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Thread: Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?

  1. #1

    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?

    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?
    Q&A with Free State Project President Matt Philips.

    Alex Manning & Nick Gillespie
    August 22, 2016




    "Libertarians, who I'm afraid will be disappointed in [the] November [presidential election], will look at the Free State Project as a way that they can actually make a difference on a smaller level with more impact," Matt Philips told Reason's Nick Gillespie.

    A 15-year-old initiative to get libertarians to move to New Hampshire, the Free State Project reached a milestone in February by collecting its 20,000th pledge to relocate to the Granite State within five years.

    Gillespie sat down with Philips, who's president of the Free State Project, at FreedomFest 2016 to discuss how the initiative is progressing.

    About 7 minutes and 30 seconds.

    Produced by Alex Manning. Camera by Austin Bragg and Jim Epstein. Music by Podington Bear.
    https://reason.com/reasontv/2016/08/...t-matt-philips



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  3. #2
    So he waffles on state-owned liquor stores because it is a significant source of revenue... and the interviewer gives him a pass on it.

    OK...
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  4. #3
    Then all these darned people from out of state moved in and tried to change our way of life.....

    http://valleypatriot.com/free-state-...new-hampshire/

    “Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. There is, legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal. In this country you can move anywhere you choose and they have that same right. What we can do is to make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave. One way is to pass measures that will restrict the “freedoms” that they think they will find here.”
    (substitute "US" for State and say Muslim or Mexican or Immigrant for "out of state people")
    Last edited by Zippyjuan; 08-29-2016 at 01:26 PM.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Then all these darned people from out of state moved in and tried to change our way of life.....

    http://valleypatriot.com/free-state-... here.”"
    Well, that is what politicians do best, suppress liberty.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Then all these darned people from out of state moved in and tried to change our way of life.....

    http://valleypatriot.com/free-state-...new-hampshire/

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Then all these darned people from out of state moved in and tried to change our way of life.....

    (substitute "US" for State and say Muslim or Mexican or Immigrant for "out of state people")
    New Hampshire should build a wall and make Massachusetts pay for it ...
    The Bastiat Collection ˇ FREE PDF ˇ FREE EPUB ˇ PAPER
    Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)

    • "When law and morality are in contradiction to each other, the citizen finds himself in the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense, or of losing his respect for the law."
      -- The Law (p. 54)
    • "Government is that great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
      -- Government (p. 99)
    • "[W]ar is always begun in the interest of the few, and at the expense of the many."
      -- Economic Sophisms - Second Series (p. 312)
    • "There are two principles that can never be reconciled - Liberty and Constraint."
      -- Harmonies of Political Economy - Book One (p. 447)

    ˇ tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito ˇ

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post
    New Hampshire should build a wall and make Massachusetts pay for it ...
    Yes. A dome even.
    I am the spoon.

  9. #8
    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?
    Apparently, they're having enough of an impact that New Hampshire Democrats are conducting Internet forums cope-sessions to fret and moan and try to figure out what to do about it. One such forum is the subject of the video below.

    The forum itself starts after about 34:00 ("Taxation is theft" gets a name-check just after 55:00 ).

    "You really need to understand what's going on, and that's the whole reason for having this presentation ... It isn't to ... make them ... look like the Boogeyman - even if they are the Boogeyman ..." -- 1:53:53

    The NH Democrats are having a hissy fit over the Free State Project, and we're streaming it live
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRR-42PGBj0
    Last edited by Occam's Banana; 11-08-2021 at 01:05 AM.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post
    Apparently, they're having enough of an impact that New Hampshire Democrats are conducting Internet forums cope-sessions to fret and moan and try to figure out what to do about it. One such forum is the subject of the video below.

    The forum itself starts after about 34:00 ("Taxation is theft" gets a name-check just after 55:00 ).

    "You really need to understand what's going on, and that's the whole reason for having this presentation ... It isn't to ... make them ... look like the Boogeyman - even if they are the Boogeyman ..." -- 1:53:53

    The NH Democrats are having a hissy fit over the Free State Project, and we're streaming it live
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRR-42PGBj0
    And they start out by talking about the strategy of that prominent libertarian, Mitch McConnell.
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
    "Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
    "Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
    "Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

    Proponent of real science.
    The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post
    Apparently, they're having enough of an impact that New Hampshire Democrats are conducting Internet forums cope-sessions to fret and moan and try to figure out what to do about it. One such forum is the subject of the video below.

    The forum itself starts after about 34:00 ("Taxation is theft" gets a name-check just after 55:00 ).

    "You really need to understand what's going on, and that's the whole reason for having this presentation ... It isn't to ... make them ... look like the Boogeyman - even if they are the Boogeyman ..." -- 1:53:53

    The NH Democrats are having a hissy fit over the Free State Project, and we're streaming it live
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRR-42PGBj0
    From another thread: New Hampshire bill to put secession on the ballot
    Quote Originally Posted by DadaOrwell View Post
    Local authoritarians gathered in an online meeting this month to complain about the progress of the NH independence movement and other NH libertarian successes. Of course, a friendly attended and recorded the whole thing for your enjoyment.

    https://forum.shiresociety.com/t/vid...-threat/12967/
    From DadaOrwell's link: VIDEO: NH Statists Hold ANOTHER Lengthy Seminar on Free State Project’s Threat

    NH Statists FREAKING Out About the FSP

    In a strong unintended endorsement, the New Hampshire democrats had yet another online meeting tonight to expose the Free State Project‘s migrants for infiltrating the republican party, winning dozens of state house seats, and our various other tremendous successes.

    Despite claiming our numbers are small, the entire video conference – put on by former state reps, at least one of whom migrated to NH – was all about how well-organized our decentralized freedom migration has been. The statists are extremely concerned about the Free State Project, as evidenced by the fact that they have held multiple such meetings like this over the last several years. They used to be held in person but now they are too frightened of catching a cold to meet in real life, and it’s easier to keep the liberty activists out of the discussion this way.

    The former state reps giving the presentation believe that there’s some secret big libertarian money funding activists to move here, which is totally false. Otherwise, they have clearly done a LOT of homework to learn as much as they can about this movement, because it is working. We are a peaceful threat to the status quo and they hate that liberty is rising in New Hampshire.

    Thankfully, YouTuber and NH resident Dr. Karlyn Borysenko live streamed the event on her channel for hundreds of live viewers, so you can watch the democrats’ whole presentation. It’s basically a 90-minute promo piece for the Free State Project.

    Nowhere else in the other 49 states are the people in power actually worried about libertarian activists. The reason they aren’t concerned, is because libertarians are completely ineffective. The reason we’re so ineffective elsewhere is because there are so few of us, spread across the entire country. That’s the reason the Free State Project was formed. It was a good idea and two decades later it’s a proven success. The statists are very, very scared.

    Watch the whole hilarious seminar here – this link jumps you to 35 minutes into Karlyn’s stream where the democrat presentation begins: [see above for video - OB]
    Last edited by Occam's Banana; 11-08-2021 at 10:25 PM.

  13. #11

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post

    Wow, that's pretty encouraging! If only we could get some Free Staters in the Senate though.

    ...

    State Senate snuffs latest cannabis legalization effort in N.H.
    https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2022-04...a-legalization

  15. #13
    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post

    I was under the impression that the free state project was kinda a failure. I thought only a small portion of people moved there. So if only a few moved there and got elected, they must have convinced those already there to vote for them or rig elections.

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by GlennwaldSnowdenAssanged View Post
    I was under the impression that the free state project was kinda a failure. I thought only a small portion of people moved there. So if only a few moved there and got elected, they must have convinced those already there to vote for them or rig elections.
    Same here. I won't pretend like I remember everything or know every detail, but here are my assumptions that I'd love to have refuted, confirmed, etc.

    I thought the FSP's goal was to get 25,000-50,000 "liberty lovers" to NH and start having impacts on local and state elections. End goal being turning NH into a libertarian utopia. Last I heard, less than 5,000 people had actually moved there in a span of about 10 years that were actually part of the FSP.

    With that said, I have no idea if these people moved to a single area or just moved all over the state. If it's the latter, this plan was doomed from the start. If you don't have concentrations of people, you can't concentrate your power. That last sentences makes most of us here cringe, but that's the name of the game. The FSP would have been better off having 5,000 people move to a county (or two) where they could really start swaying numbers and elections, then building from there.

    To me, this is the same argument I apply to the California people - you're in a hornet's nest with no hope in hell of changing anything. Moving to another state with a greater concentration of people like you (us on here) could likely have a better impact long term. And then I'm kindly responded to about the weather, the wineries, the coast, etc. I get it. I understand. My point is still valid just as theirs is.

    Side note:
    Even so, I'm really starting to lose my patience with libertarians (not libertarianism, per se) and it's now all gone with the LP itself.
    I'm starting to shift more right as I get older and see what this libertine society brings us with the LGBTQXYZ mafias, groomers, etc. And I don't want any part of it. I think there's too large of a chunk of libertarians who are $#@!ing goofball neckbeards who can't even dress nicely enough to formal or political events and then wonder why the mainstream won't take them seriously. Add to that the massive atheist population in libertarians and you start to have some interesting recipes brewing.
    And no, that last part is not meant to start some atheism vs. religious people argument. It's a point I've made on here before that if you don't have an underlying belief that there is a power higher than man that governs, you may find yourself at some point thinking man is king of all and our arc cannot be stopped by anyone or anything (as many leftists think).
    Welcome to the R3VOLUTION!

