It’s a big day for libertarian history in New Hampshire and nationwide. For the first time in two decades, the Libertarian Party of NH (LPNH) has a sitting state representative in the legislature who is just beginning his first term in office. Caleb Dyer, state representative for Hudson and Pelham, announced today at a press conference in Concord’s Legislative Office Building that he has switched his voter registration from republican to libertarian and has also joined the state party as a dues-paying member. Dyer is a New Hampshire native who knocked on 2,000 doors in his district, Hillsborough 37, to win his election in November of 2016. Here’s the press conference video from this morning:
The LPNH was basically dormant for years until late 2016 when superactivists Darryl W Perry and Rodger Paxton won election to chair and vice-chair of the party, respectively. Shortly thereafter the libertarian candidate for governor was able to get enough votes to propel the party into major party status in New Hampshire. It’s the first time the LPNH has had that status in approximately twenty years, surely much to the chagrin of the republicans and democrats, who raised the vote requirement in the nineties specifically to disqualify the LP from major party status.
Libertarian State Representative Caleb Q Dyer
Speaking on the subject of the two-party duopoly at this morning’s press conference, Dyer said, “I believe that it is time to demonstrate to the people of New Hampshire that such a duopoly of partisan interest, which presently controls this house, is not in their interests.” Backed by the executive committee of the LPNH, Dyer excoriated the command-and-control structure of the two other major parties, saying their party leadership expects their party’s elected state reps to, “fall into line with the party, even against their principle”, speaking specifically of those inside the parties who oppose the status quo.
Explaining why he left the republicans, Dyer explained, “I truly believe the best course of action is to organize outside of the party, and force coalition.” He intends to rally “hundreds of people across the state to submit themselves to their peers as libertarian candidates”. He ended his speech by reading from Article Ten of the New Hampshire Constitution: (more…)
Our original reason for forming the NH Liberty Party was to provide the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire with some much-needed competition. The national party had strayed from its principle of non-aggression and the state party was basically dead in the water for many years. Plus, we wanted a party that would focus on secession in addition to liberty, therefore in 2012 the NH Liberty Party was born.
In late 2016 a major change took place in the LPNH. NH Liberty Party co-founder Darryl W Perry and member Rodger Paxton were elected unanimously to chair and vice-chair of the LPNH. After they got in, their executive committee voted in support of peaceful secession. The party also achieved a major political success by regaining full ballot access statewide for the first time in twenty years.
Things are definitely back on track at the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire. Given their recent refocusing and success, we the co-chairs of the NH Liberty Party agreed today to endorse the LPNH’s current direction and recommend our members to join the LPNH and help them stay on track and stay true to the principle of nonaggression as well as openly support secession for New Hampshire.
Wow, what a decade! For a full ten years we’ve covered liberty-oriented news, opinion, and activism here at New Hampshire’s Liberty Activism Destination – Free Keene. We’re celebrating nearly 5,000 posts and over 62,000 comments since December 27th of 2006.
Without a doubt, Free Keene is the site of record for much of the most noteworthy activism over the last ten years from across the Shire. Other libertarian blogs from across the state have tried to compete, and failed, sadly. I really take no pleasure in this. My initial vision for this site did not include statewide coverage. I’d hoped other blogs would crop up and report on their area’s activism, but we ended up expanding to do that after the ball was dropped everywhere else. (See Free Manch, Free Grafton, etc.)
Some bloggers, like the movers here, have come and gone. The haters have also come and gone over the last decade. Despite our bloggers being targeted for arrests, lawsuits, and physical attacks, Free Keene has not been stopped. To the contrary, while the haters scream out from their comments and blogs about how irrelevant we are, they refute their own assertion by their very attention to us.
The critics might say, “Well, it’s been a decade – why aren’t you free yet?” (more…)
With a vote of 4 in favor and 1 abstention, the LPNH Executive Committee on November 20, adopted a resolution in support of self-determination. LPNH Vice Chair Rodger Paxton, who is the Rochester Regional Captain for the Foundation for NH Independence, says, “Recognizing that libertarianism is defined as self-ownership, and recognizing that both our federal and state founding documents make it clear that we have the right of peaceful secession. I’m pleased that the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire has resolved its support.”
The resolution was drafted after a vote by the EC was passed 3 to 1 with 1 abstention, requesting the Chair, Darryl W. Perry, draft a resolution in support for the NH Secession Movement.
The director and executive producer, Vince Perfetto, recently made this retrospective blog post celebrating the second anniversary of the movie. I highly recommend checking it out.
Now that the movie’s been such a hit on YouTube, to commemorate the second anniversary, it’s been uploaded to Facebook. Can the Facebook version get its own 100,000 views? Please help us accomplish that by sharing the facebook version. Thank you!
Today Steven and I talked about secession with almost a hundred people at a rally in Portsmouth, NH. The event was inspired by the recent election of Donald Trump. These people united under the message “Not My President.” Since I don’t believe in forced associations, I can get down with that! Everyone should have the president they want — or no president at all. We walked downtown with music blasting from our jackets, a big rainbow flag, and some NHexit signs! We brought propaganda with us, but there was so much to do, talking to people and getting video, that we didn’t hand out any literature! It would have been awesome to have support from other Seacoast activists. If you’re hot and gay and love freedom, you should move here and join us in Portsmouth, NH — the beachhead of liberty! Full hour-plus video below!
One local man in attendance said that he hasn’t seen anything like this since the 70’s. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Is this the return of the activist left, silent and sleeping for 8 years, and now ready to return with ferocity? I hope so! I’ll criticize any politician in power, but it’s so much more fun to do it with the democrats.
