Freedom in FREE FALL?

The world is considerably less free than it was in January 2020 right before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 2022 Human Freedom Index.
There's a story that Benjamin Franklin, when asked about the ideal form of government, replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it." The same might be said of the ideal social arrangement: "Freedom, if you can keep it."
Watch the full replay of the conversation with Ian Vásquez, co-author of the Human Freedom Index, with Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller: • The pandemic was a "ca...
Cato Institute and Fraser Institute Human Freedom Index: cato.org/human-freedom-index/2022

[@ickster23]

"At least we're not as bad as (insert Totaltarian regime)..." is the answer most people give when I note that we are losing our freedoms. With populations like that, it's inevitable that things will get more and more Totaltarian.

[@ickster23]

@@Mad_Catter_ It's almost like people seeking power may not be the best people to have in power.

[@andrewgus8763]

The irony is that the people who own most of those foreign totaltarian regimes also own us.

[@reddirtwalker8041]

Absolutely. If the measure starts with "at least we're not as bad" the bad will continue to get worse as we do.

[@danielmanly4793]

Agreed, we are all drowning in this flood, but at least I am not drowning as fast as poor Pete over there!

[@rcairforceone]

Exactly true. There's an old black and white short film where a guy is ranting in a public square. He speaks against immigrants, minorities and various other groups. There's a young man listening along and agreeing, all the way up to the point that the ranter calls out the Freemasons. The listener then begins to question everything, and a Hungarian immigrant explains that he heard the same talk from the Germans leading up to WWII. I think the film is called Don't Be A Sucker, but I could be wrong.

[@kevinkerr9310]

"A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both." Milton Friedman

[@finddeniro]

Economy is Local..Regional..State ..Federal...Top down control ..Current Events..

[@donklee3514]

You are quoting the wrong guy. Friedman's signaling criteria doesn't match his action criteria. He says one thing and when he gets the power to change public policy then he does the opposite. Friedman and the right wing Chicago school of economics pulled the wool over the eyes of every business student for the last 40 plus years. If you hate the rise of FED power then blame Friedman and the monetarists. If you hate the US's deficit spending blame Friedman and his neo-liberal economic policy. If you work for a living and you love economic policies to screw yourself then Friedman is your man. The results of the last forty years of Reaganomics are in and everywhere in the world that neo-liberal economic policy has been implemented homelessness has become the real problem for your freedoms. You are free to fail and now the game is fixed so it is very likely you will. Blame government for all the ales you if you like, but deregulation of the wrong regulations and the financialism that it generated are the real problem. You know you cannot fix a problem with the same logic that caused it. Time to try something different. Bromides are great, but results are better.

[@stubkar]

I'll never blame government for its pursuit of more power and influence. I'll always blame citizens that cheer on these pursuits.

[@V1489Cygni]

it'll always be innevitable that people after power will gravitate towards positions of power. If the priorities of the broader population was for more freedom and prudent spending, you can bet those people out for themselves and for power would supply that demand but we reached the point where people started voting themselves more money, rights and safety. Which is why the narrative is changing to be about -isms and oppression instead of track records of pretty promises and "humane" policies: the demand becomes about "being kind and loving" and not delivering results. Smearing the adversary will always be easier than defending the consequences of your actions.

[@toobalkain]

in other words, democracy is part of the problem, or at least suffrage is.

[@iasimov5960]

The loss of freedoms after 911 is an example of the erosion of freedoms within the memory of most Americans. Historically such erosion began long ago particularly with the Civil War followed by every act of congress designed to take from one class of citizen to give to another. Every law takes a little liberty, especially social programs that make more and more people dependent on the government rather than themselves and their local communities.

[@finddeniro]

Palmer Raids..fbi 1920s...

[@Vastin]

Any discussion of freedoms that starts with a criticism of the Civil War as a desultory point is clearly not about personal freedom. Slavery is clearly one of the greatest violations of personal freedom imaginable and a battle to eliminate it can only be seen in the most positive light when discussing freedom as an objective concept. Such argument can only be about a very narrow view of 'freedom' that revolves specifically around one ideological branch of US politics that has almost nothing to do with the actual human experience, even in this country. How this relates to any actual measure of freedom is a mystery.

[@MrMagnaniman]

It began with the ratification of the Constitution. As soon as the new federal government came into existence, people rebelled against the encroachments upon their freedom. The Whiskey Rebellion and Shays' Rebellion are two of the more notable examples.