  18. #16
    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?
    https://twitter.com/NHpilled/status/1538179737776013312



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  20. #17
    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?
    "Our nation's ideological self-segregation is proceeding nicely." -- Michael Malice

    https://twitter.com/LeslieD38009274/...97581194526720
    Last edited by Occam's Banana; 06-27-2022 at 03:56 AM.

  21. #18
    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?
    https://twitter.com/FreeStateNH/stat...05628590768128


    'Anti-Free-State-Project Protest' planned
    https://www.unionleader.com/news/pol...7a3defd92.html
    [archive link: https://archive.ph/dHnOw]
    Meghan Pierce (07 July 2022)

    [bold emphasis added - OB]

    The Cheshire County Democrats are planning an “Anti-Free-State-Project Protest” rally Saturday afternoon to call out project members who run for office as Republicans, and sometimes Democrats, to subvert “common good” policies and laws across the state.

    “They are no longer a fringe element,” Mohammad A. Saleh, chairman of the Cheshire County Democrats, said Thursday, saying that 50 members of the state’s legislature are members of the Free State Project.

    Free Staters are starting to have an impact on New Hampshire on a state-level and increasingly in small towns such as Croydon.

    This March, Saleh said, Free Staters living in Croydon gutted the small town’s school budget, causing residents to rise up and refund it at a special school district meeting. The event even drew national attention, he said.

    Along with school budgets, funding for roads, police and other emergency services are on the line, he said. These are “common good” services most people agree are important for their communities, he said.

    “Sadly the Republican Party is not standing up to them,” Saleh said. “It’s time for Republicans to realize these are not Republicans, they are just extremists running under your umbrella.”

    More and more, Free Staters are running for office -- for their local school boards and as Republicans, and sometimes as Democrats, on the state level, he said. They are “infiltrating” the state government without revealing their Free State status, he said.

    “Their goal is to win at any cost, their alliance is not with a Democrat Party or the Republican Party but the Republican Party has embraced them,” Saleh said. “The majority leader of the State House is a Free State Project member.”

    Saleh said this is the second such rally to be held. The first was held in Rindge a few weeks ago.

    “It can affect anybody, in any town, and we should be aware that they are exploiting our lack of awareness,” Saleh said.

    Ian Freeman of Keene, an active Free State Project member, said Thursday he wasn’t aware of Saturday’s rally, but said it is a sign the Free State Project is making headway.

    “They wouldn’t be doing this if we weren’t having an effect. It’s a huge endorsement,” Freeman said, adding these types of events are happening in other parts of the state as well. “Anywhere else you go, anywhere else in the United States, Libertarians are a sideshow. The fact that there are actually protests happening all over New Hampshire is an incredible endorsement of these migrations.

    Freeman is a member of Free Keene, a group of Free Staters in the Keene area. He is also currently running for state Senate, District 10, as a Republican.

    Freeman said he agrees with Saleh that no one should run for office and not reveal what they stand for.

    “Most of the people I know are pretty out there, they are known Libertarians, but there have been so many Free Staters that have moved out here I don’t know them all,” he said.

    However, he added, it is the two-party system in New Hampshire that pushes candidates into one of the two parties.

    “If they don’t like it they should change the ballot access laws,” Freeman said.

    To run with any party other than the Democrat or Republican parties requires a petition and a certain number of signatures. Freeman said if he were to run as a member of the Green Party of Libertarian Party he would be required to gather signatures from the district he is running in. But to run as a Democrat or Republican all he needs is $10.

    "It’s much easier to walk into the city clerk’s office and give them $10 bucks," he said. "In my case it was $10 and a short form. ... The thing is, Democrats and Republicans, they don’t want more choices.”

    The Free State Project started in 2001, based on the idea that if at least 20,000 Libertarians moved to one low-population state they could create a Libertarian led-state. New Hampshire was chosen as that state and as of 2022 more than 6,000 people have moved to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project.

    Members of the Keene Police Department said Thursday they had only been made aware of the event that day, but said Central Square plays host to many protests and rallies, which in recent years have all been peaceful. They said they are not concerned but just like any other event in Central Square they plan to monitor it for safety.

    The rally is planned to take place Saturday between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Keene Central Square.
    Last edited by Occam's Banana; 07-07-2022 at 07:40 PM.

  22. #19
    Is the Libertarian Migration to New Hampshire Having an Impact?
    The New York Times seems to think so ...

    One Small Step for Democracy in a ‘Live Free or Die’ Town
    A cautionary tale from Croydon, N.H., where one man tried to foist a change so drastic it jolted a community out of political indifference.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/u...-politics.html
    [archive link: https://archive.ph/S2FDh]
    Dan Barry (10 July 2022)

    CROYDON, N.H. — The tiny New Hampshire town of Croydon fits the New England of the imagination, with its cozy general store, one-room schoolhouse and local museum open by appointment. The only thing missing is supposed to be missing: a stoplight.

