Melody is a college junior who apparently had heard some rumors about the Free State Project. Rather than believing what she was told, she decided to check it out for herself and went to a meeting of the Concord Porcupines. Here’s her detailed report as posted to her blog:
In Liberty: The Free State Project
“Thank you for contacting the Free State Project and your interest in our efforts to ‘achieve liberty in our lifetime.’” Finally, a response, I say to myself, scrolling though the e-mail. I was getting worried that they didn’t want to be bothered; my e-mail was sent five days ago.
The message was full of basic information; when and where meetings are taking place, links to blog posts and forums, along with what the organization stands for: life, liberty, and property.
“I would suggest going to the Concord Porcupine meeting this coming Saturday. They meet at Tandy’s around noon.” Porcupines? Is that really what they call themselves?
I grab a blank notebook from my desk and get some questions ready.
Two women walk into Tandy’s Top Shelf, a small, odd looking bar and restaurant down the steep cobblestone path of Eagle Square in Concord. Normally, you wouldn’t think anything of two friends going to a bar together for a drink, but this isn’t an everyday meet-up on this Saturday afternoon.
“Are you with the Porcupine group?” A hostess asks when they enter the waiting area.
They reply with a “Yes,” and are told that the rest of the group are in the back room, down the hall and to the left.
A group of about fifteen to twenty people are already seated and eating a late breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. The room is abuzz with chatter. Some of the group members have met before and are good friends, while others are new, but welcomed participants.
As I sit down, some of the members have heard I was coming and welcome me to the meeting; telling me to get some food if I’d like. I decline and instead start observing.
A man wearing a pinstripe button-down shirt spaces out as he eats and listens to the others talk. When I ask him why he’s at the meeting, he doesn’t quite catch the question right away and says, “I’m sorry if I’m acting weird; I had a twenty hour drive last night from Michigan. I’m exhausted.”
He introduces himself as Grant and talks about his tale of living in Texas, moving to Michigan, then finding out about the group online and deciding to move to New Hampshire to be among other people with his mindset of “liberty.”
Eventually the group quiets down as one of them stands up and asks everyone to introduce themselves.
One by one, they stand up and greet everyone with a nice, “Hello, my name is…” and continue with telling the group their current occupation and why they came to the meeting. They get a round of applause and cheers as they sit back down and the next person stands up.
During one particular introduction, a middle-aged woman with vibrant energy quickly stands, almost jumping, and gives her name, occupation, and how long she’s been in New Hampshire. “I’m an early mover,” she says, “I’ve been here for years.” She is met with more cheers and applause after this statement as she continues to stand and wave her hands as she laughs with her friends sitting beside her.
This talk of “early movers” excites the group and as introductions continue, some people stand and talk about how they recently moved to New Hampshire and are met with similar applause as the woman.
The group is known as The Concord Porcupines, a small part of The Free State Project (FSP), a libertarian movement that encourages other “pro-liberty” people to move to New Hampshire for individual reasons, “101 Reasons,” as stated on their website, ranging from gun rights, individual freedoms such as gay marriage, and no sales or income tax.
They meet at Tandy’s Top Shelf in Concord around noontime every second Saturday of the month to discuss opinions and current events from a libertarian perspective.
The Free State Project’s main objective is to get 20,000 people to sign their online pledge, the Statement of Intent (SOI), and commit to moving to New Hampshire. Recently, the group reached their 15,000 mark. The Free Staters are now concentrating on “Triggering the Move” in 2015, three years ahead of their original schedule. When the goal of 20,000 pledgers is reached, the group will cease to exist, staying true to their plan.
The idea for the FSP started in 2001 when Jason Sorens, a then college student at Yale University, published an article online expressing his concern about libertarians failing to elect candidates to federal office. He also included his thoughts on a movement to get a group of libertarians in one state instead of being scattered all over the country. Sorens set a random number, 20,000, for the pledge to move and in 2003 a vote was held to determine which state would be chosen for the movement.
Sorens stated: “Once we reached 5,000 signatures, in summer 2003, we held a vote among those who had signed up. Ten states were on the ballot, voters could rank all the states, and the winner was chosen by a Condorcet method. We used an outside firm to count and certify the ballots. Voters had to mail in notarized ballots with photo identification, at their own expense. Despite the difficulty, over 2,500 people voted. New Hampshire, whose governor had welcomed us to the state, was the clear victor.”