[@MrMagnaniman]

@@Vastin During the Civil War, the Union "suspended" several constitutionally guaranteed rights, such as habeas corpus. When we embrace simplistic thinking, promoting the idea of "the ends justify the means," it is a tacit rejection of personal freedom. Even when we are combatting something as immoral and despicable as the ownership of people, it is vital to maintain personal liberty, else we simply replace one horror with another. The reality of the Civil War is that it was a struggle for control of the government between the old power structure, managed by slavers, and the new, growing power structure, managed by the relatively new corporate industrialists. Like most wars, truly moral positions were limited to rhetoric and both sides were fully committed to immoral behavior. They simply used the rhetoric of morality to convince young people to go kill and die for the corrupt ruling class. On one side, yes, people were ultimately fighting for slavery, but on the other side they were fighting to lock children in factories that frequently mangled and killed those children. There really wasn't a "good guy" in that war. To prove the point, the Reconstruction Amendments (13th-15th) were immediately used by the courts to grant increased legal standing to corporations while decreasing accountability for the individuals that owned them. Most cases involving the newly freed slaves, the protection of whom was ostensibly the reason for those Amendments, resulted in rulings AGAINST them, establishing legal precedents for Jim Crow laws and creating the prisoner loophole for enslaving people, a practice that continues to this day. If you'd like to learn more about that period and the power dynamics of the ruling class, I'd recommend starting with A Peoples' History of the United States by Howard Zinn. I don't agree with all of his conclusions about should be done about the rampant corruption and dishonest framing of history, but he is excellent at identifying those things and bringing them into the light.

[@Vastin]

@@MrMagnaniman What you want is to live without a country or society at all. Go hang out in Antarctica, or maybe some stretch of northern Canada where no-one will ever actually find you. Outer Siberia would work too I suppose? Good luck.

[@gigi6374]

Canada only went down 6 slots? Whomever did this survey needs to recalculate. Canada should be down at least 15 slots. It is now against the law to peacefully protest in Canada; even blocks away from what you are protesting.

[@bogdanpopescu1401]

New Zealand in second place is a big joke too

[@V1489Cygni]

I *promise* you _some_ people *will* be allowed to protest.

[@HenriqueGdeC]

My guess is that they don't update the whole world at the same time and new US is worse than old Canada

[@mr.jamster8414]

and please, before all this happened, Australia still wasn't *close* to more free than Thailand. You can drive taxi passengers on a fitted motorcycle and pop wheelies and drifts, but you're a nice guy and you simply don't crash.

[@gigi6374]

@@HenriqueGdeC maybe you want to take a second look. Our "dear leader" had been found guilty of multiple ethics violations. At the time they created the ethics standards they did not link them to the criminal code. So things like taking bribes and then granting someone a fat government contract, is simply an ethics violation of our politicians BUT a crime for everyone else. They are also trying to push through bill c-11, the "internet censorship" law. And our "dear leader" as appointed a family friend to investigate the allegations that a certain "people party" has interfered in multiple of our federal elections, for his benefit. Not to mention after he invoked the emergencies act (where he froze bank accounts of people donating money ect.) He appointed a family member to oversee the enquiry. Yes, it went exactly the way you think it might have gone- the government was found to have done nothing wrong.

[@chlordk]

00:30 How come New Zealand has rank 2? During the lock-down they took a lot of freedom from people.

[@KC_Tubelord]

The criteria for the rankings is total nonsense if countries like New Zealand, Australia, and Canada are as high as they are.

[@Tank50us]

given that the first two locked people up if they dared protest the mandates, or flew back from out of country. And Canada... oof... well... last time I checked it's not a great place to be if you have a chronic illness...

[@nickfoster848]

I’m not sure how much I trust the freedom ranking system where New Zealand places second

[@doomstare8427]

or the Netherlands in the top 10.

[@Xetarine]

Denmark being third is funny living on Sjælland

[@oldwolf9403]

The whole reason for the second amendment was to resist the authority of the government. it was a preservation of the right to revoke the delegations of power that created both state and federal governments. "Sovereigns without subjects" as per Chisholm v. Georgia. The problem comes in that so many want others to be subject to their whims, and unable to resist their will.

[@danielmanly4793]

Flash forward and now government doesn't believe that folks have agency over their bodies' - So it stands to reason, why would you need to protect a body which is not your own?

[@Vastin]

Unfortunately in most parts of the modern world, armed irregular militias have become a favorite tool for terrorizing those in opposition to an authoritarian government - who need simply turn a blind eye to their attacks on communities who dare resist.

