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It's worse than that. Not only do the patents stifle innovation, but the lumbering bureaucratic behemoth that is the FDA makes it incredibly expensive to bring any drug to market.

What the fuck happened to freedom of choice?

It's my body, I am the only one who can properly make the decision about what medication is "safe enough" for my circumstances. Wake up kids, the FDA is not protecting you -- think Vioxx.

If you believe, as I do, that the government simply has too much control over the ostensibly "free" market, over our bodies, and over our lives, then I urge you to have a close look at the Free State Project .
It's your only hope for liberty in your lifetime.

From what I can see here in NH, even with only a few hundred people who have moved early, we're already making some noticeable changes -- like killing bad laws (mandatory auto insurance, for example) and enforcing spending caps on city budgets.

With 20,000 people, I have no doubt we could reduce NH taxes to almost nothing, and make most services both private and voluntary. Hell, I bet we could get long way with even 1,000 people.

From what I can see here in NH, even with only a few hundred people who have moved early, we're already making some noticeable changes -- like killing bad laws (mandatory auto insurance, for example) and enforcing spending caps on city budgets.

With 20,000 people, I have no doubt we could reduce NH taxes to almost nothing, and make most services both private and voluntary. Hell, I bet we could get long way with even 1,000 people.

It's become clear to me that the vast majority of people in the US are not only unaware of the problem, they're happily contributing to creeping Socialism in this country. And the kicker is that most other countries I could see myself living in (Australia, Canada, various European states) are even worse.

That's why, 7 months ago, I moved to New Hampshire.
Have you heard of the Free State Project or Free Talk Live?

If you believe in free markets and smaller government, you should really check them out.

Snow Crash aside, there are libertarians gathering in New Hampshire in an attempt to make a haven and testing ground for libertarian ideals. Join the Free State Project!

Art. 10. [Right of Revolution.] Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever 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. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

And unlike in many other states, the NH constitution doesn't specifically prohibit seccession.

Once your in NH, there are many different groups you can join to effect positive change. NH Free regularly stages protests on usch things as emminent domain, and national ID

Oh come on, Orrin is wacky, (same as Bennett) but with Utah being the reddest state in the union (yes, it is redder then Texas), their seats are the SAFEST of all the seats in the US Senate. Barring more people moving from California to Utah (which is happening), Orrin and Bob can come afford wacky radical right wing extremist ideas, the rest of Congress can not.

Maybe that is what we need to do, organize a mass /. move to Utah county kind of like what the Free State project is doing in New Hampshire. As an added incentive to move, Provo has a FTTH project called iProvo that is going smoothly, and Fiber is being laid out in Orem, and other Utah counties via UTOPIA. Come on /. FIBER TO THE HOME! We can take over Utah!

You can do what the Free State Project is doing: http://www.freestateproject.org/

I have no dirt on this specific group of Greens. However, it is common, esp. on the left, to talk about "non-violent direct action" when in fact their actions are either violent, or worse than violence. Take this example of Greenpeace's "non-violent direct action":

http://forum.freestateproject.org//index.php?topic =9341.0

Basically, they invaded a stock exchange and installed deafening noisemaking machines of some kind, which can cause serious hearing loss. I consider that to be violent. (Btw, I'm not implying that you were about to respond this way, but if you were, no it does not count that the traders could "run away"; anyone can run away from an act of violence; that doesn't make it non-violent.)

Again, that doesn't mean NZ's party has this kind of hypocrisy; my target was just the over- and mis-use of the concept of "non-violent direct action" that they like to promote.

Regarding the speech you quoted, it seems pretty clear they're against both ends of the spectrum of capitalism. Of course, like most people, they probably deem instances of state capitalism to be free-market capitalism, ignoring important distinctions, but that's a separate matter.

Hmmm... as I recall, George Washington and Ben Franklin were Englishmen.

Seriously, though, people from outside the U.S. can sign on as a Friend of the Project

For the record, half my family are British. My cousin is seriously considering moving to New Hampshire and possibly applying for citizenship here. Really, who's going to move Britain in a Free direction? The Tories have become ridiculous parodies of themselves, and Labour is... well, Labour.

Well... whose fault is that? Are you sitting on your butt and letting them? Huh?

Folks, please do more than just bitch on Slashdot about how restrictive the U.S. Government has become.

There is a real, active plan to make at least one single U.S. state as Free as possible. Moreover, it's a plan with actual results, in which thousands have signed up, and over a hundred free-market, free-speech, "free-Everything" activists (including myself) have already moved in and are making a difference right now.

It's called the Free State Project.

Check the media archive.

"A Republic... if you can keep it" - B. Franklin

Well... whose fault is that? Are you sitting on your butt and letting them? Huh?

