Free State Project nears 20,000 signers, setting stage for libertarian influx

[jct74]

New Hampshire's Free State Project Eschews Presidential Primaries While Changing State Politics

Anthony L. Fisher
Feb. 9, 2016 11:34 am

This past weekend, a group of about 100 members of the Free State Project (FSP) gathered for one of their regular meetings in Manchester, New Hampshire. But this particular confab was different, because it was held just days after FSP hit its more-than-a-decade-in-the-making target to get 20,000 liberty-inclined citizens to pledge to move to New Hampshire in the hopes of creating a significant political force in the Live Free or Die State. While over 2,000 Free Staters have already moved to New Hampshire, the rest of the signers will begin migrating over the next few years.

As Brian Doherty noted after the milestone was reached last week, FSP already has a long list of accomplishments in the state, including "getting 15 of their brethren in the state House, challenging anti-ridehail laws, fighting in court for outre religious liberty, winning legal battles over taping cops, being mocked by Colbert for heroically paying off people's parking meters, hosting cool anything goes festivals for libertarians, nullifying pot juries, and inducing occasional pants-wetting absurd paranoia in local statists."

Though the first-in-the-nation presidential primaries were just days away and hundreds of journalists had been hovering for weeks around the mostly quiet northern New England communities, few of the Free Staters I spoke with had a preferred presidential candidate, if they even were interested in voting at all.

One Free Stater who moved from Dallas in 2009, Rep. Amanda Bouldin, is now a state legislator (and a registered Democrat to boot), representing 3,300 people in the Manchester area. She says she's voting for Vermin Supreme, the black boot-headed performance artist who is also a presidential candidate on the Democratic ballot.

Like most of the Free Staters we spoke with, Bouldin is disinterested in the dog-and-pony show of the presidential pageant, but as legislator, she's not at all cynical about the political process. She was one of the driving forces behind a bill that made Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of a heroin overdose, legally available to anyone with a prescription. Previously, Narcan was only available to EMTs and police officers in New Hampshire.

...

read more:
http://reason.com/blog/2016/02/09/new-hampshire-free-staters-presidential

 

[osan]

read more:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/...-signers-setting-stage-for-libertarian-influx

Well, I hope they succeed, but I remain doubtful. I was one of the early signers and life has taken its turns since that day. I am vested in my life in WV and will not be moving to NH, a bastion of liberalism.
R fif
I would also point out that the liberal flakes in NH appear to hate the free-staters with some venom. Given this, 20k people will have quite the uphill battle, and likely for a very long time in an environment of strident liberalism that will do everything to stop them. I would further point out the significant likelihood that the status of America will be settled long before and by means very different from that envisioned by these well intending sorts. I doubt that we will have twenty or fifty years to correct that which needs correction.

The likelihood I see is that FSP is too little, WAY too late. Hope I am mistaken.

 

[brandon]

Yeah... I signed this pledge 9 years ago when I was a young guy not tied down anywhere. Now I'm married and own a house - no chance I can still go to NH (Or even really want to) at this point. I wonder how many of the 20k signatures are in the same place as me.

 

[NoOneButPaul]

Well, I hope they succeed, but I remain doubtful. I was one of the early signers and life has taken its turns since that day. I am vested in my life in WV and will not be moving to NH, a bastion of liberalism.
R fif
I would also point out that the liberal flakes in NH appear to hate the free-staters with some venom. Given this, 20k people will have quite the uphill battle, and likely for a very long time in an environment of strident liberalism that will do everything to stop them. I would further point out the significant likelihood that the status of America will be settled long before and by means very different from that envisioned by these well intending sorts. I doubt that we will have twenty or fifty years to correct that which needs correction.

The likelihood I see is that FSP is too little, WAY too late. Hope I am mistaken.

Like I said on the other page I love my job and Denver. If the FSP wants to get me a job making at least 36k a year and a place to move into right away I suppose i'd consider it but the bottom line is many of us signed this when we were young (I was 22) and the idea we're all going to uproot now is absurd. I'm glad they hit 20k but knowing i'm one of those people, and many others in the same position are as well, tells me this wont amount to much.

