Dec

23

2010

The 2010 Census: New Hampshire and the Free State Project

by Tim Condon

The numbers on the 2010 Census were released two days ago. The reporting concentrated mostly on the big states like Texas and California, and states that gained or lost U.S. House seats (like Massachusetts, which—wiith their big-government, high-taxing socialist politics—lost two Congressional seats…oh joy!)

But what about the Free State of New Hampshire? What do the numbers reveal about our state?

Well, with a h/t to the Union Leader, let me tell you all about it….

New Hampshire grew in population more than any other New England state between 2000 and 2010, with a 6.5% increase. "Wow," you say? Not so: Between 1970 and 1980 New Hampshire population grew by 25%. Between 1980 and 1990 our population grew by 21%. So 6.5% is very small by recent historical standards.

Also of interest is where those increased numbers of people are coming from. One survey in the past 10 years showed that over half the people in NH weren’t born here, they moved here. In fact, that’s one reason New Hampshire was blessed by being chosen in 2003 by the Free State Project (percentage of native-born residents in state population was only one of many data-points we studied in arriving at a decision when the vote was held).

So what about the approximately 80,000 increase in population in New Hampshire between 2000 and 2010? It turns out that more than half comes from…new babies! There were 45,000 more births during the past decade than deaths. So the "actual" in-migration to New Hampshire has been about 35,000 people…a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the state’s overall population of more than 1.3 million. And that brings us back to the Free State Project: One of the recurring complaints and predictions of doom by liberty activists elsewhere has been that "All those socialists from Massachusetts will move into New Hampshire and bring their ugly politics with them!" Wah, wah, wah.

But sorry, you dummies: The fact is, a good chunk of that 35,000 in-migration to the Free State came not only from Freestaters, but also were people who "thought" about the best, safest, and healthiest place to live in America. Not to mention what state has the brightest future in terms of low taxes, small government, individual freedom, Constitutional liberty, personal responsibiltiy,  free enterprise, and economic growth. Thanks to the increasingly freedom-oriented voters, that place is indisputably the Free State of New Hampshire. That is why New Hampshire has a growing population when the rest of New England is losing population, and that is why our state was chosen by the patriots and liberty-activists of the Free State Project. Learn more "why" in the following video:

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by Tim Condon

I’ve been political my entire life, starting out with Barry Goldwater and The Conscience of a Conservative in the1960's. In 1967 I enlisted in the U.S. Marines for four years, spending nearly two of them in South Vietnam. In 1972 I was a Florida presidential elector for Prof. John Hospers, the first Presidential candidate of the national Libertarian Party which was founded that same year. During the late 1970's and into the 1980's I was a contributing editor and monthly columnist for Reason magazine, and I’ve authored numerous articles in the print and online media about various subjects relating to individual rights and personal freedom. Today I'm a lawyer by profession; I divide my time between New Hampshire and Florida all year long, spending much of my time practicing law in Florida. As an early supporter and past member of the board of directors of the Free State Project, I was drawn to the Live Free or Die state of New Hampshire in late 2003 when it was chosen by a vote of the first 5,000 FSP participants. In 2004 I founded the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, and continue today to work within the state political system to advance the traditional NH values of frugal small government, low taxes, small business, free enterprise, and self-responsibility. To all, I say "Come and see what we are building in the beautiful, healthy, livable Free State of New Hampshire!"

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Leave a Comment

  • http://www.conservativecave.com Randy

    Sorry, Tim–but the FSP is a failure. For the most part, they’ve concentrated around Keene, are largely social liberals, not much more conservative fiscally, and by their own count (overly inflated to say the least) they’ve only drawn about 800 people since their site went up several years ago.

  • Steve

    Mass lost one seat not two.

  • http://freestateproject.org Keith

    Randy,
    The vast majority of the Free State Project participants that have officially moved to NH don’t live anywhere near Keene unless you consider Manchester and Concord to be near Keene. There are 14 FSPers that are currently NH State Reps. They decided the NH Speaker of the House election. How is that a failure?

  • http://www.pledgebank.com/Next1000 Bryce

    Funny that a failed project is still attracting new movers. Like me. I’m planning on moving to NH, but not to Keene, in 9 months.
    Calling it a failure seems premature.
    The 800+ are the early movers who have told the FSP board that they moved. Sometimes libertarian types are so independent they prefer not to even do that. If anything I would say the 800+ is low compared to the number of real movers. While I’m not in NH yet, I’ve had discussions with several people there who know people who never updated their information on the site after moving.

  • gary T

    Failure Randy?
    Jeescus, give it a few years; we are talking about the transformation of a modern sovereign state to a libertarian government.
    Look at all the mass exodus’/immigrations that were wildly successful, Israel, Utah, Plymouth Rock. And they were built upon very little existing infrastructure.
    I think the FSP has life in it, and it seems to me to be the best chance of achieving libertarian success in fact as well as theory. I am seriously considering moving late next year, and I can empathize with all those who want to but for practical reasons can’t do it as fast as they like to.
    Keene seemed nice, but I am looking at Seaport.
    To try to cut short the genuine accomplishments of this movement after only a few years makes me question your motives in stating it.

