४ सप्टेंबर, २०२२

"In 2003, Free Staters chose New Hampshire, with its deep vein of conservatism and 'Live Free or Die' motto, as their prospective homeland..."

"... and more than 19,000 people have since signed a pledge to move to the state, organizers said.... The porcupines, so called because they portray themselves as harmless until provoked, have built a statewide support network for newcomers and member families already here. Porcupine real-estate agents help find housing for the arrivals, others steer them to jobs, and weekly meetups, from pub gatherings to knitting circles, have sprung up across the state.... Parents also have been invited to a discussion on the 'Battle Over Raising Your Child.' 'Your rulers would like to do you the "favor" of taking your children off your hands to "educate" them (with a heavy dose of learning to revere their authority),' its summary read.... Free State leaders... said the group is a big tent whose members range from radicals to pragmatists. The unifying strand... 'is the nonaggression principle, which is an ethical stance that says you cannot force people to do things against their will.'"

From "Free Staters seek to undo New Hampshire government from within" (Boston Globe).

The article relies heavily on quotes from one Free State Project board member, Jeremy Kauffman:
“Democracy is a soft form of communism that basically assures bad and dangerous people will be in power. The goal is to get anyone who is an authoritarian and get them out of any position of power, ideally to get them out of the state.... If they’re not going to adopt our positions, we want them out.... And if they’re certainly in any positions of power, our goal is to replace them.... [An authoritarian is] someone who violates the principles of bodily autonomy and voluntary interaction. For example, an authoritarian might think it’s right to rob one neighbor to pay for the other neighbor’s college..... My hope would be that you can simply make [New Hampshire] unattractive enough that if you want there to be a giant welfare state, what are you doing here? Why did you come here? We’re shrinking the state here as much as we can with the influence we have, but ultimately we’ve got to get enough that we can actively take it federal and start really saying, 'Hey, if you’re in New Hampshire, these things don’t apply'... That’s not going to happen next year.... I’d be surprised if it happened in the next five. But if the movement keeps accelerating, I think that it could happen within 10.”

२१ टिप्पण्या:

Michael K म्हणाले...

Is this to offset all the Mass lefties, like Howard, who fled Mass taxes and turned NH blue?

Lem Vibe Bandit म्हणाले...

Tea parties, Maga hats and Canadian truckers were just as grass roots. Are they ready for the 'racist/white supremacist' label? It's freedom of association's kryptonite.

Good luck to them.

n.n म्हणाले...

A deep vein of conservativism: Declaration and Constitution (less the Twilight Amendment including human rites)

Mengele Migrants vs conservative center and libertarian right restoring the government from within.

A religion of ethics vs a religion of morality that advises a separation of logical domains.

They will bray until the babies cry, die, and lie on a cold metal slab.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

This effort has been going on for quite a while, and they hold 25 seats in the 400-member state house. That's not much action.

MadTownGuy म्हणाले...

I thought the state's motto had been changed to 'Mask up, vax up or die.'

n.n म्हणाले...

'Mask up, vax up or die.'

Masked, covaxxxed, redistributed, and aborted.

deepelemblues म्हणाले...

Their main exposure over the last decade that I've seen is some of their more loudmouthed adherents set up shop in Keene and seemed to make their mission in life getting into petty, puerile confrontations with local police over weed and the purported general bad-ness of law enforcement. Didn't help much at making the movement look serious, to me at least.

Ampersand म्हणाले...

Finally!

After months of waiting to discover exactly what political movements instantiate the white supremacist threat to our democracy, we have now been shown the threat in all it's hideousness. Let's hope it's been properly infiltrated.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

"This effort has been going on for quite a while, and they hold 25 seats in the 400-member state house. That's not much action."

That is a misreading of the situation. 19,000 members in a state of 1.355 million people would translate proportionally to 5 to 6 seats in a 400 seat body. They are punching way above their weight politically with 25 out of 400.

As Michael K points out, though, they are facing a uphill battle with Democratic Massholes moving in to escape the taxman they otherwise support wholeheartedly.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

Like Ampersand, I suspect that 19,000 might include at least 1000 FBI and ATF agents.