Folks, please do more than just bitch on Slashdot about how restrictive the U.S. Government has become.

There is a real, active plan to make at least one single U.S. state as Free as possible. Moreover, it's a plan with actual results, in which thousands have signed up, and over a hundred free-market, free-speech, "free-Everything" activists (including myself) have already moved in and are making a difference right now.

It's called the Free State Project.

Check the media archive.

"A Republic... if you can keep it" - B. Franklin

New Hampshire will be the home of the Freedom Lovers who are going to fix this country! If you haven't checked out the Free State Project, but you like freedom (as in liberty), check out the link, sign up, and move to New Hampshire!

I disagree; the Libertarian party is unequivocally the Small-Government party.
Their platform is basically: "Uncle Sam! Get out of my bedroom and keep yer filthy hands off my wallet!"
The biggest problem is, they don't win elections, because they are swamped by the Democrats and Republicans.

The solution? Simple: concentrate on one, specific state. And that's why, two months ago, I moved to New Hampshire.

Oh, and I cannot resist, bringing up the Lost Liberty Hotel. Way Cool!

I disagree; the Libertarian party is unequivocally the Small-Government party.
Their platform is basically: "Uncle Sam! Get out of my bedroom and keep yer filthy hands off my wallet!"
The biggest problem is, they don't win elections, because they are swamped by the Democrats and Republicans.

The solution? Simple: concentrate on one, specific state. And that's why, two months ago, I moved to New Hampshire.

Oh, and I cannot resist, bringing up the Lost Liberty Hotel. Way Cool!

Dude. Just don't go to Disney and chill out.

Yes, our freedoms are being removed slowly, so nobody notices. Like a chinese finger trap.

Check out the Free State Project if you want to work towards change.

Try New Hampshire.

http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic= 804.msg138538#msg138538
"Anyway, there was an article about the Columbine tragedy on Shashdot today, and I posted something that I hope resonates well with the Slashdot crowd and maybe points out how important these abstract concepts like "Freedom" are. Please feel free to moderate up or post replies...."

The free state project is so dead it's not even funny any more.

For the record, I was a picked-on wierdo geek for most of my school years, too. Introverts are definitely not valued in our society. I can relate to these stories more than I feel comfortable saying in a public forum.

In my honest opinion, a lot of the problem here is that schools really are staright out of 1984 -- they're government-run, government-funded, government-controlled down to what cirriculum can be taught. Think about it. The teachers themselves have to go through years of brainwashing to get a Teaching degree.

The entire friggin' United States government has a near-monopoly on education. Of course difference is repressed and conformity is the rule!

I have a 1-year old son, and I do not want him to go through the hell I went through. But how to fight the System?

Well... I tell you, I believe there's only one way to fix this. You can bitch and complain all you like, but it's not getting any better until there are real alternatives. And that's why I moved to New Hampshire.

I truly see only one way to rectify the situation, and that's to get enough people who see the problem to move to one place, where they have a good chance of changing things.

And that's why I moved to New Hampshire last week!

I do not think the vast majority of ppl realize the total tax burden placed on them .

Tax Freedom Day, 1980-2005

I realize that the government needs money to run, don't get me wrong , but make it fair and proportional .

Sounds like you need to join the Free State Project

The Free State Project is an agreement among 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. The success of the Project would likely entail reductions in taxation and regulation, reforms at all levels of government to expand individual rights and free markets, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the world.

Just one more reason I moved to New Hampshire, where there's at least hope that this kind of Police-State abuse can be rolled back.

Chip... as a longtime Perl user, my deepest thanks for all you've done. Good on you for taking the moral high ground here.

Why be average? I've moved to New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state. Free, in this context, means: No State Income Tax, and No State Sales Tax. Ca-Ching!

NH is also a very free state (relative to other U.S. states and certainly most countries) in terms of its minimal interference in people's day to day lives. Here are some more details

Check out The Free State Project's mainpage

Why be average? I've moved to New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state. Free, in this context, means: No State Income Tax, and No State Sales Tax. Ca-Ching!

NH is also a very free state (relative to other U.S. states and certainly most countries) in terms of its minimal interference in people's day to day lives. Here are some more details

Check out The Free State Project's mainpage

Now I live in "Silicon Valley", in an apartment complex. It is shocking for me to imagine, all the kids that live around here have no place to play outside. Yeah there are city parks, but that's really not the same.

So, now that I have a 1-year-old son, my wife and I are moving to New Hampshire. Actually, we move in less than 1 week; the truck left a few hours ago, with all our stuff in it :-)

We both have software jobs lined up already in Nashua, NH. Considering that Nashua has a lot of high-tech jobs, is less than an hour from Boston, and has NO STATE INCOME TAX, it's awesome that we can get a house there with a big wooded yard for less than what we were paying for rent in California.

