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.
The founders of our state and nation understood that idea and wrote it into the New Hampshire Constitution and America’s Declaration of Independence.
The Free State Project’s Statement of Intent adopts part of that idea, too:
“… the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty and property.”
That is the extent of the Free State Project’s “platform”: encouraging engaged citizens to move to New Hampshire and work to protect everyone’s rights.
If Mrs. Martens wishes to criticize that “platform,” or claim “most people don’t agree,” she’s certainly free to do so, but I have a hunch that most good and honest people in New Hampshire believe they have rights that not even a democracy can legitimately take away.
Note: I write herein on my own behalf, not on behalf of the Free State Project as its president.
VARRIN SWEARINGEN
