I find it interesting how incidents that get a lot of attention by NH politicos, often receive minimal notice outside the statehouse. One incident that has been under the general public’s radar screen is a December blog posted by a state rep who wrote that among the biggest problems facing the state is the Free State Movement, and how she supposedly is prepared to draft legislation that would make it more difficult for them to operate. Apparently, she wrote that “Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. There is, legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal. In this country you can move anywhere you choose and they have that same right.” Hardly anything terribly offensive so far, but then she added that “what we can do is to make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave. One way is to pass measures that will restrict the” freedoms” that they think they will find here. Another is to shine the bright light of publicity on who they are and why they are coming.” While I certainly don’t endorse taking away anyone’s freedoms, I don’t especially want to silently standby and watch as an outside group attempts, under the radar screen, to infiltrate government and take over New Hampshire. Furthermore, if I happened to live in Cheshire County, like the rep that authored the article, where individuals claiming to be Free Staters routinely disrupt Keene City Council meetings, or regularly hold marijuana smoke fests as a common occurrence on the Keene City Common, maybe I too would also be a little less diplomatic.
In looking at the uproar her article caused among the conservative side of the political spectrum, one would have thought that she was promoting internment camps and soviet style gulags. The upshot was a tsunami of rancor erupted – even Rush Limbaugh got in the act attacking and chastising the representative for suggesting that freedoms be denied and the insensitivity of her comments. Who knew Rush was so sensitive!
Perhaps, you’re asking who and what is the Free State Movement? In researching them, I googled the term
and according to Wikipedia “the Free State Project (FSP) is a political movement, founded in 2001, to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire, selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas.” I then learned that participants sign on and commit that they will move to New Hampshire. Apparently, as of January 2013, over 13,000 people have signed this statement of intent, and now have five years to move here. It seems that the Free-State movement was started by a Yale PhD student who advocated getting a relatively small number of like minded people (20,000) to move to a place (New Hampshire), who would put in motion a process that would result in their taking over the State and implement a libertarian society. Needless to say the idea of a group of people moving here under the radar screen and taking over is very troubling.
The background article went on to state that in 2010, at least 12 "Free Staters" were elected to two-year terms in the 400-member New Hampshire House of Representatives. Interestingly, how many survived the last election and if any new “colleagues” were elected is not fully transparent, since when it comes to elective politics free staters tend to keep a low (invisible) profile. For the most part, they rarely admit when running for office that they’re FS or fellow travelers committed to libertarian principles. Although a few were publically exposed last session, after being discovered they opted to not run for re-election. Despite these bait & switch tactics, we do know that this past election at least two new free staters have been outed. Interestingly they ran as democrats, so we should assume that political affiliation (party) does not matter – Free Staters will run as anything that will get them elected. According to all accounts, Free Staters support a libertarian philosophy that advocates for a radical redistribution of power from the state to individuals. Translation: government programs for the least among us would be no more – everyone would be on their own.
The migration of people to New Hampshire is nothing new – foreign immigration from Canada and Europe in the 19th century is what built this state. The 20th Century movement of people from other parts of the country to the Granite State, as well as the influx of new foreign immigrants, has only made us more diverse and successful. However none of these groups came to “take over” – nor did they hide who they were and why they came. So, in closing, the most alarming fact about the Free State movement is concealing from us, the electorate, who they are and what they plan to implement that makes this most disconcerting. So remember - remain resolute.