New Hampshire won the vote with Wyoming in second place. Other states that were considered were Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont. New Hampshire was chosen because the “individualist” culture of the state favored well with those of a libertarian mindset, as well as the state motto being “Live Free or Die.”
Once the group is finished with introductions, everyone continues talking to one another about libertarianism and its principles, among other topics, whether they have just met or have known each other for years.
An older, middle-aged man, called Roswell Bob, talks about gun rights, an important issue for him, and explains that he joined the FSP for “more liberty.” His appearance is rugged from his wrinkled facial expressions and grey mustache. The black baseball cap he wears has a filled in white outline of a gun that appears to be an assault rifle. Underneath the gun, white letters spell out, “COME AND TAKE IT.”
He continues, “I’ve lived in some horrible places like Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. While in Massachusetts, the plan for my wife and I was to move when the kids got older.”
During his time in New York, Roswell wanted a gun permit, but said he didn’t even try because it would have been too difficult. Once moving to New Hampshire, he found it was much easier to acquire the permit. “All I needed here was a driver’s license to get a pistol.”
The topics of concealed and open carry are immediately brought up among Roswell and a college student who identifies himself as “Orion.” In New Hampshire, opposed to other states, carrying a concealed or visible handgun is completely legal without a license. The only time the gun owner would need a license to carry is if they are in a vehicle with their handgun.
“It’s what I’m doing right now,” Orion says as he stands up with his gun, a pistol glock 26 in sight. This makes me jump and my eyes widen: I’ve never seen a person carrying a gun in public before. Before the meeting, I didn’t even know that some people carried guns with them wherever they went.
Orion then shares a story of when he went to a Burger King late at night while open carrying, saying he was disappointed that the employees were looking at his gun on his waist and not making eye contact with him. “I open carry because I want people to get used to the idea of seeing a weapon for self-defense.”
I’m interested in seeing if they are in support of any form of gun control.
“How would you prevent dangerous people from getting a hold of guns?” I ask.
Orion answers, “If dangerous people get guns, the problem would solve itself.”
Later, among other conversation, Orion quickly brings the subject back up and points to Grant, “Hey, Grant just came up with a brilliant answer to your question earlier.”
He then lets his neighbor continue, “Dangerous people already have guns,” Grant says, “they’re in the government.”
Orion starts talking again, this time about how the government is just like us, just with more power, calling it a “Chain of Obedience,” not a “Chain of Command.” He lays out an example: “Obama would have no power if the military didn’t listen to him. If they just laughed at him, he wouldn’t have any power over them.”
“I have to grant you power,” he adds, pointing at me.
Libertarianism: A Philosophy
Although libertarians, like any organized group, have similar opinions and perspectives, no two are quite alike when it comes to the individual opinions of each person involved.
Almost every member that I speak to tells me to not take their opinions as the official opinion of the whole group. “I’m not the spokesperson, this is just my opinion,” one member says. When it comes to basic libertarian philosophy, members seem to be on the same page, but when it comes to other, more controversial issues, different views are exchanged.
For the most part, libertarians agree on the legalization of medical marijuana, as they believe that it’s an individual’s right to choose what to put in their body. The same philosophy is applied to gun rights: it’s an individual’s right to protect themselves and their family. Gay marriage is also supported by many libertarians, because it’s those individuals’ right to the life they want. The bottom line is if you’re not hurting anyone, you’re fine.
Although, there is one issue libertarians cannot quite agree on: abortion. Some libertarians feel that it’s a woman’s right to choose, while others believe it is that potential life’s right to live. But, as one member says, even though there are pro-choice and pro-life libertarians, they all ultimately stand for an individual’s right to choose what to do with their body.
FSP member Angela gives a rundown of her libertarian perspectives: “I’m a believer in individuality and the government is more restrictive of individual choice.” She describes libertarianism as “the best of both worlds” with the social tolerance of liberalism and the fiscal responsibility of conservatism.
