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It probably needs JavaScript turned on or something. It goes through an interstitial ad, where you can click the "skip" button in the top right-hand corner if you want to go directly to the link.

The link ultimately goes to the Free State Project.

You could always move to a state that doesn't engage in such privacy invasions, such as New Hampshire. Here, you can actually check off a box on the license application form requiring them to not even store your photo in their database.

The New Hampshire Legislature also prohibited its DMV from implementing the federal "Real ID" program which is what's driving a lot of this crap. The state also prohibits its agencies and localities from implementing red light cameras, license plate readers, &c., too.

My predictions about "child porn" prohibitionism turning the Digital Age into a Gulag are gradually coming true... I wrote about billions of children over generations having ever-increasing access to digital equipment and producing ever-more "thought-crime" content to potentially put anyone in prison for decades if not for life!

"Did you really think we want those laws observed? [...] We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt." -- quoth Dr Ferris, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Rape should most obviously be illegal, but it should be up to the victim and/or his/her parents/guardians, not power-hungry government thugs, to determine what constitutes rape. The punishment of victimless crimes, including "thought-crimes", always constitutes tyranny! One needs to separate thought/speech from action, and there should be absolutely no limits to free speech!

Having CP is not a crime - raping a child (or anyone else) is. Likewise, reading Karl Marx and dreaming about raping and pillaging like the drunken sailors of the Russian Revolution is not a crime - but actively supporting a revolutionary communist movement should be.

(Signed: Alex Libman's sockpuppet.)

Move to New Hampshire. It is illegal for government agents to use these things here.

Sick of this shit? Move to New Hampshire. We had a state representative propose similar legislation here in 2010. It failed, in large part due to the work of the N.H. Liberty Alliance, and the rep herself lost her seat in the 2010 elections. The liberty movement here, largely through the NHLA, has helped elect about 30-40 pro-liberty reps to our State House (400 members total) and 4-5 senators (24 total), helped defeat hundreds of other anti-liberty bills, and helped get a handful of pro-liberty ones passed, too.

Move to New Hampshire if you don't like this crap. We actually had a state rep (Catherine Mulholland, D-Grafton dist. 10) propose a soda tax here in 2010. The bill was defeated, with the help of the most effective liberty lobbying group in the country, and the rep lost her re-election in 2010, also due in no small part to the liberty activists opposing her.

And sadly, unless New Hampshire leaves the US government, they are still under those same oppressive laws.

One very active aspect of the liberty movement here is restoration of the meaning and intent of the Tenth Amendment. New Hampshire was one of the first states to get this movement started a couple years ago.

New Hampshire also has Part I, Art. 7 of its own constitution, which ensures state sovereignty against anything the Federal government does that New Hampshire doesn't explicitly consent to. And then there's Part I, Art. 10, titled "Right of Revolution," which reads in part, "[W]henever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government."

Of course, on a practical level, our attempts at pushing back the Fedgov haven't amounted to much yet. But out of 400 legislators, in 2006, we elected one Free State Project participant; in 2008, four were elected, and as of 2010, 12-15 were elected (depending on whom you ask). In total, there are probably 40-50 pro-liberty legislators, and this number is only growing due to the work of groups like the N.H. Liberty Alliance.

(The rare reason: It violates the privacy of a citizen who is involved.)

Yup. This was always the excuse they'd bring up when we in New Hampshire were fighting this issue legislatively. Domestic violence cases, child victims, whatever emotional bullshit they could throw up to keep the wiretapping law here usable as a weapon to prevent people from recording police abuse---which is how they always use it here.

Fortunately there was recently a very positive U.S. District Court ruling, Glik v. Cunniffe, 655 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2011), which overrules all of this and makes legislative attempts to fix the problem a moot point.

Or you could just move out of the hellhole that is Maryland and somewhere freer. :)

There are a large number of activists fighting the right-to-record battle in New Hampshire, and we're winning quite handily. There were a number of people in the Town of Weare who were arrested and charged with felonies for recording a traffic stop. After the criminal cases were dismissed or dropped, the U.S. District Court, First Circuit (which covers New Hampshire) coincidentally released a highly positive ruling, Glik v. Cunniffe, 655 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2011), regarding someone similarly abused by police in Boston. Glik got $170,000 in damages. Now the New Hampshire activists are all suing the Weare cops, demanding similar damages, and they'll most likely prevail.

