In response to Varrin's post above:
Re: spreadsheets. . .
Yes, the various weightings in the spreadsheets and what all went into them is far from perfect, though it is still a useful tool. Here are some other things I have noticed that have harmed Idaho in the spreadsheets:
- On the seat-belts measure
--Idaho has the lowest seat-belt fine in the country (next to NH, of course) yet for most of the duration of the spreadsheet, Idaho merely tied for 4th.
- On the liquor law measure
-- Idaho has the absolute most liberal direct-sale alcohol laws among our candidate states where most other states even impose a felony for the same.
Idaho has the absolute lowest wine tax, the 3rd-lowest beer tax and no tax on liquor (where other states have very high taxes: Alaska has a tax of $12.80, the highest in the country). Yet Idaho took 10
th place among our candidate states! Mostly because of state liquor stores (several other candidate states have these, and all but two are state-controlled distribution) and because Idaho does not pre-empt communities from passing Sunday purchase laws.
Idaho actually allows the same freedom that 1
st-place ranked Alaska does, yet the language of the Alaska law says so in many less words, so Alaska took first place on our spreadsheet. However, unlike Alaska, Idaho is the only state that allows parents to form homeschooling co-ops, to hire an unlicensed tutor, to form a private voluntary school without obtaining a license, to allow grandparents, neighbors, or anyone else to homeschool the children, also the only state that does not require notification to homeschool outside the home, and prohibits school officials from even speaking with homeschooled children.
- On several other measures, Idaho fares very well, but this information never made it into the official spreadsheet, and remains buried in this forum. Nudity laws were one, (only the Northeastern states and Idaho fared very well there). Various licensing measures were others.
I am not bitter about this, the few people who actually use the spreadsheets rarely base their opinion on it. Most Montana fans claim that Montana is the most free state no matter how badly that state fares in the spreadsheet because bad laws aren't much enforced there, they say; the same has been said by many Alaska fans.
I guess the only thing we do know is that once we have our chosen state, even the most strident fans will have to admit it wasn't really as good as they had hoped. :o
Re: 'statist immigration'
I just don't understand some of these prejudices some people have. Since Idaho is 8% hispanic and growing does not mean that Idaho is a lost cause! Really? Let's see: in Mexico, I can buy prescription drugs without a prescription, there are no overly-powerful neighborhood associations seeking to enforce unduly laws against my bright pink and green house or dead car in front, I could go to the beach and join tens of thousands of other hedonists from the U.S. I can sell my labor on the street-corner without worry over OSHA, LRB, EEOC, or IRS getting down my case. How statist is Mexico really? Most of the problems in Mexico stem from policies by a socialist party that was recently voted-out of power, that and the U.S.-led Drug War. Hmmm. . .
If people come from statist places seeking refuge in less statist places, does that mean they come to corrupt the place? Really?!~
So, Chinese immigrants now settling in New Hampshire are seeking to install Communism? Really?
History proves that a different dynamic actually takes place. Gun-laws in this country came about during a time of increased immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, same with Prohibition. What actually happens is that an anti-immigrant backlash creates an environment that elitists easily exploit: reference California. There once was a time when the hispanic vote was divided between the parties, now it is 3:1 for the Democrats, even the most statist ones, thanks in large part to conservatives focusing against immigrants and not bad policies.
