Why the Free State Project is Awesomesauce by FSP Prez, Carla Gericke

The FSP is a movement to concentrate 20,000 liberty-loving folks in one place: New Hampshire, or, as I sometimes call it “Nude Hampster.” Others call it “the Shire,” and the coolest of the cool call it the “Six-Oh-Three” (“603” being the calling code for the entire state). In typical anarchist fashion, we may not agree on what to dub our new home, but one thing we all agree on is New Hampshire is where it’s at.

Why there? Back in the day, 2002-ish, a vote–a voluntary vote–was taken and NH won out over Wyoming and Alaska. New Hampshire is a small state with a population of around 1 million. It is consistently ranked the “freest state.” It already has a live and let live culture. It has a port, a border with Canada, beautiful landscape, and hell, the state motto is: Live Free or Die. You don’t get more in-yer-face-mofos-for-freedom than that!

How does the FSP work? Technically, you are supposed to sign a pledge that says if 20,000 other people sign the pledge, we’ll all move to NH within 5 years. More than 11K have already signed up. BUT, again, in typical you-can’t-herd-no-stinking-cats fashion, a bunch of us decided we weren’t going to wait for the paperwork, so we UPPED and MOVED to get this freedom party on the road–and are fully ensconced in the Granite State.

More than 1,000 liberty lovers now call New Hampshire home. We live all across the state, with large enclaves in Manchester and Keene. Some focus on the political process. We even have a voluntaryist state representative–yes, I acknowledge, an oxymoron for the purists, but somehow it works. Some focus on civil disobedience, like holding peaceful 420 celebrations in public–sometimes even inside the state house. Some simply move, integrate into their new communities and live their lives as free as they can–’cos, yanno, freedom is a state of mind!

And that’s what makes the FSP unique: community, a concentrated community of like-minded people. No more lone wolf whackadoodleness just because you believe all human interactions should be voluntary. Now you can be in a pack of that whackadoodleness.

What kind of pack members are we looking for? Productive people from all walks of life. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a creative type, a hippie or a suit-and-tie, what you should be is self-reliant and productive. Joining the FSP is not just an escape route, we are building a movement, a new way of life. We are leading by example, so being exemplary goes a long way. The FSP’s motto is “Liberty in Our Lifetime.” This is no longer a pipe dream, but a growing, thriving reality in the Live Free or Die state.

To learn more about the Free State Project, join me during Libertopia on Friday, October 21 at 2PM in the John Galt Room. To sign up immediately as a participant, visit our website at www.freestateproject.org. Don’t miss our signature events: the Porcupine Freedom Festival (aka Porcfest) and Liberty Forum (registration now open). Questions? Comments? Email me at: president@freestateproject.org.