America's Freest States

America's Freest States

news.yahoo.com

From indelibly American quotations like "Give me liberty or give me death" to the iconic pairing of "liberty and justice" in the Pledge of Allegiance, there's no shortage of examples demonstrating that Americans have historically placed a high value on the concept of freedom.

But in a country as large and diverse as the United States, the concept of liberty is sure to have different definitions for different people. More complicating still is the fact that, beyond the overarching liberties defined by the Constitution, individual states have their own legislation to address individual f

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Edit to add, I want to also see how some members view their states in terms of freedom, or lack thereof. I live in Colorado and I don't feel any loss of freedom's I have no complaints other then an occasional speeding ticket, The taxes are reasonable and I don't have any complaints about the local government in general.

[edit on 30-5-2009 by alyosha1981]

This is a good read, and freedom does mean differant things to differant people depending on who you talk to. I thought all states were "free" apparently not all people believe that. Freedom in my opinion comes with great responsibility and some don't understand that, these tend to to be the people who scream "police brutality" and who are hell bent on making everyone else believe that thr U.S is turning police state.

Regardless of what you believe freedom to be, this is a decent article. I hope you enjou it.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm in Illinois and we are one of the least free states

It's not fun here anymore, especially in chicago. The only thing they haven't taxed us on yet is the air that we breathe. We have a 10.25% sales tax here almost no 2nd amendment rights at all, and now they're putting camera's up all over the place ! Don't even ask about the cost of rent for apartments or the cost of a house here


Edit to add;

You know what really bothers me, it's the fact that we can no longer be at the lake after 11pm, if you're there after 11 it's a ticket for you and your car ! Like clockwork 10:45 pm the squad cars start driving on the sidewalks blasting their sirens and yelling (yes yelling) over their loudspeakers that we must now leave the lakefront ! I swear it's like being in Nazi Germany or something, we can't even walk by the lake on a nice summer night

[edit on 5/30/2009 by chise61]

I can only speak as a holiday visitor (5 times) and then to a limited number of States (7) but I personally found Arizona and Colorado to be the most relaxed and California the least.

In the last, I was tailgated by a police car for 5 miles. I then turned off for gas and when I returned to the road was tailgated by the same car again. This with family on board. Being an original hippie found it disappointing that California appeared so uptight about everything.

Peace!

reply to post by chise61


I have never been there, I can say that the cost of living is very high in Denver though. It seems the bigger the cities the more sales tax they charge for goods

reply to post by The Wave


I would've thought California to be pretty laid back, that's a shame especially with all of the land they have, I have bever been there only LAX.

reply to post by alyosha1981


It's a beautiful city especially the lakefront and we have a lot of things, museums, zoos, etc but it's getting terrible here.

I love going to the lake, have ever since i was little, it relaxes me and i hate when they come and chase us out ! I've lived here all my life and i love the city, but i find myself telling my sons that i want to move more and more lately. I just can't stand all the regulations and the high cost of living here anymore, but i hate to leave this beautiful lake

I've only been to Michigan and Wisconsin, Florida once when i was five. I've heard it's really nice in Colorado.

[edit on 5/30/2009 by chise61]

Being a native of California for 56 years and having long hair I never encountered any real problems,other then all the bums from the 49 other states come there for all the handouts and nice weather,I recently moved to Arizona,here you are on camera,and will be followed by police,also my parents lived in Colorado,me and brother went to visit,we encountered police checkpoints on dirt roads,so as far as that goes in some aspects California would be more lax,thing that drove me out is the enviromental laws and taxes on anything,it has turned into a tree hugger state

reply to post by chise61


That's horrible that you can't stay at the lake past any certain time I bet some of the taxes you pay help pay for lake maintnence, and what not. I wonder though, has there been alot of crime during certain hours at that lake?

reply to post by Oldtimer2


I kinda figured California to be a destionation for alot of "warward" folks and dreamers.It's a shame some become homless and stranded depending on hand outs.

[edit on 30-5-2009 by alyosha1981]

reply to post by alyosha1981


Think that Silicon Valley has effected many changes and not necessarily for the best. And as Oldtimer posted, it appeared to have become taken over by tree-huggers...
Peace!

Wish I still had some hair!

reply to post by The Wave


How much like the California we see on T.V is the real California? I'm sure it's two different things, like most of the vacation adds.

reply to post by alyosha1981


Oh believe me we pay enough taxes here for maintainence and then some. Not to mention that starting this fall our esteemed Mayor Daley is going to start charging us $1 an hour to park at the lakefront Which will prevent a lot of families from doing one of the only things they can afford to do for fun with their children.

