Hochul’s Number One  by Tom Reynolds

The Cato Institute is a libertarian organization that advocates policies that advance "individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace". They typically advocate diminished government intervention in domestic, social, and economic policies and decreased military and political intervention worldwide.

The Cato Institute’s 2026 “Freedom in the 50 States” list ranks U S states on their support for and protection of both economic freedom and personal freedom across a wide range of issues. 

New York state ranked 49th in the nation for overall freedoms*.  (Remind me, how many states are there?)

Cato also graded governors on how well or poorly they have advanced both economic and personal liberty in their states

In spite being held back by New York State only being rated 49th, Kathy Hochul was able to overcome that disadvantage; Hochul was ranked the worst state leader in the US for protecting constituents’ freedoms at number 50.*

Hochul’s office brushed off the Cato study, disputing its “ideas of freedom.”

Of the top 15 governors, 13 are Republicans while Democrats dominated the worst lists of both states and governors.

Cato is an unapologetically Libertarian organization.  Historically, Republicans are labelled Conservatives while Democrats are labelled Liberals.

Internationally, Cato’s Human Freedom Index (HFI) is a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint. This annual index uses 87 distinct indicators of personal & economic freedom and represents 98 percent of the world’s population, which covers 165 jurisdictions.  (The most recent year for which sufficient data are available is 2023.) The index ranks jurisdictions over a span beginning in 2000.

Of the top 15, the USA ranks 15th and Canada ranks 13th making the highest levels of freedom in North America.  Other high ranked areas are Western Europe, and Oceania.

The other 13 highly ranked are low population countries and only Australia has a large land mass.

The lowest levels on the HFI are in the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

Women-specific freedoms, as measured by five indicators in the index, are strongest in North America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe and are least protected in the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

The next time the U S A or western civilization are criticized by the left, just tell them to: go to Cato.”

* Results and Summary | Cato Institute

**Human Freedom Index 2025 | Cato Institute