The Edison method serves me well in life. It worked to stop smoking. It worked for other commitments. The Edison method is to simply announce what you will do let your integrity and shame avoidance drive you to accomplish the goal. Thomas Edison used the process when he announced what he was to invent in the future. With that in my mind, the name of this collection will change to “A Ranking of Counties”. This will become an aggregate of data and analysis regarding numerous counties in the United States.
One may recognize an allusion to “A Ranking of States” by H. L. Mencken. Mencken’s ranking of states was a legendary work which still remains readable and informative in the present day. The ranking of counties will have a similar aim albeit with a slightly different focus. The mission is this case is to function as a resource for trans-generational migration. Trans-generational migration means relocation for the betterment of one’s children and to help ensure future generations survivability through geographic location selection which best supports the continuance of the family line.
The analysis on where to place one’s future descendants will lead to some uncomfortable realities. Economics is called the dismal science after all. For example, the early death rates in almost every Kentucky county skyrocketed at the same time. What relationship might explain things like that? Those kinds of questions will be answered with data, hypothesis tests, probabilities, charts, and historical context.
A name will be introduced for the set of states containing the counties which will be analyzed. The name is the Liberal n where n is the number of states selected. In similar fashion to the G7 or G8 in the global environment, the Liberal 7 or Liberal 8 will refer to the states in this environment. The final number may not be 7 or 8, that is for example. There will also be a plus two, which consists of North Dakota and Kentucky. The analysis by county will consist of everything from employment and housing features to suicide probabilities and local colleges. The ranking is not the same as those rankings one sees about the best colleges or best town, but about the best place to plant descendants. Some of the data types that will likely be included will include sample data related to work and life conditions as reported by people in those counties. Readers may suggest counties of interest and I may review those counties at some point. Countering confirmation bias is an important task in any endeavor, so counties outside of the Liberal n may be studied for comparison.
Economics is the study of how humans allocate resources. In olden times the field was called political economy. The terms were split into politics and economics by university wanting to distinguish classes between trade oriented and government operations. The Bible contains numerous sections related to decision making around resources. Some articles in this collection may relate to prophecy and events because the events affect the economics of individuals. This work is about the making of decisions and not about the idolatry of wealth or politicians. It is impossible to separate morality, amorality, and immortality from decision making about resources. Therefore the work assumes a moral dimension. Some articles may analyze the the views promulgated by others because such views often play a role in individual decision making.
The next step in the ranking of counties will be the official identification of the liberal states for purposes of the project.