The Telegraph of London Reports on the Free State Project

The Telegraph’s David Millward got wind of the Free State Project when he was covering Robin Hood of Keene for the paper. Naturally, he was interested and came to Keene to interview Free Keene bloggers Rich Paul, Derrick J, and me about the Free State Project. Here’s the story:

Nirvana for a libertarian in New Hampshire is a gay married couple guarding a stash of marijuana with an AK47.

 

“I could live with that,” said Ian Freeman, a leading light the Free State Project and one of the pathfinders in a mass migration of like-minded people to the New England state.

 

He left Florida and moved to New Hampshire to push the libertarian agenda in a state whose motto is “Live free or die” – one of more than 1,600 to have done so.

 

They are the first tranche of 16,000 people who have pledged to up sticks and make the state a “beacon of liberty”.

 

Depending on one’s point of view the Free State Project is just a logical extension of the libertarian tradition, or a bunch of disruptive anarchists who have taken a perverse pleasure in niggling the authorities.

 

Mr Freeman, 34, hosts a radio show which is syndicated around the country. He is also running for governor on behalf of the New Hampshire Liberty Party.

 

The Free State Project was founded more than a decade ago by Jason Sorens, who was studying for a doctorate at Yale at the time.

 

His dream was to trigger a mass migration of 20,000 libertarians to a state with a small population by early 2016.

 

The idea was to follow the example of the Mormon migration to Utah in the mid 19th century.

 

A number of states including Maine,Wyoming, Vermont and Alaska were considered as candidates for the movement before supporters decided on New Hampshire.

 

The granite state, which has no sales tax or income tax – though property taxes are high – was the overwhelming choice.

 

“We want to create a society where the maximum role of Government is the protection of life, liberty and property,” Mr Freeman told the Telegraph.

 

“I like the idea of the natural law of supply and demand. I don’t have a problem with laws which say you should not harm anybody else.”

 

But other laws should go.

 

“There are reams and reams of statutes which nobody can get through. I do have a real problem with restrictions on alcohol and drugs.”

 

It would be easy to dismiss the libertarians as eccentric, if there were not so many of them and if the belief in small government did not resonate with a sizeable chunk of American voters.

 

Rand Paul, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016, has made little secret of sympathy with much of the libertarian agenda.

 

His criticism of big government has led him to take positions which hardly chime with the traditional American conservative right.

 

Mr Paul has been fiercely critical of the police, voicing fears that it was in danger of becoming a paramilitary force.

 

Inasmuch as there is a common thread among the libertarians, it is an overarching dislike of authority.

 

It has already led to a number of stunts, generally designed to get up the nose of the city fathers.

 

Perhaps the best known has been what the Free Staters call “Robin Hooding”.

 

It entails stuffing parking meters with quarters just before a traffic warden arrives to ticket a motorist as well as following the enforcement officers with video cameras.

 

But there have been other acts of civil disobedience, notably by 25-year-old Derrick J Freeman – he insists on the J – who moved to Keene from Philadelphia.

 

He has already racked up 540 days in jail for an array of offences from smoking cannabis in public, to dancing in a public park and trying to film a court case.

 

“I moved here to follow my conscience, no matter what people say I am following what is written in my heart.”

 

But not everyone in New Hampshire is welcoming the libertarians with open arms.

 

Cynthia Chase, a Democrat member of the state legislature, described them as “the biggest threat the state is facing today” and “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.

 

In a progressive blog she wrote: “There is, legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal.

 

“In this country you can move anywhere you choose and they have that same right.

 

“What we can do is to make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave.”

 

Officials in Keene, the epicentre of the the Free State movement, have accused the Robin Hooders of harassment and the New Hampshire Supreme Court ismulling over whether the traffic wardens should have some sort of protection.

 

The movement says its members are merely exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.

 

But arguably the biggest test was the case of Rich Paul – no relation to the political dynasty – a pro-marijuana activist whose campaign could land him with an 81-year jail term.

 

While two states – Washington and Colorado – have legalised the recreational use of marijuana, it remains illegal in New Hampshire.

 

Mr Paul, 45, who moved to New Hampshire from Florida decided the law was an ass and ignored it.

 

Openly smoking cannabis and even selling it, he was arrested, fined and jailed.

 

Having been caught selling marijuana to an FBI informant – entrapment according to Mr Paul – he tried fighting the case in the courts.

 

“Weed is essentially harmless,” he said, making no apology for his drug dealing enterprise.

 

His defence relied on an arcane principle known as jury nullification.

 

It gives jurors the power to acquit somebody of an offence if they believe the law itself is wrong.

 

Already one New Hampshire jury has done just that, acquitting Doug Darrell, a 59 year old Rastafarian, of drug cultivation even though he was caught growing 15 plants in his backyard.

 

Mr Paul was less less fortunate with the state’s supreme court denying him the chance to make the same defence.

 

There may be sound legal reasons for drawing a distinction between the two cases or it may just be that patience is running thin in New Hampshire.