We're #47!

The "researchers" are at it again. The 2005 Quinto polls on the best and worst states rank Tennessee near the bottom in several categories. We rank 47th Most Liveable and 41st Smartest. Other recent polls show Tennessee 48th Healthiest and with a C+ ranking in Government Performance.

With all this gloom and doom, people should be leaving the state in droves. Yet, how can this be? Tennessee ranks 14th in population growth! Are these people crazy?

Well, let's look into the criteria and who ranks where in these polls. Included in the criteria are things such as Percent of Nonfarm Employees in Government, Books in Public Libraries Per Capita, and Per Capita State Art Agencies’ Legislative Appropriations, as well as some other rather non-specific categories.

The funniest thing is to note is the states at the top and bottom of these polls. No matter what the subject is, Tennessee, Florida and Texas always are near the bottom. Maine, New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin are always near the top. Apparently, the more liberal and the more taxed the state, the better they rank.

Except for the population growth poll... Interestingly, most of the states at the bottom of the other polls rank the highest in this poll. Conversely, all of those liberal states are showing the least population growth. If it's so great to live in all of these high-tax states, why are all of the people moving to the low-tax (but in the minds of the researchers) low-everything else states? Or maybe these states aren't as bad as advertised, and people want to actually (gasp!) pay less taxes and have less governmental intervention?!?

I'm just glad we rank 47th in this ranking...