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Red States Dominate Freedom Index

Americans are fleeing blue states for red states in droves. Whatever leftist run hellhole they’re fleeing from, whether it be in the Northeast, West coast, or leftist city in the Midwest, Americans are ditching the blue state autocrats.

The question has become why that’s happening? Is it a tax issue, as many claim? Or, rather, is it something deeper than cash, something having to do with freedom?

A recently released study from the libertarian Cato Institute hints that, even if taxes are a major factor in the blue exodus, it might also be that Americans are moving to states where they can live lives as free men and the states where they can do so are red states.

The study, called “Freedom in the 50 States,” creates a “ranking of the American states on the basis of how their policies promote freedom in the fiscal, regulatory, and personal realms.” It examines fiscal freedom, personal freedom, education, and many other areas, overall examining 230 factors. However, while there are those 230 factors and 25 subcategories, the three main categories the study examines are personal freedoms, fiscal policies, and regulatory policies.

Describing why it combines both personal freedom and economic freedom, the study says:

Our index encompasses both economic and personal freedoms because the two sets of freedoms are complementary. A state scoring high in economic freedom but not in personal freedom—a hypothetical American Singapore—would not be a really free state in the way the liberal tradition understands it. Nor would a state high in personal freedom but low in economic freedom—an American Argentina—provide the liberal conditions necessary for human flourishing in the broadest sense.

To faithfully examine what freedom is, the report’s authors needed a baseline definition of it. Here’s the definition they used:

We ground our conception of freedom on an individual rights framework. In our view, individuals should be allowed to dispose of their lives, liberties, and property as they see fit, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others.

And what it found was that red states, even if they are less free than would theoretically be ideal, dominate the index.

The ten least free states are:

  1. New York
  2. Hawaii
  3. California
  4. New Jersey
  5. Oregon
  6. Maryland
  7. Delaware
  8. Vermont
  9. New Mexico
  10. Rhode Island

Guess what the common denominator is between those states? Other than Maryland and Vermont, which both have RINO governors, each one is run by a Democrat. All tend to vote very blue.

And the ten most free states?

  1. New Hampshire
  2. Florida
  3. Nevada
  4. Tennessee
  5. South Dakota
  6. Indiana
  7. Michigan
  8. Georgia
  9. Arizona
  10. Idaho

The common denominator is the same type of thing: other than Nevada and Michigan, each of those states is run by a Republican.

So, though there are a few exceptions, red states are overwhelmingly more free than blue states. Perhaps that’s why Americans are fleeing to them in droves: they want to live free.

By: Gen Z Conservative, editor of GenZConservative.com. Follow me on Parler and Gettr.

This story syndicated with permission from Will – Trending Politics