The Freedom House has ranked nations as ‘Free,’ ‘Partly Free,’ and ‘Not Free’ according to their measure of political freedom and civil liberty. They are nonprofit and nonpartisan, but the Wikipedia article does note that there is a steady coming-and-going of U.S. government officials within their organization. What do you think?
Here are their 2006 lists. Any surprises?
Free
Andorra, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus (Greek), Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Serbia, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu.
Partly Free
Albania, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Djibouti, East Timor, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, The, Georgia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Tonga, Turkey, Uganda, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia.
Not Free
Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, China, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Cote d’Ivorie, Cuba, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Libya, Maldives, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.
Oh, yeah. Here’s what they say about the United States.