Starting this thread to answer the question raised elsewhere, inspired by my sig line. I'm locking the thread to prevent hijacking. Questions/Comments sent via private msg which are FAQs will be added as needed. This is a work in progress, and I welcome feedback on it.
Why 20K is overkill
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This isn't a new idea, and I don't claim credit for it. I'm merely one proponent of it, and have taken to promoting it. I know many in the FSP leadership realm agree with this, but it's not official FSP 'policy' (yet)
When Jason put his numbers together, and came up with 20K, they were based on projections and assumptions. One of the assumptions was 1 million residents. Another was that the activist threshold needed to trigger change, based on other real world places (like Quebec), would be around 2% (or 20,000 for 1,000,000 residents). That number was meant to be a reasonable goal, and picking NH was an issue for some because it was (slightly) over 1 million already.
But Jason's theory has now inspired the reality. As people have moved, even with just over 100 'officially' (and the unofficial numbers higher, as I know for a fact of at least a dozen movers who aren't FSP signers), we now have some real world numbers and results here in NH. Nothing directly contradicts Jason's theory, mind you. Perhaps for a complete 'free state', we will need 20K activists... but so far, the threshold is looking far less.
Manchester's the largest city, 100K people. One local activist there tells me that a scant few dozen, who work together, could move mountains. He's working with local activists/groups that are unfocused, contentious, and unable to see the bigger picture, and they are still well on the way to achieving items like a city charter amendment, because the native support for smaller & less expensive government is there, and only needs to be tapped by those willing to work toward the issue.
In Keene (22K people), a vote to sell a school building was strongly influenced by a half dozen activists.
In Merrimack (25K), a free stater ran for the first time for a minor elective office, and while he lost, in a 3 way run for 2 seats against 2 well known local 'names', he lost by only 11 votes after 3300+ votes.
In Concord, the state capital, those of us getting involved in state level politics are getting an education of the first order. We are discovering a thirst for our viewpoint. Hearings we've spoken up, and bills we've fought for, or against, have had results ranging from getting thanked for the fresh and reasonable perspective of smaller government (often unheard otherwise) to influencing killing bad bills either in committee or on the floor of the House. Access to this level of government is easy in NH, and many of us are familar faces already in the corridors of the State House.
I could continue adding places and items, but the message is clear: a scant handful is already showing the boat can be rocked.
We don't need a 'free town', a majority in a county, or anything else smacking of 'take over', because we fit the native sentiments well already.
The biggest problem seems to be a lack of activists, tapping a largely silent but substantial percentage. Is it a majority?
Perhaps not, but it's certainly one of the vastly untapped gold mine political veins left in this country... We aren't preaching to the wind, and we've found more support than we've expected so far.
The existing native activists are glad of the fresh blood and bodies and spirit, and even with just the 100+ now, we're having a positive effect on the old hands, and learning the insider issues from them. Imagine having dozens and hundreds of people willing to organize and take on tasks that right now end up overwhelming the few...
Estimates are that the major parties have a few thousand hardcore activists. Unlike popular sentiment (and the Nolan chart), I've found that in NH, both personal and economic freedoms are more strongly valued by the Republicans here... with a strong libertarian wing in the minority. Imagine another 2 or 3 thousand working explicitly for liberty issues, regardless of party.... What could be done?
What can you do? Move now. Don't wait for 20K. We don't need 20K. 2K would do a lot. 200 would do twice what our 100 do now... and we're doing a great deal already.
