[Okiecruffler]

The wife was telling me that she heard of a plan on the radio, apparently started by a small number of Libertarians, to get a large group to move to a sparsely populated state, I believe Wyoming was their target, and use this large voting block to effectively take over the state government, then tell the feds they can keep their nasty funds. Unfortunately as usual, the wife didn't have many details (you should hear her tell a joke), so I don't know if this is real or some "War of the Worlds" broadcast she stumbled onto.

Has anyone heard of such a thing? Would it be possible and how many people would it take. I'm not saying I'd pull up stakes and go, but it is an interesting idea.

[Blain]

http://freestateproject.org/


The best shot we've got at restoring liberty in AmeriKa.

[Okiecruffler]

That took all of 3 minutes to get a response. If their shooting for 20,000 to take over a state, maybe the 6,000+ members of THR could take over Bora Bora.

[jimpeel]

The main problem with the Free State Project is tha the majority of the states they are considering are landlocked. To be truly independent, they need a port. Without one, they are at the mercy of the states that border them.

Idaho
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Vermont
Wyoming

The only ones that have any coastline are
Alaska
Delaware
Maine
New Hampshire

Of those, only two, Delaware and New Hampshire, are truly viable as a port of entry as the other two have major problems in the Winter.

Several of the landlocked choices share a border with Canada

Idaho
Montana
New Hampshire
North Dakota
Vermont

The attitude of their neighbors to the North is questionable so there may be problems being landlocked against an unfriendly border.

[Ian]

It's absolutely possible, and to prove it, we're going to go do it! :) The membership number as of the last update I saw was a bit over 5300. We are in the process of voting on which state to move to; the winner will be announced on October 1.

We have a number of libertarian celebrities who have joined as members (Vin Suprynowicz, Boston T Party, Claire Wolfe, and others) and yet more who have endorsed the project (Walter Williams, among others). Unlike most "let's all move to Place X!" projects, the FSP isn't utopian. Quite the contrary, it's very practical in design. No money required to join, and members aren't asked to move until 20,000 people have joined.

[Gray Peterson]

I say New Hampshire.

[jimpeel]

You forgot; New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson has also signed on.

[fivepaknh]

New Hampshire already has the highest number of Libertarians per capita. I hope they do choose NH since I already live here. The decision is supposed to be made by October 1st.

[labgrade]

I could buy into the precept, but when the Feds want their matching funds .... ? & what about that nasty fed income tax ... ?

No argument, but whatcha gonna do? Call Ghostbusters?

Inquiring minds - yada ...

There are some far-reaching implications here.

C'mon back as I'd really like to know.

[jimpeel]

I have been waiting very patiently for a governor, threatened with the loss of Federal Highway Funds, to grow a set of balls and tell the feds "Keeep the money. You are now totally responsible for the upkeep of these highways. If you don't want to keep them uip, then get them the Hell out of my state. By the way, since we are not going to be participatiing in receiving highway funds, we won't be participating in contributing either. So we will be confiscating all federal gasoline taxes gleaned in our state."

Ah, perchance to dream. A Colorado Senator tried that once but it didn't go anywhere because the rest of the Senate couldn't take the federal teat out of their mouth long enough to discuss it.

[TearsOfRage]

Aren't seatbelt laws and motorcycle helmet laws linked to federal funds? NH doesn't have those.

The Free State Project may well be our best chance at "liberty in our lifetime" - a great slogan, BTW.

[suijurisfreeman]

"liberty in our lifetime" begins with each individual setting themselves free! I really comes down to choices, will you live as a slave on the master's plantation or will you live as a free Human Being, exercising all the rights of the same! I chose to live as a free Human Being back in 1993, I took my 'harness' off and went feral! No more pulling the master's load for me!

As far as the Free State Project goes, what consideration has been given to the various States Bill of Rights and/or Constitutions? Kentucky's for example, Section 1: "All men are, by nature, frre and equal, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned: Section 2: "Absolute and arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority." Section 26: "To guard against transgression of the high powers which we have delegated, We Declare that every thing in this Bill of Rights is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate, and all laws contrary thereto, or contrary to this Constitution, shall be void."
Since the Bill of Rights is the people's prior reservation of rights and the Constitution is that limited portion of the sovereign people's power delegated to their 'agent' (government), then the wording of each State's Bill of Rights and/or Constitution should be given serious consideration. I've actually printed off the internet all 50 State's Bill of Rights, believe me there is a difference! Check it out for yourself!

[2dogs]

I have been waiting very patiently for a governor................... to grow a set of balls


HAHAHAHAHA:D :D :D :D :D :D

A politician with cajones! Now there is a (fading) fantasy.;)

[Blain]

I took my 'harness' off and went feral! No more pulling the master's load for me!

Then how are you on a computer?

NH's state constitution has the right to revolution in it!!!!!

[telomerase]

>I could buy into the precept, but when the Feds want their matching funds .... ? & what about that nasty fed income tax ... ?

>No argument, but whatcha gonna do? Call Ghostbusters?

The idea isn't to solve all government problems overnight, just to have a little more effect on restricting the growth of state and local government. The last time I looked, the Feds eat up something like 25 percent of the economy... but the states and locals get 22%. And remember, it's the states that meddle the most with private schools, home schooling, etc.

Also, in the US single-member-district system, minority voters have no representation (most places handle this better: http://www.fairvote.org/ ). For people who believe in the 2nd Amendment, low taxes, etc. to have any electoral effect they have to reach a majority within Senatorial and House districts.

For the optimistic and bilingual, there are people working on limiting all levels of government at once:

http://libertario.org/index.htm

What was Ghostbusters' number again?

[Ian Sean]

A politician with cajones! Now there is a (fading) fantasy.

2Dogs, I guess you never heard of Ron Paul or the Liberty Commitee?

[jimpeel]

That's one in a row. A good start.

[4v50 Gary]

New Hampshire. Sure, I'll be a Green Mountain Boy! It's a pro-gun state and it's pretty in NH.

[grampster]

.....waiting for a governor to grow a set of balls...........sigh, I guess that leaves us out here in Michigan as our guv'nr is Jennifer Granholm who is...cough, ahem, a woman.
:p :D

[jimpeel]

That didn't seeem to stop Margaret Thatcher. She had more balls than every PM male in the Parliament combined.

[Sir Galahad]

Hey Feral Boy, for such an "enlightened" person, you sure fall into the same trap as Soviet style AgitProp demogoguery. See, you use two examples only. Either a person is "free" (as you, of course, the shining example, comrade commisar) or a "slave" (as the rest of people not willing to perhaps live in a lean-to in the woods and eat out of Tac Bell's dumpster). Just like you were either a communist or a counter-revolutionary. No room for Menshiveks, Kropotkinist anarchists, or social democrats. Just Bolsheviks. So, call the Cheka and have all these counter-revolutionaries shot. That's the problem with your propagandistic proclaimations. The rest of us proletariat are supposed to be led by the example of the commisar, either a "free" man or a "slave". No room for anything else. But humanity is not like that. Tyrants run around with definitions like that. Aryans and Jews/untermeschen, good communists and counter-revolutionaries, communists and capitalists, and so forth. Into that forced separation of people into the two categories of "Always Right" and "Always Wrong", men dig mass graves and with the milions of bodies of the people murdered who didn't fit into the "right" category, they shovel their reason and conscience. So, you may come on here with your mattress-tag tearing fervor to prove to all what a great "free man" you are, but to some of us who have heard this before from others who claim to be "liberators", it is the same tired propaganda. You just think you invented it.