Posted on 11/18/2002 7:26:58 AM PST by Jack Black
The Free State Project: A Project for Idaho
What is a "free state"? Whatever a free state is, it's certainly not being served and protected by regimes posing as constitutionally authorized state and federal governments. Our current government has all the trappings of a police state; they are managed through emergency proclamations, executive orders, bureaucratic mandates and judicial fiat. We are further whipped into a frenzy by the propagandists of terror who have been given unconscionable and unconstitutional license by the corporately purchased buffoons in the legislative branch. Our nation no longer bears any real resemblance to the government our founders intended.
From any direction you look at it, ethically, constitutionally, economically or politically, the regimes posing as our state and federal governments are bankrupt. A free state? Not hardly.
Many people talk about freedom, but few individuals try to do something about it. Regime change now has become a popular concept, but how? Anyone who has tried to organize even a local group to promote freedom issues will understand the impossible task of weaning 280 million American souls off the nipples of socialism and moving them toward liberty. The federal reptile with its countless bureaucratic tentacles, gnashing law enforcement fangs and seemingly limitless mammary secretions is just too much beast to tangle with.
So start small. Just such a Free State Project has already begun. Conceived in July of 2001 and organized by September, the Free State Project (FSP) already has over 1400 committed members. Under the motto of Liberty in our Lifetime and under the seal of the green porcupine, the FSP is for people who, don't want to wait decades for most citizens in the U. S. to realize the nanny state is an insult to their dignity.
How?
The Free State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people will move to a single state of the U. S. to secure there a free society. We will accomplish this by first reforming state law, opting out of federal mandates and, finally, negotiating directly with the federal government for appropriate political autonomy. We will be a community of freedom-loving individuals and families, and create a shining example of liberty for the rest of the nation and the world.
A stellar idea, but what are the plans to accomplish this? Once the membership reaches 5,000, the state will be chosen and that is where the free-staters will move. The FSP is doing extensive research on all the candidate states. Many criteria are being considered with 10 states in the running: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Criteria for a Free State
States with a population of approximately 1.2 million or less are being considered as viable locations for 20,000 liberty activists to infiltrate existing government and create a free state. The FSP's numbers are based on history and a statistical analysis of other independent party politics, such as the Parti Quebecois (PQ). The PQ began in 1967 as a coalition 3rd party that was formed from dissident Liberal Party members and smaller pro-independence parties. With only one out of every 62 citizens paid PQ party members, the PQ achieved a parliamentary majority nine years after it formed.
The FSP is specifically not affiliated with any political party, but rather a coalition of libertarians, classical liberals, constitutionalists and others who believe that, at a maximum, the role of civil government should be the protection of citizens' rights to life, liberty and property.
The FSP welcomes any liberty-oriented people. The FSP has adopted the porcupine as its don't-tread-on-me mascot.
The primary goal is to first achieve a majority in the legislature and then work towards filling the other branches of government. Just as many formerly democratic politicians in Idaho have infiltrated and became republicans to join with the party in power, FSP members can infiltrate the two dominant parties and take them over or support the various 3rd parties and raise them to greater political standing. Are there 20,000 republican and democratic activists in Idaho now? Imagine what 20,000 FSP members, dedicated to liberty, could do to the dominant parties at the local and state level.
Other considerations for a state where a free economy and society will be viable include the current funding levels of the republican and democratic parties; the native political culture and its orientation towards liberty; the economic freedom index; gun control and home schooling laws. A state with a coastline and ports or a border with Canada are considered more viable for free-market policies than landlocked states. There is even a criteria for the lazy factor -- the percentage of the population that is employed by federal, state and local governments.
And there is a many-faceted consideration generally falling under the term quality of life. Climate, projected jobs growth, crime rates, per capita income relative to the cost of living, and population density are given a more subjective evaluation.
Federal Equations
The amount of federal land ownership in a state is being considered for both positive and negative factors. More federal land ownership might mean an excuse for federal meddling in the state, but it could also mean a legitimate grievance for the state's citizens.
Federal dependence, particularly whether a state receives more or less federal funding than it pays in federal taxes, is also factor being given important consideration. States that get more federal handouts than they pay for are likely to be harder to wean from federal socialism.
