by Ian | Jun 2, 2009 |
Submitted to the Keene Sentinel:
There is so much misinformation in Michael Schuman’s recent opinion piece, “Will the Free Staters please sit down?”, I felt the record should be set straight. First, let’s actually define what a “Free Stater” is:
The Free State Project (FSP) is an organization that promotes the idea that liberty-minded people move to New Hampshire and get active. A “Free Stater” is nothing more than a liberty activist, and could even be from NH. Schuman, incidentally, is from Connecticut.
Schuman claims the NH Free Press is a “media outlet” of the FSP. The NH Free Press is a newspaper run by two liberty activists, but the FSP has no control over what activists do when they get here. No one ordered me to respond to Schuman’s ill-informed piece; I didn’t ask permission from, and nor do I speak for the FSP. Russell and Kat Kanning, the publishers of the NH Free Press, may consider themselves “9/11 truthers” but I don’t know many liberty activists in the Keene area who feel the same way. We are individuals with divergent beliefs but with the common thread of loving freedom so much that we’re willing to take action for it.
As for his suggestion that liberty activists are akin to the rude person who stood in front of him at a concert once, I certainly haven’t met them all, but those I know are friendly, respectful, and are good neighbors. They also range from small government minarchists to those who are voluntaryists and absolutely oppose the initiation of force against peaceful people. (more…)
by Ian | May 31, 2009 |
To encourage more entries, Chris Muskus and I have thrown in $70 to the prize and Sam’s dad has decided to narrow the contest from having two categories to just one. So, if you make the best Free Sam sign (Contest FAQ here), you’ll win $270. Please email your entries to roymiller01 (at) hotmail.com.
by Ian | May 29, 2009 |
Welcome to FreeKeene.com. You may want to start here, then see what we’re about and explore the site. If you already know and love liberty and are ready to do something about it, please consider moving here to Keene, or at least to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project.
by Ian | May 29, 2009 |
Liberty activists called WKBK’s “Talkback” on Saturday morning and discussed abusive police, war, forcing people to save old buildings, art subsidies, and childishness. You’ll also hear the smarmy statist talk a little sense this week, but rest assured he continues with his unfounded bashing of the market and his ad hominem attacks.
Grab the archive.
Please join us for our weekly listening, chatting, and calling sessions on Saturday mornings from 9a-12p in the Free Keene Chat room. If you’re online, you can listen to Talkback streamed live via the Liberty Radio Network and if you’re in the Keene area you can tune in to WKBK 1290 AM or 104.1 FM. The Talkback discussion thread is here on the Free Keene Forum.
by Ian | May 29, 2009 |
Many will nitpick things in here, like the headline calling us “antigovernment”, (I’d prefer pro-freedom) but you really can’t get better mainstream media coverage than this. The story lavishes attention on our movement and even links to FreeKeene.com. Thank you to the Boston Globe’s Sarah Schweitzer and photographer Cheryl Senter for this great article:
From a jail cell in this rural corner of New Hampshire, Sam A. Miller waged a philosophical battle, one milk carton at a time. The soft-spoken electrical engineer declined food for nearly a month, save for swigs of milk. To eat, he said, would be caving to the tyrannical government powers that placed him here for illegally filming in a courthouse and refusing to reveal his legal name to jail officials. (He says it’s private; jail officials obtained it from a fingerprint trace.)
His resistance has made him a folk hero among antigovernment types who have been making their way to New Hampshire from points across the country since their leaders put out a clarion call six years ago.
The Free Staters, as they are known, hope to lure thousands of like-minded souls to the state, with the goal of paring government to a bare minimum by eliminating things like taxes, speed limits, and zoning laws.
Thus far, just 427 Free Staters have relocated. Yet, here in Keene and in pockets across New Hampshire, Free Staters are making their case in increasingly provocative ways. (more…)
