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Thread: I Went to a Convention for Libertarian Trying to Take Over New Hampshire

  1. #1

    I Went to a Convention for Libertarian Trying to Take Over New Hampshire

    I Went to a Convention for Libertarian Revolutionaries Trying to Take Over New Hampshire
    March 12, 2015
    By Livia Gershon
    http://www.vice.com/read/i-went-to-c...-hampshire-312



    Click on the above link to read the whole article and see the interesting photos. The reporter admits that she is a leftist but the article is somewhat balanced. BTW, I was in the room when Rand Paul was brought up. When one of the panelist polled the audience, almost everyone raised their hand in support of Rand Paul. 1 person said he supported another candidate.

    Turns out the free-market scheme to turn the state into Galt's Gulch is actually kind of working
    It's an early spring weekend in Manchester, and Emily Smith is sitting in the Radisson Hotel with her baby, selling goods from her northern New Hampshire farm. There are jugs of maple syrup in various sizes laid out on the table, and also guns, .308 caliber rifles, lovingly hand-assembled for improved accuracy. The combination would raise eyebrows in most company, but not here, at the annual gathering of the Free State Project, a libertarian movement to create a limited government utopia in the Granite State.

    Hundreds of Free Staters were assembled for the three-day Liberty Forum, which brings together the movement's pioneers, prospective members, and sympathizers. The Free State Project aims to relocate 20,000 committed citizens to New Hampshire, change local laws, reduce taxes and regulations, and ultimately establish a literal Galt's Gulch where—to quote a popular libertarian saying—married gay couples can use guns to defend their marijuana plants. According to organizers, more than 1,700 people have moved so far, and another 16,000 or so have pledged to promising to do the same once the full 20,000 have signed on.
    The annual conference is a way to bring on new recruits, showcasing the full spectrum of the Free State fringe. There are sessions on anti-war activism, school choice, and polyamory . A heavy-hitter in Koch brothers-backed political groups is giving a talk on "Freedom and Well-being." In one time slot, there were dueling panels on "the Tao of Anarchism" and a critique of anarchy based on the work of Ayn Rand. A woman in business casual tries to sell people on ziftrCOIN, a New Hampshire company that helps retailers accept cryptocurrencies.

    Smith and her husband joined the migration in 2007, relocating to New Hampshire with another couple and opening up Bardo Farm. She told me the move was about freedom, but also about finding a great piece of land that came with oxen, goats and solar power. "We wanted to be off the grid," she explained, nursing her baby as we spoke. The Free State Project provides a built-in network of customers, she said, and the farm often gives like-minded libertarians a place to stay when they're in the area.

    Like most Free Staters, Smith and the other farm owners are engaged in local politics. Ian Underwood, one of Smith's business partners, said selling the rifles is partly an effort to build a self-sufficient community in their area. "People who have guns can defend themselves," he said. "Who knows where the cops are, but your neighbors are right there." Plus, he noted darkly, cops might not be on your side at all. "One of the things that you may have to defend yourself against is your government," he said.

    Not far from Bardo Farm, in rural northern New Hampshire, the small town of Grafton has become a haven for Free Staters, to the consternation of local residents frustrated by the libertarian zeal to overhaul local laws. At the Liberty Forum, Grafton resident James Reiher tried to sell potential movers on the town, promoting it as a great place for libertarians to create their alternatives to the mainstream. "They should be creating coops and doing what the government does on their own," he told me. "If you like fair wages, open a fair-wage store. You don't have to wait."
    Another member of the Free Grafton contingent, Rich Angell, tells me he grows most of his own food and lives as autonomously as possible as a "voluntary servant." He wouldn't tell me who he serves—"let's just say a landowner in Grafton"—but said he pays rent by making himself useful, tending the boiler and wood stove and shoveling snow. "I pay my way with my labor," he said. "I am about as free as I can be in this country."

    Angell tells me he's a former "card-carrying Republican," a "college graduate, clean-cut former Marine, good-old American." He talks a lot about things like "unraveling the left-right paradigm." His politics, based on the principles of freedom and nonaggression, are hard to pin down, except to say that they're about as far outside the mainstream as you could imagine. He credits his political awakening to the issue of circumcision. "When I saw what we do to our children it opened me up to what else is going on in this country that nobody is paying attention to."

