'Free staters' pick New Hampshire to liberate for sex, guns and drugs

Guardian ^ | October 1, 2003 | Joanna Walters

[Dan Evans]

A libertarian movement promoting "minimalist government", the free market, drugs, prostitution and gun ownership plans to infiltrate New Hampshire to create a breakaway American regime, its leaders will announce today. The Free State Project, which has supporters in the UK and worldwide, will reveal today at a meeting in New York that its members have voted for the small but highly-symbolic north-eastern state as its target to win power.

Project chiefs will now try to persuade 20,000 people to move to New Hampshire and sway the electorate towards blocking federal "nanny" laws and social restrictions.

Jason Sorens, a lecturer in political science at Yale University and president of the project, said he wants to create an "autocratic territory" and the Free State Project will follow the examples of the Mormons in Utah, the French separatists in Quebec, Canada, and the conservative Amish religious communities.

Political sceptics have dismissed the project as the fringe cult fantasies of a disorganised shower of anarchists and internet geeks.

But Professor Sorens claims membership is soaring as people become angry over increasing restrictions on personal freedom, government surveillance of private individuals and greater state power in the justice system.

Membership of the Free State Project rocketed after an article in Playboy this year.

"I think that was a good place to find people who are socially tolerant and wary of government regulation over private behaviour," Prof Sorens said yesterday.

The FSP argues that civil government should exist only to protect life, liberty, and property. Individuals are free to do as they please, provided it does not harm others.

In a "Free State", that would translate as a green light for casinos, brothels, cocaine farms and gun supermarkets. Leaders would also do away with seatbelt laws, limits on gay marriage and most taxes.

"The classical liberal philosophy has a long and respectable pedigree. We see ourselves as a kind of chamber of commerce, promoting the state as somewhere where people will come and live freely and do business," he said.

Schools and hospitals would be entirely privatised. Prof Sorens sees new New Hampshire as having economic parallels with Singapore and Hong Kong, and social parallels to the tolerant Netherlands.

New Hampshire's state motto is already "Live free or die".

A ballot last week had members choosing from a shortlist of 10 states, each chosen on the basis that the FSP had calculated the populations were low enough and federal influence weak enough that moving 20,000 members there would give enough leverage to sway the state legislature.

Wyoming came second in the ballot. Other states on the list included Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Vermont and the Dakotas.

Members must agree to move to the chosen state.

But the New Hampshire Democratic chairwoman, Kathy Sullivan, said she considered the project "sort of a very fringe group that can best be described as anarchists".

A British member, Matthew Hurry, a 24-year-old computer technician from Brighton, was already preparing to move to the chosen state.

"It's one of the few good ideas I've seen actually put into practice with a good chance of success. Freedom is important for people, and the western world is severely lacking in it," he said.

But Francis Tyers, a 20-year-old University of Wales student, who studies in Aberystwyth but is currently on placement with the computer giant Hewlett Packard in Ireland, said Alaska would have been his first choice. "I specified on my membership form that I would move when they had legalised the cultivation of marijuana. I'm hoping that this will be one of the first things on their agenda. And secession from the United States would be great," he said.

It is this kind of radical idea that Prof Sorens emphasises is not the FSP's main thrust. "We have no wish to alienate the people of New Hampshire. We want to win them over," he said.

James Maynard, one of 150 project members who already live in New Hampshire, is currently campaigning as a Libertarian to try to win a council seat in the Keene city elections in November.

"The FSP is a mix of common sense ideas and "thinking out of the box". Within the framework of a real-life state and local politics, a group will not be afraid to try new things and take lessons from the business world to bring New Hampshire a smaller, less expensive, more accountable government," he said.

Project members are mostly men and in their 20s and 30s. Many own small businesses and half of them have a university degree, with 18% possessing doctorates and 40% earning more than £40,000 a year.

[jpl]

Membership of the Free State Project rocketed after an article in Playboy this year.

This idea was actually originally floated in Playboy back around 30 years ago or so.

