Maryland one of least free states in US study says

[LowRecoil]

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/free_states_study/2009/05/06/211385.html

Study: Most Liberal States Are Least Free

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 1:03 PM

By: Dave Eberhart Article Font Size



According to a new study released by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, some of the most liberal U.S. states rank lowest when it comes to personal freedom.

The study, which calls itself the “first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres,” made a host of findings:

The freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending -- and middling levels of regulation and paternalism.

New York is the least overall free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland.

Unfortunately, say the report authors, these freedom-disadvantaged states “make up a substantial portion of the total American population. Moreover, these bottom five states have considerable ground to make up even to move off this ignoble list, let alone into a creditable position in the rankings.”

When weighing personal freedom alone, Alaska is the clear winner, while Maryland brings up the rear.

Sarah Palin’s Alaska does extremely well on personal freedom, conclude study authors. Reasons for its high personal freedom alone score include: fully legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana (accomplished through a court ruling), the best (least restrictive) gun laws in the country, recognition of same-sex domestic partnerships, and possibly the best homeschooling laws in the country.

As for freedom in the different regions of the country, the Mountain and West North Central regions are the freest overall -- while the Middle Atlantic lags far behind on both economic and personal freedom.

There are real benefits to scoring high on economic and personal freedoms, conclude the study’s authors. Their analysis demonstrated that states enjoying more economic and personal freedom tend to attract substantially higher rates of internal net migration.

According to the study, previous research has shown that, as of 2006, Alabama and Mississippi were the most conservative states in the country, while New York and New Jersey were the most liberal. In the index put forth by the new study, Alabama and Mississippi fall in the middle, while New York and New Jersey are at the bottom.

“The problem is that the cultural values of liberal governments seem on balance to require more regulation of individual behavior than do the cultural values of conservative governments,” say the study’s authors. “While liberal states are freer than conservative states on marijuana and same-sex partnership policies, when it comes to gun owners, home schoolers, motorists, or smokers, liberal states are nanny states, while conservative states are more tolerant.”

Illinois is one of the worst states to live in from a personal freedom perspective (#49). On economic freedom it is in the middle of the pack (#29). Illinois has the fourth harshest gun control laws in the country, after California, Maryland, and New York, and the state’s victimless crimes arrest rates are almost unfathomable: In 2006, more than 2 percent of the state’s population was arrested for a victimless crime (and that figure does not count under-18s). Nearly one-third of all arrests were for victimless crimes.

Texas (#7 economic, #5 personal, #5 overall) has one of the smallest state governments in the country. As a percentage of corrected GSP, Texas has the second lowest tax burden in the country and the third lowest grants-adjusted government spending. However, government employment is a standard deviation higher than the national average. Gun control is better than average, but the state falls short on open-carry laws, stricter-than-federal minimum age for purchase rules, and dealer licensing.

Alcohol is less regulated than in most other states, and taxes are low. Low-level marijuana cultivation is a misdemeanor, but otherwise marijuana laws are very harsh.

Colorado, the #2 state, achieved its ranking through excellent fiscal numbers and above-average numbers on regulation and paternalism. The state is the most fiscally decentralized in the country, with localities raising fully 44.5 percent of all state and local expenditures. By percentage of adjusted GSP, Colorado has the third lowest tax burden in the country, surpassed only by Tennessee and Texas. It has resisted the temptation of “sin taxes,” with low rates on beer, wine, spirits, and cigarettes. On the other hand, Colorado’s smoking bans are among the most extreme in the country, with no exceptions or local option for any locations other than workplaces. Colorado is 1 of 12 states to have decriminalized low-level marijuana possession.

Oregon (#36 economic, #7 personal, #27 overall) is the freest Pacific state. Oddly, government spending is high but taxes are low, resulting in rather high state debt. Public safety and administration look particularly ripe for cutting. Gun control laws are about average. Marijuana possession is decriminalized below a certain level, and there is medical marijuana (cultivation and sale are felonies, though). Oregon is one of the few states to refuse to authorize sobriety checkpoints. Oregon is the only state to permit physician-assisted suicide. Private and home school regulations are quite reasonable. State land use planning is far advanced. The minimum wage is the highest in the country when adjusted for average wages.