“Republicans treat you like your daddy, Democrats treat you like your mommy, libertarians treat you like adults,” she says.
“All actions by humans should be voluntary,” Orion says, expressing how he believes libertarianism is the key to a better society. “I believe that there needs to be a set of principles to live by.”
Three main principles are mentioned: Civil Disobedience, Private Property Rights, and the Non-Aggression Principle.
Civil Disobedience is a form of nonviolent activism of refusal to obey certain laws or commands by the government. For example, rather than using violent means to fight back, you fight with civil disagreement.
Beyond having the right to your property, for libertarians, taxation goes against this principle. “Taxation is immoral because it violates Private Property Rights,” Orion says, “If you don’t pay your taxes, the government will send letters, and those letters will get meaner and meaner, then they send armed SWAT teams to your door.” Libertarians do not believe in using physical threats or violence to get a point across; they believe in peace unless they feel threatened and must defend themselves. “Force or threat of force is what makes people pay their taxes.”
The Non-Aggression Principle is the right to defend yourself if someone is aggressing against you, but you cannot be the aggressor. It also implies that no one, including the state, should aggress against peaceful people. An example here could be drug laws; why arrest someone for smoking marijuana if they are not hurting anyone? It is only the business of that person involved putting what they want into their own body.
Porcfest and Politics
A man sits down wearing a bright yellow t-shirt with a cartoon porcupine on the front. The font below the animal reads, “Don’t Tread on Me,” the slogan from the historical Gadsden Flag that depicts a snake above the text. Intrigued, I decide that I have to talk to him about the porcupine; no one at the meeting has even mentioned to me why that particular mascot was chosen for their organization.
When I get the chance to approach him, I notice that he also has a gun, a non-revolving pistol, around his waist.
“Why is the porcupine the mascot for the Free State Project?” I ask.
“Well,” he replies, “The porcupine is a peaceful woodland creature, but if you mess with it, you’ll get a spike in your face.”
“So if the government gets in your way, you attack?”
“Not attack; respond,” He says, “We’re non-aggressive.”
The man introduces himself as Mike Sylvia, who had lived in Rhode Island and moved to New York in 2006 before coming to New Hampshire. He said that he found a libertarian group, but wasn’t sure about it at first. After a while, he came to like the ideas and philosophy of libertarianism and is now a state representative from Belmont.
He shares the same ideas of liberty as the members I’ve been talking to for most of the meeting and gives his thoughts on a variety of subjects, but first, he asks if I’ve ever been to “Porcfest,” or the Porcupine Freedom Festival, an event put on every summer at Roger’s Campground in Lancaster, NH by the FSP since 2004.
Porcfest started as a three day celebration of liberty and freedom in New Hampshire, but has grown into a full week of many activities, such as hiking, presentations, dancing, and panel discussions. The event usually draws about 1,200 “liberty-loving” porcupines from New Hampshire and even around the world. This recent summer was the 10th Annual Porcfest.
Mike is proud to say that although he missed Porcfest 2007, he’s been to every one since. He talks about the speakers and panels, the speeches in tents, the row of venders selling FSP merchandise, and the camping aspect of the whole week.
“The police are not encouraged to visit,” he casually adds, saying that FSP members provide their own security at Porcfest and take care of each other. “We take care of that, we’re not the government.”
He explains that the volunteer security at the event solves problems by talking to someone calmly and solving the problem without anyone getting violent. Some FSP members feel that if the police were to provide security, they may get rough and become violent towards someone if they were causing trouble.
Mike says that he is not anti-police, but anti-police brutality. He believes in “good cops” and “bad cops,” and mentions that some police are involved in the FSP as members. Although, there are mixes of opinions among FSP members; he tells me some members are anti-police.
“I see you’re a gun owner,” I say, remembering my previous conversation with the other members about the subject of gun rights. “Do you believe in gun control?”
Mike shakes his head. “No,” he replies, “You just don’t know who’s going to become unstable.” Just like the other members, Mike feels that it is his right to own a gun for self-defense, to be prepared in case he ever really needed it.
“I have a fire extinguisher in my car; I don’t expect my car to be on fire, but I have it if I need it, or if someone else needs it.”