I know a couple of people pretty well who talk about the FSP a lot. Believe me when I tell you they have no intention of ever moving to New Hampshire or any of the other states that always get floated. I'd wager good money the same is probably true of about 90% of the people who talk up FSP all the time.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Hell, if it works out, I'd consider going up there too. I live close enough to the border already---it'd be a short hop.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Y'all ain't gonna fly in the Granite State. "Ayep" will.

[WhiteGuy]

As soon as I get my daughter through high school,

I'm there.

Regardless of whether or not I'm on the "list" at that time.

Live Free or Die - I like that.

[archy]

If it isn't handled with a lot of skill, the newcomers may discover that the pre-existing residents will oppose them out of sheer spite.

ESPECIALLY in a place like Cow Hampshire. More than a few stone-faced Yankees up there. But one of the factors that's really, REALLY attracted me to NH has been the hospitality and offers of assistance in resettling I received from FSPers already resident in NH. Their graciousness and helpfulness was one of the particular things I noted in the place's favour, not limited to the FSPers there alone; I've got pals in NH from a couple of other interests, and I've visited there enough to know it's a beautiful place, and the hospitality there is the equal of that I've enjoyed in the South for the last half-dozen years.

The place has its warts, too. And there are those there who want to do something about that, and have so far been unable to do so on their own. I reckon they're about to get a few helping hands, and we'll soon see just how many. As of mid-September of this year: 5,454

If the rate of growth continues on the climbing curve it has- and neither a dropoff nor an increase would surprise me now that the state's been announced- the goal of 20,000 members in approximately 113.7 weeks. But I do not expect it to stop at that point, either.

And one thing we have not well prepared for is the possibility that the numbers could go WAY beyond what we've imagined and expected. Should that happen, we'll be pleased, of course, but it will bring some problems.

[archy]

Membership of the Free State Project rocketed after an article in Playboy this year.

This idea was actually originally floated in Playboy back around 30 years ago or so.

Well, not quite. Certainly the article Taking Over Vermont* by Richard Pollack that appeared in the April 1972 issue of Playboy magazine was an influence, though that successful effort was more directed toward the hippie/leftish community still suffering the stings of the loss of the Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco and the temporary community of the Woodstock music and mud fest.

More directed at the L/libertarian set was the editorial musing of Free Republic's own Mark *Laissezfirearm* Penman, in his 1994 essay Phony Yogis and the Samson Option, which can be read *here*.

Really, though, it's FSP Boss Porcupine Jason Sorens who deserves the credit for assembling several competing theoretical possibilities and courses, and turning them into a coherent plan that's now become a reality. Though there's nothing really new under the sun, his was a neat coalescence of several former good ideas with a few wrinkles of his own and others thrown in.

-archy-/-

[GulliverSwift]

I've always been intrigued by the idea of political colonization. But I don't think NH would be a good state to do this in because its constitutional structure is quite difficult to amend, etc. There would already be enough opposition from the natives, too.

Wyoming would have been better, or Alaska.

[Mini-14]

The article is libelous.

[archy]

Hell, if it works out, I'd consider going up there too. I live close enough to the border already---it'd be a short hop.

We'd love to have you. Care to be added to the FSP *PorcuPing* list for FSP articles and posts?

It's a little further for me from Memphis, and I think I'll probably get this season's snowfall out of the way before heading that way myself. But I'd be not at all surprised, and particularly pleased, to make your acquaintance in the Free State.

-archy-/-

[archy]

The article is libelous.

Aw, it's got a bit of a supercillious British sneer to it, but that's nothing new from across the pond. I believe they expressed some similar sentiments back when their upstart American colony expressed rumbles about breaking away from the Crown, and proclaimed to the world that Such A Thing Could Never Happen.

Buncha pommie bahstaads. Take their fulminations with a grain or several of salt, and a grin. They hate it when they're all pompous and they get laughed at.

-archy-/-

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I'm glad you love NH---so do I. My entire family's there now . . . I'm the only one who stayed in MA.

I found this essay kind of funny:

I wake up with the sun, not suddenly, but quickly. Within 60 seconds I am wide awake. I take a moment to enjoy the stillness of the house and to look over at my wife and thank God for her, my children, and the blessings of liberty.

[H's. G.: Oh brother, is that corny.]