Your parents consented to it for you when they either gave birth to you ...

A hereditary obligation? You just described feudalism.

Not at all - you were too young to decide, so they decided, either actively or by default, for you. Had I considered it an hereditary obligation, I wouldn't have suggested that you leave the country.

If you wish to no longer be bound by that contract, I suggest you leave the country, forfeit the priveleges of the civilized society that has already given you countless advantages and protections without which you would likely be destitute or dead, and find some place else in the world to hang out with other 'rugged individualists'. Good luck with that.

Thanks! Many of us are doing almost exactly what you suggest!

In all seriousness this time, good luck to you. I truly hope your utopia is a success; however, history would suggest that it won't succeed, and I really think you're ignoring a huge amount of psychological, sociological, and bahavioral complexity which will make your peace 'n' freedom loving society far, far different from the vision you currently have of it. And I'm pretty sure those differences will not be to your liking, 'cause your new society will soon look pretty much like the one you're attempting to leave.

PS I used to be a Randroid too, and once upon a time I would have agreed with you. Then I grew up, attained some sophistication, discovered empathy, and got a clue.

So thieving from people at gunpoint is what you call "empathy"? Well, I guess it's not you who do the actual thievery: You let the U.S. Government and their bureaucrats point the guns, steal other people's wealth, and then redistribute it down to you using an immense, multi-tiered bureaucracy of state, federal, and local agencies. That must be the "sophistication" part! :)

"Steal other people's wealth"? Well, a lot of that wealth was itself effectively stolen - enter Ragnar Danneskjold, I guess. Do you really believe that the wealth concentrated in such places as Hollywood, the recording industry, and yes, the high-tech sector, was obtained without the use of force or fraud? Surely you aren't that naive.

"At gunpoint"? Yes, that's ultimately true. So let's look at your alternative. Suppose I'm in your utopia, and I claim an unclaimed piece of land. I drill for oil, find some, and start pumping. Only my oil operation, with its noise, smells, and deadly hydrogen sulphide emissions, interferes with your ability to enjoy and make use of your adjacent land for farming. How will this dispute be resolved?

At this point a typical Randian will spout dogma - ' there are no conflicts of interest among rational men'. When pressed farther, - 'but which party prevails?' - the Randian asserts that, because the two parties are reasonable and rational, the dispute will simply be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Assuming for the moment that this is true, who decides what is rational? Rand wrote a lot of philosophical hooey, (rhymes with Toohey), about such things being absolutes, but they're demonstrably NOT absolutes. And even if you can somehow determine an absolute 'rational' answer, how will you guarantee that the parties involved remain 'rational'? Rand herself was highly irrational - she continued to smoke, and defended it as "a symbol of the fire in the mind", long after it was conclusively proved that smoking leads to the lung cancer which she ultimately suffered from. If the originator of your faith, (you deny that it's a faith and you hate that word, but it really is a faith), was unable to b

Your parents consented to it for you when they either gave birth to you ...

A hereditary obligation? You just described feudalism.

If you wish to no longer be bound by that contract, I suggest you leave the country, forfeit the priveleges of the civilized society that has already given you countless advantages and protections without which you would likely be destitute or dead, and find some place else in the world to hang out with other 'rugged individualists'. Good luck with that.

Thanks! Many of us are doing almost exactly what you suggest!

PS I used to be a Randroid too, and once upon a time I would have agreed with you. Then I grew up, attained some sophistication, discovered empathy, and got a clue.

So thieving from people at gunpoint is what you call "empathy"? Well, I guess it's not you who do the actual thievery: You let the U.S. Government and their bureaucrats point the guns, steal other people's wealth, and then redistribute it down to you using an immense, multi-tiered bureaucracy of state, federal, and local agencies. That must be the "sophistication" part! :)

Guess you're not familiar with the Galt analogy, because that's basically what I was saying. People are leaving---except they're not all becoming hermits, they're working together to create freer and voluntaryist societies.

Thanks for posting about this. I hope they pass this. You know why?

