TheAgitator.com
City of Broad Strictures
Saturday, June 28th, 2008So I have the cover story in the August/September issue of reason (we do one double issue each year). It’s a fun piece that ranks the 35 most populous cities in the country on how restrictive their laws and regulations are when it comes to individual freedom.
Chicago came in last of the 35 cities, by a pretty significant margin. So I have an op-ed in this Sunday’s Chicago Tribune about why Chicago fared so poorly.
You can read the op-ed online here. It just went up this morning, and has already generated a fun string of comments.
Intersting reactions- this response says it best:
The more dense cities get, the more rules that are needed to force, yes force, people to live together peacefully. Many people living in cities today grew up in the ‘burbs where they were pretty much spoiled rotten. Uncouth, loud, self-centered, demanding, no sense of community, in other words, typical Americans. They graduate from college and rush here, hormones all a quiver, lots of beer money, thinking they can do anything they want without realizing everything they do affects other people.
The bright side of the housing bubble bursting may be that these people settle down, now that they can’t use their condos as stepping stones any more, and start acting like good neighbors. Golden rule, people!
Oh, the comments. I don’t understand the disconnect people have. They are all for these restrictions, because they agree with them. What happens when the next law, that restricts something they like to do, passes? Surely they can’t complain. It’s like the old adage… when they come for me, there will be no one left to ask for help.
You really ruffled some feathers over there Radley. Reason really is a conservative rag (I keed, I keed).
My favorite comments pointed out that the same paper that published your piece was just the day before advocating that the 2nd amendment be repealed (I’m only assuming this is true- I didn’t read said editorial). I can at least give them props for presenting differing viewpoints.
The sad thing is that I really love visiting Chicago. Great food, sports (go Bears and Cubs!), and many other things. But like any major city, I could never live there, largely because of the type of nonsense that you point out in your article. As a visitor I can spend a long weekend and enjoy all of the good things, and I don’t have to deal with the day to day nonsense that goes along with 3 million people living on top of each other and telling each other how to live.
Wow, I read some of those comments and I think…. The Matrix. They have no concept of ideas, thoughts, or life outside of what they get through their feeding tubes.
Scarier still is that even after being shown a glimpse.. these people still want cradle to grave nannyism.
I liked the one dude: “those low-info enough to smoke…” Whew, I thought some of the Heller-related reader comments were elitist…
Great article, Radley. As a Chicagoan, I really hope comments like “I will gladly release some of my personal freedoms to drink, smoke and shoot my handgun for the quality of life I currently enjoy in Chicago” don’t represent the majority of my neighbors.
As a Chicagoan, I’m proud to have my assessment of my hometown’s (lack of) respect for liberty validated by an outside source. But I want to give you grief for the narrow range of “individual liberty” you chose to examine. What about taxes? Business regulation? Zoning? Corruption? Government spending? In each of these areas, Chicago launches a daily assualt on individual liberty. If anything, your survey underestimates Chicago’s busybodyism.
Not surprised that Vegas is freest.
Building codes for doghouses? WTF?
I agree with Kevin – the metric does seem a bit incomplete. Zoning and parking laws are some of the most important in a city, and I’d like to see an index that takes them into account. (And one that isn’t fooled by places like Houston which in theory lack zoning regulations, but in reality use other types of regulation to effectuate the same outcome.)
I realize there’s no one uniform measure of freedom, so this is just Reason’s version of AFI’s 100 best films, but I’ve got to ask, was Phoenix on the list? If your methodology didn’t assign a big negative score for “Joe Arpaio is the sheriff” then I question its validity.
Scary comments over there. It just goes to show how little your standard big city liberal cares for freedom as long as they’re the ones winning the culture war.
I didn’t realize kung-fu movies were a scourge. Has anyone informed Congress?
A fine article, Radley. Irritating paternalism can morph into heavy-handed authoritarianism in a short period of time (Exhibit A: The Drug War). Some of my neighbors to the north have yet to appreciate this historical truth. As a “Downstater” I have often thought of Chicago as something akin to a big theme park. Go and have fun for a day or two, then go home when you’ve had enough (of the traffic, the condescending attitudes, etc.). My brother, who is less diplomatic than I, has compared Chicago to a high-class prositute. You can visit and do anything you want (except smoke), as long as you are willing to pay a shit ton of money for it.
Loved the comment calling this “neocon propaganda.”
I just got back from Chicago last night. People always ask me what I love about the city. My answer is always: corruption. Screw the art, culture and music – it’s the corruption baby!
The aldermen are all paid fat salaries and do nothing but piss on their constituents all day. They try to keep jobs out of their wards by bemoaning anything with a large footprint or square footage. They get busy greasing the wheels of contractors and unions. Some are probably in deep with the mob.
They erect these stupid cameras at intersections with flashing blue lights that make me feel no more or less secure since if I’m going to be attacked, they still can’t do anything proactive about it. With all the construction on the “El”, the public transportation system is slow with huge swaths of track incapable of supporting high speeds. The amount of regulation and busy work to do business in the city is only bested by a few African nations.
Then you have a mayor whose fat face graces the cover of the paper far too often. Most recently it was yammering on about how bad the recent court decision of the 2nd Amendment is – despite the ruling generally supporting the Constitution.
I was at the Taste of Chicago and there was a stupid “vote” machine set up to register support for Chicago being host to the Olympics. I turned to the lady and asked here where the “no” button was. She didn’t seem to amused.
Living in Omaha, we don’t have a lot of corruption. But it is always cool to go to Chicago and just be a part-time observer in the beast that is the Chicago government.
Is there someplace I can look up how New York fared on this chart?