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Do you value "freedom" when choosing where to live????

connieb

connieb

Senator
The Mercatus center at George Mason University announced the release of its updated Freedom in the 50 States giving a ranking of the states according to freedom. You can play around with it to personalize it a little bit depending on which aspect of "freedom" you embrace the most.

http://freedominthe50states.org/

Not surprising of course the most NE States and CA rank the worst.

connie
 
connieb said:
The Mercatus center at George Mason University announced the release of its updated Freedom in the 50 States giving a ranking of the states according to freedom. You can play around with it to personalize it a little bit depending on which aspect of "freedom" you embrace the most.

http://freedominthe50states.org/

Not surprising of course the most NE States and CA rank the worst.

connie
Click to expand...

No, it's not surprising. It's worthwhile pushing the "how its calculated" button. I mean seriously..this study weights "freedom from tort abuse" at 11.5% and we aren't supposed to laugh the whole godamned thing out the door?
 
fairsheet said:
No, it's not surprising. It's worthwhile pushing the "how its calculated" button. I mean seriously..this study weights "freedom from tort abuse" at 11.5% and we aren't supposed to laugh the whole godamned thing out the door?
Click to expand...

Giving up your rights is the cost of modern freedom. (Freedom 2.0)
 
I looked at how its calculated and I looked at the individual rankings. I guess it is all a matter of what is important to you. Tort abuse, is actually a big issue in states where it is a problem. MD for instance is one of the few states in the country that still takes "contributory negligence" in when deciding tort cases. There have been some murmings to change that - and infact some legislation has been introduced. Now as it stands, if you can be found to have contributed to what bad thing happened to you - you loose out on being awarded damages. This could be significant if you are a business owner or even drive a car. It has been a huge issue protecting drivers in car accidents where the passenger dies, if for instance, the passenger opted to not wear a seatbelt. In other states - that could be a big award for the passenger's family EVEN if the driver could prove that if the passenger had worn a seatbelt they would have lived. That affects a lot of things from general liability insurance rates, to the levels of insurance people feel compelled to carry, etc.

connie
 
I'm really not about arguing torts in this instance. My point is that the "freedom to sue for redress" and the "freedom to not be sued frivolously", are BOTH perfectly valid and legitimate "freedoms". Yet, this "study" chooses but the one, as its marker. That's bogus.

And, I'm not suggesting that this "study" is useless based on that one single indice. I'm suggesting that the same thread runs through the entire thing. It's useless because its only purpose to make those who already "feel it", feel better about themselves. It doesn't convince anyone who isn't already fully invested in its meme.
 
Absolutely! It's no accident that I live in Texas still. And my ancestors (or half of them) were in Wewoka, Oklahoma (Cherokee reservation). Ironic.... that Oklahoma is now ranked in the top five for freedom.... considering that those ancestors were "force marched" by the US government from their homes in other states to there.

Anyhoo....thanks for the interesting link!

connieb said:
The Mercatus center at George Mason University announced the release of its updated Freedom in the 50 States giving a ranking of the states according to freedom. You can play around with it to personalize it a little bit depending on which aspect of "freedom" you embrace the most.

http://freedominthe50states.org/

Not surprising of course the most NE States and CA rank the worst.

connie
Click to expand...
 
Yes. I value my freedom. I didn't "choose" to move to Oklahoma, and I love Washington State. But I can certainly tell the difference and as beautiful as Washington is, I would NOT move back. I'll stay here and enjoy my freedom.

Also, Colorado, Texas, and Alaska were noticeably freedom-loving states where I've enjoyed living.

Probably these rankings wouldn't often impact a person living in various less-free states. But when they do, it's kind of ugly.
 
Jen said:
Yes. I didn't "choose" to move to Oklahoma, and I love Washington State. But I can certainly tell the difference and as beautiful as Washington is, I would NOT move back. I'll stay here and enjoy my freedom.
Click to expand...

IF we were to engage a back and forth game of "name my freedom", I'll betcha my state would wear yours down in relatively short order. But, what would be the point? The way you define "freedom" is different from the way I define it. And..that's why I'm suggesting that this "study" is useless. The really sad part though..is that if we parse this "studies" various "freedoms" and they weights they assign to them, it's clearly and heavily skewed not towards "red people", but towards capital. It's sad that so many individual persons, assume that their interests are exactly the same as those of capital.
 
freedom to donate as much money as you want (aka "buying your very own candidate") is an interesting one. How about the "bachelor party freedon".....gambling, smoking, taxes on alcohol, prostitution freedom?

Freakin' ridiculous.
 
Well, I think that yes, if you come from the perspective that your "freedom" is based on people not imposing their will on you - then you will find the freedom to be sued frivolously as a positive. If you approach it that freedom is about protecting others from damage or injury - you will be unhappy with the idea that you can't sue for your perceived damages.
 
Here's a good example of where I'm going, with my above theme:

My state of WA comes in at #29 in this "study". Texas comes in at #14. Of course, that's not a huge difference, but whatever....

Anyway, I know a young family with four lovely children. The family is honest, hardworking, and "god-fearin' ", yet, their annual income is less than optimal. The health of those innocent children is very nicely served by this state's "Apple Healthcare" (Medicaid) program.

A pair of the children's grandparents are Texans. They'd love nothing more than for this family to move to Texas, near them. In fact, they badger them about it incessantly. Yet, there's no way in hell this family could move its children to Texas, as they would be left virtually without healthcare.


So....given this little vignette, how do we assign and quantify "freedom"? Is the Texan more free, because he isn't taxed to pay for these kids' healthcare? Well....I guess some might see it that way. Funny thing though...a young family from Texas under these circumstances would be "free" to move to WA. But, a young WA family isn't "free" to move to Texas! ...and, the Texas Grandparents aren't "free" to have their grandchildren nearby....
 
I agree Jen. I don't think we are going to move anytime soon, but it will be interesting if they keep this updated as we near retirement where we will choose to go.

One of the ones I thought was funny was the "freedom" score for MD for alcohol. I never thought about states that limit or restrict happy hours for instance. But, it was rather funny to look at this and see how many states do this. I do remember having to go to the Beer distributor when I lived in PA though.
 
The state of Colorado (and California) have tort reform. You can only sue for a max of $250k. My friend lost both her breasts and nearly died because Kaiser hid the fact that she had a tumor for five years. They did the math. How much can we save by not treating these women if each one dies and we can only be sued for $250k by the ones who survive and find out?

She was told by a whistleblower (who was then fired by Kaiser)....she participated in a class action lawsuit with about 140 other women and after paying the lawyers she got about $175k....

Isn't freedom wonderful? Prior to Obamacare, you also had the freedom to go into bankruptcy due to medical costs, even if you did have healthcare insurance....because the insurance companies had the freedom to say "preexisting condition" or the cool trick called recision....
 
Tennessee is #1, unless you are looking for a job, but that isn't as important as the freedom to light up in a restaurant or bar....

Freedom is frequently a choice between the rights of one person (the right to smoke where ever you want) and the right of another to breathe clean air. The authors of this study don't seem to get that.
 
fairsheet said:
Funny you should say that - in light of the one indice I plucked out of this fetidness. For if "freedom from tort abuse" isn't about giving up your right to sue, what is?
Click to expand...

Kinda like how Obama gave Monsanto immunity from lawsuits when their GMO crops begin killing Cuomo-sapiens after killing off bees. <link>
 
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