    But it’s not just the Rockwellian setting that makes this community of 800 seem quintessentially American. People here have just experienced a fractious come-to-Jefferson moment that has left many with a renewed appreciation for something they had taken for granted: democracy.

    “Showing up. That’s the big lesson,” said Chris Prost, 37, a Croydon resident who runs a small brewery from a barn at the back of his house. “And not just showing up, but also knowing what’s going on.”

    Hope Damon, 65, a dietitian who is pursuing a new career as a result of her town’s recent crisis, agreed. What happened here, she said, “could happen most anywhere.”

    To understand what happened — and is happening — in Croydon, you should remember the New Hampshire motto: “Live Free or Die.” This is, after all, the only state that does not require adults to wear seatbelts.

    You also should know that New Hampshire’s individual-rights vibe, along with its small population (1.38 million) and large legislature (400 representatives and 24 senators), has drawn libertarians like colonists to a tea party.

    This includes the Free State Project, a movement that for years has promoted a mass migration of “liberty activists” to the state so as to seed a kind of limited-government Shangri-La. The group espouses “radical personal responsibility,” “constitutional federalism” and “peaceful resistance to shine the light on the force that is the state,” its website says.

    Croydon, incorporated in 1763, is among the New Hampshire towns with a free-state vein running through its granite hills. This was hinted at in 2020, when Ian Underwood, a town selectman aligned with the Free State, proposed eliminating the police department as a way to fire its sole employee, the longtime and somewhat controversial chief.

    The three-member select board adopted the approach and instructed the chief to return his badge and gear. He promptly handed over his uniform, which he happened to be wearing, and then, in hat, boots and underwear, walked out into a February snowstorm. His wife collected him down past the general store.

    Croydon life continued, with yard sales at the museum, Halloween celebrations at the fire station and generally low turnouts at the annual town meetings — a direct-democracy tradition common in New England, when residents gather to approve, deny or amend proposed municipal budgets.

    On a snowy Saturday this past March, the 2022 meeting began in the two-century-old town hall, where the walls are adorned with an 1876 American flag made by the “women of Croydon” and instructions to reset the furnace to 53 degrees before leaving.

    Residents approved the town budget in the morning. Then they turned in the afternoon to the proposed $1.7 million school budget, which covers the colonial-era schoolhouse (kindergarten to fourth grade) and the cost of sending older students to nearby schools of their choice, public or private.

    This is when Mr. Underwood, 60, stood up and threw a sucker punch to the body politic.

    Calling the proposed budget a “ransom,” he moved to cut it by more than half — to $800,000. He argued that taxes for education had climbed while student achievement had not, and that based in part on the much lower tuition for some local private schools, about $10,000 for each of the town’s 80 or so students was sufficient — though well short of, say, the nearly $18,000 that public schools in nearby Newport charged for pupils from Croydon.

    In pamphlets he brought to the meeting, Mr. Underwood asserted that sports, music instruction and other typical school activities were not necessary to participate intelligently in a free government, and that using taxes to pay for them “crosses the boundary between public benefit and private charity.”

    The pamphlet did not note that its author was a 1979 graduate of the public high school in Chesterton, Ind., where he starred on the tennis team, ran track, played intramural sports and joined extracurricular activities in math, creative writing, radio and student government. Also: National Honor Society member, National Merit finalist and valedictorian.

    One person not completely gobsmacked by Mr. Underwood’s proposal was the school board chairwoman: his wife, Jody Underwood. The Underwoods, who do not have children, moved to Croydon from Pennsylvania in 2007 in part to join the Free State mission; they are now considered a Free State power couple.

    Dr. Underwood, 61, a learning scientist with a doctorate in education, said that she had known of her husband’s budget-cut proposal beforehand, but hadn’t felt obliged to give the community a heads-up. “Do Ian and I talk about things? Yes,” she said. “Is that shocking?”

    Even so, she said, “I didn’t think it was going to pass.”

    In fact, Mr. Underwood’s motion was seconded, sparking a contentious debate that included his wife reading a statement in support of the budget cut — in effect arguing against the $1.7 million budget that she and the rest of the school board had previously recommended. (Dr. Underwood later explained that her husband’s assertions — including that education spending had gone up 30 percent in recent years — had persuaded her.)

    Amanda Leslie, 42, a resident who teaches in another district, became so alarmed that she texted her husband to get to town hall right away: “The Free Staters are trying to cut the budget more than in half.”

    His vote wouldn’t have mattered. The budget-slashing amendment passed, 20 to 14.

    The school clerk, Angi Beaulieu, was so dismayed by what she had just witnessed that instead of signing her account of the minutes with the standard “respectfully submitted,” she wrote, “Regretfully submitted.”

    The shocking budget cut meant that the school board suddenly had to craft a new financial plan, while many parents suddenly had to come up with thousands of dollars to keep their children in public schools.