    These days, Angell is cynical about politics. "If Hillary Clinton is the best the Democrats can do, and Jeb Bush and that crowd are the best that the Republicans can come up with, it's time we seriously start thinking about voting for Vermin Supreme," he said, referring to the perennial presidential candidate whose New Hampshire primary campaigns are equal parts anarchist activism and satirical performance art.
    Davi Barker, a California designer and writer giving a Liberty Forum talk on "The Undead Democracy Apocalypse," told me his activism is focused on influencing cultural, rather than politics. He's the author of a survivalist children's book, "Survivor Max," about an 11-year-old boy trying to navigate a zombie apocalypse. He sees zombies as a metaphor for libertarians—in zombie stories, he explained, heroes band together in small autonomous groups, to fight a multiplying army of stumbling automatons. "They're a democratic monster," he said.

    Wandering around the conference floor, I barely registered a table for the Atlas Society, until the guy staffing it, George Johnson, asked me urgently if I was familiar with the work of Ayn Rand. Johnson was handing out ballots for the Society's Crony Awards. According to an explanation on the ballot, the current economic system is not "true capitalism" but a bastardized version where companies depend on government favors, not the free market; I'm supposed to vote for the "clearest and most egregious cases" of cronyism. Candidates include the AFL-CIO, George Soros and Elizabeth Warren, but also Dick Cheney, Chris Christie and Walmart. Perhaps sniffing me out as a lefty, "They say free markets are an illusion, and they're right," Johnson tells me.
    The article continues. http://www.vice.com/read/i-went-to-c...-hampshire-312
    Last edited by Keith and stuff; 03-12-2015 at 06:06 PM.
    Lifetime member of more than 1 national gun organization and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Part of Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty. Free State Project participant and multi-year Free Talk Live AMPlifier.



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  3. #2

    New Hampshire family.
    Lifetime member of more than 1 national gun organization and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Part of Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty. Free State Project participant and multi-year Free Talk Live AMPlifier.

  4. #3
    These days, Angell is cynical about politics. "If Hillary Clinton is the best the Democrats can do, and Jeb Bush and that crowd are the best that the Republicans can come up with, it's time we seriously start thinking about voting for Vermin Supreme,"

  5. #4
    Are you still shying away from the "Take Over" phrase? Or are you ready to own that now...
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by bxm042 View Post
    Are you still shying away from the "Take Over" phrase? Or are you ready to own that now...
    I've got nothing to do with it. The FSP has nothing to do with it. Editors try to give articles interesting titles to get more people to read them.

    Still, this meme is funny.
    Lifetime member of more than 1 national gun organization and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Part of Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty. Free State Project participant and multi-year Free Talk Live AMPlifier.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by bxm042 View Post
    Are you still shying away from the "Take Over" phrase? Or are you ready to own that now...
    Lol! I thought the same thing.
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    It's a balance between appeasing his supporters, appeasing the deep state and reaching his own goals.
    ~Resident Badgiraffe




  8. #7

  9. #8
    Did they sell any guns or syrup at that booth?

    Just curious about how much money is spent at such an event.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by fr33 View Post
    Did they sell any guns or syrup at that booth?

    Just curious about how much money is spent at such an event.
    I am clueless on gun sales. I know that I bought a quart of syrup at the event. I know another individual that bought 3 quarts of syrup at the event. Between the 2 of us, 4 quarts of syrup were sold at the event. What is the total? Was it 10? Was it 900? I don't know.
    Lifetime member of more than 1 national gun organization and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Part of Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty. Free State Project participant and multi-year Free Talk Live AMPlifier.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith and stuff View Post
    I am clueless on gun sales. I know that I bought a quart of syrup at the event. I know another individual that bought 3 quarts of syrup at the event. Between the 2 of us, 4 quarts of syrup were sold at the event. What is the total? Was it 10? Was it 900? I don't know.
    Cool. I'd probably buy some syrup if I was there too. It makes sense.

  13. #11
    How much was the syrup?

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by afwjam View Post
    How much was the syrup?
    At $20 a quart, it is more expensive than the Canadian stuff in the stores up here. I was able to get some especially dark and tasty stuff

    Maple Syrup is natural sugar and minerals. It last for many years. Like honey, it is great for any food storage plan.
    Lifetime member of more than 1 national gun organization and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Part of Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty. Free State Project participant and multi-year Free Talk Live AMPlifier.



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