by Ian | Apr 18, 2011 |
You may recall her letters to the editor or her articles in Counterpunch – one thing they had in common was they were packed full of misinformation. Pam Martens and her husband Russ, have been on an anti-free-state crusade for years, ever since they discovered liberty activists moving into the Monadnock region. Pam ignored all attempts to reach out to her for a discussion and continued to publish her anti-free-state conspiracy theories (that we are all tools of and funded by the billionaire Koch brothers) in as many places as possible.
Then, she put their house on the market in Westmoreland. It has sold. Rumor has it they have moved to Florida, as so many statists do. If you can confirm this rumor somehow, I’d appreciate it.
Pam, thank you for all the free publicity, and enjoy your statist paradise down in Florida. Hopefully more people who support aggression, as you do, will also choose to leave New Hampshire. It will make liberty activists’ job much easier, as more continue moving in every week!
by Ian | Apr 17, 2010 |
Here’s the original confused, fear-ridden letter from Pam and my reply as published in today’s Keene Sentinel:
I see that Pam Martens has brought her misinformation to the pages of your fine newspaper and felt inspired to respond, as one of the much-maligned “free staters.”
Pam wrote:
“A majority of Free Staters currently in New Hampshire have indicated they want to replace public education with home schooling and private schools; they want to end all government regulation of businesses, from licensing manicurists, to getting drivers licenses, to elimination of planning and zoning boards. They don’t believe government should be able to mandate taxation to pay for schools, roads, Social Security or any social welfare programs like nursing homes.”
First, I highly doubt Pam has spoken with a majority of free staters, as there are more than 800 of them here in New Hampshire. Of course, the New Hampshire liberty movement is much larger than that. So-called “free staters” are merely the backup for the already existing liberty lovers here, many of whom are natives, unlike Pam.
What she doesn’t understand is that most liberty-oriented people I know are in favor of many of the things she talks about, minus the coercion. I’m fine with schools, roads and helping the poor. In fact, I contributed a significant amount to the United Way during last year’s funding drive, because I believe in charity.
However, government is not charity. It is force. I cannot support using the evil means of aggression to achieve good ends of helping people in need. We can help people in need without aggressing against our neighbors. (more…)
by Ian | Apr 12, 2010 |
Varrin Swearingen (president of the Free State Project) has had his response to Pam Martens’ attack piece published in the Keene Sentinel. Here’s a link to his letter to the editor – as you can see Varrin is already under fire by anti-freedom commenters.
Here’s the text of his letter:
Pam Martens calls for an “untrammeled debate” on the issues (“We have a right to speak our minds,” Keene Sentinel, April 4), but before getting into any specific topic, we need to address the elephant in the room: Where do our rights come from?
Mrs. Martens writes, “rights are derived … from engaged citizens in a participatory democracy.”
She believes rights are granted by society, and denies individuals any natural rights of their own; what some might call “human rights.”
Her opinion conflicts with the simple idea that each of us has our own inherent, unalienable rights, and that government, democratic or otherwise, should be limited to protecting those rights. (more…)
by Ian | Apr 7, 2010 |
From the Keene Sentinel. Be sure to click to the article to see the usual hate and fear-based comments about “free staters”:
To hear Russ Kotfila tell it (Westmoreland witch hunt must stop, Keene Sentinel, March 23), Free Staters are the quintessential upstanding citizens and those questioning their well established goal to infuse 20,000 ultra libertarians into New Hampshire to take over local and state politics are off on a witch hunt.
Mr. Kotfila seems to be suggesting that resisting or even talking about this influx is somehow unseemly and “will not be tolerated any longer.” For one espousing tolerance for Free Staters, Mr. Kotfila seems harshly intolerant of those who don’t feel warm and fuzzy about the Free State agenda.
A majority of Free Staters currently in New Hampshire have indicated they want to replace public education with home schooling and private schools; they want to end all government regulation of businesses, from licensing manicurists, to getting drivers licenses, to elimination of planning and zoning boards.
They don’t believe government should be able to mandate taxation to pay for schools, roads, Social Security or any social welfare programs like nursing homes.
Most people don’t agree with the platform of the Free Staters. (more…)
by Ian | Mar 3, 2010 |
Westmoreland busybody and statist Pam Martens has continued her uninformed hit pieces on Free Staters. Normally they don’t get mentioned here, but this time she mentions Keene activism (it’s such a great quote, I added it to the “unintentional endorsements” section of the 111+ Reasons to Move to Keene.):
the Free State Project holds extremist views and their participants have wreaked havoc in areas like Keene and Grafton. We’ve seen a steady stream of Free Staters taunting the Keene police and ending up in the Westmoreland jail, costing taxpayers dearly.
You can see her full hit piece below. Wreaked havoc? What exactly has been ruined or destroyed in Keene besides old ideas? Are the 420 celebrations wreaking havoc on the idea of prohibition? Quotes like these make it clear that the liberty movement is really bumming out the statists up here. You should come join the fun – just over 25 more signups before the Free State Project reaches 10,000 participants!
We also had a youtube critic send me an angry message where he accuses liberty activists of making an “unimaginable blunder” by holding candlelight vigils outside the homes of government aggressors. (I posted the full text of his message and my reply here.) In it he claims FreeKeene.com is “failing”. Really? By what measure? Failing because some people are upset? What about all the people who appreciate the liberty activists? I imagine liberty activists aren’t too popular amongst those who work for or benefit from the state. We can’t please everyone and shouldn’t try. To say this website is failing, however, is simply a denial of reality. Let’s look at the numbers, shall we? (more…)