    “I would have to put in an extra thousand hours of work a year,” said Ed Spiker, 38, a painting contractor whose two sons attend Newport public schools.

    Mr. Underwood did not respond to requests for comment. But in the weeks after the meeting, he and his wife made separate appearances on an online Free State program to discuss what Free Staters were claiming as a victory for their cause.

    Mr. Underwood asked what for him appears to be a fundamental question — “Why is that guy paying for that guy’s kids to be educated?” — and denied that he and his wife were “in cahoots.”

    “It’s a lot of stress on her at home,” said Mr. Underwood, who has described himself as a former planetary scientist and artificial-intelligence researcher. “Less stress on me. I just threw the wrench into the machinery, and now, you know, the school board has to clean it up.”

    Dr. Underwood, meanwhile, smiled as she recalled the amendment’s passage. She also noted that “people were pissed.”

    For students taking debate, as Mr. Underwood did in high school, this is an example of understatement. Many Croydon residents were livid.

    But they were also chastened. They hadn’t attended the town meeting. They hadn’t fulfilled their democratic obligation. They hadn’t kept informed about the Free State movement. To some observers, they had gotten what they deserved.

    “I was practically kicking myself in the ass for not being there,” Mr. Spiker said. “I guess I assumed our town would take care of it.”

    The moment revealed a democracy mired in indifference. Turnout at town meetings has been low for years. The town’s websites are barely rudimentary, with school board minutes posted online sporadically. The select board’s minutes are found at the town hall — open three afternoons a week — or the general store, beside chocolate bars being sold to benefit the local humane society.

    From this muddle of anger, confusion and regret, though, a movement was born. It came to be known as We Stand Up for Croydon Students.

    Conservatives, liberals and those who shun labels — “an entirely nonpartisan group,” said Ms. Damon, one of the members — began meeting online and in living rooms to undo what they considered a devastating mistake. They researched right-to-know laws, sought advice from nonprofits and contacted the state attorney general’s office to see whether they had any legal options.

    They did: Under New Hampshire law, citizens could petition for a special meeting where the budget cut could be overturned — if at least half the town’s voters were present and cast ballots.

    Ms. Beaulieu, 44, a project manager for a kitchen and bath store, helped to gather enough signatures for the necessary petition. Once a date in May was set for the special meeting, she and other volunteers spread the word, knocking on doors, conducting phone banks and planting lawn signs.

    Meanwhile, the three-member school board developed a plan to fit within its shrunken budget. It would mean that more than half the jobs in the town’s tiny school system would be either lost or outsourced.

    For the lower grades, a private contractor would provide in-person learning at the schoolhouse that included a certified teacher overseeing three so-called guides, who needn’t be certified. For the higher grades, $9,000 allocated for each student would cover the cost of nearby private schools or an in-person online option — “in a church, or town hall, or some rented space,” Dr. Underwood said — but only about half the tuition for public schools.

    Democracy is a scrum, especially in a town of 800. There were awkward encounters at the Shaw’s supermarket in Newport, cross-accusations of bullying and misinformation, sharp words exchanged on Facebook and at town meetings. Some neighbors stopped taking long walks together.

    There also developed a heightened awareness — and, for some, a heightened distrust — of the Free State movement.

    Aaron McKeon, 39, a school board member whose children were already being taught at home, said that the We Stand Up supporters “didn’t waste any time starting a Free State witch hunt.” In fact, he said, they inaccurately described him as a Free Stater because his positions sometimes aligned with those of the Underwoods — though he believed that Mr. Underwood’s sudden and divisive motion to cut the budget was not the best approach.

    “I agree with some of the things they try to do,” Mr. McKeon said of Free Staters. “But that doesn’t make me one of them.”

    “I don’t believe it for a second,” said Ms. Leslie, the teacher.

    The crisis in Croydon generated a curious democratic dynamic. Since the law required that at least half the town’s electorate participate in the special meeting’s vote for it to be binding, those trying to overturn the Underwood budget encouraged people to attend, while those hoping to retain it encouraged people to do just the opposite and stay home.

    On the chilly Saturday morning of May 7, Croydon residents filed into a spacious building at the local YMCA camp for their special meeting. The We Stand Up contingent needed at least 283 voters.

    The turnout: 379.

    The vote in favor of overturning the Underwood budget: 377.

    The vote against: 2.

    The We Stand Up crowd cheered and hugged, leaving Mr. Underwood to vent online with posts titled “Your House Is My A.T.M.” and “Possibly Dumbest Thing I’ve Heard Someone Say, Ever,” and Dr. Underwood to frame the moment as both an impressive voter turnout and a victory for “mob rule.”

    “It felt to me like a bunch of woke people came to Croydon,” she said.

    Croydon’s experience resonated well beyond its borders, receiving substantial regional news coverage. It became a cautionary tale for these times — or, perhaps, a reflection of them.