The federal government claims to own two-thirds of Idaho and there are considerable grounds for Idaho citizens to have a legitimate grievance. Especially when history, the current lethargic federal management schemes and the constitutional facts of life are considered. The federal Constitution prohibits the federal government from owning any lands within a state except for certain military purposes and other needful buildings. The Idaho Constitution conveyed all property of the Idaho territory to the new state upon admission to the union. But unconstitutional Presidential Proclamations usurped much of the Idaho public lands soon after it became a state (see The Big Lie, http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20010802.htm)
Why doesn't Idaho resume management of the public lands fraudulently held by the federal government? Because the current political powers in Idaho don't want to rock the boat and risk losing their federal handouts. What would be the result if Free State activists assumed a majority position in state government and chose to give up all the federal handouts (which they plan to do anyway) and reassumed the two-thirds of Idaho that was unconstitutionally taken?
Resources?
One criteria that appears to be missing from the FSP's evaluation of the states is resources. Especially natural ones. How can a state be independent and self reliant without the means to do so? The resource oversight is understandable, since many of the FSP's founders are from the eastern states, where resources are more likely to be acquired in commerce than by development.
The relative qualities and quantities of each prospective state's resources appears to have escaped the FSP's consideration. The western states typically have a much greater quantity and diversity of resources than the eastern states and have populations of people who know what to do with them.
Ultimately, a Choice
The Free Staters, or porcupines as they call themselves, will eventually have an election to choose a state. Instead of the conventional one person, one vote election, the FSP will give each member 10 votes to cast all for one state or divide among several different states. The current poll on the FSP's web site gives the following results:
New Hampshire 26%; Montana 14%; Wyoming 11%; Delaware 10%; Maine 8%; Alaska 8%; Idaho 8%; Vermont 6%; North Dakota 3%; South Dakota 25%.
FSP members will vote for a state when there are 5,000 FSP members and within three years from the beginning of the project or the effort will disband.
A Free State for Idaho?
Idaho is already under consideration to become the Free State. Under various criteria and popular choice, Idaho falls somewhere near the middle of the pack under most criteria. Idaho has more diverse opportunities than most of the other states in contention. Idaho has moderate climates, a pre-existing liberty culture, varied geography and economic opportunities and a quality of life that can be enjoyed from remote wilderness settings to modern, urban environments.
Formerly known as the gem state, Idaho has abundant gems, precious and industrial metals and minerals. Mining was one of the first post-European settlement activities.
Many of Idaho's native peoples have established tribal gaming enterprises. The proceeds enhance their tribal interests and provide additional revenue for schools and other infrastructures. Idaho native populations might be naturally inclined to support the FSP.
Agriculture is common throughout Idaho and is a major component of the Idaho economy.
Idaho has supplied a wide variety of forest products for well over a century. We also have wilderness areas nearly the size of New Hampshire and other forest lands. With 20,000 activists to help wean us from federal hand-outs and work to reassume ownership of Idaho's federally-occupied public lands, prospects could be good for Idahoans. An accountable state government and the teeth of our current State Constitution's corporations article, could provide excellent management of our public lands while preventing some of the past corporate abuses of Idaho's resources.
Recreation has become dominant in many areas that were formerly timber and mining areas. White-water rafting, skiing, snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, boating and hiking are now major parts of the Idaho economy and common Idaho pastimes.
Idaho, especially once you step out of the Boise beltway (where the socialists in office work and play), is one of America's few remaining liberty cultures. Those who have been here a generation or more are likely to have come from that independent pioneer stock. More recent migrations have seen many who wanted to get away from the big city only to bring it all with them. So Idaho now has a mix of urban/suburban comfortable living and rugged, rural lifestyle opportunities.
Idaho Politics?
Politically, Idaho has been dominated by Republicans for years. There are many reasons for this. Generally, Idaho is an independent, conservative and individualistic society. Traditionally north Idaho is the main refuge for Democrats. Those Democrats, however, tend to behave somewhat like Republicans. On the other hand, many Democrats joined the Republican party some time ago so they could get elected. So some of our Republicans tend to behave like Democrats.