I also feel like as awesome as New Hampshire is Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming would have made the better pick for this idea. The FSP has been doing nothing but fighting the socialists there since they emerged. There's a lot more space in the Northwest and not very many people...

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Well, I hope they succeed, but I remain doubtful. I was one of the early signers and life has taken its turns since that day. I am vested in my life in WV and will not be moving to NH, a bastion of liberalism.
R fif
I would also point out that the liberal flakes in NH appear to hate the free-staters with some venom. Given this, 20k people will have quite the uphill battle, and likely for a very long time in an environment of strident liberalism that will do everything to stop them. I would further point out the significant likelihood that the status of America will be settled long before and by means very different from that envisioned by these well intending sorts. I doubt that we will have twenty or fifty years to correct that which needs correction.

The likelihood I see is that FSP is too little, WAY too late. Hope I am mistaken.

Currently seccession seems unlikely but if the federal government goes bankrupt or the dollar collapses and state governments become more prominent it certainly seems possible Libertarianism could be positioned to thrive in New Hampshire. Especially if it's inhabited by an extra 8-10k liberty activists.

 

[Thor]

Like I said on the other page I love my job and Denver. If the FSP wants to get me a job making at least 36k a year and a place to move into right away I suppose i'd consider it but the bottom line is many of us signed this when we were young (I was 22) and the idea we're all going to uproot now is absurd. I'm glad they hit 20k but knowing i'm one of those people, and many others in the same position are as well, tells me this wont amount to much.

I also feel like as awesome as New Hampshire is Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming would have made the better pick for this idea. The FSP has been doing nothing but fighting the socialists there since they emerged. There's a lot more space in the Northwest and not very many people...

Well, I hope they succeed, but I remain doubtful. I was one of the early signers and life has taken its turns since that day. I am vested in my life in WV and will not be moving to NH, a bastion of liberalism.
R fif
I would also point out that the liberal flakes in NH appear to hate the free-staters with some venom. Given this, 20k people will have quite the uphill battle, and likely for a very long time in an environment of strident liberalism that will do everything to stop them. I would further point out the significant likelihood that the status of America will be settled long before and by means very different from that envisioned by these well intending sorts. I doubt that we will have twenty or fifty years to correct that which needs correction.

The likelihood I see is that FSP is too little, WAY too late. Hope I am mistaken.

I always thought... Wyoming for the win...

 

[Uriel999]

I signed to join the FSP I guess now 8 years ago...I am finally moving to NH probably next month...and the FSP has nothing to do with it....lol, life and stuff....

 

[osan]

Currently seccession seems unlikely but if the federal government goes bankrupt or the dollar collapses and state governments become more prominent it certainly seems possible Libertarianism could be positioned to thrive in New Hampshire. Especially if it's inhabited by an extra 8-10k liberty activists.

NH has almost 1.4 million people in it. 10K activists are not going to do squat.

If the dollar collapses, we will either retreat into feudalism or the vast hordes of liberals will be so shit-scared that they will jump to virtually any order issued by government in exchange for food. I hold little doubt that, given the choice of getting on board with the agenda or remaining impassive, they would take up arms and kill every free-stater without hesitation when ordered. The average man has no sand.

I maintain that nary an American is even remotely aware of just how precarious is our position in the scheme of political things.

 

[Uriel999]

NH has almost 1.4 million people in it. 10K activists are not going to do squat.

If the dollar collapses, we will either retreat into feudalism or the vast hordes of liberals will be so shit-scared that they will jump to virtually any order issued by government in exchange for food. I hold little doubt that, given the choice of getting on board with the agenda or remaining impassive, they would take up arms and kill every free-stater without hesitation when ordered. The average man has no sand.

I maintain that nary an American is even remotely aware of just how precarious is our position in the scheme of political things.