    “As citizens we have many rights, but we also have obligations,” said Wayne Lesperance, a political science professor at New England College, in Henniker, N.H. “And when we don’t fulfill our obligations, we often end up with results we don’t like.”

    It seems that many in Croydon have come to feel that obligation.

    Ms. Damon, the dietitian, is planning to retire and has begun campaigning for a seat in the state legislature. “I hope enough of us can get together and find a middle ground,” she said.

    Ms. Beaulieu, the school clerk and former school board member, is breaking a private vow and plans to run again for a school board seat. “I thought, ‘I don’t have the time,’” she said. “Then I thought, ‘Yes, you do.’”

    Ms. Leslie, the teacher, is working on the political campaigns of her We Stand Up colleagues. She said she is fueled by a desire to oust from public office anyone associated with the Free State movement.

    Mr. Spiker, the painting contractor, spent a few hundred dollars on a camera and a microphone. Now he records and posts the school board and select board meetings online.

    And the group originally known as We Stand Up for Croydon Students is now called We Stand Up for Croydon. Its members met in a living room a couple of weeks ago to discuss future plans, including how to confront that central threat to democracy, complacency.

    “Outsiders think they know what happened,” said Mr. Prost, the brewer. “Town rallies to restore the budget! Democracy lives! But most people here know that’s not the whole story. It’s just the beginning.”

  23. #20
    anti-FSP protests means that it is working
    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

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by GlennwaldSnowdenAssanged View Post
    I was under the impression that the free state project was kinda a failure.
    I thought so too. But if FSP is causing a net outflux of libtards, then they have won.

    Time will tell if there actually is an outflux of libtards however. It's entirely possible that Massholes coming in is shifting it in the other direction.

    I'll remain cautiously optimistic.
    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

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post
    https://twitter.com/FreeStateNH/stat...05628590768128
    [snip tweet image]

    'Anti-Free-State-Project Protest' planned
    https://www.unionleader.com/news/pol...7a3defd92.html
    [archive link: https://archive.ph/dHnOw]
    Meghan Pierce (07 July 2022)

    The Cheshire County Democrats are planning an “Anti-Free-State-Project Protest” rally Saturday afternoon to call out project members who run for office as Republicans, and sometimes Democrats, to subvert “common good” policies and laws across the state.

    [snip article]
    (h/t Ian Freeman)

    Here's a two-minute edit of the biggest endorsements from the Cheshire Democrats on-stage this weekend at the Anti-[Free State Project] protest:

    https://twitter.com/FreeStateNH/stat...98589443829763



    Anti-Free State Project Protest Held in Keene

    Saturday, Cheshire County Democrats organized and held a rally in Keene’s Central Square to protest the tremendous successes of the Free State Project. For nearly two decades the FSP has been encouraging libertarian activists to migrate to New Hampshire and concentrate their activism in one small population state. The Free Staters’ efforts are starting to pay off and this event is proof.

    First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.

    The FSP is clearly in the “fight you” stage as dozens of democrats showed up this weekend in protest of libertarians running as republicans and democrats statewide and actually getting elected and making an impact in Concord. Upwards of twenty supporters of the FSP also attended the rally.

    Nowhere else in the world are libertarians protested by the people representing the status quo. Everywhere else libertarians are ignored, because there are not enough of them to make a difference. As more freedom-loving voluntarists and anarchists move to New Hampshire and get active, life gets more frustrating and difficult for the statists.

    Many government-lovers have packed up their things and left in frustration, as the FreeStateNH account on Twitter has documented. Those still here are feeling like their precious state is being whittled away and are getting desperate. Speakers at the event included democrat state representatives and others who claimed Free Staters are an “invasive species” and that the dozens of Free Stater state reps have upwards of a third of the entire state house regularly voting with them.

    Here’s a video including some of the unintentional endorsements from the speakers at the event as well as footage of Joa from Breaking the Flaw trolling them by taking the stage as they were cleaning up [see the last video embedded below for Joa's full video- OB]. There’s also a two-minute version [see the tweet embedded above - OB] and a video of the full speeches from the stage [see the next video embedded below - OB].


    https://odysee.com/@FreeKeene:2/Anti...ly:7?src=embed




    Full Speeches from Democrats' Anti-Free State Project Rally in Keene
    This weekend, approximately 30 Cheshire County Democrats descended on Keene's Central Square for an anti-Free State Project protest. These are the full speeches from the event. For a shorter highlights video, check the Free Keene channel [see the video embedded above - OB].
    https://odysee.com/@FreeKeene:2/Anti...ull-Speeches:5




    ANTI-FREE STATER DEMORATS GET TROLLED! COPS CALLED! #1ACOMMUNITY #FREESTATEPROJECT
    July 9th Democrats throw a protest against peaceful people known as the Free Staters. [...] Free Staters are taking over the State house, and local positions in government. Mostly to just leave you alone, unlike the demorats. Enjoy the trolling as I pretend to be a democrat until I blow my cover ...
    https://odysee.com/@BreakingTheFlaw:6/DEMORATS:2

  26. #23

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post
    (setq ButtheadVoice 1)

    He said "vibrant public schools." heh heh... heh heh... heh heh...

