What's the Matter With Chicago?

and Seattle and New York and Boston...?

July 9, 2008

(Page 13 of 15)

They like their bourbon in Kentucky, where excise taxes on alcohol are among the lowest in the United States. Kentucky is also tobacco country, so cigarette taxes are minuscule too. Still, Louisville has succumbed to the smoking ban fad, preventing its tobacco ranking from rising higher. Louisville is tops in gun freedom, and the town’s love of horse racing (and the wagering that goes with it) vaults Derby City to a surprisingly strong fourth place overall—just out of the money.

—R.B.

Sex: 25 Tobacco: 6 Alcohol: 1 Guns: 1

Movement: 7 Drugs: 31 Gambling: 12 Food/Other: 14

3) DENVER

Often the relevant question isn’t where you are but where you’re headed. And Denver, alas, is moving in the same godforsaken direction as the rest of the country. Safety, economic and social “justice,” the children, the environment, the pets (unless we’re talking about pit bulls, a breed banned from city limits)—all of them trump individual freedom.

Even when Denver technically becomes freer, we lose. In recent years Denver citizens have passed two ballot initiatives liberalizing marijuana laws, one legalizing small amounts of pot and another declaring possession the city’s lowest law enforcement priority. Yet the authorities ignore these initiatives, continuing to prosecute pot smokers under state and federal law.

Denver already adheres to a strict statewide smoking ban prohibiting smoking in all restaurants. This isn’t enough for state lawmakers, who have been eyeing cigar bars and casinos as well. Stifling economic controls and zoning laws make it an ordeal to start and operate any small business. Local campaign finance laws are already so restrictive that even a modest neighborhood organization must register with the government or be sued. Noise ordinances give police free rein to pull over motorcyclists. As an environmentally conscious yet arid city, Denver tightly controls water use, but also requires you to keep your lawn in tiptop shape if you want to avoid a fine.

In the suburbs, schools have been banning such perilous activities as mixed-gender hugging and schoolyard tag. Local governments are considering legislation to regulate house sizes and help fund a “hate hotline” so those with finely tuned awareness can snitch on neighbors should a tasteless joke slip from their mouths.

Denver is one of the freest cities in the country? That’s dreadful news for the rest of you suckers.

–David Harsanyi

Sex: 17 Tobacco: 15 Alcohol: 6 Guns: 20

Movement: 5 Drugs: 6 Gambling: 11 Food/Other: 1

2) MIAMI

If your love of liberty is greater than your distaste for loud noise (and clothes), Miami gets the red state/blue state thing just about right. Miami melds Florida’s conservative guns ’n’ smokes freedom with the licentiousness you might expect from a cosmopolitan port uniting North and South American culture. Miami finished in the top half of every major category in our survey except drugs—and that’s less a matter of the city’s own approach to the drug war than of draconian state laws and a heavy federal presence. Miami is gay-friendly and sex-friendly, leading the nation in strip clubs per capita. The Florida legislature is hands-off when it comes to tobacco and food regulation, and it has forbidden local governments from installing traffic cameras.

Comments

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Sally O'Boyle|9.10.10 @ 12:41AM|#

Would love an update on this article! We just moved back to the states from Costa Rica (because it's so frickin' expensive there) and are lookin' for liberty. In KY to start, then thinking of TX... Great article!

Sally

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