There is a problem with that line of thought though...the liberals don't have guns, and even if they all got one tomorrow have no training with them because they think they are icky.

 

[CaptUSA]

So, they are saying today in the media that the FSP went for Trump.

Please tell me this isn't true.

If it is, then I question the whole premise.

 

[Todd]

So, they are saying today in the media that the FSP went for Trump.

Please tell me this isn't true.

If it is, then I question the whole premise.

Yep. How free can a state be where Trump trounced? Even if the state has a million libertarians, apparently they don't vote or are not very involved.

Go to Montana

 

[Badger Paul]

It's not just those who officially signed up. It's those liberty-minded people who didn't sign up but move there anyways because it's the place to go for what they want to be, that's what makes the transformation.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

About 230,000 voted in NH yesterday on both the GOP and Democratic side. If 15,000 or so of those libertarians, who are already activist minded to the point of relocating, regularly vote once there, they add a 5% presence that can swing a close primary more libertarian. If a NH (or MA, ME, VT) liberty candidate runs we could win the first major Presidential primary based on the favorite son factor alone.

 

[brandon]

About 230,000 voted in NH yesterday on both the GOP and Democratic side. If 15,000 or so of those libertarians, who are already activist minded to the point of relocating, regularly vote once there, they add a 5% presence that can swing a close primary more libertarian. If a NH (or MA, ME, VT) liberty candidate runs we could win the first major Presidential primary based on the favorite son factor alone.

So Rand would have got like 8% instead of 3%? I'm pretty sure a large portion of free staters are ideologically opposed to voting anyway.

 

[Seraphim]

I may actually move to NH at some point.

 

[jct74]

Live free, or try
New Hampshire’s Free State Project reaches critical mass

From the print edition
Feb 13th 2016

AFTER successful careers in engineering, Dan and Carol McGuire could have pursued retirements of highbrow ease—the couple’s interests range from American history to collecting modern art. Instead they moved across the country from Washington state in response to an essay by a young libertarian, Jason Sorens, arguing that if enough believers in limited government moved to a single state (ideally one with a small population and a “live and let live” ethos), they could exert real influence.

That essay spawned the “Free State Project” (FSP), whose early members voted to make New Hampshire their testbed. This was a nod to the state’s modest scale, its culture of Yankee self-reliance and low taxes, and its unusually accessible political system, starting with the state’s House of Representatives, whose 400 members answer to a few thousand constituents each, and are paid $100 a year. The FSP devised a pledge for activists to sign, by which they agreed to move to New Hampshire if 19,999 other libertarians made the same commitment. Once that critical mass was reached, FSP members pledged to make their own trek within five years. The FSP announced on February 3rd that the 20,000 target has been reached.

In the past decade 2,000 pioneers could not wait and moved anyway. A total of about 40 Free Staters have been elected to New Hampshire’s statehouse at various points, among them the McGuires, husband-and-wife Republican legislators who represent overlapping districts. Free Staters have helped to legalise gay marriage and ease rules on everything from home schooling to selling unpasteurised milk.

...

read more:
http://www.economist.com/news/unite...roject-reaches-critical-mass-live-free-or-try

 

[Anti Federalist]

So Rand would have got like 8% instead of 3%? I'm pretty sure a large portion of free staters are ideologically opposed to voting anyway.

Had Rand been more like his dad, he would have won NH.

And no, a critical plank of the FSP idea is to vote fellow FSP folks into office, which we have.

 

[jct74]

Wall Street Journal: Can New Hampshire Become a Libertarian Utopia?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjD5Fu-X_rE

 

[ChristianAnarchist]

I signed at least 5 years back but I don't know if I can make the move in 5 years due to our ties to the community we are in. I am going to try to get moved in the next five...

 

[Anti Federalist]

I signed at least 5 years back but I don't know if I can make the move in 5 years due to our ties to the community we are in. I am going to try to get moved in the next five...

I've been here (in NH) almost 15 years now, and have no plans on ever leaving.

If there is any advice, tips, info or help I can give to assist, let me know.