Texas’ Republican leadership frequently paints itself as a champion of a hands-off leadership approach that prizes personal freedoms and a libertarian mindset.
However, a report published last week by the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank co-founded by billionaire businessman and conservative political donor Charles Koch, ranks Texas at the bottom of U.S. states when it comes to upholding personal freedoms.
Cato’s annual analysis ranks states using metrics in two categories: economic freedom and personal freedom. Those then combine for each state’s “Overall Freedom Score.” Although Texas ranked No. 17 overall, that mainly due to its laissez faire economic policies.
When it came to personal freedoms, Texas didn’t just rank last, it actually slid down one spot from the prior report. What’s more, many of its demerits came at the hands of GOP lawmakers and elected officials who trumpet the state’s freedoms.
For example, Texas ranked in the bottom half when it came to marriage freedom (No. 44), asset forfeiture (No. 42) and gambling (No. 39).
It also came in at No. 43 on incarceration and arrests. Perhaps that come as no surprise, since Texas locks up 840 citizens per 100,000 residents. That’s more people imprisoned per capita than in any other democracy in the world, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
Despite those incarceration levels, Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders continue to propose policies designed to get tough on crime by imposing harsher penalties.
The Lone Star State isn’t too fond of stoners, either, Cato notes. Texas ranked dead last when it came to freedoms for cannabis users, and multiple efforts to move toward decriminalization have died in the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature.
Further, Cato ranked Texas also at No. 50 for Travel Freedoms, a category that includes seat belt laws, helmet laws and toll roads.
On the bright side, Texans did have above-average personal freedoms when it came to guns, tobacco, and alcohol. The state also was ranked the freest state when it came to donating large sums of cash to political campaigns.
Also noteworthy, the Cato Institute doesn’t include reproductive freedoms in its study. (See the mention earlier about the group being bankrolled by conservative donor Charles Koch.)
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This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 12, 2023.
