Posted on 09/30/2003 7:24:17 PM PDT by Dan Evans
A libertarian movement promoting "minimalist government", the free market, drugs, prostitution and gun ownership plans to infiltrate New Hampshire to create a breakaway American regime, its leaders will announce today. The Free State Project, which has supporters in the UK and worldwide, will reveal today at a meeting in New York that its members have voted for the small but highly-symbolic north-eastern state as its target to win power.
Project chiefs will now try to persuade 20,000 people to move to New Hampshire and sway the electorate towards blocking federal "nanny" laws and social restrictions.
Jason Sorens, a lecturer in political science at Yale University and president of the project, said he wants to create an "autocratic territory" and the Free State Project will follow the examples of the Mormons in Utah, the French separatists in Quebec, Canada, and the conservative Amish religious communities.
Political sceptics have dismissed the project as the fringe cult fantasies of a disorganised shower of anarchists and internet geeks.
But Professor Sorens claims membership is soaring as people become angry over increasing restrictions on personal freedom, government surveillance of private individuals and greater state power in the justice system.
Membership of the Free State Project rocketed after an article in Playboy this year.
"I think that was a good place to find people who are socially tolerant and wary of government regulation over private behaviour," Prof Sorens said yesterday.
The FSP argues that civil government should exist only to protect life, liberty, and property. Individuals are free to do as they please, provided it does not harm others.
In a "Free State", that would translate as a green light for casinos, brothels, cocaine farms and gun supermarkets. Leaders would also do away with seatbelt laws, limits on gay marriage and most taxes.
"The classical liberal philosophy has a long and respectable pedigree. We see ourselves as a kind of chamber of commerce, promoting the state as somewhere where people will come and live freely and do business," he said.
Schools and hospitals would be entirely privatised. Prof Sorens sees new New Hampshire as having economic parallels with Singapore and Hong Kong, and social parallels to the tolerant Netherlands.
New Hampshire's state motto is already "Live free or die".
A ballot last week had members choosing from a shortlist of 10 states, each chosen on the basis that the FSP had calculated the populations were low enough and federal influence weak enough that moving 20,000 members there would give enough leverage to sway the state legislature.
Wyoming came second in the ballot. Other states on the list included Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Vermont and the Dakotas.
Members must agree to move to the chosen state.
But the New Hampshire Democratic chairwoman, Kathy Sullivan, said she considered the project "sort of a very fringe group that can best be described as anarchists".
A British member, Matthew Hurry, a 24-year-old computer technician from Brighton, was already preparing to move to the chosen state.
"It's one of the few good ideas I've seen actually put into practice with a good chance of success. Freedom is important for people, and the western world is severely lacking in it," he said.
But Francis Tyers, a 20-year-old University of Wales student, who studies in Aberystwyth but is currently on placement with the computer giant Hewlett Packard in Ireland, said Alaska would have been his first choice. "I specified on my membership form that I would move when they had legalised the cultivation of marijuana. I'm hoping that this will be one of the first things on their agenda. And secession from the United States would be great," he said.
It is this kind of radical idea that Prof Sorens emphasises is not the FSP's main thrust. "We have no wish to alienate the people of New Hampshire. We want to win them over," he said.
James Maynard, one of 150 project members who already live in New Hampshire, is currently campaigning as a Libertarian to try to win a council seat in the Keene city elections in November.
"The FSP is a mix of common sense ideas and "thinking out of the box". Within the framework of a real-life state and local politics, a group will not be afraid to try new things and take lessons from the business world to bring New Hampshire a smaller, less expensive, more accountable government," he said.
Project members are mostly men and in their 20s and 30s. Many own small businesses and half of them have a university degree, with 18% possessing doctorates and 40% earning more than £40,000 a year.
The Guardian seems to think they have an inside track on the election results.
There doesn't seem to be anything posted at the Free State Project website yet, at least as of 0900 FRee Republic time.
