The proposal on the table (HB 1612) at last week’s state house education committee was to lower the age for compulsory schooling to 17 from 18. I spoke in favor of the proposal, which doesn’t go far enough. Sadly, NH does not offer any form of emancipation to young people under eighteen.
Cointelegraph is the most recognizable news source in the bitcoin universe – each of their articles features a cartoon graphic that is custom-drawn for the piece. One of the reporters for Cointelegraph is Joel Valenzuela, a Free State Project early mover. He’s been cranking out stories that show New Hampshire as a destination for bitcoin users and his newest features yours truly!
His latest piece is about some of the difficulties and objections that business owners have with accepting bitcoin and specifically mentions the Keene bitcoin scene as a place with some level of success in getting local businesses onboard. Plus, I got turned into a cartoon. Check out the full article here.
The Keene Liberty Alliance, a nonpartisan group of people who want smaller government in Keene, once again conducted an exit poll during today’s presidential primary, exclusively at Ward 4. As people exited the Symonds School after voting, they were invited to take our one question exit survey, which asked, “Do you think government is too big, too small, or just the right size?”
Of the 322 people who responded to the poll, 74.8% (241) said it was “too big”, 22.4% (72) said it was “just right”, and 2.8% (9) said it was “too small”.
We collected nearly 30 emails in just five hours. It was an incredibly successful day, due to the high turnout for the presidential primary. Both republicans and democrats alike are frustrated with the ridiculous size of the government and the Keene Liberty Alliance exists to bring people together from across the political spectrum to help reduce the size, scope, expense, and intrusiveness of the government.
Today is the New Hampshire primary. I am asking New Hampshire residents to go out and vote for Rand Paul. Although he does not present a full Libertarian position, preferring to focus on a few important changes rather than trying to establish a Utopia in one term, Rand’s voice was the only one in the Republican primary defending ANY pro-liberty positions. Let’s let them know that more liberty is our goal, by voting for the one pro-liberty candidate!
Last week’s state house committee hearings featured two very different gun proposals. The first, HB 1314, is excellent. It would allow people to carry guns into colleges or any other government-funded entity. The other, HB 1657 is terrible. It would create a huge list of places where guns would not be allowed, including anywhere with a liquor license, hospitals, polling places, churches, and other clear constitutional violations of the right to property and religion.
In the case of the awful gun prohibition bill, the testimony was entirely against it, with the exception of the bill’s sponsor who spoke first. It was an avalanche of pro-weapons-freedom testimony which was well-spoken by its advocates. (This happens in NH anytime gun freedom is threatened. Self-defense supporters come out in large number to testify for gun freedom.) The bill went down in flames, 11-2 voting “inexpedient to legislate”. I don’t have full video of either hearing, but I got most of them. Here’s the video of the terrible gun ban bill hearing first:
The good bill sadly also did not pass the committee via a 9-4 vote to ITL (Inexpedient to Legislate). We will see what happens on the full floor of the house of representatives when they vote on it.
I’m a fan of Vermin’s work as a brilliant satirist. His campaign pitch includes pointing out that all politicians are vermin, but he is the Vermin Supreme as well as a mandate for teeth-brushing and free ponies for everyone!
Though some libertarians were campaigning for Rand Paul and endlessly making excuses for him not being a libertarian, Rand left his supporters in the dirt this week as he ended his presidential campaign before even the first primary occurred. I was happy to see him quit, as it’s sad to see libertarians spending any time or money on someone who is not running a principled campaign. Rand is barely a shadow of his father’s commitment to liberty. If his mixed positions on the issues didn’t convince you, his quitting before the first primary is proof.
Vermin Supreme is not a libertarian either, but unlike Rand Paul, Vermin is not chickening out and ending his campaign right when it matters. He’ll be appearing on the democratic ballot at the presidential primary this Tuesday. I also recommend writing Vermin Supreme in on the republican ballot as well. It’s a true protest vote and Vermin’s a super-entertaining candidate. I mean, the guy wears a boot on his head. How can you top that?