Free State Project activists have eye on Idaho

Spokesman-Review (via Free State Project website) ^ | April, '03 | Spokesman-Review editors

[churchillbuff]

COMMENTARY More activists have eye on state Our View: Libertarians' Free State Project looking around for what it hopes is fertile territory --- Don't look now, but another group of fringe political opportunists is seriously considering moving to Idaho en masse and co-opting its political machinery.

The Free State Project is smitten by Idaho and Wyoming.

Organizers view the two states as bastions for smaller government and individual liberty – and a good fit for as many as 20,000 Libertarians who are yearning to be free of Big Government. Idaho is the favorite among the "bigger" states – population around 1.2 million – being viewed as potential migration sites. Wyoming has an edge over New Hampshire among the smaller ones.

Indeed, Idaho is a live-and-let-live state that prefers smaller government. But it won't be an easy touch for an outside band of activists with ulterior motives. The Aryan Nations misjudged Idaho – and spent a quarter of a century fighting a losing battle with human-rights activists. In Idaho, Free Staters would be squeezed by anti-abortion conservatives, aggressive newspapers, the Republican establishment, and the Mormon church in the south.

They should think again about rating Idaho so high on their list.

At this point, Free State Project has signed up 3,000 activists who are willing to move to a designated state to work to transform government into their image. Once they recruit 5,000, the Free Staters will pick their state.

According to www.freestateproject.com, Idaho ranks high because, among other things, it has a strong predicted job growth. It votes for conservative and Libertarian presidential candidates. It cherishes gun freedom. It has the initiative and referendum process (for working around stubborn legislatures). It's a right-to-work state. And its teachers' union is weak.

The Free State Project, of course, is far more benign than Richard Butler's Aryan Nations. But it's making the same mistake Butler did when he launched his "territorial imperative" – a whites-only homeland in the Northwest. Butler thought the monocultural region would be fertile ground for his creed. He didn't count on the task force of human-rights activists that fought him until his dream was left in the ruins of his razed compound.

Unquestionably, the Free Staters would find some sympathizers for a political philosophy that mixes extreme fiscal conservatism with social liberalism. In Idaho, third-party candidate Ross Perot, after all, almost edged Democrat Bill Clinton for second place in the 1992 presidential election.

The Free Staters, of course, can move to Idaho or anywhere else. But they might not find a red carpet waiting for them.

• "Our View" represents the editorial voice of The Spokesman-Review. It is written by members of the editorial board.

[TaxRelief]

So their rather rude conclusion is that the FSP will only attract whites. The is clearly not a well-founded assumption. Blacks, asians, Italians, jews, or indians who crave a libertarian society will also be attracted to the project. As a matter of fact, the only people I personally know who are thinking about participating are American-Pakistanis. The white supremacists may be in for a rather unpleasant surprise. LOL! I may have to go, just to watch their bald, shocked, tattooed faces.

[Cachelot]

The is clearly not a well-founded assumption

Of course not. But if you dig into their thinking on takeovers, you'll find the same kind of stuff that has been a staple for the lefties for years: get in, work within the system, subvert, subvert, subvert...

[archy]

As a matter of fact, the only people I personally know who are thinking about participating are American-Pakistanis. The white supremacists may be in for a rather unpleasant surprise. LOL! I may have to go, just to watch their bald, shocked, tattooed faces.

If the first 5000 porcupines pick any of the Western states as the eventual FSP goal state, it's probable that there'll be a sizable American Indian presence there ahead of them, no problem from any of the Porcupines I've heard from. And if it's Montana, there's the interesting subculture of Vang Pao's resettled Hmong warriors, relocated by the CIA to the USA after their native Laos fell to the Communists, and who find conditions in the mountain regions of Montana not unlike their previous home- though the winters are a bit chillier.

But there are others considering the Free State project who stand a good chance of being citizens and registered voters within the timeframe hoped for by the FSP leadership. And I don't think that the white nationalist crowd would find them to be easy targets for intimidation.

[bedolido]

We get down to the teens sometimes. Usually the 20's for about a month. then 30's-50's. It snows sometimes. It did this year but didn't stick.

Very clean air, low crime, conservative. Boise/Meridian is high desert. Good fishing & hunting.

Jobs are there, depending upon what you're looking for. from Hight-tech to blue collar.

Good luck.

[Old Professer]

Thank you.

[Joe Hadenuf]

We don't want bigots Arian nation people here.

Can I be truthful here?

I don't know about all the Arian nation people, but you better face the fact that hundreds of thousands of Caucasion Americans have fled to the Northwest, including Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho in the last decade or so.