[@svokxz6435]

Something is going wrong right now with all of this freedom being lost

[@GB-bu9tx]

I think this loss of freedom is in part a byproduct of our guilt over our great wealth as a country. The upper middle class and above feel guilty with all the money and stuff they have, and how easy it is to obtain that wealth. They feel compelled to do something to assuage their guilt and having the government take control of everything has a double benefit of having the wealth be a product of government action (not their actions so no guilt) and having the government protect their wealth. And with wealth, you can avoid the curbs on freedom the government has put in place.

[@sylviam6535]

The increase in authoritarianism is the result of the panic over losing control of the narrative because of the Internet.

[@jakegarrett8109]

@@GB-bu9tx More likely: Power hungry people are power hungry. Shocking right? The wealthy want more power, nothing new, that's been a thing since before kings.

[@Vastin]

​@@hydroponichomesteader6852 don't pretend to care about loss of freedom if you aren't willing to fight tyranny wherever it assails freedom and democracy.

[@Vastin]

​@@hydroponichomesteader6852 I'm sorry, but, how does that change the fact that Ukraine is currently under brutal assault by a highly militant authoritarian government? Did your interest in freedom evaporate suddenly along the way because you're sore about how people voted at some point? Are you only interested in freedom when your party is in charge? That's not how that works.

[@Generik97]

The peak of freedom was in the 18th and 19th century when you could ride a horse out west and there was little to no government to harass you.

[@jakegarrett8109]

And that horse didn't require tags, permission to operate slips, insurance, emissions control (shovels), or a fuel tax at the local "grass station".

[@Vastin]

Easier to do when your population density is less than 0.1 per square mile. Nowadays you'd have ranchers killing each other over contested water rights.

[@Vastin]

I mean frankly they did that even back then. It'd be far worse today.

[@Vastin]

Also worth mentioning that in the 1800s half the population wasn't allowed to vote and millions lived in actual slavery, so they might debate your definition of 'freedom'.

[@danielkelly2210]

The US West was settled basically with no help at all from the government. A true Jeffersonian effort.

[@thaatsriight]

The problem is that freedom without accountability is anarchy/chaos, but lack of freedom is authoritarianism. Many people wrongly only want unbridled freedom and that is where the intersection of personal rights meets personal freedoms. Think of businesses having mask or vaccine requirements but “freedom loving people” not respecting the rules of a business or service provider to adhere to them, yet treating private entities like “public spaces”

[@me-myself-i787]

And also, in contrast, bureaucrats fined businesses which lacked mask or vaccine requirements, which also disrespected the business's rules and treated public property like private property.

[@V1489Cygni]

Definititely a good example, but it could also be argued about the alignment of "private" and state interests, through state pressure, against the interests of the population. Just like the censorship accusations on social media: "it's not censorship because it's not the government"... but the government pressures for such actions with the threat of punishment in case of non compliance. Or what happened before the crisis of '08 with banks being "forced" to offer mortgages they otherwise wouldn't. There's not always a clear distinction between what private entities _want_ and what private entities _choose out of the limited options government forces upon them_ . Just as "freedom loving people" _do_ forget about accountability and mistake rights for priviliges, "live and let live people" _do_ forget human psychology and physiology _can_ be exploited and manipulated to achieve a "choice, made out of a persons own free will"... that they would never in a million years do otherwise.

[@HenriqueGdeC]

@@V1489Cygni a good example of that is in the twitter files, where people were going "but muh private business, twitter can ban anyone they want", meanwhile they were being pressured by the FBI to do so

[@V1489Cygni]

@@HenriqueGdeC and now the *SAME* people are "worried" about what Elon Musk can do with his "muh private business". It's authoritarians highjacking libertarianism for their gain.

[@thaatsriight]

@@me-myself-i787 I agree with that as well 100%

[@unbreakable7633]

This is a trend that originated far before 2020. Randy Barnett's books on the Constitution make this clear but John Whitehead's book, A GOVERNMENT OF WOLVES: THE EMERGING AMERICAN POLICE STATE, also makes this clear, published in 2013.

[@sissy-_-fnyc]

The point of banning outdoor dining was to strangle the restaurant industry to death, at least the small ones.

[@finddeniro]

Yeah..Sad..

[@Vastin]

Given that for people in cities - of almost every social strata - one of the single most popular entertainments is dining out at small local restaurants, I find this motivation quite difficult to believe.