Buckwheathikes म्हणाले...

Trust me.

All the Free Staters moving to New Hampshire were living in Massachusetts and they're tired of paying massive property, income and sales taxes which are then handed over to the likes of Elizabeth Warren.

Massachusetts citizens literally passed a state Constitutional Amendment capping income taxes at 5%. The state income tax, however, is 5.5%, just to let you know who is in charge and it fucking ain't you, bitch.

People move to New Hampshire because of it's deep vein of NO SALES TAX. It's a DEEP. THROBBING. VEIN. It's a deep throbbing vein we like to jam right into the ass of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and every Democrat who squats there.

Rollo म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Rollo म्हणाले...

That has been common knowledge for some time, and it's not getting anywhere. The libertarians chickened out in picking an Eastern state, rather than roughing it out Wast.

What I'd really like to hear more about is the "Vermont Project" that some say changed the Green Mountain State. Was it real, or was it just happenstance that so many Sixties radicals ended up there?

boatbuilder म्हणाले...

The current U.S. Senators for the "Live Free or Die" State are Jeanne Shaheen (D) and Maggie Hassan(D). The state's two Representatives are Chris Pappas (D) and Ann Kuster (D).
I think these people: a) have their work cut out for them; and b) are not the political force the the article suggests.
Alas.
I wish them well.

loudogblog म्हणाले...

Look who just moved in next door...

Howard म्हणाले...

Complain all you want about Massachusetts taxes but for a relatively small state it's an economic powerhouse. The state is still full of factories all over the rural towns. Tons of folks live in New Hampshire and work in Massachusetts because the economy is so much better.

People are just jealous of the free market capitalist success of libtard states and are embarrassed by the compassion shown by democrats for the less fortunate among Us.

gpm म्हणाले...

>>People move to New Hampshire because of it's deep vein of NO SALES TAX. It's a DEEP. THROBBING. VEIN.

Except, of course, the 9 percent meals tax (though I've seen some suggestions that maybe it's been reduced to 8.5 percent). Because that's OK, because only the Massholes eat out and actually pay it.

--gpm

Sean म्हणाले...

Never understood the living in NH working in MA bit. Mass will tax you based on where you work not where you live. So you pay income tax to MA and then property tax to NH. Yes no sales tax but is that much of a win? I think the draw is lower cost housing and land.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

@Sean

But you have to pay property tax in Massachusetts too.

I'm seeing a discussion on line that says NH property tax raters are higher, but property *values* are lower. What's the bottom line?

Also MA has a 5-8% sales tax and NH has no sales tax.

Also MA is only imposing its income tax on the money you make working. I'm not your tax lawyer, but check it out: If you have income from your investments and other things, I think that would be taxed based on where you live.

joe म्हणाले...

"The porcupines, so called because they portray themselves as harmless until provoked, have built a statewide support network for newcomers and member families already here."

The porcupine is the official mascot of the Libertarian Party. Dems are the donkey or ass. The GOP is an elephant and the libertarians use the porcupine. Anyone who is going to write an article about the free state project and not tell the readers or no know this is unqualified to write the article. This is right up there with all the articles decrying the Kochs' political activism as conservative. They too are libertarians and give all kinds of money to prpo-choice groups. This article is idiotic.

Shawn Levasseur म्हणाले...

"All the Free Staters moving to New Hampshire were living in Massachusetts and they're tired of paying massive property, income and sales taxes which are then handed over to the likes of Elizabeth Warren."

No, the Free State project was a group created long before they decided on a state to be the focus of migration. People have come from all over the country. I'm sure more have come from close-by states, but it's not just Massachusetts.

However, the project, and the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, have come to be run by internet edgelords, racists, and other kinds of jerks.

The biggest jerk is the aforementioned Jeremy Kauffman. In addition to being on the FSP board, is the Libertarian Party candidate for governor.

He is the poster child for the recent alt-right takeover of the Libertarian Party, its bad messaging and behavior, and the bullying of all other Libertarians who object to it.

As a Libertarian Party member in neighboring Maine, I find it embarrassing and sabotages our efforts.