    (setq ButtheadVoice nil)

    The rest of it isn't worth a comment, seeing as it reads as if they hired the dullest sixth-grader they could find to write it.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.



  28. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  29. #25
    I am thinking the Free State Project has had little to no effect on NH.

    All this talk is simply rhetoric/scare tactics to get Democrats to go vote Democrat. Talking points are FSP=Bad over and over. Save NH from FSP..... Vote Democrat...

  30. #26
    The Free State Project features in The New York Times for the second time in less than a week:

    What Is the Free State Project?
    Our guest writer Dan Barry explains the history behind a New Hampshire movement whose temporary victory galvanized a small town.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/u...e-project.html
    [archive link: https://archive.ph/T6RUm]
    Blake Hounshell & Dan Barry (15 July 2022)

    Today’s newsletter is a guest dispatch from Dan Barry, who wrote in The New York Times on Sunday [see post #19 above - OB] about how the surprise victory of a hardcore libertarian movement in a small New Hampshire town led to swift backlash — and a harsh lesson in the importance of showing up to vote. Here, Dan explains the group behind the clash.

    For nearly two decades now, and without much national attention, restless libertarians everywhere have been relocating to New Hampshire. They are drawn less by the spectacular fall foliage than by a literal interpretation of a state motto more often stamped on license plates than uttered in conversation: “Live Free Or Die.”

    Much of this migration has been driven by a nonprofit organization called the Free State Project. Its adherents believe that by moving en masse to a small state with an inordinately large legislature — 400 representatives and 24 senators for 1.38 million people — they can effect change to their liking. That is: limited government, self-reliance, limited government, free markets and limited government.

    “By concentrating our numbers in a single state, we are maximizing our impact as activists, entrepreneurs, community builders and thought leaders,” the group’s website says. “Free Staters are neighborly, productive folks from all walks of life, of all ages, creeds and colors, who are on a mission to prove that more liberty leads to more prosperity for everyone.”

    After all, who’s against liberty?

    But it remains an open question whether the movement’s interpretation of liberty — emphasizing individual rights over the common good — has gained significant traction.

    In 2016, for example, the Free State Project announced with fanfare that 20,000 people had signed a pledge to move to New Hampshire within the next five years and to help create a society in which the “maximum role” of government would be to protect individual rights. People supporting gun rights, gay marriage and fiscal conservatism are welcome; racists, bigots and those promoting violence are not.

    “Are you tired of the government always getting bigger?” the Free State Project’s website asks. “Do you feel like the only person around who just wants to Live Free? You are not alone!”

    Six years later, the group says the number of Free Staters in New Hampshire stands at 6,232.

    “It seems to have been easy to get the pledges,” said Wayne Lesperance, a political science professor at New England College in Henniker, N.H., who has studied the Free State movement. “Certainly the 20,000 haven’t materialized. There’s no data to support they’ve come closer than 6,000, and even that sounds high.”

    Lesperance said that the Free State Project — which, like New Hampshire, is overwhelmingly white — “appeals to disaffected white folks who may not want to deal with the complexities of race relations.”

    He emphasized that he saw no links whatsoever to white supremacist ideology. Rather, there is “a pining for a time when life was much simpler,” he said. “A time when people were left alone.”

    Having failed so far to achieve a bloc of 20,000 “liberty activists” in New Hampshire, Free Staters have nevertheless made their presence known in ways beyond their annual PorcFest, a weeklong Woodstock-like event for liberty lovers that features pancake socials, Bitcoin poker nights, movies (“Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life”) and many, many lectures (“Can You Still Get Rich With Crypto?” “Eliminate Your Income Tax Liability — It’s Simple!”).

    The group claims that 45 of its Free Staters have been elected to the State Legislature since 2008 — more of them identifying with Republicans than with Democrats. It says that 20 Free Staters are in the Legislature at the moment, with about 100 “liberty-minded individuals” not affiliated with the project in state government.

    Free Staters have, according to New Hampshire Public Radio, “led the charge in creating lower-fee nano-brewery laws, repealed the state’s knife codes, and passed a bill that grants immunity to users who report a drug overdose to the police.”

    But even in a state known for its mind-your-own-beeswax vibe, many have found the Free State philosophy — initially rooted in an embrace of secession — to be alarming. There’s even a website dedicated to monitoring the movement and helping communities explore ways to “handle Free State Project members and activities.”