Ten minutes later I head out for my morning workout. I pass my Ruger Security 6, 357 Magnum hanging in its holster by the door as I head out. I jog down the mostly typical suburban street, but I notice again some of the distinctions that make this place home. The lots are larger and more spread out than most, and the houses vary in style and size, with yardwork and other accoutrements proclaiming the personality of the occupants. Within minutes I have reached my destination.

[H's. G.: In other words, not a scrap of a zoning law! This person's obviously not seen the hideous results of locales without zoning laws---as any jaunt down the main drag of Plaistow, Salem, or just about any other fair-sized town in New Hampshire would demonstrate. Want to put a funeral parlor next to a Wendy's? No problem! Your neighbor wants to start a used tire lot next to your 3-bedroom colonial? Live free or die, buddy.]

The community fitness center is the result of a collaborative effort among 22 of the neighborhood's families. We bought a centrally located lot and proceded to build a small gym to house fitness equipment, everything from free weights to aerobic machines. The cost was extremely affordable and we were able to get it built in under one month thanks to the fact that there are no property taxes, and no city permits or building inspections are required, although we did hire Solomon's Builders to inspect it, just to be safe. The building received their Gold Seal, which is only given to about 2% of all the buildings they inspect! We now have over 50 families participating and we have been able to add a racquetball court, two tennis courts, and we are planning for future expansion.

[H's. G.: Sounds like a bit of communism and a healthy dose of unrealistic expectations.]

. . .

In any event, the essay went on and on and was so saccharine I think I need to go to the state-sponsored dentist right now. I like the gist of this project, but based on this featured essay, man, it must be filled with some bright-eyed, bushy-tailed dreamers.

[archy]

Perhaps law enforcement in the "free state" will concentrate on arrest, conviction, and incarceration of violent criminals instead of wasting resources tracking down aging hippies with dope in their gardens........

Well, I'm not really planning on putting a badge on again when I get to the Free State, though I've had the job a couple of times before. But as for busting aging hippies in their marijahootchie garden, I don't think I'd better. I might get arrested for impersonating a fed.

-archy-/-

[archy]

I voted for NH as well.

Gentlemen, it seems we shall meet sooner, rather than later.

Yours in Freedom-

See you in the Free State, my FRiend.

Reckon I need to change the state flag on my FReeper profile page. I'm a gonna miss my old Lone Star.

-archy-/-

[archy]

But I don't think NH would be a good state to do this in because its constitutional structure is quite difficult to amend, etc. There would already be enough opposition from the natives, too.

Wyoming would have been better, or Alaska.

Well, from some natives, at least. And there's a lot to be said for having the project take place in a locale where the present governor has signed on as a *Friend of the Porcupines.* Thankfully, he won't have to move, and I doubt there'll be much porcupine-driven effort to unseat him, though his replacement may well face a challenge.

Wyoming was my first choice, for the likely quicker result our numbers might have accomplished in that less populous state. Alaska would have been okay by me, as I've lived and visited there and love the place, even the state bird.

But New Hampsterland will do. And a sizable Porcupine advance party is resident there already.

-archy-/-

[general_re]

But Francis Tyers, a 20-year-old University of Wales student, who studies in Aberystwyth...

He's leaving for a land where the vowels run wild and free.

"And secession from the United States would be great," he said."

Somebody needs to explain to Francis that the question of secession was pretty well settled at Appomattox ;)

[u-89]

Do you know if NH permits the ownership of class 3 weapons?

[Petronski]

Fringe cult fantasies of a disorganised shower of anarchists and internet geeks.

LOL

[ellery]

This is the beauty of amendment 10 -- the opportunity for 50 experimental labs. If this actually happens, we can all sit back and see how well it works. If it does, then other states will have an example to follow. If it doesn't, it will serve as a warning to the rest of us.

[dcwusmc]

Too many people won't even talk about restoring the Constitution. "It's too late for that," they whine... "We have to continue as we are and hope that no one hurts us too badly."

They WANT the smothering blanket of big government as cover for THEIR agenda. But they want to blame the Dems for doing it, even though THEIR guys never UNDO anything. Sad and sick!

[ellery]

Please add me to the FSP ping list as well!