Posted on 05/18/2006 8:26:26 AM PDT by Dada Orwell
Freepers...your thoughts?
From NHfree.com 5/15/06
New Hampshire's Free Staters kill smoke ban
Acting nearly alone against the American Cancer Society and a massive juggernaut of established lobby groups, a few dozen Free State Project members have managed to preserve New Hampshire's hands-off approach to smoking in bars and restaurants. N.H. is currently the only state in New England which allows consumers and businesses to make the "smoking decision" for themselves, and last month's vote assures that the market - rather than state regs - will determine smoking policies in 2007.
While Free Staters have been on the winning side of many lobbying efforts in Concord, this victory for property rights is significant, because it's virtually certain things would have gone the other way were it not for the Free Stater immigration.
Since the Free State Project targeted New Hampshire for libertarian migration in 2003, about 150 hardcore freedom activists have trickled into the state, aiming to preserve its Live Free or Die culture and roll back government there to a third of its present size. Aided by the state's predisposition toward liberty and their own relentless involvement, these incoming activists had already achieved an impact completely out of proportion to their numbers.
But past Free Stater victories involved alliances with other groups such as gun rights organizations and homeschoolers. This is the first they have won on their own, with only the pro-liberty legislators as allies.
And it was a close fought battle. With the rest of New England now under the thrall of smoking bans, many of the state's traditional ban opponents (such as restaurant and bar owners) switched sides, leaving the novice liberty activists holding the line nearly unassisted. Libertarian volunteer-lobbyists were outnumbered about three to one in the hallways and hearing rooms, losing on this issue in the House of Representatives, lacking support from the governor and winning in the Senate by only a single vote. To become law, a New Hampshire bill must pass all three elected branches.
Narrow or not, the victory changes the course of New Hampshire history a bit, and for the first time ever, Free Staters can say they did it virtually alone.
May 14 article in the Concord Monitor:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060514/REPOSITORY/605140337/1265/48HOURS
Details on the Free State Project: www.FreeStateProject.org
Don't take this the wrong way (I'm not in favor of state imposed smoking bans in privately owned establishments), but where's the evidence that the Free Stater's had anything to do with defeating the bill? I didn't see anything in either the newspaper article or at nhfree.com which explained the Free Stater's role.
Ditto that!
Since the normal opponents of these things (bars and restaurants) basically gave up, someone had something to do with killing it. Was it only the FreeStaters, or was it a combination of them and the many, many smokers who wrote, faxed, called, emailed, etc? We'll probably never know.
As someone who has been fighting smoking bans for many, many years, I really don't give a hoot who claims credit - as long as the measure was defeated, who cares?
Quite the opposite of San Fransico's ban on smoking while playing golf in the city owned golf courses, I still haven't figured out the danger to your health.
Bending over to pick up your golf ball could be a real hazard to your health in San Fran.
Taking credit where credit's not due.
OUCH...........
I think the golf course smoking ban it utterly assinine (pun intended) but at least it is truly "public" property as opposed to what most of the nanny statists insist on calling public.....
As soon as I get my kid into college, I'm moving to New Hampshire.
>>>>where's the evidence that the Free Stater's had anything to do with defeating the bill? I didn't see anything in either the newspaper article or at nhfree.com which explained the Free Stater's role.
They launced a new site. Try signing up for the newsletter here:
http://freestateproject.org/
Bending over to pick up your golf ball could be a real hazard to your health in San Fran.
There. That is better.
Well in that case, I feel that I can finally come clean and reveal that it was I, singlehandedly, who put Americans on the moon.
Again, I am glad that my state (NH) is not going to tell owners of private establishments whether or not to permit smoking. I just wonder if the Free Staters are really impacting NH politics or of they're claiming credit for things that would have occurred whether they lived here or not.
Hip Hip Hoorey!!!!!!
Absolutely wonderful news! NH can still live free or die! Good for them!!!!! Thank God the stink from Mass and Maine didn't rub off onto NH!
Thanks, but I don't want to get their newsletter. However, I've been to the site and can't seem to find any mention of their participation in defeating this bill. I would think that they'd be trumpeting this victory loudly.
I'm not saying that they weren't involved, I'd just like some proof.
>>>However, I've been to the site and can't seem to find any mention of their participation in defeating this bill.
You are wrong.
That is why I posted the correct link.
Plus I just contacted Bob too.
Damn, not that I don't like this at all but I wish there was a state with mountains that had a Freestate project going on. Is new hampshire the only place?
I truly appreciate your work to get those Americans on the moon :)
Do we know if they had any impact on this? No we don't.....but we don't know that they didn't, either.
Any defeat of nanny state measures is always a good thing, for whatever reason.
Excellent news! There's some rumblings that Madison's Smoking Ban is going to be challenged. Hope so! :)
Bully for NH!
I'll be damned !
I remember reading about these Free Staters a couple of years ago and how they chose N.H. as their destination.
Good for them.
N.H. is an island in a sea of insanity.
Years ago the nanny statists controlled "public property" here in Missouri.
Today they seek to acquire and control "private property" though the use of eminent domain.
They do it for "The "Public Good" or "The Common Good" (shades of Karl Marx).
In the last 10 days the Republican controlled house and senate have passed legislation that has no teeth in it to protect private land owners from the nanny statists.
Missourians will stay bent over for the nannys and others!
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