[@answerman9933]

@Sissy And who was behind the desire to strangle the restaurant industry to death? Your premise does not have a clear "follow the money" path. Besides small, non-chain restaurants will always come back, at least in small towns. It is called economies of scale.

[@donklee3514]

@@answerman9933 "Besides small, non-chain restaurants will always come back, at least in small towns. It is called economies of scale" I don't think the results support your hypothesis.

[@answerman9933]

@@donklee3514 Post the results.

[@JacobAnawalt]

She couldn't even look in the camera giving her response.

[@danielmanly4793]

She also said "...our data..." not the data.

[@zciliyafilms5508]

​@@danielmanly4793 She also said, "more likely". Well duh, obviously, at least in a very specific sense. All she's doing is stating something we all knew. But 2 in a trillion would be more likely than one in a trillion. That doesn't make rearranging your entire society for that infinitesimal hypothetical gain is a good idea.

[@wtf_usa5597]

2000: 6th .. 2022: 23rd. Hmm.. 🤔 DEFINITELY a "worrisome trend". But we can ALL feel it. I know I can. 😪

[@zciliyafilms5508]

This is moment is the real test. How badly do you want your freedom?

[@jzerf5329]

I was on board until I saw the chart in the thumbnail. Going from 7.3 to 7.1 on the freedom index looks real dramatic when the scale stops at... 7.1. That's just using statistics to lie for you.

[@alterego3734]

The scale is made up anyways. 7 might as well be 0.

[@boslyporshy6553]

Why Bush era? The Soviet era and the Depression era had radical changes.

[@michael2275]

Yup things are looking grim moving forward. Happy I'm 32 and got to live through what I think will be called the golden age of America (1990-2005). Bitcoin gives me hope though.

[@tann_man]

I was but a child. Essentially all of my conscious life has been outside that window. The current trends indicate we are experiencing the sunset of the american empire and things will continue to get darker

[@answerman9933]

You lost credibility at the end.

[@zciliyafilms5508]

An era that included 9/11 is the "Golden Age" to you? OK. I'm 51 and can remember what came before your age and wouldn't take that over everything that came after it in a heartbeat. But then again, someone older than me might go back even further. Our experiences color our perception.

[@Vastin]

​@@zciliyafilms5508 Agreed. America's political shift after 9/11 can only be described as ugly and dispiriting compared to where the nation was before that event. It's sad that kids born after that time may never know the incredible optimism that much of the country enjoyed prior to the turn of the millennium, as well as the idea that politicians of either party could operate as individuals making their own decisions rather than being completely beholden to party ideology.

[@STho205]

I experienced almost no loss of free will after May of 2020. March to May, we collaborated with recommended best practices...then when open street riots were fostered by the same organizations championing lockdowns my family just said Pffft. Luckily our governor was responsive to the people and also said Pfffftttt. We have had no more deaths per capita than any draconian state... we have spent two years in normalcy too. Blind fear is contagious and perfect for petty tyrants.

[@mr.jamster8414]

which state?

[@STho205]

@@mr.jamster8414 Georgia (not Atlanta). Some old scared yankee halfbacks were still masking everywhere, but weren't freaking out when others didn't. Libraries and gvt buildings still handed you a mask when they reopened in May 2020. That faded away by fall or winter 21. Most people realized the early efforts were not effective and just giving people space was as good as anything. Florida was about a month behind that trend. SC about a month after that. NC freaked again with the post v*x outbreaks that indicated the v*x was not stopping xmission

[@mr.jamster8414]

@@STho205 Tanks.

[@christoney2491]

How in the world did New Zealand end up at the top of the freedom ranking?

[@Vastin]

High functioning liberal democracy.

[@STho205]

Considering the context of the rhetoric of the article it is a non sequitur...which should lay shade on the article as poorly based.

[@2vexy]

Because freedom is a nebulous concept that can be defined in many ways, which is why metrics like this one are worthless

[@ausbare140]

Here in Australia a so called free country we are free to vote in our dictators and nothing else.

[@danmcmartin]

We lost freedoms and many people applauded, if not begged for it. Most people talk a good game about liberty but when it matters, they fold in favor state action that suits their immediate needs and wants.

[@jimmars]

Great recap, these help me learn more in a timeframe I can dedicate to active listening

[@iampdv]

Notice that Australia and New Zealand are higher in the list. A clear indication that this list is bs. Although unlike some others it at least puts Switzerland at the top.

[@TickedOffPriest]

The next emergency is already being planned.

