While I agree with your similar standard of living statement, I'm not sure that I could name a country that is "substantially more free" with a comparable stand

While I agree with your similar standard of living statement, I'm not sure that I could name a country that is "substantially more free" with a comparable standard of living. We may have differing definitions of free, but things like relatively unrestricted free speech, minmal taxation, gun rights, etc are all very important and many countries just don't have them in the same degree as we do here. They may have similar, or in many cases higher, standards of living, but I don't think you can make the argument that they're "more free." Not that America is really all that free anymore either....