The libertarians of Northern Idaho fielded more candidates this year than the Democrats did and several have a decent chance of winning, especially after the legislature overturned the people's initiative for term limits last year. Incumbents who voted to repeal term limits may get the boot.
Given the weak standing of the nearly DOA Democratic party, it would not take a monumental effort for the Libertarians to become the second most powerful party. That would provide the opportunity to inject Libertarian issues into the Idaho political debate. Most Idahoans are unfamiliar with the Libertarian platform. There are a lot of Libertarians in Idaho that just don't know it yet. The Constitution party has also made a good showing this year, with good potential for improvement.
If the FSP moves to Idaho, a Liberty Party or coalition of Libertarians, Constitution Party members and free-thinking Republicans could be put together to develop some in-state political clout and challenge Idaho's Republican guard.
Twenty-thousand liberty activists could go a long way in Idaho. Idaho uses the caucus system. In some of the smaller counties, it is not inconceivable for 10 or 20 activists to show up at either the Republican or Democratic caucus,' take over, run their own candidates, and knock incumbents and conventional candidates down to write-in status.
The Free State Project: A Project for Idaho
An unintended result of so many activists moving to a state with a liberty agenda would be the eventual exodus-out of dyed-in-the wool socialists. Those who want to get their good life from the taxes of others will have to move to greener pastures once the bennies dry up.
The wheels of socialism have been turning in Idaho like anywhere else in modern America. There will be resistance from the there-otta-be-a-law politicians currently in power. And the hordes of agency employees will not go away with out a fight.
Guns?
Guns are a traditional component of Idaho culture. Concealed carry permits are easy to get as long as you provide fingerprints and pass a federal background check. Only convicted felons, drug addicts and the mentally infirm can be denied a concealed carry permit in Idaho. Permit holders are excluded from the federal waiting period and background checks for gun purchases. State law allows concealed carry without a permit when you are not in a vehicle or an incorporated town.
Alternative Schooling?
Home schooling is common in Idaho with some reasonable cooperation between public schools and home schoolers on some extra-curricular activities. Many home schoolers teach their children completely without government involvement. Charter schools began a few years ago in Idaho, in what is essentially a state-funded private school program. Time will tell how private charter schools can remain on public funds.
Climate and Geography
Idaho has a wide variety of climates, terrain and regions. Central Idaho is largely rugged wilderness and mountains that separate the other regions of Idaho. Mostly small towns and rural settings dominate central Idaho. Climate varies with the elevation from high country covered with snow until July, to river bottoms and canyons that provide good gardening opportunities.
Northern Idaho is a mix of mountains, valleys and prairies. Warm summers and moderate winters are common at the lower elevations. Climate is influenced more often by coastal weather than the central prairies. Couer d'Alene is the major city in North Idaho, which is dotted with many medium to smaller towns.
Southwestern Idaho contains the majority of Idaho's population and its political, economic and industrial base. The Treasure Valley around the greater Boise area has a climate with hot summers and moderate winters. Urban and suburban development along the Snake River is surrounded by active agricultural production.
Eastern Idaho is a mix of high desert, mountains and agriculturally developed prairies. Several eastern cities provide urban living opportunities, with many medium to small communities scattered across the mostly open terrain.
Idaho provides a vast array of rural living opportunities. High mountains, river valleys and canyons, the southern and eastern desert areas, the prairies and plains, offer many diverse relocation choices for the porcupines of the FSP.
Economic Opportunities?
Idaho ranks number one on the FSP's projected jobs growth analysis and their economic freedom index. Contrary to the FSP's listing, Idaho does have a port in Lewiston where many commercial products are barged up and down the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Rail service is available throughout Idaho. Idaho shares a short border with Canada.
The Case for Idaho
Consider the alternatives. If you're going to live somewhere, climate is important. It's easy to theorize about the relative importance of climate from an office in Florida or a house in California. How many FSP porcupines want to hole up in Wyoming or the Dakotas for a high-plains winter? How many would be able to brave a harsh Alaskan winter and still be there in the spring? FSP meetings may not be all that well attended come February.
If you want to attract a following it needs to be attractive for the long haul. A free state is not a one-year project. A cool but not too cold Idaho canyon like the Clearwater, the Snake or the Salmon might be more preferable in January than say, Bismarck, North Dakota.