I'm from New Hampshire and part of the large and ever-growing liberty movement here. People sick of the nonstop attacks on their freedoms and liberties are moving here from all over the country. For some people, it's a single issue that made them move---exorbitant and ever-increases taxes, the never-ending Drug War, erosion of private property rights, lack of education freedom, attacks on parental rights, infringements upon the Second Amendment, you name it---and for some people it's a bit of everything. (I left Massachusetts over "Romneycare." The government forcing me to buy health insurance was the last straw for me.)

The anti-vaccination movement has become, over the past couple years, one of the liberty movement's most active single-issue allies. The current chair of the biggest pro-liberty lobby organization in the state (probably in the whole country) came into the liberty movement through one of the anti-vax groups here, as did another woman and her son, both of whom got elected to the State House in 2010. They're Republicans; a few years years ago, a Democrat state representative was the one to sponsor a bill expanding New Hampshire's existing philosophical exemption to vaccination.

If the state right next door passes this attack on people's right of conscience, that would only serve to help the movement here as people move to escape Vermont's tyranny.

There's no need to go this far off the deep end, just yet. Fortunately, thousands of people who are opposed to over-intrusive government are getting together and actually doing something about it ... and getting results!

There are a lot of Libertarians in Arizona. This can help motivate them to come HOME, to where they're actually wanted!

If only there were some place that guaranteed the rights of freedom of speech and expression.

Don't hope for it - make it happen.

https://freestateproject.org/

The property taxes are higher than many other states, but only the towns and the education system get money from property taxes, not the general state government. The state government is simply a lot smaller and less intrusive here than a lot of other places. Lower spending results in lower taxes.

See the "government" section of this list, especially items #9, #10, #13, and #21. Many of the items there include citations if you're skeptical.

If you take something from someone without their permission, it's theft. This is a rather simple concept. Calling yourself "the State" doesn't change the simple meanings of simple words.

I do vote. I do a lot more than just vote, too. I have moved---to New Hampshire, not Somalia---because of my philosophical beliefs. Last week I was even part of a group that defeated $24M worth of new theft that our public school district was proposing.

Wouldn't you like a place where you and a few like-minded amateur lawmakers could get together and do it right?

We already tried that. The result was Congress.

Yes, our federal Congress. But there are other legislative bodies that have taken the career income incentive out of the equation, such as New Hampshire. Their state senators make $100/yr (not a typo -- one hundred dollars per year) and it has been that way for nearly a century. Compare to California where the average salary was over $113k (as of 2007).

If we take the pay incentive away from career politicians you're left with those who actually care about their constituency -- otherwise they have no other reason to be there.

Sources:
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/New_Hampshire_State_Senate#Salaries
http://www.empirecenter.org/html/legislative_salaries.cfm
http://freestateproject.org/

The right thing to do is to pardon anyone and everyone who is convicted of a victimless crime.

I'll be testifying on a bill on Thursday that would allow this as a defense in a trial.

If you care about this kind of stuff, c'mon over to New Hampshire where we're actually making some progress. A thousand activists have moved so far (to join those of us already here) and 19,000 more are waiting for the mass move.

As the submitter of the story, I just want to make 3 points:

1. Seth Cohn is a prime sponsor of the bill, and a fairly hardcore slashdotter. J'raxis is, like myself, an emeritus Director of Research for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance... and a fairly hardcore slashdotter.
Q: What happens when the geeks rule? A: New Hampshire, baby!

2. I learned about the Free State Project right here on slashdot, back in 2003. How cool is that?

3. This is for real. This is not just web slacktivism. This is people taking back control of the government. AND IT'S HAPPENING. If you have a vaguely libertarian bone in your body, you really do owe it to yourself to see what's going on in New Hampshire.
I'd strongly recommend coming to the NH Liberty Forum. People come every year, and after the experience, go back to their home states. Just long enough... to pack!

This bill is largely thanks to the Free State Project. The prime sponsor and one of the co-sponsors (Rep. Pratt) are both Free State Project participants who were recently elected to the State House.

Some of both... and every shade between, and some new flavors you have heard of... like female libertarians... yes, they exist, really.

Come visit NH, meet all kinds of folks, and see for yourself.

