I was Googling The Free State of Jones, a 2016 movie about an interesting episode of Civil War history, when I stumbled across a couple of interesting studies on freedom in the 50 states.

Both studies were produced by conservative think tanks. The first came in 2015 from the John Locke Foundation of North Carolina.

(Locke, by the way, was a 17th century British doctor and philosopher often called the father of classic liberalism, and an early advocate of the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that appear in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.)

According to the Locke Foundations First in Freedom Index, The freest state is Florida, followed byArizona, Indiana, South Dakota and Georgia.

The least free state is New York, followed by New Jersey, California, West Virginia and Kentucky.

Wisconsin ranked 34th for fiscal policy, 11th for educational freedom, seventh for regulatory freedom and 11th for health care freedom.

Why is freedom important? Because in general, freedom correlates with a more robust and resilient economy.

The foundation noted: Overall, there have been 37 studies of economic freedom and state economic growth published in scholarly journals since 1990 of which 29 found a positive, statistically significant relationship and eight found no link.

Not a single study found that ranking high in economic freedom was associated with lower economic performance.

A far more comprehensive study on freedom in the states was conducted in 2015-16 by the Mercatus Institute at George Mason University. (You can find the whole thing at freedominthe50states.org.)

We score all 50 states on over 200 policies encompassing fiscal policy, regulatory policy and personal freedom. We weight public policies according to the estimated costs that government restrictions on freedom impose on their victims, the authors wrote.

The Mercatus study identified the most free states as New Hampshire, Colorado, South Dakota, Idaho and Texas. (Only South Dakota also made the Locke list.)

The least free were New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and Maryland. (New York, New Jersey and California made both lists.)

The Mercatus study put Wisconsin squarely in the middle of the pack at 27th.

For all the talk about Scott Walkers radical reforms, the authors wrote, we find that economic freedom has been more or less constant since 2011 whereas personal freedom has grown substantially.

The Badger State has relatively high taxes, which have fallen only marginally since 2012. State taxes are projected to be 5.8 percent of personal income in 2015, while local taxes have risen since 2000 and now stand at 4.4 percent of income, above the national average

State and local debt has fallen somewhat since 2007, and government employment and subsidies are below average. Overall, Wisconsin has seen definite improvement on fiscal policy since 2010, but it hasnt yet reached the national average.

On regulatory policy, we see little change in recent years, although our index does not yet take account of the 2015 right-to-work law. Land-use freedom is a bit better than average; local zoning has not gotten out of hand, though it has grown some...

Occupational licensing increased dramatically between 2000 and 2006; still, the state is about average overall on extent of licensure

The state has a price-gouging law, as well as controversial, strictly enforced minimum-markup laws for gasoline and general retailers. The civil liability system is above average and improved significantly since 2010, due to a punitive damages cap.

Wisconsin is below average on criminal justice policies, but it has improved substantially since 2010 because of local policing strategies. The incarceration rate has fallen, as have nondrug victimless crime arrest rates. The states asset forfeiture law is one of the stricter ones in the country

Tobacco freedom is extremely low, due to airtight smoking bans and high taxes.

Educational freedom grew significantly in 201314 with the expansion of vouchers. However, private schools are relatively tightly regulated.

Here is something I dont understand: There is almost no legal gambling, even for social purposes. Has Mercatus never heard of Indian casinos? The state lottery?

The authors go on to state: Cannabis law is unreformed. Wisconsin is the best state for alcohol freedom, with no state role in distribution, no keg registration, low taxes (especially on beer imagine that), no blue laws, legal happy hours, legal direct wine shipment, and both wine and spirits in grocery stores.

The state is now about average on gun rights after the Legislature passed a shall-issue concealed-carry license, one of the last states in the country to legalize concealed carry

The Institutes policy recommendations for Wisconsin: Reduce the income tax burden while continuing to cut spending on employee retirement and government employment. Abolish price controls. Eliminate teacher licensing and mandatory state approval for private schools.

Hmm

Speaking of freedom, I am now free of the need for wearing glasses or contacts for the first time in almost 60 years.

Cataract surgery is a miracle, at least for me -- although, every single morning when I wake up and look out the window, I think, Oh darn! I forgot to take my contacts out last night. Im just not used to being able to see.

I would have preferred to be unconscious during the procedures (theres nothing like people using a pen to draw on your eyeball to make you wonder how much worse water-boarding could possibly be) but the doctors explained that I needed to be conscious to cooperate with them: OK, look to your left No, your other left.

But the discomfort was fleeting and the result is miraculous.

Got something Sunny Schubert should know? Call her at 222-1604 or email sunschu16@gmail.com.

See the article here:

View From the Pier: Just how free are we in Wisconsin? - hngnews.com