Successes influenced or caused by

Participants in the Free State Project

Updated April 30th, 2008

The Free State Project doesn't take positions on issues, candidates, politics, or even methods of increasing freedom.  That work is done by Participants in the ways they think are best.  The Free State Project occasionally reports on activities of Free State Project participants.  As an individual, I thought it might be good to create a list of specific things Free State Project participants have actually done, which has affected the level of freedom in New Hampshire.  Specifically, I am concerned with the activity of those who have moved here since the state vote in 2003.  That represents the difference between what would have happened without the influence of Free State Project participants and what actually has happened because of their presence here.  Obviously, it's impossible for me to know everything that has happened, but I'm trying to make this list as complete as possible.

Credit for this list goes partly to the Free State Project, partly to Free State Blogs, partly to various media outlets (primarily inside NH), and partly to those people who simply told me directly what they're up to.  Here is the list:

Local government:

• FSP participants voted against a 7-figure spending measure ($1.4 Million) in a New Hampshire town. The measure was defeated saving taxpayers all that money. The margin of defeat was smaller than the number of FSP participants voting against it.

• FSP participants lobbied and voted for a measure which would require the proceeds of a $1M+ building sale to go back to the taxpayers instead of to the school board's pockets if the building were sold.  The measure passed narrowly, the margin of victory being very close to the number of FSP participants confirmed to have voted on that issue.  The building has not yet been sold.
  

• An FSP participant was appointed to the Board of Selectmen in their town as a result of being a good neighbor.  That person took the simple step of asking questions at a subsequent town meeting. The result was several spending items totaling thousands of dollars being removed from the town budget.

• In all (presumably including the above), Free State Blogs reports that over $10 Million in taxpayer money was saved in 2006 as a result of identifiable FSP participant activity.

• FSP participants cast the deciding votes in a New Hampshire town that resulted in cutting its budget by 14%.

• An FSP participant on a planning board was instrumental in influencing a unanimous recommendation by the board that an onerous new zoning restriction be rejected.

• FSP participants have been elected and/or appointed to several town-level offices including school board, budget committee, town selectman, planning board, and probably several others.

State government:

• A bill restricting the property rights of operators of restaurants and bars to decide their own smoking policies (HB1177 in 2006) unexpectedly passed the State House.  FSP participants lobbied heavily against the bill in the Senate and the bill was killed which maintained those rights.

• A bill restricting gun rights (SB44 in 2007) was met with overwhelming visible resistance, predominately by FSP participants, at the Senate committee meeting.  The committee agreed, in an unusual move, to vote on the bill immediately following the hearing and voted the bill inexpedient to legislate on the spot.


• A bill protecting gun rights in the event of an emergency (SB348 in 2006) was inspired by a Free State Project participant.  That bill passed and was signed into law.

• A bill reducing regulation on homeschoolers (HB406 in 2005 and 2006) was written by an FSP participant, lobbied for by FSP participants, and was ultimately passed into law as a direct result of the work of those people.

• A bill to remove New Hampshire from the federal government's REAL ID program (HB1582 in 2006) was heavily lobbied for by FSP participants.  FSP participants helped form the Granite State ID Coalition which brought together several organizations in NH, including some led by other FSP participants, to lobby for the bill.  The bill passed the house and the senate committee.  The bill was killed in the state senate after the federal government put pressure on the senators to kill it.  Several of those state senators, as well as both U.S. House members were voted out of office in the following election.  At least one candidate for NH state house won election on the no-REAL-ID platform with the help of several FSP participants.
  

• An FSP participant has been elected to the NH State House.

Other activism:

• FSP Participants successfully defended themselves against criminal charges intended to intimidate those people as they exercised their right to free speech.

• On several occasions, FSP participants have been challenged by law enforcement while exercising the legal right to carry a firearm in New Hampshire. On every occasion, the Participants were successful in exercising that right without being found guilty of committing any crime.

• FSP participants have engaged in several persuasive acts of civil disobedience, which have publicly highlighted the injustice in several bad laws. Those acts have been widely reported on both in New Hampshire and elsewhere around the nation.  Discussion and planning about this type of activity, and much more, happens at New Hampshire busiest web forum, hosted on FSP-participant operated NHFree.com.

• FSP participants founded the Liberty Scholarship Fund, a charitable organization designed to help meet the educational needs of parents who desire more educational freedom but cannot afford it.  That organization now enables several families per year to substantially increase their educational freedom by distributing thousands of dollars per year of scholarships to them.

• FSP participants founded a lobbying organization, the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, which supports pro-freedom candidates, opposes anti-freedom candidates, rates all bills which go before the legislature for their stance and impact on liberty, lobbies accordingly on some of those bills, and rates all of the legislators based on their votes.  In the 2006 elections 75 of 131 endorsed candidates won election.

Media:

• FSP participants founded a pro-freedom radio show called Free Talk Live, which has become one of the most successful podcasts on the net, and is also syndicated on several radio stations around the country reaching millions of listeners.  Free Talk Live is consistently ranked in the top 5 podcasts at podcast alley.  Its hosts moved to New Hampshire in 2006.

• FSP participants founded a free pro-freedom biweekly newspaper originally called the Keene Free Press, now the New Hampshire Free Press.  It is available online and in print with a normal print circulation of over 5,000 copies per issue.

Summary:

• FSP participants, both individually and on behalf of pro-freedom groups, are gaining positive name recognition and respect within the government. At Porc Fest, activists from several organizations related many anecdotes about state representatives not only being well aware of Free Staters, but actively soliciting their opinions and assistance on issues. They know who we are, and are paying attention to this growing cadre of libertarian-minded activists.

If you're aware of a success that should be reported here, please email details to me at the email address below.  I'll add it to the list.  Thanks!

V-