“Now, for a rowdy drunk,” he continues, “I have pepper spray for that. The last thing anyone wants to do is kill someone,” he says as he pulls out his spray from his left side.
My first thought when hearing his response was that these people must not care about victims of gun violence; all they want are their precious guns to make them feel powerful, but Mike adds another statement that truly surprises me: “People whose minds aren’t right; they’re in prison instead of getting healthcare.”
An agreement of sorts emerges: by giving the mentally ill or unstable healthcare and needed attention, gun violence can be prevented while responsible gun owners can carry on with their lives and choices as they see fit.
“There’s this thought that without government everything will be safe, but the world will never be safe,” Mike says, “There’s nobody but us to keep things civil.”
NHLA
One windy Saturday in late September, another “pro-liberty” group gathers at a private location to hold meetings throughout the day while entertaining guests (and themselves) with an outdoor potluck lunch in the large backyard of the beautiful, good-sized home being used as the meeting place.
Many people have brought their children to the event, who spend the entire afternoon playing outside in between eating snacks they take from the tables set up underneath a small, white tent, and running around with the two dogs owned by the homeowners.
Others have brought coolers of beer, seltzer, and soda, which everyone digs into after getting the food selections donated by members and guests, varying from a meatball stew, vegetables, crackers and dip, and desserts such as cake and tart pie.
The New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA) is an organization that works for personal freedom through political action by recruiting liberty candidates and lobbying for and against legislation. The group’s main objective is to spread liberty through politics by training candidates to get libertarianism recognized.
At about one-thirty, the meeting gets started. As the board members take their seats at the kitchen table with their laptops and agendas, the woman running the meeting quickly leaves the room and walks onto the porch from a sliding door.
“Hi everyone,” she shouts over the chatter, “We’re going to get the meeting started in here. Any other members or observers are welcome to watch.”
A small group of people head up the porch stairs to the sliding door and find a seat. Soon, the small area is crammed with people sitting very close to each other, non-intentionally invading each other’s personal bubble. Some, including me, do not find a chair and lean against the large couch nearby.
After some small talk among the board members and others, the main topics that are run through are basic subjects for their organization: Porcfest, a litter pick-up, by-laws, website redesign, and candidate recruitment to get libertarians into New Hampshire politics.
Throughout the meeting, some observers leave for a short while and come back; one woman sitting on the couch dozes off; some kids come into the house and start to play with puzzles and toys in the living room.
Things liven up a little bit when a man suggests going to the Concord Monitor for some press attention while the board discusses candidates and a survey for candidates. One woman on the board laughs, “Don’t you mean the Communist Monitor?” The whole room laughs along with her and other jokes are exchanged before they get back on subject.
Halfway through the meeting, a man wearing a blue plaid shirt turns around and asks me if I’m going to stay after the meeting.
“Yes,” I reply, “I will.”
“Okay,” he answers, getting out of his seat, “I’d like to talk with you later.” He then leaves the room and heads outside. I make a note to myself to find “blue plaid guy” later, not knowing that he is actually a state representative.
At around three o’clock, the meeting comes to a close. The board members begin putting their laptops, phones, and documents away and soon join everyone else on their way out the door onto the lawn.
As I slowly make my way to the door, careful not to bump into anyone, a woman with short, blonde hair approaches me and introduces herself as Amanda Bouldin, one of the board members.
We have some small talk and she tells me a bit about her time in Texas when she was involved with the Tea Party but then split apart from them after experiencing their anti-gay attitude.
“I told them how we should be reaching out to the gay community and one of the older women I worked with said to me that ‘marriage is between a man and a woman,’” she says with irritation, recalling the harsh criticism.
Among other reasons for leaving, she tells me about an anti-war protest she wanted to organize that was not favored by the party. An e-mail she sent about the possible event was not forwarded to other members of the Tea Party, making it obvious that the party did not want their name on it.
Amanda’s position on the NHLA board is Civic Action Director, which involves organizing events and raising money for projects for the organization. She is also the founder of Shire Sharing, a group that receives donations and delivers Thanksgiving meals to those in need. The organization is completely voluntary and although it is made up of mostly libertarians, it welcomes anyone that is willing to help.
