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Damn, the United States, yet again, got out-ranked by every one of the top libertarian countries[0]. [0]: Denmark, Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, an

Damn, the United States, yet again, got out-ranked by every one of the top libertarian countries[0]. [0]: Denmark, Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Iceland (everyone forgets about Iceland!) ... (But seriously... who is this list even for? Why would you possibly care about a Freedom Number™? What does that do for you? This is like those stupid LinkedIn top 100 best companies to work for lists. Its like... you sure did gather up some numbers and do something with them... but why?)

pinephoneguy 5y ago
As someone who was hardly threatened over the vaccines after the president who’s party had control of the legislator did everything they could to force it on everyone I think the US’ position is wrong.
geofft 5y ago
I'm genuinely curious - this is the first I've heard of those countries being referred to as "libertarian." What makes them libertarian? Among other things, they all have substantial taxes (in the 25-40% of take-home income range) and use it to fund substantial civic infrastructure / state-run welfare. My understanding is that libertarianism is generally sympathetic to the position that taxation is theft, and libertarianism is incompatible with large governments and large social safety nets. But it seems like I'm missing something. (I usually see these countries being described as social-democratic - is that incorrect?)
- bestcoder69 5y ago
  I'm joking about how - Nordic countries nearly always beat all other countries in health, happiness, or any similar fundamental, well-being metrics. - This libertarian think tank, to a degree, is just making stuff up, and somehow the Nordics win here, as well. - People seem to love to claim those countries are Not Socialist for really superficial reasons, or by playing pointless games with categorization.
  - geofft 5y ago
    Oh I totally missed that this was from Cato, got it :)

pinephoneguy 5y ago

As someone who was hardly threatened over the vaccines after the president who’s party had control of the legislator did everything they could to force it on everyone I think the US’ position is wrong.

geofft 5y ago

I'm genuinely curious - this is the first I've heard of those countries being referred to as "libertarian." What makes them libertarian? Among other things, they all have substantial taxes (in the 25-40% of take-home income range) and use it to fund substantial civic infrastructure / state-run welfare. My understanding is that libertarianism is generally sympathetic to the position that taxation is theft, and libertarianism is incompatible with large governments and large social safety nets. But it seems like I'm missing something. (I usually see these countries being described as social-democratic - is that incorrect?)

bestcoder69 5y ago
I'm joking about how - Nordic countries nearly always beat all other countries in health, happiness, or any similar fundamental, well-being metrics. - This libertarian think tank, to a degree, is just making stuff up, and somehow the Nordics win here, as well. - People seem to love to claim those countries are Not Socialist for really superficial reasons, or by playing pointless games with categorization.
- geofft 5y ago
  Oh I totally missed that this was from Cato, got it :)