LtE Graveyard

There is an ever-growing collection of corpses in my inbox. So I will start posting unaccepted letters to editors a couple weeks after submitting and hearing nothing back. Feel free to leave comments on the content of the letter, as well as how I might make them more interesting for editors.

Here is the first of many:

Timothy Ash correctly notes the importance of economic freedom in addition to political freedom ("Forget us versus them", July 3). However, to state that the world, overall, is less free today than in the past is simply erroneous.

The Fraser Institute's annual Economic Freedom of the World report reveals that most places are much freer today. According to the executive summary, the average score increased from 5.4 (out of 10) in 1980 to 6.6 in 2005.

Likewise, Freedom House's annual Freedom in the World study indicates that political rights and civil liberties have extended over the same period.

Travesties like Zimbabwe at present have become the exception and not the rule. Historically, rigging an election or slaughtering your political competition was commonplace. It is only in the current era of freedom that such acts are deemed appalling.

So let's forget us versus them, as Ash recommends. But don't forget the facts: we enjoy more liberty today than ever before.