Many that are just sick of *millions* of illegal aliens in states like California, Texas and Arizona, have left those states and have settled in Oregon, Washington Montana, and Idaho. This is a simple fact, they left because they were being overwhelmed.

Like it our not, those are the facts, and the white people that have had enough, will continue to head to the northwest......

[Joe Hadenuf]

Or how about Arizona? Much nicer climate.

Most of the people heading to the northwest are leaving places like California, Arizona, and Texas due to the fact that they right on top of the Mexican border, and are being overwhelmed by millions of illegals.

Not only that, but Arizona does not have a better climate. 125 degrees in the summer season is more like a oven setting than a tempreture. If you like living like a lizard, you'll love Arizona. Besides in the northwest, lake, rivers and streams are everywhere. Gets a little colder in the winter and rains a little more, but that's why it's a very beautiful place.

In comparison Arizona looks like the surface of the moon.

I have been to both places, including Prescott, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, and all over Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, .........

If you like the outdoors, lakes, rivers, streams, fishing, hunting, one would do better if he went to the northwest......

This is just my personal opinion...

[Joe Hadenuf]

We get down to the teens sometimes.

Hehehe.....

[archy]

FSP has had their eye on Idaho as long as I can remember, and they still have only 3,000 people willing to move.

They'll "pick a state" when they're at 5,000? That ought to be well into the next millinium.

Signed members as of 5-31-2003: 3,834

-archy-/-

[Stew Padasso]

"neo-nazi groups and groups with terrorist connections have looked at the free state project with undisguised greed"

Who? Do you have any resource articles to back that up?

[Stew Padasso]

"We don't want bigots Arian nation people here"

I have a feeling that is either a rumor or a smear campaign.

[Stew Padasso]

"Or how about Arizona?"

I would join if they chose AZ or NV.

[Stew Padasso]

People are not going to subscribe to your Taliban-like form of government either. Maybe you could start a website and encourage your goon-like mindset to coagulate in another state?

[BooBoo1000]

In reply to Judge and Jury, about the number of illegal aliens in Nevada. First let me make it clear, I am a native born American, No Mexican blood in my family that I know of. So I am speaking as a Nevadian.

If it was not for the people you are running down, Las Vegas would fold up in a week. The Mexicans are the ones that do all of the work that the American kids won't do.

I work in a place that is open all night, and we sell among other things gasoline, snacks, pop, etc. Every morning the place if full of Mexicans with pickups and vans loaded up with floor mats and new carpeting. They come in and buy a 24 pack of Coke, Dr. Pepper. Then they get enough gas to get to the location and home and away they go.

They are all nice people, we have no trouble with them and all they are asking for is a chance to work for a fair wage.


I am sick and tired of hearing the Mexicans getting a bum rap, just because the spoiled, whining, lazy brats we bring into the world don't want to work..


As far as I am concerned take down the border, and let them in, they will work, pay taxes, and wont whimper around about it.

[Cachelot]

Who? Do you have any resource articles to back that up?

Read the thread.

[Stew Padasso]

So, some fools posted to a message board and that indicts an entire movement. Sounds like a smear campaign.

[Cultural Jihad]

Many that are just sick of *millions* of illegal aliens in states like California, Texas and Arizona, have left those states and have settled in Oregon, Washington Montana, and Idaho. This is a simple fact, they left because they were being overwhelmed.

Like it our not, those are the facts, and the white people that have had enough, will continue to head to the northwest......

It's all those darned little brown-skinned people, eh? So it's no longer an issue with the law, eh? If the white supremacists all decided to become tax cheats, what would the Joe Hadenufs huff about then?

[Cachelot]

So, some fools posted to a message board and that indicts an entire movement

Learn to read. No one has indicted any movement. The interest among these other groups, however, is open, well-known (among those of us who know about these things, anyway), and easily documentable.

[Nix 2]

The Free State Project has become a 21st Century trash bin, as there is no Constitution in this world that hands out the guarantees that this stolen idea has proclaimed. This isn't even Libertarian. It's positively libertine and hedonistic.
When Professor Walter Williams explained it, which was the first I had heard of it, The Free State Project did not guarantee rights the Constitution never envisioned, never said there would be no restrictions or ordinances, or absolutely give anyone the right to decide which parts of the Constitution we would abide by, and which would fall by the wayside.
This is not a dream. It is a freaking nightmare.
I reached this flyer via a link in an email from FSP:

EMAIL:
Member Services Director Tim Condon's arrest at the NRA national convention for simply handing out FSP flyers on the sidewalk has generated considerable attention, especially since Tim is an NRA member and was a registered member of the convention. The press release we sent to Florida media outlets is now available for all to read:
PRESS RELEASE

