Free Staters in NH have been mostly a blessing.
They were a tremendous help in destroying the RAT effort to implement one of the most restrictive homeschool laws in the country. The RATs that fostered that effort did not run for office again, being thoroughly discredited.
The Free Staters often carry in the open, which has acclimated a lot of the public and police on open carry. Some police in the more rural towns consider them as backup if needed, so there is mutual respect there.
The problem is that they don’t see the threat of giving in to the rainbow agenda. Free Staters are predominantly libertarian and very live-and-let-live. What they don’t seem to recognize is that the homos will not leave anybody alone and will use the government to force people to bow at the rainbow altar.
Another problem is the open smoking of pot, especially in Keene. Most of us find these antics humorous, but the problem is that they tend to alienate the more solid, old-time NH conservatives.
They are having an effect, though. In a conversation I had with a policeman the other day, he told me that he thought marijuana should be legalized, but not coke or heroin. So, they seem to be gaining some traction there.
Thanks for the on-the-ground insights. I don’t consider myself a libertarian and the disagreements I have with the philosophy are pretty much mirrored by your posts. I also disagree with the tactics of the folks in Keene.
Bottom line for me, though, is that I want to live in freedom. And I want to do it before I die or am too old to care. Unfortunately, I’m not seeing a whole lot of organized efforts to bring that about outside of some variations on the tired theme of spending more resources on an electoral system that has generally failed us.