Mitt: Defend Your State!

Massachusetts is the greatest state in the country. I realize that some people might dispute that, and there's no need to get into it here; but surely it is among the most desirable places to live. From the best-educated children to the lowest divorce rates to the most Dunkin Donuts per capita, the Bay State rules.

And even if you personally don't find Massachusetts appealing, the free market certainly suggests that it's in the top five: only New Jersey, California, and Hawaii have a higher median monthly homeowner cost. If you're a free market believer, that surely says something about the relative value a quarter-billion or so Americans place on living in Massachusetts, relative to, say, Texas.

Rick Perry, Texas governor and Presidential candidate, absolutely believes in the free market -- and specifically believes in the power of the American people to vote with their feet. In fact, that's the central argument of his recent book, Fed Up.

Perry argues that the way America should work is that individual states do their own thing, making their own laws based on how they think society should be -- and then people will move to live in states with like-minded people passing laws they agree with, and everybody will be happy.

Putt