The Mercatus Center has published a new report, “Freedom in the 50 States” that purports to rank how much personal and economic freedom citizens enjoy (or are allowed to enjoy…Maryland ranks 50th in personal freedom)
Just across the Potomac from the Maryland Gulag is Virginia – the cradle of the American Revolution, the birthplace of freedom. Or maybe not. By Mercatus’ reckoning, Virginia ranks 5th in economic freedom, and 22nd in personal freedom. The commonwealth comes in 9th in the nation for “overall freedom,” down two notches from 2009
Has anyone told Mr. Jefferson?
In coming up with its Virginia assessment, the arbiters of Freedom at Mercatus say that “…by our count, [Virginia is] the freest state in the South.” Okay, we’re getting somewhere – and take that, North Carolina!
The Center says our government takes a smaller portion of private wealth than most other states, but that money supports a large number of state and local government employees.
Virginia takes knocks for its gun laws, its marijuana laws, and its “schizophrenic” education system, which mandates
…13 years of… schooling, including kindergarten attendance, and imposing significant standardized-testing and notification requirements on homeschoolers, but otherwise leaving both private- and homeschools alone.
Or at least they are left alone for now. Virginia runs into real trouble on some of its specific policies, like its ban on smoking in public places and its high liquor taxes. Those liquor taxes, or more specifically, the state’s mark-up on the price it charges for liquor sold in state-owned stores, were raised in 2010 as part of the General Assembly’s plan to close the state’s budget gap.
But the real knife in Virginia’s freedom rankings comes from its affinity for imposing health insurance mandates:
…coverage mandates are extensive. Indeed, Virginia has more than just about any other state, adding significantly to the cost of insurance.
The irony here is rich, indeed, as Virginia is currently waging a high-profile legal assault on Obamacare over the individual mandate. According to Virginia’s political class, the federal government has no constitutional authority to make you buy health insurance. But if you do happen to have such coverage, the state is more than happy to tell your insurance company what it must include in your policy.
The General Assembly shows no signs of changing this behavior, as in its most recent session it added a new autism mandate to policies issued in the state. This is on top of the 57 mandates already on the books.
So how can Virginia become freer, according to Mercatus? Ditch some of those state and local government workers, for one. Cut the liquor tax, for another. And make it harder for the state to seize assets, too.
Those are small steps. Much more fundamental ones – like getting the constitutional amendment further strengthening property rights through the next General Assembly session, would be nice. Breaking-up the state’s liquor monopoly, as the Governor sort of proposed, then dropped, because legislators just couldn’t break their reliance on the cash the state stores generate, would be another big step. So, too, would be getting rid of the callous “Marriage Amendment,” which banned gay marriage in the state.
That last one is very unlikely to happen. The others, though, are doable, especially the property rights amendment, which has already passed the General Assembly once (amendments must pass through two sessions, with an intervening election, before they can appear on the ballot).
Let’s do it again. And then get to work on those other matters as soon as possible.
(Originally published in the Washington Examiner. Cross-posted to Score Radio Network)
