Sometimes, people complain that the “Free State Project”--a movement to attract 20,000liberty lovers to the state of New Hampshire--is an oxymoron. They say the concepts of “freedom” and “state” are mutually exclusive. I tend to agree, but usually counter with: add the words “state of mind” to the end of “free state.” This best sums up the FSP’s goal: to create the worldwide, go-to, non-third-world, English-speaking, land-based destination for free states of mind.

 

We are creating a marketplace for ideas about individual empowerment and freedom. We are test-driving these ideas real-time--from 420 celebrations to cutting the state budget by $1 BILLION dollars--constantly adjusting, innovating, and challenging each other. Frankly,the only thing Porcupines do agree on is that we are willing to vote with our feet,move to a cold climate with lots of natural resources including water and heating fuel (trees, we gotta lotta of ‘em), and we’re putting the “act” in “activism.”

What would this “free state”look like? I mean: besides jet packs for everyone. In the past,I have likened it to a “Yankee Hong Kong.” Boy, did some people love that, and--surprise, surprise--others got their Puritan “don’tcall us no stinking Yankees” knickers in a knot. But whether you want to call itthe “New England Hong Kong,” or the “Yankee Switzerland,” or “New Hempsterdam,” or “Western Hong Kongstanlandia”--figure that one out... partial hint: has anyone ever told you if you want to live in a world without government you should move to Somalia?--one thing I know is we need to take the best liberty-based, free market ideas from the world over, and implement them right here in New Hampshire.

Why?Because it’s a prettyeasy sell. You have built-in data to prove it can work. People are terrified by the overarching idea that the world would be a more peaceful and prosperous place if the free market reigned and people interacted only through voluntary choice and voted solely with their dollars. If you can show these naysaying fearmongerers, these murderous Queens of Hearts, that a particular policy already works somewhere else--say the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal where the rate of drug use has dropped precipitously--it seems less “off-with- your-heads” scary, and thus much more feasible.

Through the looking glass we go! Let’s implement financial freedom and privacy in the spirit of the Switzerland of yore. Let’s open our borders to those willing to work--no government handouts here. Let’s encourage whistleblowers to relocate and protect them. Let’s end drug prohibition and encourage marijuana tourism with the best coffee houses scattered in renovated mill buildings throughout the state. Let’s decriminalize gambling and become the next Macau or Monte Carlo by restoring the grand old resorts found north of the notch.Let’s get property and dividends taxes down to zero, like NH sales and personal income taxes already are, thus attracting new businesses. Let’s become the Silicon Millyard of the world. A foodie haven,the easiest place to open a new restaurant. Let’s encourage competing currencies, from Shire Silver to Bitcoins and beyond. Let’s do away with speed limits--our own autobahn! Nose-to- tail food freedom for farmers! Hackerspaces! Government out of any marriage! Hell, when we get around to putting the bells and whistles on Galt’s Gulch, let’s build the first private maglev train from Portsmouth to Manchester; no eminent domain allowed. Oh, oh, oh, and, the metric system!