Slashdot Mirror
Free State Project 93% Towards Goal (freestateproject.org)
Okian Warrior writes: Long term readers may recall the Free State Project, a plan to gather 20,000 liberty-minded participants and move to a low-populated state, as covered here on Slashdot. The project reached 90% of its 20,000 member goal last year with accelerated growth in recent months, and is on track to trigger the move to New Hampshire before year's end.
"Liberty Minded" is US code word for "white male who own guns".
Drug laws are disproportionately directed at blacks. Commercial sex laws are almost exclusively directed at women. Libertarians want to repeal both.
You are a libertarian. You just don't like other libertarians. I don't really like other libertarians for the same sorts of reasons you probably don't. Or maybe you aren't a libertarian. It's just a meaningless label that's been co-opted by the republican party anyway.
In any case there is no reason you can't support a social welfare system and be a libertarian. Libertarians aren't anarchists (or at least they shouldn't be). Libertarians should believe in government doing the jobs that government can do better than the private sector, and libertarians are free to disagree on which jobs those are.
There are plenty of stupid shitty selfish libertarians, and there are plenty of compassionate and thoughtful libertarians, just like every other political persuasion. Although it seems as though lately many of the libertarians I can actually relate to, have started to shy away from that label as it has recently become rather toxic.
In any case, all I want to point out is that "libertarian" is a very broad philosophy that encompasses more than just the dickhead republicans who are the loudest self proclaimed libertarians at the moment. Although I would argue that you aren't a real libertarian if you don't support liberty for people outside your own demographic (e.g. gays, women, minorities, muslims, atheists, recreational drug users, polygamists, etc). It's easy to support liberty for yourself.
They are simply newcomers, who want to impose their views on people. And, of course, isn't there something contradictory in trying to impose "Freedom" on anybody?
Anarchists and Libertarians typically don't care how others live their lives as long as you don't use coercion, violence, kidnapping , and torture against them to go along with your agenda. People should have a right to voluntarily be enslaved and a right to live under their ideals because you own the effects of your body and it isn't our right to impose upon you our ideals through coercion. This means that we are perfectly happy to live and even cooperate with communists , socialists, democrats and republicans as long as they don't impose their agenda upon us. Where it gets complicated is when statists feel bitter about some people stepping outside of the "social contract" that we never agreed to in the first place and not shouldering some public burden along with them. Since anarchists aren't necessarily against governments but state governments I believe a truce can be brokered between the communities where anarchist collectives pay for the public services they do use, and can refuse to pay for the ones they disagree with (murdering innocent families with drone bombs 90% of incidents and NSA surveillance used to murder those people)
This is a response to, "If you don't like it, move." Okay, they did. And NH is close enough to their goals that it won't be a major policy change.
I like the idea of having an honest community standard, where people generally have the same principles. Being comfortable because you grew up somewhere is the worst kind of community. Because you may like your house and neighborhood, but disagree with the neighbors.
One that runs out nonconformants will sort itself out. And I would like to see communities with such strong identities that up to the state level people generally agree.
Since the target is a low population area, I don't see a problem.
Give me liberty or death, because I can't be arsed to move a few hundred miles?
Also, people who wants less government/taxes are easy to share a territory with.
I suggest you get out of your basement and try living next door to a gypsy camp (in the UK) before you make fine sounding assertions like that.
They selected New Hampshire, because it is the "Live Free or Die" state. Most of New Hamsphire residents outside of Portsmouth, NH tend to just want to be left the F alone.
Since they're pretty much only pushing for laws, that leave you the F alone. What you'll find is very few are going to complain...
Libertarians != Conservatives
That is a common misconception. I too thought that Live Free or Die was about freedom of choice. When I lived there I quickly discovered it really means Do exactly as the people with money and power tell you to, or Die, Motherfucker!
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Base principle of effective government right there.
Complexity is the enemy of reliability, and when laws are most numerous, the state is most corrupt (with sincere apologies to Alan Robertson, Tacitus, and Sun Tzu).
The Georgists who moved to Arden, Delaware with the same basic idea as the Free Staters (that is, to go to a small state where their ideas would have more impact on society) had a long-term positive effect on the area, reaching even beyond Delaware's borders. People who are willing to pull up roots and work in order to achieve their ideas - people who are willing to strive towards their goals - sometimes build vibrant, dynamic and productive communities... although not always, as the ruins of Salubria and Icaria attest.
Um, no. There is actually a great deal of libertarian thought given to the most effective compromises that can be made since not everyone is on-board with ubermen-against the-world archetype that seems to be in vogue now. In fact, New Hampshire already fits within the geolibertarian model (no sales or income tax, high property tax), which is an anathema to the "taxation is theft" crowd. You can't even set up your corporate structure in the Cayman islands to be rid of it.
Hayek and Friedman already championed the ideas behind basic income as the least destructive way to have social services, and curiously is now being championed by the left. And then there is that whole other left-libertarianism as well.
There has been very considered thought on how to move society in a more libertarian direction without letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. The hardline libertarian types are simply ignorant beyond sloganeering, which is a shame really. Libertarianism has some rather nuanced insights beyond "government is bad, m'kay".
One small anecdote should drive the point home. Note that I have had many experiences when I lived there that also might illustrate the issue nicely, but it takes a while to write this all down, so just the one anecdote will have to suffice to prime the palette if you will.
While at the beach I went to "The Cows Ass" leather shop and I was duly impressed with my "freedom" to purchase things such as Nunchaku, Throwing Stars, and various other cool martial arts "toys". A particular cane caught my eye. The lady behind the counter proceeded to demonstrate this it was actually a Sword Cane. I didn't want the sword part, but decided I would buy the thing and use an oxyacetylene torch to cut the sword part off, and then it would actually be able to store things as an added benefit. I was gleeful as I went to the bar, got drunk, and then proceeded to walk home. On the way back home I stopped and sat on a bench where I fell asleep / passed out.
:-( Luckily, or so I thought, a police cruiser was coming down the road so I waved the cop over. When I told him my stuff was stolen he claimed to know nothing about the glasses, but that he confiscated my cane because it was illegal ! I couldn't believe it since I purchased it at a store on the main part of Hampton Beach. Still I told the officer that it was no problem that he confiscated it as I had no intention of owning an illegal item. I asked that he provide me with some documentation that he took the cane so I could return to The Cows Ass and get a refund for my hard earned money. The Cop refused to do so.
When I awoke my glasses and Sword Cane were gone!!!
After a bit of "recovery time" I returned home and proceeded to call the Hampton Police department and asked to speak with whomever is in charge. I was actually told that "nobody is in charge". When I persisted I was told that an officer would be out to speak with me about the incident. When I opened the door the cop immediately arrested me!
Months later, The Cows Ass was still selling the illegal canes of course, though the department was well aware of their practice of selling them.
Do you want to guess who had the money and the power? Both the store and the law had even more money as The Cows Ass got the money for the cane, and the piglice / courts fined me plenty, of course. You can bet their attitude was You ain't rich, and you ain't connected to anyone in power. Die Motherfuckka!. Indeed, though they never expressed those words literally, their attitude, affect, words, and body language were very clear that they would be fine with it if I did die, and actually would prefer it.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun