Admittedly it was hardly a precisely defined scale Hawk, but if you think the USA or anywhere is even half-way to a Utopia of freedom, you must have a pretty sorry idea of what real freedom could be. Which does not mean freedom to attack, defraud, or otherwise harm other people in any way.
For example, think of property rights and Tradable Citizenship and the usual state of state serfdom we are all born to. We are state chattels not free people, despite much cant to the contrary.
I'd take a 10 if it was available, and so would everyone else. Note that they do NOT break into Zimbabwe from the USA and the fence to stop illegal migration is to stop Mexicans heading north, not Americans heading south. People seek increased freedom when they get a chance, which translates into economic opportunity, which is what people mistake freedom for.
In some ways, it's no doubt more free to be in Zimbabwe. Helengrad's kleptocrats won't be hassling people about wearing crash helmets on bicycles and using only the politically correct light bulbs in Zimbabwe, but in Maslow's hierarchy of freedoms, the freedom to own property is pre-eminent and that doesn't exist in Zimbabwe if the kleptocrat in chief takes a fancy to your goods. China felt quite free too when wandering around the streets, but the surly nasties in Tienanmen Square practising their flying kicks give the lie to any idea of freedom. Even the minor disturbance of fun I created with a visiting bunch of students with their teachers drew the thugs' interested attention. It's fun to test reactions of people, but wise not to do it with a 747 over Sakhalin Island with Russian air force in attendance nor by flying into China's air space with a spy plane. Gary Powers came a cropper over USSR decades ago by testing the breeze and finding it unfavourable.
One measure of freedom here: heritage.org
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