As we head outside, she mentions that the home is owned by Free Staters and that the porch, including the stairs leading down to the backyard, was built by a Free Stater.
Immediately, I wonder if there’s some sort of “underground” system of these people; do they only accept help from each other? This question comes to my mind from remembering a blog post from The Free State Project’s website about a family that had moved to New Hampshire and received help unpacking from a large group of FSP volunteers.
I ask Amanda about it, but she doesn’t give me the “super-secret system” answer I want. “No,” she replies with a smile, “It was just built by a Free Stater.”
Amanda suggests we can get some food first, and then we can continue with an interview. As we head over to the U-shaped gathering of tables underneath the small, white tent, we end up waiting in line by the coolers of drinks.
“Would you like a beer?” a middle-aged man asks me, as he opens the cooler he just lined up with the other ones.
“No thanks,” I reply, shocked at his question; it’s not that I’ve never had alcohol before, but usually I’m mistaken for being seventeen years old and still in high school. “I’m only twenty.”
He gives me a blank stare and then laughs along with the people around him.
“I don’t care,” he says, “as long as no one finds out and I get in trouble!”
I decide to laugh, too, and the “Communist Monitor” woman, who is standing right next to him, hands me a blackberry seltzer, adding another joke to her list, “Here,” she says, “This is definitely not alcoholic!”
Amanda leads me to the bottom steps of the porch stairs where we sit and talk for a while about the NHLA. I ask about the relation of the group to the FSP and get a surprising answer: I am told that the NHLA and the FSP are not directly related and have a number of differences, the main one being that the FSP is not a political organization but more of a social one to get people interested in moving to New Hampshire. The purpose of FSP is temporary, while the NHLA will be around for as long as its members hold strong to their libertarian beliefs.
As we talk on the porch about the NHLA and its purpose, among other libertarian topics, another voice enters the conversation. I look up and notice a man sitting cross legged with a black t-shirt reading “END THE FED” in white letters.
“What is the Fed?” I ask.
“It’s the Federal Reserve,” Amanda replies, then turning to the man, “Tell her how you want to end it.”
The man, who later introduces himself as Pedro, is now heavily invested in the conversation. “The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States,” he says.
“He doesn’t like money, he wants to use beads as a currency,” Amanda jokes.
After we have our laugh, Pedro continues, “So the central bank is not a public institution, it’s private, and basically what it does is it prints money for the U.S. government, but then injects that money into private banks. So it gives public money to private banks, which I have a problem with.”
“One of the problems with the Federal Reserve is that they can inflate or deflate the money supply at will,” Amanda explains, “Let’s say that we have a certain amount of paper money on the planet, and it’s worth a certain amount in value. So then if they print off a couple hundred million one dollar bills and sent them out into the world, but the total value backing the amount of paper is the same as coin currency, then essentially you’ve got more paper money spread out over the same value that existed before it, the result of which is that each individual piece of paper money buys less.”
“This is called inflation,” Pedro says, “If the economy grows, then the money supply needs to grow, and if you grow the money supply faster, the GDP, which are the goods and services, then you get inflation, the devaluation of currency.”
After a while of being on the porch, Amanda, Pedro, and I are asked if we can move to the lawn by a member of the board so they can have a meeting outside. We get up and sit down underneath another white tent that is set up and we continue to talk.
Among issues that I have already learned about such as the libertarian principles, Civil Disobedience, Private Property Rights, and the Non-Aggression Principle, a topic of government, laws, and limits emerges.
“Instead of just assigning some number,” Amanda says, “where you’re a day older, now you get to have sex with people of a certain age, whereas the day before you couldn’t, or now you’re a day older so you can drive a car; as of this moment in time you are now mature enough to drive a car, but yesterday you weren’t, and it’s okay for you to drink alcohol, whereas six hours ago it was not, you know like these arbitrary limits that the government places, and they have to, because it has to be an across the board, apply to everyone sort of thing, it needs to be very straightforward, so that no matter where you are, you know what the rule is.”
Amanda adds: “But where libertarians are instead, we say do what you want with your body; it’s your life, it’s none of my business. If it’s what you want to do, you do it. But where libertarianism is evolving is now we’re saying if I see someone and they’re doing something that maybe I think it’s not really a good idea for them, it’s okay for me to step in and say maybe you don’t want to do that.”