Feb 23-26th: http://freestateproject.org/libertyforum
In June: http://freestateproject.org/content/porcfest

Some of both... and every shade between, and some new flavors you have heard of... like female libertarians... yes, they exist, really.

Come visit NH, meet all kinds of folks, and see for yourself.

Feb 23-26th: http://freestateproject.org/libertyforum
In June: http://freestateproject.org/content/porcfest

New Hampshire will be the first to secede.
Mark my words.

http://freestateproject.org/

That's the closest you'll come.

You noticed I blamed the voters, right? They have caused the mess we are in, buying the lies the Republicrats sold.

Quoth AC:
Government is bad, blah blah blah. Nevermind that governments are responsible for much of this fundamental research. Through public schools, public institutions and grants. Blah blah blah, shut up

For everyone who fundamentally disagrees with this person, don't bother debating him on the internet.
Join the rest of us in Real Life.
We're here, waiting to welcome you HOME

...or, you could fight against the tyranny. Thousands of are are... and we're winning

Take it back!

As an anarchist, elected official, and member of a vaguely anti-government group, I've often wondered how big the dossier is on me. Either it's large, in which case it documents a whole lot of perfectly legal stuff I'm doing and is just a waste of bureaucrats' time, or it's small or nonexistent, in which case the bureaucrats are fail for missing a guy who you'd think would be on the list.

Honestly I was looking for something that would actually happen in my lifetime.

That's actually the slogan of these guys.

Anyway, I've been against income & sales taxes all my adult life. I would prefer an extremely high inheritance tax combined with a small asset tax. Income tax punishes people for working hard and sales tax punishes people for participating in the marketplace, while low property and inheritance taxes create a parasitic aristocracy that is detrimental to good government.

Why do you think you have any right to a dead guy's money?

Those 45 people should move somewhere like New Hampshire.

Actually, libertarians are actively engaged in creating a State with as little government as possible. ... and it's working

C'mon in, the water's warm (OK, more like 'chilly').

The FSP is not a secessionist movement -- it is a "big tent" for anyone interested in a government whose maximum role is the protection of life, liberty, and property. What that means in practice is up to each participant to pursue. The idea is simply to pursue all such strategies in a concentrated geographical location, where such efforts may actually bear fruit.

However, if secession is your thing:
http://freestateproject.org/intro/states_rights

The FSP is not a secessionist movement -- it is a "big tent" for anyone interested in a government whose maximum role is the protection of life, liberty, and property. What that means in practice is up to each participant to pursue. The idea is simply to pursue all such strategies in a concentrated geographical location, where such efforts may actually bear fruit.

However, if secession is your thing:
http://freestateproject.org/intro/states_rights

It would be a helluva a lot cheaper just to move to New Hampshire. Free State Project

We provide what helpful info we can: http://www.freestateproject.org/jobs

Of course, entrepreneurs and self-starters are always welcome. The Project seems to have self-selected to create a skew towards IT folks who can pretty much work from anywhere.

End the wars? Privatize social programs? Divest the US of its holdings? Looks to me like you should consider a move to New Hampshire

Ron Paul's got a suggestion

I couldn't agree more. I've come to realize, after moving here, that NH is really the only state where this would work. Indeed, the FSP has a great document detailing 101 such reasons.

• 12 legislators is nearly all we need. We have an active caucus in the legislature, not of FSP newbies, but of these 12 + some seasoned veteran legislators. If you look at the roll call votes for hot issues, very often the spread is less than 12.
• Anti-police state stuff? We got it. NH House passed a "record the cops" bill (now in the Senate), the NH House now passes medical marijuana & MJ decrim bills every session (we need 2 more votes in the Senate to override the Governor's veto). An NH legislator (Dan Itse) informs me he's submitted a 4th amendment assertion bill for the coming session, in response to recent incidents.
• Sunshine law? Hell yes, one of the best in the country: NH RSA 91-A. But for even more fun, read the NH Constitution, Part I Art. 3.
• IIRC, NH was the first to submit an anti-TSA-invasion bill. It's passed the House, currently in the Senate.
• Warrantless wiretaps? I dunno. have to check. There's certainly plenty of "protect us from the feds" sentiment.