[@jbeckley6849]

And America is leading the way.

[@danielmanly4793]

Did or did not Reason have a vaccine mandate for attendance to the SOHO forums?

[@danielkelly2210]

Sounds hypocriticalist of them.

[@Existential_Dread]

Freedom to choose paper or plastic and that is my final answer.

[@danielkelly2210]

Taxes, regulations, bylaws, Fauci masks, gas stove bans, EV mandates... WHERE DOES IT ALL END? 😥

[@zciliyafilms5508]

Where we say it does.

[@i679n5]

New Zealand - we will see about that one in the next study...

[@Malverin]

So, we still believe that Cato deserves our attention? They have lost credibility as liberty standard bearers.

[@zciliyafilms5508]

It's not black and white. I would probably agree with all of your criticisms of them, but that doesn't mean they're useless. I mean, I also have problems with Reason. But this was a great video, and the Freedom Index is an extremely useful tool. At least, I've never heard anyone argue against its usage. Right now those who believe in freedom need all the sites we can get. Even the imperfect ones. But then again, who among us is perfect anyway?

[@Vastin]

​@@zciliyafilms5508 The index itself is a decent concept. Compressing its vertical axis to a minute fraction of its total in order to make a tiny dip look like a cliff (7.3 to 7.1 is a total collapse of freedom in the world?) is not really fine however. It's pretty overly deceptive.

[@utah_koidragon7117]

Have a hard time believing Canada is more free than the US. Not because I think America is a free country, but because Canada is worse- would love to know how that ranking works.

[@danielkelly2210]

They probably don't give enough weight to negative rights.

[@Civil-conversation-is-possible]

It seems obvious that people in Canada are more free. They have healthcare that doesn’t require them to be enslaved to jobs, they can start businesses or find non traditional ways to earn income without healthcare being a concern. They don’t have to ever worry about debt from medical expenses. Also workers get five weeks of vacation time guaranteed by law so people can enjoy work life balance and do the things they really want to do. Also women’s rights aren’t under attack every election cycle so women in Canada enjoy freedom not guaranteed to women in the United States.

[@utah_koidragon7117]

@@Civil-conversation-is-possible having socialized medicine does not make a person more free, and having to work in order to provide for your own needs- healthcare, housing, food, etc- is not slavery. Calm down, comrade.

[@STho205]

75% of a population doesn't really need or benefit from "healthcare" in the ages 10 to 60. Often such healthcare is a business looking for a customer. As to the US: about 135 million people are on single payer government health-care of Medicare (over 65 or disabled) or Medicaid. That is almost four times the population of Canada and double England and many EU nations. Freedom is not found in any federalized social program. If so the USSR citizens of 1984 would have been the freest in the world.

[@Tank50us]

@@STho205 On top of that, being stuck in a socialized system means that you get poor service overall. In Canada for example, if you walk into an ER saying you dislocated your arm, odds are you'll be waiting for hours or even days for someone to treat you. Because in Canada, they do first-come, first-serve, with only the most vital patients getting to skip the line (for example if your arm was mauled by a bear, you're probably going to the front of the line). In the US, we assign priority to everyone that enters an ER. If you come in complaining of stomach pains, you'll probably be waiting a bit (since it's non life threatening), However, if you come in telling them you think your appendix is going nuts, they'll probably have an OR prepped and staffed within the hour for an appendectomy. If you come in with your arm dangling, you'll be seen as soon as an X-Ray machine and tech are available, if you have multiple gunshot wounds, you'll be seen immediately. If you say you were having fainting spells, you'll probably wait (but with monitoring equipment hooked up), and so on. On the subject of paying for medical care, there are ways to not pay a dime, without relying on the feds to pick up the tab. There are charities that will help you out, there's also a nice little law that states that if a HCP refuses a reasonable attempt to pay (say you offer $50/mon because it's what you can spare), then your debt is wiped clean. As a result, Hospitals will generally accept any method to pay for their services, and will not turn you away if you can't pay (after all it's hard to get money out of someone who's dead, and it's hard to pull a credit card out when you're unconscious). Oh, and my personal favorite "Americans die waiting in ERs" is a fabrication. In some states, EMTs and and Medics aren't allowed to declare someone dead at a scene. They must either wait for a Doctor or Coroner to show up and declare the person deceased, or, must transport the individual to a hospital where a doctor or coroner will go "Yup, he's dead". This even applies in cases when it's clearly obvious the person is dead. Such as if half their body was one with the car they were in, or they suddenly became 12in shorter... or any number of obvious "Yup, they ded" things. Now, such laws have their reasons, namely to keep EMTs from declaring someone DOA because they don't want to deal with it (IE, it forces them to try). However, the effects of those laws are used as justification for socialized medicine.... which will only make those problems worse.

