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Here’s an interesting little hit-piece from the online Union Leader about “all those dangerous Freestaters!” And how “they’re messing up traditional values!” As is often the case, the comments after the story are more enlightening than the story itself. You can read the whole article and comments HERE.
It’s just one reason I love New Hampshire politics: Anarchist libertarian Democrat Freestater beats “statist” libertarian Republican Freestater in hotly contested New Hampshire election.
…which is still growing! Despite some silliness from some self-described Freestaters—such as gratuitous law-breaking or fevered talk about “anarchy”—the movement is healthy, continuing, and even maturing.
In fact, many people moving into New Hampshire now as part of the Free State Project migration don’t even bother to identify as participants. Thus, the “official” count of just over 1,100 who have moved to the Granite State is probably understated.
This just tumbled into my in-box and perhaps it is old news now. It is a press release from a non-profit called the Foundation for New Hampshire Independence. I don’t currently know much more than we can glean from the press release but they’ve got a web site (here), some press, and it’s run by Neal Conner, a Ron Paul Supporter and I suspect a Free Stater…and it does have a catchy slogan…’First Before, First again.’
Incorporated in September of this year, the Foundation’s motto, “First Before, First Again”, recalls New Hampshire being the first colony to form a government separate from the British. The Foundation seeks to educate citizens on the benefits of a peaceful separation from the United States and the re-establishment of an independent republic founded on the principles set forth in the New Hampshire Constitution.
Not advocating one way or the other just following the story, having noted that secession IS the latest fad …earlier in the week.
The full press release is available on the jump.
Take your choice! Here’s a nice little explanatory essay by state Representative (and Free Stater) Andrew Manuse, entitled “We’re All Free Staters Now!”:
This is a very nice short film about my home town of Grafton, New Hampshire, the southernmost town in the Free State with no zoning. There is no better place to live south of the notches, and no finer people inhabiting any town anywhere. Shot almost entirely at the annual Grafton Apple Festival—largely at the church … Read more
It looks that ‘Grok friend, Mark Warden, has been put under the gun sights of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (from Blue Hampshire, emphasis mine), an out of state Democrat organization whose only purpose is to get BIG Govt Democrats elected to State Houses (gee, and I keep hearing that Democrats are forever railing against “outside money” – until it suits their purpose like all the gay money that came in to first get civil unions passed in NH and then had that replaced by gay marriage) :
New Hampshire House District 39 (Hillsborough)
Aaron Gill (Grassroots pick)
Status: Republican Incumbent
Why this Race Matters: Unlike the New Hampshire House’s many multi-member House races, Hillsborough District 39 is a one-on-one matchup featuring Democratic community banker and Deering Conservation Commission officer Aaron Gill, who faces an incumbent Republican who moved to the state as part of the so-called Free State Project, which encourages Libertarians to move to New Hampshire in order to remake that state’s government in the image of Libertarian Party ideology. (The project targets New Hampshire, specifically, because of its relatively small electorate.) The outcome of this race could show whether conservative-leaning districts like this one are “in play” for New Hampshire Democrats, as well as whether the Free State Project’s unique brand of conservatism has staying power among normal New Hampshire voters.
Well, well, well . For all of the fulminations by the Democrats the last few years, railing against “the banksters” (remember, the Dems were all in for Occupy Wall Street bashing the banking 1% and have always blamed the banks for causing the financial crisis).
So, the DLCC (as well as the NH Dem Party) is setting this up as a Progressive / BIG Government candidate vs a Limited Govt / BIGGER Citizen legislator. We continue to see the redefinition of the Proper Role of Government:
As a very close observer—not to mention participant—in New Hampshire state politics, I can say without reservation that the effect of the Free State Project migration on our state has been positive. Crucially so in the context of state-level politics. First of all, the state Republican Party would not have been graced by the incredibly positive leadership of Speaker of the House Bill O’Brien and the responsible Republicans around him without the backing of supporters who came out of the Free State Project (it was a very close Speaker’s election, remember).
Because the Free State Project migration movement is accelerating: More and more people are moving to Galt’s Gulch…errrr…New Hampshire! http://youtu.be/OZoyYhh7pYc
A while ago, a now former NH State Representative Seth Cohn urged me to come to a meeting at the New Hong Kong restaurant to, as he said, “talk some politics with folks that are involved”. Little did I know what I’d be getting into – and that was fine! Many of the folks that attend are Free State Project “members” in that they came to NH because compared to other states, it had a low overall level of taxation and better yet, small government. I have interviewed Dr. Jason Sorens before, so I knew the overall mindset – we tolerate a limited government, let it do a few things very well, and then leave us alone – we can be responsible for ourselves (the absolute antithesis of Democrats, who all but worship bigger government with the mindset, as we are seeing, that no one can be successful without out).