Lake Michigan is a very big lake bordered by Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Chicagoans love their lakefront it's always jampacked with people in the summer, families go for the whole day barbeque, swim, volleyball, etc. The zoo is right there, nature museum, navy Pier, all the other museums. Even in the dead of winter people go for a walk by the lake.

I don't think there is really much more crime there at night than there is during the day. There is way more crime on the streets than there is at the lakefront, especially on the westside and the southside. The lake is officially part of the park district and they've started enforcing the park closes at 11pm at the lake too. When i was younger we could stay at the lake all night long, watch the sun come up the police would patrol and as long as you weren't doing anything wrong they'd let you stay, not anymore though

Originally posted by alyosha1981
Freedom in my opinion comes with great responsibility and some don't understand that, these tend to to be the people who scream "police brutality" and who are hell bent on making everyone else believe that thr U.S is turning police state.

This is a very good point to make and your description is unfortunately a description of 90+% of ATS.

In terms of states with more or less freedom, its important to note that with the exception of maybe Texas, the most free states are the ones with not only less people, but with lower population density and less overall modernization. The states that are "less free" have more people, higher population density, and higher levels of overall modernization. Its like the Buddhists say, its easier to be free when there's less baggage lying around.

I read a saying in someone's signature that went something like "freedom is being able to to do what you want and get what you want, happiness is loving what you've got." Perhaps the reverse is true as well?

Originally posted by chise61
reply to post by alyosha1981

 

Oh believe me we pay enough taxes here for maintainence and then some. Not to mention that starting this fall our esteemed Mayor Daley

is going to start charging us $1 an hour to park at the lakefront

Which will prevent a lot of families from doing one of the only things they can afford to do for fun with their children.

This is upsetting, I can see charging a small fee for parking but $1 an hour? That's outragous and he should be ashamed of himself, is that up for vote? or not. Your right, many families will probably suffer if this goes into effect and that's a shame next they will tax passers by to look at the lake

reply to post by sweatmonicaIdo


Very good explination you gave there, and I do realize that the resident poulation of police state believer's exceeds 90% I think they don't realize how "freedom" works and that was sort of a side note of this thread while not comparing "free"states.

Vancouver Wsh is a pretty free state, I have to say. Considering I lived there for many years, I would be proud to say I would live there again!

reply to post by Piranha


I've never been there, heard it's nice though. I want to see how many people feel like their state is "free" and how many feel like they are not. I'll say again Colorado is nice and I feel like freedom's remain intact.

reply to post by alyosha1981


No it's a done deal. He cares not what the people want, or what's fair to us. And we're stuck with him because he's part of the machine and no one will even run against him anymore come election time because they know they have no chance of winning.

When he lowered the number of parking tickets to two before they boot your car the city council opposed it saying that it would hurt low income families, but he wouldn't listen. They can't fight him to hard or he makes sure they don't get the funding, or the services they need to run their wards properly. I think he took lessons from castro

reply to post by chise61


To bad he can't relocate to Cuba he sounds like a typical politician though, they never care about the people only the special interests and revenue.

Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo
... the most free states are the ones with not only less people, but with lower population density and less overall modernization. The states that are "less free" have more people, higher population density, and higher levels of overall modernization...

Hmmmmm, yes, I would think this so. As a kid I started out with one rabbit, an idyllic state for us both, running free in the yard, only one in the cage, not much work for me. Then as more rabbits came along, more cages had to be added, some rabbits had to be kept separate, much more work for me (and what to do with all those rabbit droppings??)

I left the urban CA areas decades ago. Traffic, rat race, helicopters overhead to help keep the peace. But I left behind things only an urban area can offer...hop on public transit to get you to big museums and cultural events, diverse recreation, etc.

Decades ago an outing to a National/State/regional Park here was less stressful, not the hordes of campers, hikers, etc.
OTOH because the west has so much federal land, there are still many places to visit that don't have the development as private lands. I'm keeping secret where I go to recreate, but when I go, as long as I act responsibly (no meth lab, no shooting at someone, not being a disturbance to anyone, don't trash the land, etc) I'm free to do what I enjoy. I had local law enforcement check up on me at first, friendly but I'm sure they were running my plates to see if I was wanted , and they in turn would let me know that the person encamped down the road apiece checked out ok and nothing to fear.

There are extremes with their "extremists" in any interest. If it weren't for "tree huggers", the beauty I love might not be there, having been taken away by the other extreme. Voices on both sides need to be heard, then action taken to find what both can live with. Because both sides were willing to compromise in my area, no one got everything, but we all got something we can live fairly happily with. Extremes might resort to name calling and hateful speech and feelings, but wisdom is found in the middle ground. It is a wise leader who will be able to fuse together the threads to create a new cloth.

As humans multiply like my rabbits did, we do find we bump up against each other a lot more.