About
Sorting Hat's mission is to measure and report the health of our nation using different metrics.
Our primary metric applies the classification standard defined in Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.
Acemoglu and Robinson define, based on research of failed nations, the standard of whether societies are either Inclusive or Extractive among their economic and political institutions, given proven, strong synergy between economic and political institutions.
Of the four different combinations, only one maintains a healthy nation: Inclusive Economic AND Political institutions.
Inclusive Economic BUT Extractive Political institutions, or vice versa, are simply the two general paths and speeds nations take on their way to Extractive Economic AND Political institutions, ultimately leading to failed nations.
This metric is updated daily.
Our secondary metric is the Civilization Sequence attributed to Professor Alexander Tyler, a Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian who was a Professor of Universal History and Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh.
He stated the average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back into bondage.
This metric is updated yearly (Jan. 1).
Our tertiary metric measures the financial stages of sovereign states, based on the five stages of sovereigns as presented in the 2012 Zero Hedge article titled "The Five Stages Of A Sovereign's Life-Cycle," by Bridgewater's Ray Dalio. The scale and definitions in that article are replicated in the coding of related articles.
This metric is updated yearly (Jan. 1).
Our fourth metric is Degradation of Bill of Rights. Any article documenting any attack to any individual or State's Bill of Rights is coded appropriately. While this measurement by definition fails to capture reinforcement of the respective rights, what is important is the negative trend over time.
In other words, are attacks on our individual or State's Bill of Rights increasing or decreasing over time?
This metric is updated yearly (Jan. 1).
Our last, but not least, metric is 8 Steps to Communism. Any article documenting application of one of the eight levels of controls defined by Saul Alinsky in the book Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals, is coded. The book provides a roadmap to transform a nation THROUGH socialism INTO communism: healthcare, poverty, debt, gun control, welfare, education, religion and class warfare.
This metric is updated daily.
These metrics are designed to inform readers of the health of our nation through different paradigms. Coding articles is not our opinion, it is the application of models and standards to publicly available news articles published in the last 11-plus years.
Our database currently houses more than 400,000 news articles, with an average of 100 articles collected daily.
Our primary metric applies the classification standard defined in Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.
Acemoglu and Robinson define, based on research of failed nations, the standard of whether societies are either Inclusive or Extractive among their economic and political institutions, given proven, strong synergy between economic and political institutions.
Of the four different combinations, only one maintains a healthy nation: Inclusive Economic AND Political institutions.
Inclusive Economic BUT Extractive Political institutions, or vice versa, are simply the two general paths and speeds nations take on their way to Extractive Economic AND Political institutions, ultimately leading to failed nations.
This metric is updated daily.
Our secondary metric is the Civilization Sequence attributed to Professor Alexander Tyler, a Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian who was a Professor of Universal History and Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh.
He stated the average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back into bondage.
This metric is updated yearly (Jan. 1).
Our tertiary metric measures the financial stages of sovereign states, based on the five stages of sovereigns as presented in the 2012 Zero Hedge article titled "The Five Stages Of A Sovereign's Life-Cycle," by Bridgewater's Ray Dalio. The scale and definitions in that article are replicated in the coding of related articles.
This metric is updated yearly (Jan. 1).
Our fourth metric is Degradation of Bill of Rights. Any article documenting any attack to any individual or State's Bill of Rights is coded appropriately. While this measurement by definition fails to capture reinforcement of the respective rights, what is important is the negative trend over time.
In other words, are attacks on our individual or State's Bill of Rights increasing or decreasing over time?
This metric is updated yearly (Jan. 1).
Our last, but not least, metric is 8 Steps to Communism. Any article documenting application of one of the eight levels of controls defined by Saul Alinsky in the book Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals, is coded. The book provides a roadmap to transform a nation THROUGH socialism INTO communism: healthcare, poverty, debt, gun control, welfare, education, religion and class warfare.
This metric is updated daily.
These metrics are designed to inform readers of the health of our nation through different paradigms. Coding articles is not our opinion, it is the application of models and standards to publicly available news articles published in the last 11-plus years.
Our database currently houses more than 400,000 news articles, with an average of 100 articles collected daily.
