John Stossel is glad that our nation includes some states boasting high tax rates and onerous regulations. Why? They serve as examples for other states … examples of what not to do. Stossel explains his reasoning in his latest column posted at Human Events.

When the USSR died, overthrown by its own citizens’ hatred of central planning, I assumed the world would acknowledge that big government is a nightmare. But people don’t. Our brains are programmed to believe that “next time, central planning will help.” So, many people forget the lesson of the USSR.

Fortunately, they can still watch what’s happening right now in California, Illinois and Connecticut. OK, those states are not totalitarian dictatorships, but they tax and micromanage so much that they will soon approach bankruptcy, cut services and stagnate.

And Americans have an advantage Soviet citizens never had: 50 states. If we live in a big-government state, we can move. I did.

I grew up in Illinois. It was nice enough (except in winter). But gradually its politicians gave away its future.

I moved to New York City, no political paradise, but where the big TV news jobs are. And maybe New York’s promises to unions won’t bankrupt us too soon.

I could always move again. I would still be smothered by federal rules, but at least I can move to a place with fewer onerous state rules.

A group called the Free State Project invites us to move to New Hampshire to help create “liberty in our lifetime.” It’s too early to see how that will work out, but that state now has a booming population of libertarians and anarchists. One even got elected to the state legislature after running against his own roommate, also a libertarian, whom he accused of not being anti-government enough.