[@patrickbyrnes166]

Maintaining freedom takes much more effort than losing it.

[@mathos00]

I agree that freedom has taken a kick in the teeth. But, how is the US so much less than free than say Australia, which literally put people in camps over covid?

[@pandafox12]

Repeal Woodrow Wilson

[@9e9bab]

That graph of “Global Human Freedom” was a joke. Perhaps the vertical axis was explained in the original report, but in the video we have no idea what it means. Cutting off the bottom of the chart just exaggerates the drop removing any context of the total amount. How bad is it that freedom fell from 7.4 to 7.0?

[@Vastin]

Nothing quite like compressing your vertical axis to less than 10% of the total chart breadth to make a dip look like a cliff. An oldy but a goody when it comes to statistical spin.

[@PeterDivine]

My concern is what the next step is after bleeding bad states (looking at YOU, NY and Cali) of their representatives by depleting their populations. Congratulations, you weakened their power on a national level, but now how do you get the power back on a state level- which is to say, remove the corrupt officials that have entrenched themselves in state governments? The place is a wasteland and whoever is left there won't care because they prefer being kings of hell than servants in heaven.

[@V1489Cygni]

And what happens if this departing population _doesn't_ change their voting habits and just like dying cells, bad states infect "healthy" ones?

[@Vastin]

The entire point of states rights and freedoms is that you technically shouldn't be sticking your nose into what's going on in NY if it doesn't concern you. You should be concerned with what's going on in your state, and your local municipality, rather than attempting to assert your will on others - and vice versa. So yes, who controls NY matters on a federal level, so that's something to concern yourself with - but when you go on to the next step of your statement above, you're just making yourself the 'bad guy' in a discussion about freedoms and rights at the state scale.

[@PeterDivine]

@@V1489Cygni It's a risk a lot of people are worried about, admittedly, but what's to be done about it? Restricting their voting rights after fleeing Cali is just going to sour voters on anyone who's punishing Democrat state refugees for policies they may well have never voted for.

[@PeterDivine]

@@Vastin I just don't like the idea of what were once the most lucrative and prosperous parts of our nation being written off as unsalvageable urban decay from corruption and brain drain. It effectively creates a pattern where Detroit mass-produces itself across the nation until there's nowhere left to run to. Yes, fine, the state is left to its own independent destiny, but that doesn't mean we have to support or tolerate that destiny being an intractable kleptocracy of bureaucrats and crony-capitalists on a state-by-state or city-by-city basis.

[@Tank50us]

@@Vastin I would say it becomes your business when those people vote for the same policies that caused them to leave those states to begin with. Something that I think the NY and CA governors are attempting to do with the people who are in the states these people are fleeing to, and trying to get them to vote for policies akin to those seen in NY and CA, so that when those people join in with the 'refugees', they might be able to turn more states into NY or CA. That all being said however, if the 2022 midterms are anything to go by, it doesn't appear to be working. People are noticing the issues, and voting accordingly... we just need more people to do so.

[@lklpalka]

Attacking the wrong country started this whole ball rolling.

[@HarHah]

What would have been the " right" country to attack?

[@Gerthmagic]

@@HarHah general Patton said “we defeated the wrong enemy”. We basically gave half of the world to communist Russia and china.

[@stubkar]

@@Stevie-J 50,000 👍

[@tommalone58]

not sure how reliable this is Iive in Ireland, we are 5th ? i pay over 50% in income tax, have daily threats to property rights, a big welfare state, sure we opened up after draconian covid measures before many EU countries and we have gay marriage but freedom ?

[@fluffy6923]

That Y scale is very manipulative.

[@melissajon2011]

Great timeline freedom fall recap!

[@b.9869]

Great video. I just disagree with the weights given to each category that lead to the US being less free than Canada. Source: 1A & 2A

[@jonmaster5000]

Canada is higher on the freedom index than the US? If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

[@declareworr]

Just wait til the restrict act hits the floor with overwhelming bipartisan support after these pentagon leaks

[@curtisloftis6003]

Thanks for another excellent video.

[@acctsys]

It's a shame that the y axis of the graph was truncated. It's lying with statistics. I'm concerned with freedom, but integrity matters too. Such a shame that manipulative tactics are being employed in the human freedom index. Dang.