• Elected over 1 dozen FSP members to the State legislature
• Elected dozens of FSP members to local office all over the state (including myself, FWIW)
• Outright eliminated all knife laws in NH
• Passed a law forbidding NH from participating in the Real-ID program, or any de facto national ID that may follow therefrom
• Likely to pass a resolution this year asserting state sovereignty
• Passed laws reducing regulations on various businesses: contractors, home-schoolers
• Prevented any state income tax, sales tax, or seat belt law from passing, despite intense lobbying for such from other quarters
• Started libertarian TV shows, radio programs, and newspapers all over the state -- far more media saturation than in any other state

A lot more are listed over at http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?253-New-Hampshire

• Elected over 1 dozen FSP members to the State legislature
• Elected dozens of FSP members to local office all over the state (including myself, FWIW)
• Outright eliminated all knife laws in NH
• Passed a law forbidding NH from participating in the Real-ID program, or any de facto national ID that may follow therefrom
• Likely to pass a resolution this year asserting state sovereignty
• Passed laws reducing regulations on various businesses: contractors, home-schoolers
• Prevented any state income tax, sales tax, or seat belt law from passing, despite intense lobbying for such from other quarters
• Started libertarian TV shows, radio programs, and newspapers all over the state -- far more media saturation than in any other state

A lot more are listed over at http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?253-New-Hampshire

• Elected over 1 dozen FSP members to the State legislature
• Elected dozens of FSP members to local office all over the state (including myself, FWIW)
• Outright eliminated all knife laws in NH
• Passed a law forbidding NH from participating in the Real-ID program, or any de facto national ID that may follow therefrom
• Likely to pass a resolution this year asserting state sovereignty
• Passed laws reducing regulations on various businesses: contractors, home-schoolers
• Prevented any state income tax, sales tax, or seat belt law from passing, despite intense lobbying for such from other quarters
• Started libertarian TV shows, radio programs, and newspapers all over the state -- far more media saturation than in any other state

A lot more are listed over at http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?253-New-Hampshire

What would happen if there were, just for arguments sake, dissident Americans........ Pause..

For the sake of argument? You don't think there are people engaged in dissent? Really? Well, there are dissenters of many flavors, from the fringe to more main stream.

And guess what? They have the same option as everybody else - they go into the voting booth and vote for the party of their choice, just like the rest of America. If they don't like the local laws, they can try to change them or move. (Massachusetts has state run health care, California is engaging in an interesting physics experiment - can financial implosions lead to the formation of a black hole, Texas is generating a disproportionate share of jobs, for a few possible destinations. Every state has its unique charms.)

In the meantime, they publish magazine articles, books and web sites, radio, as well as make use of other media.

If they engage in terrorism that kills people, they get hunted down like dogs, until they get friends.

Really, is this news to you? You probably should have paused earlier.

New Hampshire was one of the first states to reject "Real-ID", and to hell with the (then-threatened) restrictions on air travel. I was one of the people that campaigned actively for this; one of my friends was a co-sponsor of the bill that did the opt-out, not only from Real-ID, but from "any national identification card system that may follow"

If that sounds good to you, you should check us out: http://freestateproject.org//intro/real-id

Yeah, a social security number is way better than an actual state-issued ID. Face it, one way or another you will be uniquely identified via government-issued credentials. They might as well be strong ones... I'd prefer a well-implemented national ID over the weakly-implemented insecure one we have right now any day.

New Hampshire was one of the first states to reject "Real-ID", and to hell with the (then-threatened) restrictions on air travel. I was one of the people that campaigned actively for this; one of my friends was a co-sponsor of the bill that did the opt-out, not only from Real-ID, but from "any national identification card system that may follow"

If that sounds good to you, you should check us out: http://freestateproject.org//intro/real-id

"It's going to be that way until we finally repeal the idiotic War on Drugs and admit that in a so-called "free country" it is wrong to ever tell consenting adults what they may do with their own bodies in their own homes."
Amen, brother. If you're serious about wanting liberty in your lifetime, check my .sig... and join us. Drug policy is important to many of us.

Can anyone recommend a few states where these taxes are unlikely, preferably also a place where I have multiple choices of ISP?

New Hampshire.