And, the fact that New Hampshire is the designated Free State is a big bonus. Watching California's big-government socialist model is like watching a train wrek -- I prefer not to be on board!

That's the whole idea behind the Free State Project.

Quip from the site: The Free State Project is an agreement among 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. The success of the Project would likely entail reductions in taxation and regulation, reforms at all levels of government to expand individual rights and free markets, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the world.

As the federal system gets more and more police state like, I want neighbors who are like minded.
Here in New Hampshire, even with just over a hundred people moved, we're already making a difference.

Put aside your preconceptions about New Hampshire (it's not THAT cold, people), about Libertarians (We're a wide mix of positions, from very moderate to extreme), about politics (NH's system is amazingly and uniquely open, and forget 20K, just a few thousand activists could make a huge difference here), and most of all, about liberty and freedom (What are you going to tell your children about what you did when they took your rights away bit by bit?)

Check out the Free State Project now... we don't need 20K activists to move to make a difference, we just need you.

"nobody cares"

not if you do, and I do. There are plenty of people who care, we just have no way of organizing.

Think about joining the Free State Project (http://www.freestateproject.org/)

It's a bit of a commitment, the promise to move, but it is definitely a good shot at living freely. Not so hard for me as I already live in New Hampshire.

Yes, it's true. The "small-government" movement that found a mainstream presence in the Republican party with Ronald Reagan's presidency is all but dissolved in George W. Bush's administration.

What can you do?
Well, America was founded by people who migrated away from authoritarian control to establish a more Liberty-oriented state.
I, for one, am following in their footsteps, by moving to New Hampshire.

Check it out: http://freestateproject.org/index.php

what can I do about this?

How about join the Free State Project

NH: Man Without I.D. Vows to Board Flight or be Jailed Manchester, NH, May 21, 2005 - Inspired by New Hampshire's "outlaw manicurist," another Granite Stater is stepping forward to peacefully defy license-related laws. Russell Kanning of Keene has announced he will approach a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Manchester airport on June 11 and refuse to cooperate with the requirement to show I.D. "I will either board the plane without I.D. or be arrested," he says. "In a free country you do not need government permission to travel." The 35-year-old accountant has a ticket to Philidelphia.

Kanning stresses that he will not resist arrest or do anything that might be perceived as physically threatening. He says this act of nonviolent resistance will follow the model laid down by Gandhi, who used peaceful noncooperation to expel the British from India. "We will tell them everything we're going to do ahead of time. We are not going to disrupt the operation of the airport," he says.

Kanning says the parallels with Gandhi's situation go further than a shared belief in nonviolence. "In South Africa (where Gandhi's protests began), Indians had to have special I.D...so it's very similar that way, and he wanted to burn it...He was appealing to that same basic idea that we have rights to not have to have paperwork to be able to move freely."

After the terrorist attacks in 2001, Federal authorities tightened flying restrictions and begain forcing citizens to have both a ticket and identification (usually a driver's license) in order to even enter an airport terminal. Kanning says he refuses to carry a license on principle and disputes the idea that tighter restrictions really make flying safer.

Earlier this month another Gandhi admirer, Mike Fisher of Newmarket, used the Mahatma's techniques to protest business licensing. After announcing he would perform an unlicensed manicure in front of the state licensing offices, he carried out his promise, earned a brief trip to jail and received heavy regional media coverage for his viewpoint.

Kanning says Gandhi's and Fisher's examples inspired him to take similar action against the growing "surveillance state." He believes the Real I.D. amendment passed by the Senate this month will make things even worse. But he says it's important to stay positive. "The goal is we want to get to the point where we can travel without having to have paperwork, so this is the beginning of that. We see light at the end of the tunnel."

Currently the plan is for Kanning to approach the security checkpoint at 12:30 PM. Journalists and supporters will want to be there by noon.

Summary:

What: Civil disobedience against ID requirements under federalized airport security.
Where: Manchester Airport in New Hampshire (exact spot to be determined)
When: Saturday, June 11 @ noon
Who: Russell Kanning of Keene, NH, supporters from NHfree.com
Why: To draw attention to the recent and continuing loss of privacy and freedom due to federalized airport security and National ID. How: By approaching a TSA checkpoint with a ticket but no I.D., refusing to show I.D. and refusing to cooperate with the I.D. requirement until arrested or allowed to board the plane.
Contacts: See NHfree.com

Kanning moved from California to New Hampshire in Nov. '04 with the Free State Project (http://freestateproject.org) which is an agreement among 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. The success of the Project would likely entail reductions in taxation and regulation, reforms at all levels of government to expand individual rights and free markets, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefit

Looks like many of us will be joining you in New Hampshire.

