Article today in The Independent: "New Hampshire: The taste of freedom"

 

 

 

This article showed up today in the travel section of The Independent discussing New Hampshire's "liberty" culture. I thought it was a well done article, and as a recent mover to New Hampshire myself I like some of what it has to say.

 

 

 

But what do you think? Are New Hampshirites just whacks or are they on to something... or at least one policy/ thing right? Think the "Free State Project" will reach their goal of 20,000 movers?

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the first bit of the article, minus one picture. Link to the original article here.

 

 

 

 

 

New Hampshire: The taste of freedom

 

 

 

Taxes? Seat belts? Motorbike helmets? New Hampshire just isn't interested. Justin Webb encounters a small US state where the glorious scenery is only matched by the desire among its citizens to pursue personal freedom at any cost

 

 

 

By Justin Webb

 

Saturday, 20 September 2008

 

 

 

If you truly believed in freedom, you would not be reading this. The state with the best motto in the Union "Live Free or Die" would already be your home. For this relatively tiny piece of land (180 miles long and 70 miles wide), tucked into America's north-east corner, is the focal point of a radical experiment.

 

 

 

I was there in 2003, in a chintzy hotel near the airport at Manchester, New Hampshire's biggest city, when they launched what they call "The Free State Project", an effort to get 20,000 people (I think they probably have to be American citizens, but since when did these folks get hung up over passports?) to move to New Hampshire in order to make the state into a libertarian nirvana.

 

 

 

Or, to be more precise, even more of a libertarian nirvana. The Free State Project signatories had already decided that New Hampshire was the freest state in the Union. It was created by folks who thought Massachusetts was getting too cosy; as one writer put it, "by people for whom independence was more important than community".

 

 

 

What the Free State Project wants to do is build on that atavistic desire for liberty at all costs. Followers, who must be at least 18 and not motivated by racism or violence, make this pledge: "I hereby state my solemn intent to move to the state of New Hampshire. Once there, 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."

 

 

 

And they are doing it. Bit by bit, year by year, in a world where government is not exactly going out of fashion, the Free State Project is rolling it back.

 

 

 

So what exactly can you do in New Hampshire that you cannot do in, say, Boston, a short drive south, or in tree-filled Vermont to the north?

 

 

 

(Read more...)

20,000 people?! They wouldn't even be able to fit that many!

It would be epic lulz to see NH functioning as it's own seperate state. The government won't allow it anyways so why are they bothering?

That'd be fun, when everyone ends up seeing that it's not all it's cracked up to be.

In New Hampshire "Ron Paul" Republicans have won 153 out of 167 primary races.

 

 

 

 

 

So what exactly can you do in New Hampshire that you cannot do in, say, Boston, a short drive south, or in tree-filled Vermont to the north?

Probably nothing yet, but I suppose they would work to legalize some drugs or something similar.

Now I know where to go when I need any sort of gun without all that messy paperwork. Wonderful.

I'll take a tank. That's part of my personal freedom, right?

According to them, nope.

Followers, who must be at least 18 and not motivated by racism or violence, make this pledge: "I hereby state my solemn intent to move to the state of New Hampshire. Once there, 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'll take a tank. That's part of my personal freedom, right?

 

 

 

Believe it or not tanks are legal in all 50 states - the gun on it requires a bit of paperwork but nothing that can't be filled out in a few hours at the local police station. The only reason people don't go around shooting tank guns all the time is that shells are rather expensive. The biggest restrictions on private armored vehicle ownership are fuel economy (under certain circumstances you have to pay a gas guzzler tax) and the weight of the vehicle (generally you are not allowed to drive them on certain roads, as the thing is too heavy and the tracks will tear up the road). Otherwise, if you want your own tank division, just stop by Russia to pick up a few hundred abandoned T-72's and ship them into the country.

 

 

 

Probably nothing yet, but I suppose they would work to legalize some drugs or something similar.

 

 

 

Did you read the article? It outlined a fair number of different things that are legal there that are illegal in the neighboring states.

Probably nothing yet, but I suppose they would work to legalize some drugs or something similar.

 

Did you read the article? It outlined a fair number of different things that are legal there that are illegal in the neighboring states.

 

Ahh, I skipped straight to the article. Yeah.

 

 

 

But they'd better not come crying when they get in a car accident and can't get state-sponsored healthcare. If they even have that in America.

Believe it or not tanks are legal in all 50 states - the gun on it requires a bit of paperwork but nothing that can't be filled out in a few hours at the local police station. The only reason people don't go around shooting tank guns all the time is that shells are rather expensive. The biggest restrictions on private armored vehicle ownership are fuel economy (under certain circumstances you have to pay a gas guzzler tax) and the weight of the vehicle (generally you are not allowed to drive them on certain roads, as the thing is too heavy and the tracks will tear up the road). Otherwise, if you want your own tank division, just stop by Russia to pick up a few hundred abandoned T-72's and ship them into the country.

 

I know what I want for my "Sweet 16" :