New Hampshire: Beginnings of a Freedom Revolution?
If there is a place in the US, where the original dream of a free country and freedom for citizens is alive and well, it may be New Hampshire, home of the Free State Project.
"The Free State Project is an effort to recruit 20,000 liberty-loving people to move to New Hampshire. We are looking for neighborly, productive, tolerant folks from all walks of life, of all ages, creeds, and colors who agree to the political philosophy expressed in our Statement of Intent, that government exists at most to protect people's rights, and should neither provide for people nor punish them for activities that interfere with no one else."The project is seeking to concentrate within the borders of the State a sufficient number of freedom seeking people to actually make a difference and start changing things. Will they be successful? It is too early to answer that question, but the experiment sure is interesting.
Tom Kennedy, a Canadian activist for economic change was invited to the recent Liberty 2007 Fourm and Expo in Concord, New Hampshire and he is advocating that part of the project should be economic reforms, starting with local currencies, such as the BerkShares of Southern Berkshire in Massachusetts.
Here is Tom's report on what he found on his visit to the Granite State:
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I was honoured to be invited to attend the Liberty 2007 Forum and Alt Expo at the Holiday Inn, in Concord, New Hampshire from February 23rd to 25th. This event which was hosted by the Free State Project was billed as the first annual forum.
The theme of the Liberty 2007 Forum was ‘Attaining Personal and Economic Freedom in America’s Freest State.’ The event was designed to inspire attendees to be as effective as they can be at promoting liberty in New Hampshire.
The Free State Project started with a collective vision of liberty-minded individuals who are committed to working together with unprecedented success to reduce the size and scope of government while expanding free markets and personal freedom.
About 500 ‘free staters’ are currently living in New Hampshire – composed of 300 native Granite Staters (New Hampshire is known as the Granite State) and a couple hundred early movers - that is fellow Americans - who have recently chosen to move to the state of New Hampshire. These ‘free staters’ have enrolled with the Free State Project, a movement that has a goal to attract a minimum 20,000 liberty-minded people to make a conscious decision to move to the Granite State so that they can concentrate their political activism in one state, thereby recapturing liberty and providing a working model of success for the rest of the states to follow.
During the weekend, I repeatedly heard people refer to the Free State Project as the beginning of the Second American Revolution.
The ‘free staters’ boast that New Hampshire is tax-friendly as it has the lowest taxes in the continental USA. They also claim that New Hampshire has a culture of smaller and less intrusive government than any other state. They proudly proclaim that in New Hampshire, Second Amendment Rights are protected and eminent domain abuse is prohibited.
Apparently New Hampshire is third in the nation for offering the highest percentage of high tech jobs and it is commonly ranked high for being ‘business-friendly,’ Finally, ‘free staters’ rate New Hampshire as the ‘most livable state in the nation’ bcause it has the lowest crime rate in the United States.
‘Free staters’ have many living options – from ocean front property (New Hampshire has 17 miles of ocean front property on the southeast corner of the state), to lakefront property, to mountain property, to thriving metropolitain areas or quaint New England towns or large homesteads.
One ‘free stater’ has already been elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives (in 2006) and 30 other ‘free staters’ – who are mostly Libertarians – have been elected to positions of public office throughout the state.
Michael Badnarik, former Presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party in 2004, was the guest speaker at the Freedom Buffet Dinner on Friday evening. The topic of his speech was ‘The State of the Disunion' Address.
John Stossel was the keynote speaker on Saturday night. The topics of his speech was ‘The Enemies of Liberty.’
Ron Paul addressed the Forum on Sunday morning. Ron Paul has put together an exploratory team with the intention or running for president on the Republican ticket in 2008. Since the first primary will be in New Hampshire in the winter of 2008, the ‘free staters’ are dedicated to making sure that Ron Paul ‘gives good suit’ so that the mainstream media will have to take notice of his presence.
A group of active ‘free staters’ organized an Alternative Expo on the second floor of the hotel with a series of free presentations where speakers addressed various topics related to issues surrounding liberty – such as alternative health, energy, economics etc.
There were prospective ‘free staters’ attending the Liberty 2007 Forum from all over the United States. A number of them declared their commitment to move to New Hampshire.
Mark and Ian from www.freetalklive.com aired their daily talk radio show from the lobby of the Holiday Inn on the weekend. They moved to New Hampshire in September 2006.
The next event planned by the ‘free staters’ in New Hampshire is the 2007 Porcupine Freedom Festival scheduled from June 18th – 24th, 2007 at Gunstock Mountain Resort, Gilford, New Hampshire. Watch for details at: www.porcfest.com
Other websites with information relative to ‘free staters’ in New Hampshire:
http://www.freestateproject.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_Project
Time Magazine: How to Stage a Coup, American-Style
I stirred some interest in those ‘free staters’ that I met about the power and potential of ‘free staters’ taking a leadership role in launching usuryfree community currencies in their respective local communities in New Hampshire – with a goal to eventually connect all of the participating communities for inter-trading.
I was shown a Directory of ‘free staters’ and I commented that all they had to do was to invite those listed to add their ‘offers’ and ‘wants’ and they would be able to start negotiating trades and exchanges using their own usuryfree community currency as a complement with their federal cash.
I have been invited to go to the 2007 Porcupine Freedom Festival in June 2007. I recommend interacting with these ‘free staters’ for they are awake. I didn’t meet any other Canadians at the Liberty 2007 Forum, though I did meet some fellow-Canadians in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Enjoy this day!
Working with you for 'peace and plenty' by 2020
AND 'Living in usuryfree heaven in 2007'
I AM
Tom J. Kennedy otherwise known as 'Tommy UsuryFreed'www.cyberclass.net
www.cyberclass.net/usuryfree.htm
www.myspace.com/usuryfree
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Friday March 2 2007
URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/03/02/new_hampshire_beginnings_of_a_freedom_revolution.htm
