In his NRO column today, Deroy Murdock looks at one of the canaries in the coal mine: America’s steadily declining rank in the Index of Economic Freedom.
“Progressives” don’t think this matters, but economic freedom and prosperity rise or fall together. It’s also true that non-economic freedom falls along with economic freedom. The bigger the realm of government authority, the more likely it is that ordinary people will be fined or imprisoned for conduct (or failures to act) that they had no idea would cause them trouble with the law.