Who's Your Daddy? Chicago

By Prescott Carlson in News on Jun 28, 2008 1:58PM

Anyone that's been following Chicago's various bans and taxes won't be surprised that a new study has named Chicago the most paternalistic big city in the country.

Libertarian magazine Reason took a look at the United States' 35 largest cities and ranked them based on a balance of individual freedoms vs. government intervention. The criteria was "how much freedom they afford their residents to indulge in alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, gambling and food." They also considered traffic and gun laws, and "weird" laws like our own bottled water tax. And in their opinion, Chicago landed at the bottom of the list -- by a wide margin.

Chicago reigns supreme when it comes to treating its citizens like children (Las Vegas topped our rankings as America's freest city). Chicagoans pay the second-highest cigarette tax in the country, and the sixth-highest tax on alcohol. Chicago has more traffic-light cameras than any city in America (despite studies questioning their effectiveness), restricts cell phone use while driving, and it's quickly moving toward a creepy public surveillance system similar to London's.

Chicago isn't alone, of course. Many of America's big cities are moving toward a suffocating sort of paternalism. Chicago's just the worst.