  • gary T

    Failure Randy?
    Jeescus, give it a few years; we are talking about the transformation of a modern sovereign state to a libertarian government.
    Look at all the mass exodus’/immigrations that were wildly successful, Israel, Utah, Plymouth Rock. And they were built upon very little existing infrastructure.
    I think the FSP has life in it, and it seems to me to be the best chance of achieving libertarian success in fact as well as theory. I am seriously considering moving late next year, and I can empathize with all those who want to but for practical reasons can’t do it as fast as they like to.
    Keene seemed nice, but I am looking at Seaport.
    To try to cut short the genuine accomplishments of this movement after only a few years makes me question your motives in stating it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/williamcmay Skeptikos

    Randy-
    I think something like 50 Free Staters live in the Keene area. They’re just extra loud.
    And a significant number of movers decline to register upon moving, either because they’re typically paranoid about putting their names on a list or because they don’t want to officially be Free Staters. People also move back occasionally, and this would bias the number downward, but it’s not clear which biases are bigger.

  • http://www.conservativecave.com Randy

    A few years? Damn, ya’ll have had nearly a DECADE already. And 14 state reps? Whoa, that’s like, almost 4 percent of the Legislature! Domination of NH government has come at the hands of the Free State Project! Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me how Ron Paul and Bill Binnie are “true” conservatives!
    I’ve been here long enough to see the FSP for what it is. I’d laugh, but I actually feel kinda bad for the organizers. It’s like the old George Carlin routine about how they’ll never get marijuana legalized (oh wait–that’s one of FSP’s big things too) because nobody can remember where they put the petitions.
    So we’ve got all these “commitments”, but nobody has actually DONE anything. Libertarianism in a nut(shell).

  • http://freestateproject.org Keith

    Randy, 20,000 people haven’t even signed up for the FSP yet so the official move hasn’t even started for most people. There are more pro-liberty people elected to offices in NH than all of the rest of New England combined including dozens of solidly pro-liberty State Reps. 14 may not seem like a large number, but that is just FSP movers. FSP folks have also volunteered with the campaigns of dozens of other State Reps and at least 3 of the GOP State Senators.
    …
    I don’t know if you noticed, but early FSP movers are already in leadership positions of the drugs reform group, 3 of the 4 largest gun groups, the NHLA, the Republican House of Representatives Caucus, the Republican House Alliance Caucus and the Natural Rights Caucus.
    …
    But don’t worry, I don’t know a single FSPer that wants to dominate the NH state government. If anything, they want to not control anything but instead give as much power and financial decision making back to the people, where it belongs.

  • No one

    Randy. Stay ignorant it is safer that way.

  • No one

    Randy. Stay ignorant it is safer that way.

  • No one

    Randy. Stay ignorant it is safer that way.

  • http://propagandalalaland.blogspot.com/ Julia

    I grew up in the south Merrimack Valley on the Mass border. I saw the entire region go from 90% virgin forest (in 1993 when we moved) to Wal-Marts, culdesacs, and mcmansions 17+ years later due to all the moving from Massachusetts and New York. Anywhere in NH between Milford and the Seacoast is dominated by nouveau-riche Boston commuters. Not to mention that downtown Nashua and parts of Manchester look like Dorchester before it was gentrified (meaning they’re mostly populated by lots of working-class immigrants and lower-class white people). I would figure that exodus from Mass would have a lot to do with Mass being too liberal for most of them but I also think it’s because Boston is growing in population and that population naturally spreads. If all the homes in Tewksbury and Wilmington are too expensive, you move a bit north to Pelham or Merrimack.
    Strategically, I think the FSP should focus their activism on towns that already have a fairly strong right-wing libertarian presence (such as Laconia or Salem, which is where I attended high school) or in the larger cities like Concord (lots of political action there, obviously) or Manchester, since people in those cities would be much more receptive to anti-authoritarian dialogue. Manch has people who are dependent on government services to get by, but if you were to work with them to organize their communities and form institutions that are not government or capitalist-based but community and worker-based (think Barcelona in 1936) they would most definitely take up a very anti-state stance. The only way I could see a “successful” Keene would be if all those professors affiliated with Mises and CATO transferred from Auburn or wherever they’re teaching now to KSC. Since KSC is the center of Keene, building a strong right-wing libertarian presence at the school – and thus attracting students who share those views to attend the school – would have to be a necessary condition. But other than that, native Keene residents seem to attached to their ivory tower intellectualism to accept the FSP in their town. After all, I’ve read articles stating that Keene’s residents have become fed up with Free Keene and all the stuff going on. Take my advice and move all the activism to Manch.
    (For the record, I am critical of some big aspects of the FSP, but I myself am a collectivist/mutualist anarchist and I do believe in free markets to an extent, but I believe capitalism and private property need to be abolished in order for the market to actually serve people’s needs.)

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