Sidenote: with that mindset, aren’t all Democrats then assuming that we are all LOSERS from the get-go? And boy, don’t the Dems go absolutely bat-crazy as more of the FSPers get involved in local and state politics – because the Dems just cannot understand that most of us don’t WANT the larger government they do.
Anyways, after this Saturday’s meeting, some of them went out to go clean the highway. You often see those signs along the highways saying that such and such is doing the litter cleanup? While some of them actually do the work themselves, most hire firms that specialize in doing just that. The LR Porcs, on the other hand, believe in that self-responsibility and doing it themselves. If one is going to be in Society, then one cannot outsource that responsibility. So, out they went to show, in this small way, that they are not the anarchists that Ray Buckley (NH Dem Chair) claims they are and out to kill off government completely. A very quickly done video:
Why? Because his policies are driving small businesses to New Hampshire. Why? Because Democrat (and RINO Republican) policies harm business and job-creation. It’s a simple as that. As a result, entrepreneurs and business-owners are considering moving to our state because our policies are increasingly free market oriented (and thus actually work). See for yourself in … Read more
Is America a “welfare state”? No. It’s a “special interest state.”And James DeLong at the American Enterprise Institute has explained why in THIS ARTICLE. What it boils down to is that the permanent political class has gained permanent power in America, governing on behalf of ubiquitous and multifarious special interests, which increasingly exist solely to loot the public treasury. Worse yet, special interests have no regard to the long-term damages and ultimate destruction that their appetites engender. In short, the iron triangle of the permanent political class, the special interests, and the dependent voters who keep them in office will eventually destroy us. That’s because…
Damn. This lady is looking more and more like New Hampshire’s own version of Michelle Malkin. Some Republicans—even some good ones—are supporting CACR-12, the proposed state constitutional amendment which would constitute a state takeover of education and guarantee unending future pressure for ever-more spending and ever-higher taxes. In explaining why we must oppose the harmful and unacceptable proposal, McKinney breathes fire:
“I am looking realistically at this situation. I cannot tell the future, and neither can you. You can guess that there might be a point in time where the court may mandate additional state funding of education, and you can guess that a legislature will go along with the court. And you can gamble away your liberty, hedging your bets that someday that may happen and reacting out of fear.
And who knows what will be feasible in 5 years, 10 years, or 18 years from now? If I have anything to do with it (and the Free State Project continues to attract good constitutionalists like Andrew Manuse, Laura Jones, and others)…
Filling a vacancy on any Supreme Court–be it the US Supremes or the NH Supremes–is a big deal, so it is no surprise that people are talking and reporting on it (as we have here, here, and here). So did the Union Leader; Ted Seifer interviewed Tim, asking him about the NHLRF‘s position on Gov. John Lynch’s nominee for the NH Supreme Court, Jim Basssett. Having gotten the link from a friend I decided to read the piece and this caught my eye:
Condon, its current chairman, is a Grafton attorney who has been active in the Free State movement.
Factually true, but what does the Free State Project connection have to do with the NH Constitutional basis that forms the basis for the NHLRF activities?
What do those three things have to do with each other? Well, as Mark Steyn has pointed out HERE—his whole column is well worth reading, by the way; go ahead and read it now—“There’s a famous exchange in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Someone asks Mike Campbell, ‘How did you go bankrupt?’ ‘Two ways,’ he replies.
Skip Murphy just asked me this: “Well, it seems that Obama is coming out swinging against the Supremes. Blogosphere is all atwitter about it. Mr. Lawyer, Tim – what’s your take on his baiting the Supremes to declare it unconsitutional?”
Dammit. I foolishly rose to the bait. Here’s what I said in response:
Here’s a map of the states that went for Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election (the blue ones), and the ones that went for Bush (the red ones).
The map is from an article in The American Spectator HERE, by William Tucker. In the second paragraph, Tucker quotes a Wall Street Journal article that says “all those blue states that went for Kerry in 2004 are going to go for Obama again this year. The only possible exception is New Hampshire — now the wealthiest state in the country, believe it or not….“
Hello? New Hampshire is “now the wealthiest state in the country”? Yep. Want to know why? I think I know why….
He was a very nice guy when I met him. A very regular human being. Not full of himself at all. Very down to earth. He thought the Free State Project was a neat idea too. Although he didn’t know much about the FSP, he had heard about it prior to when I showed … Read more
All Democrats have narratives. New Hampshire Democrats are no different. The typical left wing narrative is designed to brain wash you by using the media to repeat the latest chest-beating tantrum, using sound bites, puff pieces, editorials, and press releases, to create a long term perception disguised as truth. Did I mention that New Hampshire Democrats are no different?
There is a new narrative in New Hampshire. This narrative infers that, despite the Democrats own treacherous policy record they are still a better gamble than those other people who are just plain scary. Really scary. Extremists. Those… Free Staters.