◼ How free is your state? - HotAir
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University undertook a study of personal liberty in each of the 50 states, based explicitly on “an individual-rights framework.” First started in 2009, Mercatus has fine-tuned the study to include more policy variables — and that’s bad news for Massachusetts. Thanks to the health-insurance mandate as well as a number of other restrictive measures, the Bay State has fallen to 46th among the states for freedom...◼ How educated are state legislators? - chronicle.com
The Bay State ranks near the bottom of a new “Freedom in the 50 States” study, which found the health-care law, gun laws, taxes and a string of other “nanny state” rules on smoking, seat belts, transfats and firecrackers makes Massachusetts one of the least free states in the nation.
New Hampshire, the commonwealth’s “Live Free or Die” rival to the north, ranked first in freedom, in the study by the libertarian Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Massachusetts trailed at 46th.
“The big takeaway is that Massachusetts is not doing well overall in terms of freedom,” said study co-author William Ruger, despite the state’s laissez faire attitude toward gay marriage and pot. “There’s this kind of stereotype or myth that the deep blue states are more economically restrictive but more personally free. But the data doesn’t actually bear that out . . . Liberals tend to want to constrain your freedom in all areas.”
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◼ California Ranks 3rd Worst in Freedom
