The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 22, 2003, Page 3, Image 3
Free State Project wants to transform local state government
New Hampshire, Wyoming lead the
election to be democracy laboratory
BY KATE MCCANN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CONCORD, N.H. - Some 5,000
liberty-minded Americans have
been holding an election, but for
a state rather than a candidate,
and the one they choose will be a
laboratory for what they call the
biggest experiment in democracy
since the Revolutionary War.
Balloting concludes today, and
the winning state is to be an
nounced Oct. 1. Then members of
the Free State Project hope to
quadruple their numbers within
two years, move there, and start
transforming it into a national
model for small government, few
laws and individual liberty.
“Projects of this kind have been
done before on much larger
scales,” says project founder Jason
Sorens, 26. He cites the Pilgrims,
the Mormons and the migration
of liberal, back-to-the-soil types to
Vermont 30 years ago.
With a Web site —
http://www.freestateproject.org
— as a forum, members last year
narrowed their choices to 10 states
with small populations, libertari
an tendencies and other charac
teristics. New Hampshire and
Wyoming are considered favorites,
ahead of Alaska, Delaware, Idaho,
Maine, Montana, Vermont, and
North and South Dakota.
Supporters of New Hampshire
like its relatively low dependence
on federal money, lack of general
sales or income taxes, and its
“Live Free or Die” motto. The New
Hampshire constitution also guar
antees the right to revolt and does
not prohibit secession. Project
members say secession is not their
goal, but that the provision could
be a useful bargaining chip.
Wyoming scores for its tiny pop
ulation, low property taxes, lack of
statewide land use planning laws,
and lack of “politically correct”
laws such as those against hate
crimes.
Strikes against New Hampshire
include its lack of support for
Libertarian presidential candi
dates and its relatively expensive
political campaigns.
Though the premise of the pro
ject is that 20,000 committed indi
viduals could be a genuine force
in a small state, members bristle
at the suggestion they want to
“take over” a state.
“New Hampshire gets 20,000
new residents annually. So 20,000
people is not like locusts,” said
Vice President Elizabeth
McKinstry, who lives in Michigan.
“And in no state that's on our list
will 20,000 people be enough to
come in to 'take over.”'
SURFYOURSELF
Read about the Free State Project at:
www.freestateproject.org
Henry McElroy, a retired col
lege professor and Republican
state representative from Nashua,
says the biggest change in the cho
sen state would be getting people
involved in government.
“You should be reading, you
should be studying, you should be
doing a better job of understand
ing your place in society,” he said.
Some free-staters have ruffled
feathers by questioning the need
to subsidize public schools and op
posing laws against “victimless
behaviors” such as marijuana use
for medical purposes, prostitution
and gambling.
That's partly why New
Hampshire Democratic
Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan con
siders the project “sort of a very
fringe group that can best be de
scribed as anarchists.”
One of 150 project members
who already live in New
Hampshire, James Maynard of
Keene, has been recruiting in
Massachusetts.
“With the attitude of everyone
in Massachusetts, that freedom is
just to their north, that would be
a great source,” said Maynard, 30.
Project members are mostly
men and in their 20s and 30s.
Roughly 10 percent are retirees;
others are small-business owners.
Not all are Libertarian Party
members, but their principles are
similar.
- David Dawson, chairman of the
Wyoming Libertarian Party, is a
staunch project supporter.
Dawson, 60, has run unsuccess
fully for governor and Congress
twice, and several times for the
state Legislature.
“.When you,'re a Libertarian
without 20,000 liberty-oriented peo
ple in your state, it's not a race you
figure on winning,” he said. “But
you get 20,000 people moving in
here and that could change in a big
hurry.”
But Wyoming Gov. Dave
Freudenthal, a Democrat, “has
never gotten the impression that
many (Wyoming residents) would
support legalizing drugs or using
secession as some sort of bargain
ing chip;” spokeswoman Lara
Azar said.
Libertarian candidates haven't
dong well in New Hampshire. But
University of New Hampshire po
litical scientist Mark Wrighton
says the Granite State might be fer
tile ground for the project anyway.
“The words 'Live Free or Die’
pretty much explain a lot of what
goes on in New Hampshire,”
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