The study touts that it 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.

“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,” note the authors.

 

[fivepointstar]

I'm not surprised at all where we rank....

 

[shadow116]

I'm not surprised at all where we rank....

Maryland ranks right down below Whale Sh!t and just barely above France and England

 

[Todd v.]

Maryland ranks right down below Whale Sh!t and just barely above France and England

LOL

 

[gamer_jim]

Don't many cities in Alaska ban alcohol?

 

[Nanook]

Don't many cities in Alaska ban alcohol?

There are some towns/areas that ban booze. The layer of fat/tissue around the brains of almost all Native Alaskans (and to a lesser extent other Native Americans) is significantly thinner than other gene pool peoples. Unfortunately, a little alcohol often goes a lot too far and the consequences are disasterous for many folks.

 

[jjboxman]

I'm not surprised at all where we rank....

+1

 

[organized_mayhem]

I did not need a study to tell me that.

 

[Llyrin]

I did not need a study to tell me that.

That's for sure. My only guess is that the liberals in this state (who keep voting more liberals into office) don't really know what they're missing. If not that, then they're true believers, just like the guy who lives at 1600 Penn. Ave.

 

[weldingshop]

...md's not a bad place, really i've ben to alot of other states.......we actually have it pretty good.........the real problem is that its too confined and space is very limited to just go about shooting like in the west. Your always welcome to go into the City.

 

[haoleboy]

+2 I also didn't need a study to tell me that
What did surprise me was that Kaliporna ranked below RI and NJ

 

[BenL]

Maryland ranks right down below Whale Sh!t and just barely above France and England

Wait... we're still above France?

 

[shadow116]

Wait... we're still above France?

I said barely, only because we are still in the US.

 

[northern_immigrant]

How am I not surprised that N.Y is at the top, and yet they keep on pumping money into our (My) state. Then act as if every New Yorker have to pay it off.

 

[carder60]

Maryland #5 on least free states

No surprise here, maryland made a new list. This is what the study quoted about Maryland:

"While Maryland's economic restrictions place it firmly in the middle of the pack, its regulations on personal freedom - the harshest in the country - send it spiraling down the list. Residents can still partake in most of the vices of their choosing - namely alcohol and smoking - but they will have a hard time navigating the dramatic gun control, home schooling and gambling laws."

Here is the web page of America's 10 freest and least freest states. There's a link at the bottom of the page.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/america039s_freest_states

 

[Norton]

Threads merged.

 

[MDFF2008]

I really like how they mentioned that it's really the extremes, the liberal and conservative states that are the least free, and the moderate conservative ones the most free.

 

[trbon8r]

I wouldn't put much stock in surveys like this. When Oregon ranks high in the "freedom" category while the government spends like drunken sailors, how long will it be before the chickens come home to roost? It won't be long before Oregon is looking to balance its books and tax anything and everything like their neighbors to the south.

 

[Boxcab]

Unfortunately, say the report authors, these freedom-disadvantaged states “make up a substantial portion of the total American population...”

…and thus the resulting Federal Election choices. The Majority of the US population does not even understand what "freedom" is, as they have never experienced it. They will not vote for it, instead they vote for perceived safety.

How do we change this fact?

-Boxcab

 

[alucard0822]

like Penn Gillette said, "When the potheads and gun nuts can agree on a candidate, that guy has my vote."

Thats the problem with a lot of "free" states, down south, gun rights are good, and taxes are low, but it is still the bible belt, and even BS vice laws are strictly enforced. For example, Texas has low taxes, a small governement, decent gun rights, but until recently, posession of a dildo was punishable by up to a year in prison. OTOH, very liberal states don't let you do anything, and tax their citizens into oblivion, while handing out token "freedoms" every now and then like gay marriage and medical marijuana use, when in reality governemnt shouldn't have anything to do with marriage or marijuana.