“So, I’m at college,” I say, “Obviously there are people that smoke pot, so do they have the right to smoke pot even though it may be against the rules of the college?”
I assume that the answer will be in support of the students doing the drug, since libertarians are in favor of marijuana legalization, but I get an entirely different answer.
“No, actually,” Amanda replies, “They’re not on their own property, they’re on the property of the school. I can’t really speak to whether the school is public or private property, so that’s a tough one. But let’s say I have an electronic cigarette, and an electronic cigarette is not subject to federal, state, or local non-smoking laws because it’s not a tobacco product. So far, no laws have been passed controlling where you can smoke an electronic cigarette. If I go into a restaurant and I smoke it and they tell me to stop I have to stop, or convince them to let me do it, or leave. But I have to stop because I’m on their property.”
I want to ask them about the situation I experienced earlier, where I was offered a beer even after I said I was underage. I feel like it’s an amateur attempt of “gotcha” journalism at first thought, but I need to know what they think about it. When I hear a pause in the conversation taking place, I decide to ask.
“Okay, so earlier, I think they thought I was older than I was because I was offered a beer and I said, ‘Oh no, I’m twenty,’” I say.
“And they were like, no really; do you want a beer?” Pedro laughs.
“Yeah,” I replied, “I got that response, like, ‘Oh well, I don’t mind, I don’t care.’”
“They were mostly joking,” Amanda says, and then explains that because I’m underage on somebody else’s property, they would have to be okay with it. She then tells me that she doesn’t want me to drink here, and changes the subject.
Government Talk with a libertarian-Republican
The man from earlier, “blue plaid guy,” finds me after my talk with Amanda and Pedro and asks for an interview. This group loves to talk and share their ideas with people like me, who are still learning about libertarianism.
He introduces himself as Mark Warden, State Representative on his second term. Elected in 2010 and reelected in 2012, as a Republican, Mark is also an early mover from Nevada, having heard about the FSP through an advertisement in the Libertarian Party newsletter. “I checked it out and visited one summer for the annual Porcupine Freedom Festival (Porcfest). Once I came one year in 2005, and two years later I decided to move.”
I notice that Mark refers to the Libertarian Party, the “Big ‘L’”, the term that Free Staters stay away from because they prefer the “little ‘l’” of libertarianism; the philosophy.
“You say you’re a Republican, but would you say you’re a part of the Libertarian Party, too?” I ask.
“No, it can’t be both at this point. I used to be, in my past. When I first started getting involved with politics, I was living in Nevada and I stumbled upon the Libertarian Party and I really liked their message; it really spoke to me.”
Mark says that the Libertarian Party was about leaving people alone and letting them have their privacy, no matter who they married, what they drank, smoked, or ate. “So that really resonated, and the Libertarian Party was consistent with that. So I got involved with them and realized that you can’t really win a political campaign as a Libertarian because people, the general electorate, the general populist, just doesn’t pay that close of attention. They’re like, the ‘red team’ or the ‘blue team’, the ‘far team’ or the ‘other team’ and that’s it.”
The Libertarian Party is the third largest party in the country, but because it is a third party, candidates for the LP do not do as well in elections. Political candidates for the NHLA register as either Democrat or Republican, going along with the current political system in order to introduce their ideas and make a change for the government they would like to see, which is, according to most libertarians, a smaller government with less intervention in the lives of its citizens.
Mark tells me that it’s still good to have a Libertarian Party to give voters a true third alternative, but the LP is not needed as much in New Hampshire because many people already have the “Live Free or Die” perspective, or the “libertarian streak,” as he puts it, so people with this mindset are usually welcomed into the regular parties.
“A lot of my colleagues, peers, and constituents know that I’m very libertarian leaning. It has nothing to do with the Libertarian Party, though; libertarianism is sort of an ideology or a political world view, so I would definitely consider myself a small ‘l’ libertarian, or a libertarian leaning Republican.”
Mark adds: “When I moved to New Hampshire because of the FSP and got involved in politics, it was a natural fit for me to be Republican because here, at least, by rhetoric, Republicans stand for lower taxes, less government intervention in your life, and less regulation. Whereas Democrats, in general, talk about more control of your life, more government intervention from cradle to grave. At least that’s my perception.”