[@tonyc223]

Could the reason be ,the progressive, woke left loving the patriot act a indicator?

[@savvysymbiont]

This data seems old, stale and out of date.

[@davidallender5303]

Sure the number went down on this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink metric, but what should the number be? How free should humans be when there's a pandemic vs good times w/ lots of opertunity vs during a war vs safe times? It's not enough to say #GoodNumberGoDownBad. You've got to compare it go a reasonable context-sensitive target.

[@HenriqueGdeC]

I struggle to remember the last time "bad times" happened there weren't caused by the government. The pandemic was made in a lab by ridiculous gain of function research with Fauci's/US investment. 2008 crisis was done by the government making banks do crazy loans people had no way of paying. Would the middle east hate the US if not for the constant meddling there? And so on They cause the problems and then they have "no choice", but to take our freedoms

[@jakegarrett8109]

The US has been at peace less than 20 years in its entire existence Come on, 230 years of war and fewer than 20 of peace? When would we EVER have freedom in your example? Why would they not make a war just to control you? Its YOUR sons and daughters (or yourself) that will be forced to fight for them anyways, they have nothing to lose by that. If freedom can be taken away like a light switch, then you were never truly free.

[@Vastin]

Reason is sometimes a bit suspect regarding its commitment to reason. Despite its title it has a tendency to plea to emotion.

[@kevinkerr9310]

Be ungovernable

[@Vastin]

Ungovernable people are always victims. The Roma in Europe are a rather sad and unfortunate example of freedom taken to such an extreme that it cannot function.

[@kevinkerr9310]

@@Vastin k

[@user-pw6qe7ur4q]

No shit. Shouldn't have "voted" for Biden.

[@nerdicusdorkum2923]

'Sees Airstrip 1 3 points above United States' Ok, that all I need to know to dismiss this list. XD

[@johnbaker7322]

They also list the UK being freer than the US when they can't use guns to defend their homes and families, can't speak offensively without risking jail, can't silently pray in front of an abortion clinic...

[@ShomoGoldburgler]

Most humans seem genuinely to desire the boot, they crave their own chains. Everything for that presumed "order and safety"...

[@Vastin]

Given that dead people gain no benefit from freedom, the desire for a degree of safety should come as no surprise whatsoever.

[@aliadeeb6859]

Trump: "I'm declaring a national emergency...two very big words" Lol why the fuck did he say that 😂

[@DegreesOfThree]

Freedom is just another word for 'nothing left to lose.'

[@mirzaahmed6589]

What?

[@nelsonbrum8496]

​@@mirzaahmed6589Sounds like a song lyric, but I can't remember the song.

[@nelsonbrum8496]

​@@mirzaahmed6589Found it. "Bobby McGee" by hippie trash Janis Joplin

[@runswithraptors]

@@mirzaahmed6589 it means someone with extreme freedom has no obligations or duties to anyone or anything else and that it's actually a lonely, self centered way to live.

[@Vastin]

​@@runswithraptors Yep. My dad ended up doing the thing where he moved out into a house in rural Ohio to escape from the world. He was free I suppose, but he died pretty lonely out there. Drank himself to death.

[@freesk8]

The US has fallen on the Heritage Index of Economic Freedom as well. Canada is now more free than is the US economy.

[@guest3858]

this is what people want more than any responsibility. they want to be told what to do and FEEL safe. their en-slaved descendants deserve whats coming in the future

[@Vastin]

Their descendants technically don't deserve anything that they themselves didn't bring upon themselves. Blaming a child for the actions of their parent is a pretty classical authoritarian statement. Collectivized punishment is a very 'statist' concept that certainly isn't aligned with the concept of individual freedom.

[@stickpuck8017]

For the algo

[@Romir0s]

“It is difficult for me to imagine what "personal liberty" is enjoyed by an unemployed person, who goes about hungry, and cannot find employment. Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a man is not haunted by the fear of being tomorrow deprived of work, of home and of bread. Only in such a society is real, and not paper, personal and every other liberty possible.”

[@Romir0s]

@@hydroponichomesteader6852 that sounds like a pre-written answer made by a bot, since the quote has nothing about "not working", but otherwise.

