report in utter fascination. Friends, I can't emphasize its importance and relevance too strongly. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about the current state of this country, no matter what your political, social or economic perspective. It contains very important information about every state in the Union, and helps you to judge where yours stands in relation to others on many fundamental issues. If you're planning to move from your present State, it's an invaluable guide to help you choose your new home.

The executive summary outlines the authors' approach as follows:

This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings 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.

This study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American states in three primary ways: (1) it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; (2) it includes far more variables, even on economic policies alone, than prior studies, and there are no missing data on any variable; and (3) it uses new, more accurate measurements of key variables, particularly state fiscal policies.

As I said, it makes fascinating reading, particularly from pages 25-41, where each state is discussed individually. I learned a great deal (little of it comforting) concerning my home state of Louisiana. If I stay here, I now know what issues I want addressed by our politicians, that's for sure! The authors summed up Louisiana as follows:

Besides West Virginia and Maryland, Louisiana is the least free state in the South. It is better on economic (#28) than personal freedom (#40). Sales taxes are the highest in the country (as a percentage of corrected GSP). The marijuana sentencing regime is subpar, with the maximum sentence for a single offense being 80 years and even low-level cultivation a felony. While the state allows many forms of gambling, it has enacted a prohibition on Internet gambling (those two facts are surely related). Private and home schools are lightly regulated. Health insurance mandates add 53 percent to the cost of private plans. Asset forfeiture needs reform. The state has gone a long way to reform eminent domain. The liability system is among the very worst in the country. Arrest rates for victimless crimes are extremely high.

Not good, is it? Louisiana rates only 34th out of 50 states on the authors' Overall Freedom Ranking. This, and their evaluations of other States, gives me a new way to weigh up possibilities for an alternative future home.

This is a wonderful resource. I really can't endorse it too strongly. I think it should be read and discussed by every adult in America. We'd be a darn sight better informed nation if we did!

Go read it, and save or print out a copy for future reference. This one gets my highest possible recommendation.

Peter