I'd hardly be surprised if NH turns out to be the choice, though pre-election polling indicated that WY was favoured by those most likely to make the move.
-archy-/-
But it's all about sex, drugs and guns. Right.
You forgot rock & roll. But quite a few of us are also either veterans of military service or current active-duty military personnel, including what I believe to be a few more of the female members of the group than would be the usual representation in such a cross-section. Several of the *both spouses* porcupine families are composed of a husband and wife who are both serving in the military.
A couple of such situations in which one of the two [or both!] is now on duty in Iraq or Afghanistan caused a problem or two in getting their votes for the state selection made via proxy. But the Porcupines are a resourceful lot.
FYI, I'm in my mid-50s, and I've run across fellow FSPers of all ages, so take the view that they're *mostly* 20 or 30-something males with a grain or two of salt as well.
-archy-/-
See ya in the Free State, Mr. New Hampsterland Porcupine.
-archy-/-
Actually there are a whole bunch of FReepers who sound like the state RAT chairman...
But the New Hampshire Democratic chairwoman, Kathy Sullivan, said she considered the project "sort of a very fringe group that can best be described as anarchists".
These refugies have certainly been bending CO to the left some. The saving grace might be that those inflated home prices may let me cash out in a couple of years and be debt free in the mountains somewhere.
FReegards, oh, and how about Jake Plummer?
We don't look at a lot of those who've wished us well but who for personal reasons just can't abandon their homes, some of which have been in their families for multiple generations.
And likewise, those who have their doubts about the possibility of the overall success of our strategy certainly have a point, and their input is welcomed too. But we are willing to accept small gains at first, then build on them
I'll tell you this: your good wishes are accepted with as much sincerity as they've been given, and you have my thanks for them.
-archy-/-
I odn't understand those who leave an area due to the politics them immediately start restructuring the new place like the old. IMO, these Kalifornians are like rodents that ruin everythin around them and poop in their own nests.
This guy doesn't seem to agree with you. He's welcomed us.
But then, you know more about NH and the people of the state than the governor, right?
-archy-/-
Well, one is that we know of.
The rest have to know that drug users/sellers/manufacturers will be attracted to the state. And prostitutes. And casinos. And pornographers. And gays (though there's nothing wrong with that, to paraphrase).
The article had it right: "... fringe cult fantasies of a disorganised shower of anarchists and internet geeks." Reminds me of the commandos enacting a resolution in Life of Brian:
LORETTA: I agree. It's action that counts, not words, and we need action now.
COMMANDOS: Hear! Hear!
REG: You're right. We could sit around here all day talking, passing resolutions, making clever speeches. It's not going to shift one Roman soldier!
FRANCIS: So, let's just stop gabbing on about it. It's completely pointless and it's getting us nowhere!
COMMANDOS: Right!
LORETTA: I agree. This is a complete waste of time.
JUDITH: They've arrested Brian!
REG: What?
COMMANDOS: What?
JUDITH: They've dragged him off! They're going to crucify him!
REG: Right! This calls for immediate discussion!
Well, one is that we know of.
The rest have to know that drug users/sellers/manufacturers will be attracted to the state. And prostitutes. And casinos. And pornographers. And gays (though there's nothing wrong with that, to paraphrase).
The article had it right: "... fringe cult fantasies of a disorganised shower of anarchists and internet geeks." Reminds me of the commandos enacting a resolution in Life of Brian:
LORETTA: I agree. It's action that counts, not words, and we need action now.
COMMANDOS: Hear! Hear!
REG: You're right. We could sit around here all day talking, passing resolutions, making clever speeches. It's not going to shift one Roman soldier!
FRANCIS: So, let's just stop gabbing on about it. It's completely pointless and it's getting us nowhere!
COMMANDOS: Right!
LORETTA: I agree. This is a complete waste of time.
JUDITH: They've arrested Brian!
REG: What?
COMMANDOS: What?
JUDITH: They've dragged him off! They're going to crucify him!
REG: Right! This calls for immediate discussion!
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