Least free societies ever

[Travis Retriever]

The freest seem to be:
The internet, the 20 year following the Civil War in 19th century America.

But what were/are the least free?

[MrBogosity]

Nazi Germany was pretty damned unfree...

[Travis Retriever]

Ironically that wasn't one I thought off.
I thought of:  The old USSR, the Christian Dark ages and the Puritan Settlements.

I take it that, despite what many leftists say, Nazi Germany was not even remotely economically free...

[MrBogosity]

No, it was fascism through and through.

[Gumba Masta]

With a bureaucracy producing a large enough papertrail to bury the rocky mountains three time over and have enough left to hang the Nazi big shots that didn't have the papal connections to flee to argentine.

[Travis Retriever]

With a bureaucracy producing a large enough papertrail to bury the rocky mountains three time over and have enough left to hang the Nazi big shots that didn't have the papal connections to flee to argentine.

True dat.

[AHPMB]

I think North Korea must definitely be in the running for least free society ever.  They're completely cut off from the internet, or any form of outside communication, their outlets for entertainment are completely devoted to praising the dear leader, they live in a militarized police state where they are constantly told they are about to be invaded, and the secret police are constantly watching to ensure they are properly worshiping the Kims.  It's the worst aspects of a Communist dictatorship and theocracy mixed together into a slurry of evil.

[MrBogosity]

Whereas South Korea is a much freer economy, and thanks to having a mostly-free economy for 30+ years (slipping since the '90s), are a very high-income nation. This picture of the light pollution at night I think tells all--North Korea is like a black hole:

[Virgil0211]

Whereas South Korea is a much freer economy, and thanks to having a mostly-free economy for 30+ years (slipping since the '90s), are a very high-income nation. This picture of the light pollution at night I think tells all--North Korea is like a black hole:

You know, part of me wants to place odds on that big bright dot in the center of north korea being Kim Jong-Il's house. =P

[Gumba Masta]

Either that or the the military base where they keep their pop-gun driven nuclear missiles.
On the other hand, it's a dreamspot for starspotting...in the nights the military police does'nt shoot your for breaking the curfew at least.

[Travis Retriever]

I think North Korea must definitely be in the running for least free society ever.  They're completely cut off from the internet, or any form of outside communication, their outlets for entertainment are completely devoted to praising the dear leader, they live in a militarized police state where they are constantly told they are about to be invaded, and the secret police are constantly watching to ensure they are properly worshiping the Kims.  It's the worst aspects of a Communist dictatorship and theocracy mixed together into a slurry of evil.

I'll definitely consider them a possibility for that title.

Also, what really gets me about them in that, according to the 2010 edition of the Economic Freedom Index, they got a score of 1.0 out of a possible 100.
The kicker?  One rank up is Zimbabwe with a score of 21.4 -- in the double digits!
I've heard folks like TheElmoIsEvil blowing it off as a "right wing think tank" but then how does he explain the USA scoring lower than Canada this year?
In fact, for the first time in my knowledge the USA went from "free" to "mostly free" for the first time in who knows how long?
The proof: http://www.heritage.org/index/Ranking.aspx