Freedom: State by State

[guido911]

http://freedominthe50states.org/

[Hoss]

AKA "Koch Thinktank".

[guido911]

^^^^^

Pick and choose your cause or cure:

[heironymouspasparagus]

Maybe the Dakotas and New Hampshire - not enough experience with them to know.

But OK and TN...??  Well, that certainly is a Koch coke induced fantasy! 

Freedom to be near the bottom in personal median income.  Check!
Freedom to be harassed for being gay - or different in other ways.  Check!
Freedom to go to prison for petty, trivial, non-violent crap.  Check!
Freedom for corporations to indulge in virtually any activity they want with government sanction.  Check!
Freedom to kill people at will with little or no ramifications.  Check!
Freedom to pay some of the highest insurance premiums and get the lowest benefit in the nation for workers comp.  Check!
Freedom to ride on washboard roads so can get an "amusement park ride" experience every day.  Check!
Freedom to pay ridiculous amounts to imprison the people mentioned above.  Check!
Freedom to avoid a well rounded education so the radical extremists can more easily get people to vote against themselves.  Check!
Freedom to walk around the state capital and watch advanced decay in action - both the building and the legislature within.  Check!

Oh, well - I guess we DO have the most freedom....

[Teatownclown]

Maybe the Dakotas and New Hampshire - not enough experience with them to know.

But OK and TN...??  Well, that certainly is a Koch coke induced fantasy! 

Freedom to be near the bottom in personal median income.  Check!
Freedom to be harassed for being gay - or different in other ways.  Check!
Freedom to go to prison for petty, trivial, non-violent crap.  Check!
Freedom for corporations to indulge in virtually any activity they want with government sanction.  Check!
Freedom to kill people at will with little or no ramifications.  Check!
Freedom to pay some of the highest insurance premiums and get the lowest benefit in the nation for workers comp.  Check!
Freedom to ride on washboard roads so can get an "amusement park ride" experience every day.  Check!
Freedom to pay ridiculous amounts to imprison the people mentioned above.  Check!
Freedom to avoid a well rounded education so the radical extremists can more easily get people to vote against themselves.  Check!
Freedom to walk around the state capital and watch advanced decay in action - both the building and the legislature within.  Check!

Oh, well - I guess we DO have the most freedom....

Great list!!!!

You left out freedom to wear a holstered gun on the outside and in public...even in a church!

[guido911]

Maybe the Dakotas and New Hampshire - not enough experience with them to know.

But OK and TN...??  Well, that certainly is a Koch coke induced fantasy! 

Freedom to be near the bottom in personal median income.  Check!
Freedom to be harassed for being gay - or different in other ways.  Check!
Freedom to go to prison for petty, trivial, non-violent crap.  Check!
Freedom for corporations to indulge in virtually any activity they want with government sanction.  Check!
Freedom to kill people at will with little or no ramifications.  Check!
Freedom to pay some of the highest insurance premiums and get the lowest benefit in the nation for workers comp.  Check!
Freedom to ride on washboard roads so can get an "amusement park ride" experience every day.  Check!
Freedom to pay ridiculous amounts to imprison the people mentioned above.  Check!
Freedom to avoid a well rounded education so the radical extremists can more easily get people to vote against themselves.  Check!
Freedom to walk around the state capital and watch advanced decay in action - both the building and the legislature within.  Check!

Oh, well - I guess we DO have the most freedom....

You know you may be on the losing end of an argument when @ssclown commends your point. I've been there before, it is depressing.

[cannon_fodder]

Interesting list.  The mix of states doesn't show too strong of a conservative bias.  Nor is there a correlation between "freedom" and crime, income, etc.

[ZYX]

Maybe the Dakotas and New Hampshire - not enough experience with them to know.

But OK and TN...??  Well, that certainly is a Koch coke induced fantasy! 

