can you add me to the porqupine list?
My vote is for either MT, WY or NH. I am planning to hit the western 2 States next spring, I only wish I could go before I vote.
Posted on 08/15/2003 7:53:21 PM PDT by Dada Orwell
This just went up on the FSP website.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Elizabeth McKinstry, Vice President Free State Project, Inc. Phone: (734) 904-5712 Email: emckinstry@freestateproject.org Website: www.freestateproject.org
Free State Project hits crucial 5,000 member mark
August 13, 2003
Celebrity writer Boston T. Party becomes 5000th "Free Stater" Group aims to migrate, free one state from "Big Gov." 5000th sign-up considered key milestone Event triggers crucial vote: Which state will become the Free State? One year ahead of schedule, America's fastest-growing liberty movement has just crossed a rubicon. This week Colorado author and privacy activist Boston T. Party became the 5,000th person to join the Free State Project, an organization working to concentrate 20,000 liberty-minded voters in one state. Their aim is to help reduce the size and scope of government there, making it a beachhead for individual liberty: The "Free State."
"It is my pleasure to formally join," says Party, author of "Boston's Gun Bible" and "You and the Police."
"Start packing your bags...We're all gonna be neighbors!"
Boston isn't the first public figure to become involved. Other notables in the movement include New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson (R) and syndicated columnist Vin Suprynowicz. But Boston's decision to join triggers both crucial events and warm responses.
"Boston T. Party was a favorite author of mine long before the Free State Project, " says FSP Vice Pres. Elizabeth McKinstry, "and it's thrilling to see the synergy between Boston and the FSP blossom in this way."
Having reached the 5,000 mark, the Project is now required by charter to select a state. Over the next month, members will vote by mail to choose between ten candidates: VT, NH, ME, MT, ND, SD, WY, ID, AK and DE. The winner will likely become their eventual home, though members are officially pledged to move only if their numbers reach 20,000.
Individuals wishing to participate in the state vote have until August 15 to join the FSP. Ballots are due Sept. 22, and (drumroll) the winning state will be announced on October 1, 2003.
In the meantime, Party says he's nearing completion on a novel he started in 1997: "Molon Labe!" The topic? Thousands of liberty lovers try to establish a Free State! Excerpts are now available on the FSP website, www.freestateproject.org.
You're half-right about concentrating on particular districts, but we're also attempting to avoid having all our porcupine eggs in one basket. As many as a quarter of those relocating are expected to head for the goal state's capital city, where they'll become the core of the eventual political party to evolve from the FSP migration- the FSP is NOT going to assume that role, avoiding alienation of existing long-term residents similarly inclined. We want to work with them and enhance their previous efforts, Not *show them how to do it*. THEY are the experts....
On the other hand, in at least three of the potential goal states, research has been done into previous elections and potentially winnable electoral districts, particularly in the Representative seats [this was a real easy project in Wyoming!] Whether one or none of those states is chosen for the initial effort, that research will NOT be abandoned simply because efforts will be directed elsewhere initially. Their time will come.
20,000 is 1/10 of the total voters in the state.
Pretty close. Actually, the likely chosen tactic is also going to include removal of incumbents of either party, via a *None of the Above* vote for porcupine- or other- candidates. But in any event, there'll be no easy no-opponent races for party hacks.
-archy-/-
The mainstay of local politics...the no-contest election. That's gonna really hurt....lol, I love it.
Yep. And the political, economic and social data collected in the consideration of which state to launch the initial FSP efforts is not being round-filed, but updated and reworked, as the overflow from the first effort makes a second and third possible, then more to follow in the successes of the first, and maybe others. Setbacks, sure, we expect 'em, but don't expect the FSP efforts elswehere to come to a halt just because they're initially focused in one location. If the porcupine hadn't been chosen as our symbol/mascot, I believe I'd have held out for Kudzu.
-archy-/-
...an incumbant in every pot...with the heat turned up!
-archy-/-
can you add me to the porqupine list?
My vote is for either MT, WY or NH. I am planning to hit the western 2 States next spring, I only wish I could go before I vote.
Perhaps you do not understand what a *pledged* porcupine is. I gave my word that I would do so, altering if not quite *giving up* career, friends and location dependent hobbies [and I HATE the idea that none of the viable choices were in the American South, but the numbers spoke for themselves. Someday....]
Neither am I teerribly happy about some of the Eastern locations, though events have turned my opinion around on two or three of the possible eastern choices, tythough I've made no secret that I favour a Western move, or possibly, Alaska, where I've previously resided, but where our initial effort will take longer.
So we shall see. But I gave my word and I'll keep it, and from what I've seen, most of my fellow porcupines are at least as serious about their intentions as I am.
-archy-/-
I hereby state my solemn intent to move to a state of the United States designated by vote of Free State Project (FSP) participants as specified in the Participation Guidelines of the FSP. Once this move occurs, I will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of civil government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. I have read and understood the Participation Guidelines of the FSP and agree to be bound by them.
5,000 out of a country of 300 million. They should get a salute on Hee Haw.
My vote is for either MT, WY or NH. I am planning to hit the western 2 States next spring, I only wish I could go before I vote.
Agreed, though my granddad's Homestead Act plot is in Wyoming, making that an easy choice for me, and one to which I should be able to relocate to within 30 days of the announcement IF it's the one chosen. I could handle South Dakota or Montana about as well, having been peromised work and housing there if either of them are picked.
But whichever place, one way or another: see ya in the Free State, pal!
-archy-/-
As things are now going, and with the point of view we have now, I'd reluctantly have to agree with you that the future could be as bleak as you suggest.
But then too, few in the late 1980s or early 1990 foresaw the coming breakup of the Soviet Union, either. Things, and situations change, sometimes beyond the ability to easily see it coming. And I'd rather be among 20,000 others similarly inclined than in one of the liberal anthills when the lights go out.
As well as 20,000 more consumers and customers, very probably followed by others travelling in their footsteps.
Actually economists predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union after it stopped it's expansion, knowing that sooner or later the system would by design overload itself....
And I'd rather be among 20,000 others similarly inclined than in one of the liberal anthills when the lights go out.
Fully agreed my friend, better by a mile. The problem is that when the lights go out (not "if") there are going to be hordes of refugees flooding the still quite sucessfull FreeState(s)....
Exactly! The people prepared to move are not doped up losers. They are wealth creators, if it were otherwise they wouldn't want to move to somewhere where the gub safety net will be promptly pulled from beneath them.
Actually, I expect to hear squeals more like those of angry piglets. But either way, I think a few are going to find themselves in politically boiling waters much sooner than they'd like.
I've been impressed by the enthusiusm, practicality and maturity I've heard from many of the Porcupines of college age, and I've also noted a particularly high number of military veterans among the older ones, as I am- and including a sizable number of experienced combat arms officers. That makes for a real interesting mix....
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