If you want to wrestle power away from the third parties, do what I've done since I turned 18. Join the free state project and vote libertarian!

If a state does not agree with the federal government, it would have the ability to show massive disdain by seperating from the USA

In a way there's a plan afoot to do this now, to show disdain for the feds, though not by succession.

Free State Project.
The Free State Project is an agreement among 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. The success of the Project would likely entail reductions in taxation and regulation, reforms at all levels of government to expand individual rights and free markets, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the world.

It seems that the small-government Republicans have their priorities in order: destroy liberty first, then maybe do something about terrorism (after pracising some heavy borrow-and-spend).

I think you give the grand parent too much credit in granting the premise that Corporate charters are granted to "advance the public good" at all. That might have been the intent 200+ years ago when they were debating creating a national bank; but, Corporations are all about shielding their owners from liability, unearned income (i.e., profit), and self-preservation.

Because of the generally selfish nature of the artificial entities we call Corporations, one would expect that we will always advocate for legislation that is in their best interest, often at cross-purposes to the "public good."

I would suggest that Corporations have no place in the political/legislative process what-so-ever -- advocating neither for nor against legislation; and, interestingly, that is also in the interest of share-holders as profits are not wasted on advocacy.

As an aside, would the Free State Project support passing a gay-rights bill in New Hampshire; or, is that not the kind of Liberty you have in mind?

I'm not sure it matters; we've all been screwed, nobody cares

Here's a good org defending democracy, and small government, Free State Project.

http://www.freestateproject.org/

Not an island, but it might help.
J.

I'm sure the poster meant that as a tongue-in-cheek. But there really is a plan to make a single Free state. Moreover, it's a plan with actual results, in which thousands have signed up, and over a hundred free-market, free-speech, "free-Everything" activists have already moved there and are making a difference right now.

It's called the Free State Project, and I myself am a member.

Check this newscast from a local TV station.

I'm sure the poster meant that as a tongue-in-cheek. But there really is a plan to make a single Free state. Moreover, it's a plan with actual results, in which thousands have signed up, and over a hundred free-market, free-speech, "free-Everything" activists have already moved there and are making a difference right now.

It's called the Free State Project, and I myself am a member.

Check this newscast from a local TV station.

Get one state, then then work on the federal government. Show how one state's freedom increases the quality of life and others will follow. etc.

He's up to about 6500 people who have pledged that they will move to New Hampshire once they reach the 20,000 number. I'd love to see this succeed!

Get one state, then then work on the federal government. Show how one state's freedom increases the quality of life and others will follow. etc.

He's up to about 6500 people who have pledged that they will move to New Hampshire once they reach the 20,000 number. I'd love to see this succeed!

Which is why you should immediately rush over to The Free State Project and pledge your support in some fashion.

Or New Hampshire.

New Hampshire has the right motto: "Live Free or Die." Deal with it.

New Hampshire has the right motto: "Live Free or Die." Deal with it.

Hear, Hear!!

The best way to find freedom and happiness, though, is not on your own -- on your own, you're gonna get run over by the out-of-control machine that is Government. Instead, I strongly suggest joining other people who also believe in Freedom.

And I'm putting my money where my mouth is: I'm an FSP member.

Do yourself a favor. Check out the link.

There IS a third option...
Stay in the US, but move to an area where there are enough likeminded people to influence local policy, and start making a difference from there.
Check it out, it's called the Free State Project - the idea is to move 20,000 liberty lovers to an area where they can make a real difference.
http://www.freestateproject.org/

I'm not an American, but if I was, I'd definitely be considering this

Personally, I'm working to make enough to retire, then I'll leave and never come back.

Well, before you leave, you might check out Free State Project and Free State Wyoming. These are groups of people that have not given up all hope yet. You are probably right about _most_ of the people, though.

Okay then, I'll explain it to you: The antecedent
is not a conditional. Thus, it is explanatory. It
states that an effectively organized militia is
essential to the security of a free State, such as
New Hampshire (hypothetically and prospectively).
Since it is essential, we've added this explicit
amendment to prohibit the federal government from
infringing upon the right of the people to keep and
bear arms. Thus, any legal restrictions on this
human right (a direct consequence of the right to
life, in the manifestation of the right to self-defense)
must be constructed at the state level, and the
existence of federal laws and regulations which
infringe upon those rights is a patent demonstration
that the federal government is operating with disregard
for the laws which grant it authority. (I personally
would add the immediate conclusion that since those
laws are inoperative, the federal government no longer
has legitimate authority.)