Freedom to be near the bottom in personal median income.  Check!
Freedom to be harassed for being gay - or different in other ways.  Check!
Freedom to go to prison for petty, trivial, non-violent crap.  Check!
Freedom for corporations to indulge in virtually any activity they want with government sanction.  Check!
Freedom to kill people at will with little or no ramifications.  Check!
Freedom to pay some of the highest insurance premiums and get the lowest benefit in the nation for workers comp.  Check!
Freedom to ride on washboard roads so can get an "amusement park ride" experience every day.  Check!
Freedom to pay ridiculous amounts to imprison the people mentioned above.  Check!
Freedom to avoid a well rounded education so the radical extremists can more easily get people to vote against themselves.  Check!
Freedom to walk around the state capital and watch advanced decay in action - both the building and the legislature within.  Check!

Oh, well - I guess we DO have the most freedom....

I disagree with you. I thought the rankings seemed pretty well thought out with relatively little bias.

About the bolded part: are you referring to private schools not being highly regulated by the state? I know of an internationally known and highly acclaimed local private school that would not be possible with a high amount of state regulation.

[Jammie]

Heironymous, you pretty much summed it up. You said you didn't know much about the Dakotas, but I do and I'll say that much of what you said about OK and TN apply up here, too. Highest insurance premiums and poor roads excluded.

The states that brag the most (like mine) about being fiscally responsible and balancing their budget, have no interest in doing anything for their residents. The states that have low tax incentives for businesses to relocate to them, make sure their workforce is willing to work for peanuts just to appease the big business that's willing to give employees little and be in a tax-friendly environment.

One of the biggest freedoms that we have is that we're allowed to work 2 f/t jobs for 50 years if we want to survive and have a piggy bank when we want to semi-retire. My northern neighbor is excluded from that the past few years because of the oil boom.

Interesting article!

[heironymouspasparagus]

Great list!!!!

You left out freedom to wear a holstered gun on the outside and in public...even in a church!

They have been discussed already, but yes, they do make a great addition to the list!!  Nestled right up there just after #1....amendment that is....

[heironymouspasparagus]

You know you may be on the losing end of an argument when @ssclown commends your point. I've been there before, it is depressing.

That's ok...I'm perpetually depressed by what has happened to my beautiful state for couple decades now....
I will survive.  And I will continue to rail against the machine!

[heironymouspasparagus]

I disagree with you. I thought the rankings seemed pretty well thought out with relatively little bias.

About the bolded part: are you referring to private schools not being highly regulated by the state? I know of an internationally known and highly acclaimed local private school that would not be possible with a high amount of state regulation.

So you are saying we are top 5 in "freedom"...??


Schools - wasn't considering private schools at all...just public.  This was directed to the perpetual underfunding/under-resourcing we do in the state.  We have been behind in education (as well as so many other areas!) for at least the last 60 or so years of personal experience, plus at least the previous 50 or 60 years before that.... (based on family experience of those involved in education - teachers, administrators, board members, etc.)

We hear a lot of noise about all the "efforts" we need to do to attract companies, people, and jobs by the latest Failure in the Governor's office.  And then cut education by what...about $200 million?  Despite the warm-fuzzy words, we actively pursue a course of action to lower the education level of Oklahoma's people!  This works well to advance an agenda of making people more "conservative" since they are more easily swayed by propaganda, dogma, and jingoism (this last is a nasty little nationwide phenomena!)  It is easier to play to the fears of people when they have less knowledge of history!  But how do you get those advanced jobs that are being created by the post-industrialist society we are in?  (Clue #1:  Ya don't!  And we haven't - at least not enough of them to suit me!)

Added benefit to their effort - it you reduce the arts in school, you reduce education - whereas the opposite enhances education (discussed elsewhere).  Just one more part of the effort to reduce the arts in public education so you can reduce overall education.

This is what the Koch Brothers top 5 is all about - failure!!

[Gaspar]

We've got to stamp out this freedom thing.  It's dangerous.