Although some libertarians might be anti-government, or anarchists, Mark explains that he believes that there are certain instances when the government could be used for good in society, but only if the government stays small and doesn’t grow any larger and gain more control over citizens.
“You shouldn’t think of government as benevolent, they’re just a bunch of bureaucrats; it’s just an entity. Like a cancer, it’s only mission in life is to grow; that’s what all governments do. All government entities, all government departments, all agencies, they grow, that’s their whole mission in life and they don’t care who is in their way: they’re going to trample you, so they don’t like competition, they like having a monopoly on force; that’s what government is.”
According to Mark, his perfect government is much smaller in size than it is now, and it serves the citizens of the country by protecting them. “It’s a typical libertarian response for a military that is defensive in nature for the country, a court system to settle disputes, and maybe police and jails to enforce people who have harmed others. Those are some examples of legitimate government, in my opinion.”
President Porcupine
After five and a half weeks of first being contacted by the Free State Project, I walk to Daniel’s Restaurant and Pub in Henniker to meet with the president of the group, Carla Gericke, my last interview.
She’s already seated when I find her in the main room of the restaurant with the bar nearby. When I approach her, she greets me with a huge smile, shakes my hand, and we introduce ourselves.
Carla tells me about her position as president of the FSP, jokingly calling it the “no good deed goes unpunished position.” When the previous president resigned, Carla, a volunteer for the FSP that helped organize Porcfest 2009 and 2010, became president in March 2011.
Originally from South Africa, Carla, during her time in law school, won a green card in the “green card lottery,” also known as a Diversity Immigration Visa, and decided to move to America. “I was like, yeah, I’m going to go to America; what immigrant wouldn’t? It sounds like the land of opportunity.”
Carla and her husband moved to the Bay Area of San Francisco in the mid-90s, where they hit the “tech boom” or the “Internet bubble,” a time when the stock market’s equity value rose from the Internet sector. “We were like America’s awesome; everyone’s getting rich, we’ve got shares, and we both worked for really successful companies.”
“Then the crash happened,” she says, her tone going down, “and we both lost our jobs.” This event caused Carla to question how the economy and government operated, wondering how the crash could have happened. She wanted a reason behind it, so she became interested in learning about economics and took some classes over the subject.
“When I discovered Austrian economics, which is a school of thought that sort of adheres to the Non-Aggression Principle and Private Property Rights, I saw that most problems can be solved through true free markets, which is something America doesn’t have anymore.”
Carla then found the Free State Project online, where she signed the pledge to move in 2003. In 2008, Carla and her husband moved out to New Hampshire from New York.
It wasn’t just economic talk that got Carla interested: The Free State Project and libertarianism also got her attention from one simple question. “The philosophical question, really, the one that really grabbed me when I was reading about this stuff, was ‘who owns you?’”
The answer, according to libertarianism, is you: you own your body and the fruits of your labor; you can do what you want with your own body and put whatever you want into your own body. “If I own myself, I can make good and bad decisions for myself and that shouldn’t influence anyone else.”
Regarding the reasons of why the libertarian minded love the idea of FSP and New Hampshire, I also want to know why these members continue to stay in America. I have heard a lot from them about how they need to “fix the system,” but why not just move to another country with a better economy that is more socially tolerant?
“For some Free Staters, New Hampshire is their last chance in America,” Carla answers, “other than that, people take their money, they take good ideas and they go to a country that actually values freedom.”
“This is not nirvana, this is not ideal, but it’s a hell of a lot better than most of the other places. New Hampshire is one of the few states that are in that payer to the federal government, so in the taxes they collect here federally, we give more money to the government than what we give back. So then the question becomes, ‘why would you be in that system?’ That’s kind of like the mafia showing up to your house and saying you should pay protection money. And it’s like, I don’t have a problem. ‘Oh, well I’m the guy that’s going to beat you up unless you pay the protection money.’”
Carla adds that she sees the challenges, but since it’s on a local level, it becomes something that is surmountable.
“So it’s better than packing up and going to another country?” I ask.
