Is this the most retarded study conclusion ever?

[Lakai]

Here is the headline of the news story about the study: Study: Most Liberal States Are Least Free. (http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/free_states_study/2009/05/06/211385.html?utm_medium=RSS)

I'm not even questioning the methodology of study because I don't know exactly what they did. I just think their conclusion is retarded.

Here is my breakdown of the logic that went into this:

1) Define liberalism to mean that the state has more government regulation over it's people.

2) Spend hours ranking the states that have the most government regulation as the most liberal.

3) Conclude that liberalism means more government regulation.

Now my question is why did they have to go through step two? Why did they need a fucking study to get from step one to step three? They could have just went from step one to step three without using step two. Look:

1) Define liberalism to mean that the state has more government regulation over it's people.

3) Conclude that liberalism means more government regulation.

See! No need to waste time gathering evidence to support your own definition of a concept. What's more depressing is that this study got 1400+ Diggs. As if it is some kind of revelation or something.

Is the conclusion of the study as retarded as I think it is?

[Captain Carrot]

It's NEWSMAX. What do you expect?

[scr4]

FWIW, here's the actual study (http://mercatus.org/uploadedFiles/Mercatus/Publications/Freedom%20in%20the%2050%20States.pdf) (PDF).

[elucidator]

One notes right away that the authors consider the right to own and carry firearms as being right up there at the tippy-tip-top when it comes to important freedoms.

The faint scent of agenda hangs in the air...

[Kimstu]

Geez, that's a pretty loaded study. The authors have made a bunch of very arbitrary decisions about how to choose and rank components of "freedom". For one thing, they don't seem to consider reproductive freedom a "freedom" issue: AFAICT, abortion laws are not considered at all. Likewise, gay marriage bans are arbitrarily ruled irrelevant to "freedom" status, although civil union recognition counts.

According to the study, smoking bans reduce freedom (never mind how the non-smoking majority feels about them). "Right-to-work" laws increase freedom; minimum wage laws and workers' compensation laws decrease it. Level of gun control is the single most heavily weighted freedom factor. Why does seatbelt-law enforcement count for 1.1% in evaluating overall freedom levels but the legal status of prostitution only 0.9%? Regulations on releasing helium balloons and bans on adult sex toy sales are ignored in the "freedom index", but bans on fireworks and regulation of raw milk sales count.

In short, this study is basically two guys' opinions on stuff they like and don't like, along with some data about which state legislatures agree with them. Fine, but I can't see how this constitutes any meaningful assessment of "freedom".

[Jophiel]

I like how two of the four reasons why Alaska has the most personal liberties are legalization of marijuana and same-sex civil partnerships -- ideals closer to liberal orthodoxy than conservative.

[ITR champion]

Is the conclusion of the study as retarded as I think it is?
It sure is. Freedom is a concept, not a measurable quantity, so any study claiming to put a numerical ranking on the amount of freedom is obviously inane. It reminds me of all those studies claiming that a certain percentage of your personality is determined by this or that.

[Try2B Comprehensive]

I'm voting 'retarded'.

I only skimmed the study so maybe I missed it, but- nowhere does it define the term 'liberal'. They simply assume that the more people vote Democrat, the more 'liberal' the area is. I guess we're all just supposed to take that word as the pejorative it's been built up to be by all the radio screamers. Stupid.

And the study uses phrases like, 'optimal policy choice'. Science is unbiased. This study isn't science.

[Cisco]

We're a pretty conservative state and you're not even free to drive down the street here - hell walk down the street in certain neighborhoods - if you have brown skin.