Posted on 06/09/2003 10:41:16 PM PDT by wallcrawlr
Wouldn't that be the whole point?
I can see if there was a libertarian state ---with open borders but no government handouts the welfare class would not be moving to the libertarian state including many of the illegals. If illegals did go but found no social programs they'd go back or else would learn English and would have jobs.
-archy-/-
Uh oh...drugs, prostitution, euthanasia, and homosexual marriage for everyone. Sorry but the red states are smarter than that.
The FSP motto is Liberty in our lifetime. If the initial efforts in the first state are successful, there are hopes the idea will spread to other states, particularly neighboring ones.
Of course, it's sometimes said that The difficult tasks can be accomplished immediately; the impossible takes a little longer....
-archy-/-
AND SEX!
AND DRUGS!
AND ROCK 'N ROLL!
I fail to see a problem yet.
Neither did the guy who came up with the idea back in 1994.
-archy-/-
As a long-ago light weapons infantryman and tank gunner, sometime biker and former bar bouncer who needed a little financial augmentation to the GI Bill money paying my college tuition, I can tell you that I have lost a fight or two before.
But not against an opponent whose pants were on fire, and down around his ankles.
-archy-/-
A wide variety of considerations came up in picking the ten best of 50 candidate states for the FSP *goal state*, The final ten candidates were, in no particular order, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Idaho, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and South Dakota
Selection criteria included Low Number of Voters, a low dependence on the federal government, Strong Projected Jobs Growth, Geographical considerations including Coastal access, international borders or landlocked inside the U.S., Low Campaign Expenditures High Votes for Conservative and Libertarian Presidential Candidates, low state and Local Taxes, Per Capita Income, Lack of Statewide Land-Use Planning, Low Crime Rates, More Gun Freedom, Smaller State & Local Government Sector, Low Level of City Urbanization, Livability Ranking, Low Percentage of Residents Born in State, Low Percentage of Government Employees, Low Percentage of NEA/AFT Members, and the existing level of economic Freedom.
I'd imagine Hawaii was way up there on the livability index, but dropped quite a few points on the others.
C omparative data on the 10 candidate states *here.*
-archy-/-
Er...those are the White Mountains. The "Green Mountain State" is that well-known bastion of Libertarianism...Vermont.
This idea seems a little far-fetched to me. Do they really think that this will work? As the political scientist pointed out, you can't even get most people to vote, much less move across the country.
I think they may get the twenty thousand people. However, as I've said earlier on this thread, once the takeover begins, the Feds will try and crush it. First, the pressure will be economic. If that doesn't work, they'll send in the troops and the JBTs.
What do ya'al think?
There are now 3,945 *porcupines* as of 6-6-2003 pledged to give it a good try, including a couple of dozen or so FReepers. But I don't think we'll be doing it by ourselves; I don't consider myself a Libertarian/libertarian, though I figure they'll make better neighbors than most Democrats and some Republican's I've known.
But these are not the apathetic or lethargic throwing in their lot with the FSP- you need only check out some of the exchanges in the FSP discussion groups to realize that pretty quickly. There's a high concentration of young college libertarians, military veterans and business professionals with all sorts of skills and backgrounds, and for the most part, they're the ones who have NOT given hope that the American political process remains of value and have instead settled down to a future of watching *Survivor* and *American Idol* on the idiot box.
I think the 5000 *first wave* porcupines will be voting sooner than Jason conservatively estimated...and there are those early birds in their number planning to make their move within 30 days of the announcement of which state it's to be. That choice will influence the initial numbers, of course, but I'd expect to see the first few hundreds in their new home before the end of this year, with a thousand sometime early in 2004. And they may very well be a factor as soon as in the upcoming 2004 election, particularly in the goal state's capital city.
Neither do I think that the FSP *magic number* of 20,000 will remain a static one, though it'll be a fine start. And I think there'll be less of a *takeover* of the state's political and electoral direction than a pendulum swing of direction in it. I bet there'll be common cause with existing political leaders from existing parties who'll be able to redirect their own parties goals once some deadwood and corruption in their leadership is replaced. We'll see.
I'm not a big fan of most of the Eastern Seaboard candidate states, though more for considerations relating to the likelihood of realizing political gains than livability issues.
But in any event, I'm looking forward to both the challenges and the opportunities. And if you'd like, I'll send you a post card from my new home once it's picked. I suspect things won't be boring in the least.
-archy-/-
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