And just what is the resource base of say, New Hampshire? How do free-staters plan to build a free-market export economy? Maple Syrup and hardwood flooring? Idaho already has diverse and productive resources in greater quantity than all the eastern state candidates combined. It also has the best economic prognosis according to the FSP's own data.
The federal Constitution only authorizes federal ownership of lands within a state for four specific types of military purposes and other needful buildings. Once this fact becomes more widely known, and the federal usurpation of two-thirds of Idaho is properly challenged by 20,000 porcupines (and a few more locals), we can finally negotiate directly with the federal government for appropriate political autonomy. That's a lot of Idaho to build a free state with.
The political climate of Idaho is ripe for positive change. The republican majority in the legislature has upset much of the electorate by repealing a thrice passed term limits law. The democrats are nearly DOA, and have been for years. The libertarians have made record progress and the Constitution Party is alive and well. That doesn't mean there aren't also a lot of lawyers, lobbyists and socialists, eager to maintain business as usual.
Let's get real. How many liberty-loving westerners would actually cross the Mississippi and live? Easterners may like it there, but I don't think too many westerners could call it home -- even if we were the government. I've never been there, but I'll bet rural Vermont looks a lot more like suburban Idaho with deciduous trees. Size matters. And population density too.
Easterners and westerners are two different breeds of people. Are there only 20,000 liberty-oriented activists left in America? Eastern porcupines would certainly be welcome out west, but what about a free state east and a free state west? We could alternate our annual free state convention and compare notes.
In all fairness there are a lot of good things that can be said about Montana as a choice for the FSP. Wyoming? Nevada? Maybe. But Idaho, formerly known as the gem state, Idaho and its famous potatoes legislature pushing to be known as the tolerance state, would make a great free state. I like it already, Idaho, The Free State.
***
Note to Marylanders: Maryland has been known as "The Free State" since the nineteen twenties, when Baltimore Sun editor Hamilton Owens proposed seceding from the federal union rather than going along with Prohibition.
Things change however, and from here in the Western States Maryland looks like nothing more than an appendage of the District of Columbia: bedroom communities and office parks supporting federal leechism.
Should Maryland still be called "The Free State" or should the mantle pass to another displaying the appropriate fruits?
To borrow from Benjamin Franklin, the moniker is yours "if you can keep it."
Idahoans and other porcupine types can register their vote in the FSP's poll at:
www.freestateproject.org
Once this is done in one state, it could be repeated in others.
Who wants to infiltrate Oregon with me? All we have to do is take down Portland. Good fishing, lots of high quality timber to cut, plush agriculture and fishing. Only a 10 mile strip from Eugene to PDX needs to be purged of commies.
And some of the best college football in the country, oh yes, the Ducks will be back!
They have a visceral hatred of government of any size, but blind hatred of government is thin gruel on which sustain a healthy, prosperous community.To: Kevin Curry; wimpycat
Our libertarian society has lasted for quite a while already; the socialism you advocate has already failed in every country that's adopted it.
Don't confuse telling someone to "drop dead" when they point out potential problems with an ingenious plan with rational debate.
In all seriousness, this idea has huge problems, and telling people to drop dead doesn't make the problem go away. To successfully take over a state, you're going to need a minimum of 493,783 people--and that's if you want Wyoming. You want Idaho? You'll need 1,293,954 people. Almost all of the low population states have serious problems with supporting a large influx of people. They're thinly populated for what are usually very sound reasons.
Maybe you need to start a Free County Project. You can pretty much move in and take over a single low-population county (good candidates include Niobrara County, population 2,407), assuming y'all want to live there.
The plan is to take a State through the mass migration of like-minded voters.
You know, Roscoe. Good old-fashioned carpetbagging. They can't get anyone elected in the general population, so they want to gang up, move in, and use their artificial majority to enforce their will on the natives. Louis Farrakhan has espoused a similar idea to found a "blacks only" state. Exactly like what the "Atzlan" movement is trying in California.
I told wimycat to drop dead, not him.
Plese direct comments about me to me.
