The president of the Free State Project, Varrin Swearingen, has had his letter to the editor of the Keene Sentinel published, correcting the wild misinformation that has previously been found in the paper, particularly in Michael Schuman’s, “Will the Free Staters Please Sit Down” article. Here it is, since the Sentinel link will expire after a week:
“Freedom Lovers, Stand Up”
For those of you who don’t know me, allow me to introduce myself.
I moved to Keene in 2004 with my wife of 16 years and two children, now 7 and 8.
I have owned the same home in Keene since moving here. I attend Grace Evangelical Free Church in Spofford, am a DC-10 captain for an international charter airline, home-school our active children and play drums and other musical instruments.
I also serve as the president of the Free State Project.
Over the past several weeks, numerous news articles and opinion pieces have mentioned the Free State Project. I’d like to offer facts and opinions that I hope will shed light on the subject from an angle not yet covered.
I am in the unique position of being both a resident of Keene, a focal point of recent local and national press, and an official representative of the Free State Project.
First, as a representative of the Free State Project, I’d like to present several facts that correct or clarify inaccurate and misleading statements that have appeared in The Sentinel and other media outlets lately:
1. The Free State Project is very simple: It seeks 20,000 participants who agree to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protections of life, liberty and property.
2. The Free State Project does not take positions on specific issues, legislation or candidates for office. It does not specify any area for participants to move to, and it does not specify tactics for achieving a “free state.”
The project itself does not exert the fullest practical effort. Participants in the project do so on their own.
3. The Free State Project does not own or control any radio shows, newspapers or magazines.
4. The Free State Project is funded through donations and does not have members, dues, or shadowy corporate backers. Its budget is small and financial reports are posted on the Web site.
5. The Free State Project’s most visible activity in New Hampshire consists of two events each year: the New Hampshire Liberty Forum, and the Porcupine Freedom Festival.
The 2009 Porcupine Freedom Festival will be June 25-28 in Lancaster. Those interested in learning more about the Free State Project, and meeting some Free State Project participants are encouraged to attend.
Though the project takes no position about the activities that have received so much attention lately, I do have personal opinions as a resident of Keene.
I, too, wish all the antics would stop.
It disappoints me that a mature group of people could be so foolish as to waste tax-funded law enforcement resources by initiating attacks against such nonviolent silliness as giving a manicure, holding a plant, or not meeting someone’s aesthetic preferences for outdoor furnishing.
Then, when performers of such nonviolent acts make audio or video recordings of the taxpayer-funded assaults, or choose not to cooperate with threats, the law enforcers get upset and initiate more acts of physical violence.
All this makes law enforcement look more like a gang of perpetually-adolescent thugs than civilized adults.
All of this generates news and opinion pieces, peppered with factual inaccuracies and slurs, that support the notion that it’s good to spend tax dollars assaulting nonviolent, non-fraudulent behavior, whether it be provocative or just plain goofy.
And that’s just plain goofy, or at least it should seem so to anyone who values liberty.
Maybe the question here is, who values liberty? Will the real liberty lovers please stand up?
VARRIN SWEARINGEN
President
Free State Project