    A classic example of the movement’s purposeful disruption unfolded last March in the small New Hampshire community of Croydon, population 800. At a sparsely attended annual town meeting, a Free Stater and town select board member named Ian Underwood made a surprise motion to cut the school budget by more than half. He argued that spending had risen while student achievement had not, and he questioned the worth of school activities like sports and music instruction.

    The motion passed by a low-turnout vote of 20 to 14, sending Croydon into paroxysms of anger and guilt and leading to the creation of a grass-roots organization now called We Stand Up for Croydon. The group succeeded in forcing another public meeting in May, when a motion to restore the budget passed 377 to 2 — a good day for participatory democracy.

    But it was a less-than-stellar day for Underwood and his fellow Free Staters. Some who might have agreed with his arguments were put off by the somewhat underhanded manner in which he tried to bring about change.

    Even his wife, Jody Underwood, a Free Stater and a member of the Croydon school board who supported the radical budget cut, thought that her husband’s motion, delivered without giving townspeople time to digest the particulars, was unwise.

    “I don’t like how this was just forced on people,” she said. “That’s never a good way to do things.”

    Even though they ultimately lost their battle in Croydon, she said, “Free Staters thought it was great” — in part, presumably, because it brought more attention to their cause.

    But more attention does not always work in a cause’s favor. Hope Damon, a Croydon resident who joined the fight against the budget cut, is planning to retire from her job as a nutritionist and run for a seat in the State Legislature. She was motivated in part to stop the Free State movement from growing.

    “I’m being quite straightforward,” said Damon, who considers herself a moderate Democrat. “We don’t trust them.”

    Democrats and activists who oppose cutting school budgets are now planning events in other towns; one rally against the Free State movement was held in Keene, N.H., last Saturday [see post #22 above - OB]. And the anti-Free State group We Stand Up for Croydon is planning a community picnic next month at the Croydon fire station. Billed as a “thank you” to residents who stood up against the budget cuts, it is also a reminder that the political fight is far from over.

    Damon said that the Free State influence in the State Legislature is much more powerful than many might realize.

    “This is not a fringe group anymore,” she said. “And this means that we have to work vigorously for people who value democracy for the common good.”
    Last edited by Occam's Banana; 07-18-2022 at 09:21 PM.

  31. #27
    https://twitter.com/LeslieD38009274/...00343988879367




    The NH Left’s New Bogeyman
    https://nhjournal.com/the-nh-lefts-new-bogeyman/
    Len Turcotte (01 August 2022)

    What does the leadership of your political party do when the economy has been turned upside down in a little over 18 months and inflation is the number one concern of voters? When your presidential pick has been unequivocally shown to be in cognitive decline? When you have nothing you can point to that your party is accomplishing either nationally or locally, other than the utter destruction of everyone’s finances? And most of all, what do you do when your favorite bogeyman (in this case, the country’s former president) just isn’t in the minds of the population and is not scaring anyone anymore? Well, you create a new bogeyman.

    To this end, New Hampshire’s far-left Democrats (and recently, even a couple of left-of-center Republicans) have consolidated their unbridled ire and nastiness around members of the so-called “Free Staters” and any like-minded Republicans. And I realize, that most reading this have never even heard of this group. It’s truly amazing. Big government socialists (New Hampshire Democrats) believe they can convince you that a group of individuals that represent less than half of one percent of our state’s population, those that have moved to our state to advance liberty, freedom, and generally conservative values, are the impetus for everything they deem unsavory in our state.

    When you hear or read something from our state’s left-leaning activists deriding freedom-loving Americans, simply disregard this ongoing coordinated attack. Ask them just what they actually know about those they rail against; it will only result in blank stares as their activists only regurgitate the mantra handed down by the party leaders. Then, invite them to take some time to research these freedom-loving, small bureaucracy New Hampshire citizens.

    So, I have an idea for New Hampshire’s leftwing activists as well as the couple of their quiet backers who claim to be Republicans: Pick a very blue state and start your own project to advance the socialism and communism you espouse. We have one such state just to our west that might fit the bill nicely and the move wouldn’t be very far or too costly. Or how about choosing one of the poorly run, fiscally insane blue state gems like New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey, or California? All are exclusively run by like-minded Democrats and faux Republicans. Of course, those states have some of the overall highest tax burdens that will only continue to increase as middle-income earners and the wealthy leave those states in droves for greener pastures in red or conservatively run states like ours.

    Now that I think of it, maybe when New Hampshire’s Democrats choose their idyllic utopian blue state to migrate to, we conservatives can start a fund to help with their moving expenses. We, as self-reliant types, would never ask someone else to pay for our move, but I’m sure there would be a ground swell of donations from red-blooded New Hampshire citizens to facilitate this effort. I’ll even make the first donation!

  32. #28

  33. #29
    Last edited by Occam's Banana; 08-02-2022 at 10:22 PM.

  34. #30
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

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