Increasing International Freedom?

Survey Shows Freedom Up in 25 Countries

Political and personal freedom increased in 25 countries in 2003, including Argentina, Burundi, Kenya and Yemen, according to an annual survey of democracy and civil liberties released Thursday.

The survey by Freedom House ranked 192 countries and 18 territories based on factors including free elections and media independence, designating each sovereign state "free," "partly free" or "not free."

Freedom House currently lists the United States as 1,1,F: the highest rankings for political rights and civil liberties, resulting in a score of "Free." This terminology is described as:

Since 1972, Freedom House has published an annual assessment of state state of freedom by assigning each country and territory the status of "Free," "Partly Free," or "Not Free" by averaging their political rights and civil liberties ratings. Those whose ratings average 1-2.5 are generally considered "Free," 3-5.5 "Partly Free," and 5.5-7 "Not Free." The dividing line between "Partly Free" and "Not Free" usually falls within the group whose ratings numbers average 5.5. For example, countries that receive a rating of 6 for political rights and 5 for civil liberties, or a 5 for political rights and a 6 for civil liberties, could be either "Partly Free" or "Not Free." The total number of raw points is the definitive factor which determines the final status. Countries and territories with combined raw scores of 0-30 points are "Not Free," 31-59 points are "Partly Free," and 60-88 are "Free."

For reference: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, and Iceland all have perfect freedom scores.

Back to the article:

The survey also found that liberties were curtailed in 13 countries, including the Central African Republic, Mauritania and Azerbaijan.

The survey designated 46 percent of the world's countries "free" in 2003, compared with 29 percent 30 years ago, when Freedom House first started conducting the surveys. One-quarter of the surveyed nations were designated "not free," compared with 43 percent in 1973.

Things are getting better.

But I would be far more strict on my gradings and I'd be damn certain to include economic freedom in my rankings. Economic liberty is inseperable from personal liberty and I'd argue they are essentially synonymous. The US and other secular, mixed-economy Western nations are considerably more free than the rest of the world, but there is a lot of work to do to get them to the point where I'd confidently label them "free."

A government is not free when it tells people they can't ingest recreational drugs. A state is not free when it taxes people under threat of punishment in order to provide for others. Society is not free when firearm possession is regulated. A country is not free when people are prohibited from practicing medicine without a license. People are not free when it's a crime to tamper with mandated emissions equipment on vehicles. Humans are not free when others tell us where we can smoke. We are not at all free if a nation dictates how to conduct our business and our personal lives, regardless how that dictate is arrived at and decided upon.

I take a more serious approach to freedom, which is why I find it sadly laughable when children protest, "but it's a free country" when they get busted for doing something. Folks, it's better than other places, but America ain't free.

Posted by Drizzten at December 18, 2003 10:09 AM