[@Vastin]

@@hydroponichomesteader6852 The greatest abridgement of freedom ever devised by man was the concept of private property ownership. Prior to that mankind was free to go where they pleased, and they owned what they carried upon them. After that, most of the world was closed off to us, owned by others, and by this era huge tracts of the world are owned by non-human corporations that simply close the land off to everyone altogether. No trespassing. I don't have a real issue with the concept of private property mind you - but it is UNQUESTIONABLY the greatest imposition on human freedom ever conceived, if we're being honestly objective about it.

[@CollectvlyUnconsious]

Rotate it 90 degrees clockwise, and you get a profile of Trump's face... almost as if they designed it to be on a magazine cover.

[@ElRayDelRio]

I've been saying this for as long as I could remember! We aren't earthlings, we're prisoners!

[@jrey120]

September 11th and Covid happened during republicans presidencies, coincidence?

[@kevinkerr9310]

The Holocaust happened during a catholic's govern. Coincidence?

[@hammadhaider]

999th like 👍🏽

[@jeffluo9591]

Freedoms is as importance as rules. So why emphasize on freedom so much than rules? Because we are selfish. Rules are for society, and freedom is for yourself.

[@Vastin]

And a functioning civilization is in the careful balancing act between the two, not an ideological adherence to either extreme.

[@SDsc0rch]

we have turned our backs on God - He has hid His face from us He has turned us over to our depraved mind because we wouldn't acknowledge Him sew the wind - reap the whirlwind this is our doing we are getting our due reward

[@trod5902]

brainwashed

[@mirzaahmed6589]

Take your proselytizing elsewhere.

[@01nmuskier]

​@@mirzaahmed6589 when you place the state above God, you are a servant of the state.

[@Existential_Dread]

The new Lord is landlords, k?

[@PleiadesChannel]

Sorry. It's not looking good. People need to be stripped of power. As peacefully as possible, but that's not likely anymore.

[@Vastin]

The very act of stripping others of power is not the first, but the final step in the establishment of a dictatorship, so if that's your approach then freedom is clearly not your goal. You want something else.

[@ChucksExotics]

Why do you people think freedom is good?

[@michaelashby9654]

Define "free". And would you rather live in a " free society" with no social cohesion, no culture, only tolerance OR live in a traditional society with a culture, high social cohesion, and deep love for ones own lands, people, and society? To be "free" means to have no constraints at all. You can't have culture. You can't have family. You can't have language. Those all impose order and rules. To be free you must kill all the external gods and make each of us a god onto ourselves. This is the ultimate freedom, the deracinated individual. I think this is really just a sign of the end of a civilization. Good luck everyone.

[@sanniepstein4835]

They are talking about government constraints. Family predates government and does not need the state to exist.

[@whousa642]

your definition of free is bullcrap nonsense

[@Vastin]

​@@sanniepstein4835 family is the first form of government. Just look at the traditional 'dictatorial' role of the conservative father figure - his freedom is bought at the expense of his family's freedom.

[@Vastin]

​@@sanniepstein4835 marriage itself is arguably one of the most constraining cultural practices across all human history, and in many cultures is tantamount to slavery for the woman. It is often even non-consensual in many cultures, including parts of the modern United States.

[@sanniepstein4835]

@@Vastin Marriage formally recognizes the labor of parents and the decades of responsibility they both take on when they unite and create children.

[@jirehguy]

A less than 3% difference is a free fall? Ever heard of variance?

[@TM-cb2te]

Its greater than 0 and therefore complete unacceptable.

[@engelsseele2]

This isn't just simple variance. This is laws and other such things removing freedoms that we once had. We are extremally close to jailing people on speech alone. the first amendment we have is being stepped on. The constant assault on the 2nd amendment, now we have to INVOKE every other amendment if we want those freedoms. We are LOSING our rights and freedoms the more we let the government get bigger. But hey, do you feel safer now? Police can literally kill you and not be held responsible. "Oh but they were held responsible for George Floyd!" Only because of the MASSIVE riots that happened afterwards. Now look at portland because they fear the damages that will come from it. Again, we are losing our freedoms.

[@bogdanpopescu1401]

From over 7.3 at the peak to around 7 now it's over 4%. And nobody in his right mind can believe the erosion of freedoms which happened in the west since around 2000 can be represented by a 4% decline in an index. And New Zealand in second place looks like a big effing joke, not to say an insult to intelligence.

[@bogdanpopescu1401]

@@TM-cb2te Students at US universities are still not allowed to attend courses unless boosted to date, that is at least 4 jabs they didn't need. Greater than 0 my ass...

[@finddeniro]

Its a Mussolini and Muslims world..I not allowed to Help you all..