“Right, and certainly from a personal perspective, my husband and I considered going back to South Africa, we considered some countries in South America, and we always keep those options open,” she says, “I mean, who knows what’s going to happen here. But I like to say that this is the final gasp at freedom that’s English speaking, that’s in America, that’s still recognizable. For me, I travel a lot so it’s not scary for me to go overseas, but I think for a lot of people they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going to move to Chile,’ and that’s hard, you know: do you speak Spanish, do you understand the culture, and have you ever eaten this weird food? You know what I mean? So this is still recognizable.”
When I first stumbled upon the FSP’s website and read about their mission to have a life of liberty and freedom from big government, I had the assumption that they were making their own town, or community, of Free Staters. Because of the 20,000 movers goal, a good figure for a large community of people, I figured that they were choosing one section of the state to live in together. I mention this to Carla, a little part of me still wondering if this would happen.
“Are you trying to get a community of libertarians, like your own little town?” I ask.
“Well we are; the town is the state of New Hampshire, and of course there are people who concentrate in different areas. Like Manchester, I would say, are mostly like the doers, they’ve all got jobs, Keene has a lot of independent media and a lot of Civil Disobedience, and then Concord has a really small concentration, but we’re all there a lot because it’s the legislative hub, and then up in Grafton is kind of the ‘Florida’ of the movement, it’s more of retirees. The idea is trying to keep this little part more free.”
On a less serious note, I decide to ask Carla about her nickname as president of the Porcupines, “Queen Quill.”
“Yeah, that’s also part of that ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ thing,” she laughs, “I think it was Porcfest 2009; a friend of mine made a Porcupine crown with quills and somehow the name just stuck. It’s kind of like a silly nickname, it embarrasses me, but people like it and it makes them happy, so I’m like whatever,” she replies with a wave of her hand.
“I mean I will say that there is, philosophically, an argument to be made that monarchies are better than big government,” she adds, “So my reign would be peaceful.”
Satisfied with the interview, I ask Carla if she has any closing thoughts on anything we discussed, or libertarianism in general.
She pauses for a moment, analyzing our conversation, then replies, “I think one of the challenges that libertarianism suffers from is because it is kind of a sophisticated school of thought and there is a body of work behind it, so there is a whole philosophy and I think a lot, and this is changing, of the initial champions aren’t really good with people; they’re not very good with messaging, so you know the clichéd ‘oh, they’re all greedy’ and ‘they want to close soup kitchens’; no, we actually believe in private charity, we raise private money. We believe in all of that, we just believe that people should not be forced to do good or bad; people should choose voluntarily. And voluntarism is what some people call libertarianism, and the thought process is really simply, ‘hey, let’s make all interactions voluntary.’”
After the interview, Carla and I make some small talk. She asks me about college and why I decided to research the FSP. I tell her that I was curious when I first heard about the group and wanted to see what they all meant by “liberty” and “freedom.”
“We’re not half as evil as you thought we were,” she jokes.
“No, no,” I reply with a laugh, “I’ve just never had any experience with libertarians; I grew up in a very conservative-Republican town, and I became very liberal and moved away.”
“You are probably going to end up being a libertarian,” she says with a smile, “South Africa was very conservative and then when I moved to the States, I became super progressive.”
At this moment, I realize something: although I don’t agree with everything the group believes in, I find a connection with one thing; New Hampshire. The Free Staters moved, and continue to move, to the state because they are looking for their individual freedom to be who they are and live their life as free as possible.
I also moved to New Hampshire for my own version of liberty, without having anything to do with FSP. Everybody has their own way to find freedom and that’s what keeps the FSP going.
For the Free Staters, New Hampshire is their promised land, where they can carry their pistol around their waist, drink or smoke amongst themselves with no judgment, and have long discussions about government and philosophy.
They will continue to work towards their goal of getting 20,000 “liberty-loving” people to the state of New Hampshire and strive for what they believe in, from the moment they sign the online pledge to the day they arrive in New Hampshire.
“I hereby state my solemn intent to move to the State of New Hampshire within 5 years after 20,000 Participants have signed up. 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 individuals’ life, liberty, and property.”
-The Free State Project
Statement of Intent