NRA HAS OWN MEMBER ARRESTED AT NATIONAL CONVENTION

April 29, 2003 – The National Rifle Association apparently had one of its members, a pro-gun activist, arrested at its national convention on Sunday, April 27, 2003 in Orlando, Florida for handing out pro-gun freedom literature from the Free State Project, Inc. The unlucky NRA member was Timothy Condon, a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and Director of Member Services for the rapidly growing Free State Project. He was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff's Department Sunday for "trespassing" outside the Orange County Convention Center when he refused to leave or cease handing out the Free State Project literature.

"I believe there is a First Amendment problem with prohibiting people from passing out political literature on public property where there is no problem caused by it," said Condon, who also happens to be an attorney who practices law in Tampa, Florida. "What is even more bizarre to me is that the National Rifle Association would have one of its own members arrested for passing out literature that supports the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms."

Condon, who was attending the NRA convention himself, was held for 10 hours at the Orange County Jail before being released on bond. Jason Sorens, founder and president of the Free State Project, vowed to explore legal action against the National Rifle Association. "This is just outrageous," said Sorens. "It appears that the NRA only supports the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution if it's done according to their orders. I really think members of the NRA need to question their loyalty to an organization that would have one of its own members arrested for passing out pro-gun literature at its own convention."

Condon, a longtime NRA member, vowed to plead not guilty to the charge of trespassing, and said he is considering canceling his membership in the organization. "It looks as if the Free State Project is a stronger supporter of the Second Amendment, not to mention the First Amendment, than the NRA," he quipped.

END

which led to this:
FLYER

NRA MEMBERS!
Lovers of Individual Freedom!

How would you like to live in a place where state laws prohibiting the right to keep and bear arms were abolished, entirely and completely?
Sounds impossible, doesn't it? It's NOT! Several thousand freedom-lovers of all stripes are already signed up and actively planning on moving to a single state in the U.S.A. where individuals of every race, creed, color, religion, national origin, and sexual orientation will be guaranteed the right to live free and unmolested by bloated state government, exploding state bureaucracies, ever-rising state taxes, and the host of unnecessary and unreasonable rules, laws, strictures, mandates, regulations, ordinances, requirements, and statutes that most Americans are today forced by live under. If this vision sounds attractive to you, then let me introduce you to...

The Free State Project
In the words of its founder, Jason Sorens, a Yale University Ph.D. candidate in political science, "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., where they may work within the political system to reduce the size and scope of government. The success of the Free State Project would likely entail reductions in burdensome taxation and regulation, reforms in state and local law, an end to federal mandates, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the world."

The Free State Project is a new strategy for liberty in our lifetime.
We don't want to wait decades for most citizens in the U.S. to realize the benefits of robust individual liberty and the failings of the nanny state. For those of us who already understand the debilitating effects of a government bent on reducing liberty rather than increasing it, the Free State Project aims at liberty in a single state.
What do we mean by "liberty"? Our members' philosophy is that being free and independent is a great way to live, and that government's maximal role should be to defend individuals from force and fraud.
What can activists for liberty do in a single state? A great deal. They could repeal state taxes and wasteful state government programs. They could end collaboration between state and federal law enforcement officials in enforcing unconstitutional laws. They could roll back state gun control and drug prohibition. They could end asset forfeiture and abuses of eminent domain. They could repeal strictures against victimless crimes such as gambling and consensual adult sex. They could privatize utilities and end inefficient regulations and monopolies.
Interested? Visit our site on the Internet featuring the latest membership figures, in-depth research on the ten finalist states, and dozens of articles on the Free State Project. Go to:

FSP

"WE DON'T REQUIRE YOUR MONEY, JUST YOUR PROMISE TO ACT ON YOUR WORD OF HONOR"

End of their crap
______________________________________________________________________________________
Honor is a word these thieves do not understand or practice. This has rapidly become fertile recruiting ground for those who want a *racially* clean, ethnically *pure*, white European state of their own. Some of us prefer the real name, NAZIS. Aryan Nations. Stormfronters. That *other* forum has leapt at it like hyenas on holiday. Amoral and lacking in a true ideal, their only groupthink is hatred of anything different from themselves, except they can't agree amongst themselves which among each other who is different unless it be the color of thine own skin.
Alas, Free State Project has become a Three Stooges skit that ain't got no Moe.

[justshe]

Baloney.

Oregon has a high population of illegals also.

And some of them are even 'white'. *wink*