It's small thinking. Why not take over a state like California? It has the biggest harbors, airports, endless miles of rural and high desert areas, the great Sierra Mountains, a thousand miles plus, of beautiful shore line, and best of all, most of our weather can't be beat.
If you can get 20,000 to up and move, why not 20 or 30 million?
Lets face it, what would be a bigger selling point? The frigid weather of Idaho in the winters or a complete take over of the best real-estate, with weather to match, in the entire country? I figure 20 million would do it.
Actually the first 5 million would scare the rest of the libs away. They would probably head back to where they came from, places like Boston, Seattle, and New York.
Remember, California comes along with a lot of clout in elections, unlike some of the other places mentioned.
If you guys decide to pull it off, up there in Idaho, or north Dakota, I will tough it out here behind enemy lines.
Listen, I am all for it, if the location is right. And remember, probably half of the folks that your going to attract will be over 40 years old. They come with educations, experience, money, and as folks get older, they don't like cold weather. This is a fact.
Why settle for less when you can have the best. Think big.
You still haven't clearly identified how you're going to take over a state with only 20,000 people.
Because there aren't 20-30 million Loopytarians available. And you REALLY would not like them getting in charge of California--they'd welcome the illegal aliens with open arms.
Your right! But there are millions of American's that have "hadenuf" of the current state of affairs and the two party cartel in DC.
True-Blue Libertarians would absolutely hate the laws and customs that have grown up in the Western United States regarding water. They'd really despise the concept of "beneficial use."
"It's flowing across MY land, therefore it's MY water, and F*** EVERYONE ELSE!"
These guys do not understand the history of the regions they are thinking of inhabiting. The range wars of the West were the result of rigidly Libertarian laws regarding water allocation (i.e., no law at all).
How would an ideologically "pure" state legislature ensure an adequate and safe water supply to the state without violating their Puritanical ideology, for instance?
Why, they'd privatize it. Watch the range wars break out.
Who would pay for it?
Free men and women would pay whatever the guy controlling the streamhead decides to charge. If that means that water costs $10,000 a gallon, well, the folks downstream are perfectly free to import water from elsewhere if they wish.
Uh, Joe...if there are that many people who've "hadenuf" of the GOP and the Democrats...then how come the GOP or the Democrats are the ones who win the elections?
Why do you even care if The Free State Project happens?
What threat are they to you?
Why do you keep bringing up water problems in Idaho?
You know the FSP hasn't chosen a state yet.
You know the FSP hasn't got enough people yet ( but it will and LOTS more)
So what's the problem?
W1
Poohbah! Gawd I love that cute little name.
Listen Poo, these two parties are in power now, and have been for many years. As things change, and they will, another party will surface, and it won't have any resemblance to the two party system that currently dominates and has a strangle hold on our nations capital. Nothing last forever, not even the Democratic or Republican party.
Look, if you think the majority of tax paying citizens are quiet content with the direction of this country, than you are blind.
The differences between the two parties in DC are really inconsequential, and they prove this almost weekly. Government gets bigger, taxes are never reduced, they only go up and the government has involved itself in *every* single aspect of our lives and business. I could easily go on.
I come into contact with lots of people daily, that feel the very same way. Eventually, a strong American leader, a new party, will come to power, one that puts America, it's people and businesses first, 100 percent of the time. A leader that is not so damn politically correct that he stands in stone silence as our borders are completely over run as our national sovereignty dissolves. A party that will not stand by and watch our manufacturing and business flee to other countries, while our own people's standard of living, declines...
Otherwise, this country is heading for a very restricted, regulated and oppressive system. A place where our constitution will be considered an old relic, something of the past. The choice is clear.
Now, Pooh, don't go and spoil their fantasy. In the meantime we won't be holding our breaths waiting to see them get setup with dialup access from Boondocks, Idaho.
Imagine how ludicrous it is that grown adults would seriously contemplate moving to some far-away place just for the express purpose of inflicting their cruel toleration upon their neighbors. "Wilbur down the road married his horse, while Jake and Beauregard cook meth next door. Hehehe. Them rascals! Of course, me and Mildred are not into such things, but we thought it so important that other people be allowed to do what we personally find abhorrent that we moved here to show them our support."
I thought you were smarter than that........
I guess not
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