Is the Free State Project Self Defeating?

Published on September 24, 2004 By Gideon MacLeish In Politics

A couple of my past blogs have focused on the Free State Project, and one previous blog has touched on the failure of libertarians in New Hampshire (the chosen state for the FSP) to put Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party candidate, on the ballot, making NH one of only two states (Oklahoma being the other) where Badnarik doesn't appear on the ballot.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Free State Project, here is a portion of their mission statement, pulled from their homepage at www.freestateproject.org :

What the Free State Project is... The Free State Project is an effort to recruit 20,000 liberty-loving people to move to New Hampshire. We are looking for neighborly, productive, tolerant folks from all walks of life, of all ages, creeds, and colors who agree to the political philosophy expressed in our Statement of Intent, that government exists at most to protect people's rights, and should neither provide for people nor punish them for activities that interfere with no one else.

The primary goal, as stated elsewhere on the site, is for those 20,000 people to be COMMITTED activists.

To date, FSP boasts just over 6,000 members. Of those 6,000, over 300 are said to have made the move to New Hampshire. Keep in mind these are 300 ACTIVISTS. New Hampshire's ballot access laws require 2,600 signatures, 1,300 in each congressional district.

2600 signatures divided by 300 activists = 8.67 signatures per activist. This should not be an incredibly difficult goal in a state of over 1.2 million people.

So, what happened? Did the FSP simply drop the ball? Actually, I don't think that's the case. I think it is far more likely that many citizens of New Hampshire, fearing the intrusion of 20,000 carpetbaggers to their state, have polarized against the FSP, whether or not they approve of their views. And these are the sorts of individuals not likely to sign a petition when an FSP activist is involved.

My conclusion is that the Free State Project activists are going to have to work hard at removing the prejudice that exists in New Hampshire due to very real carpetbagging fears. They have a long uphill road if they are to meet their goal.

Respectfully submitted,

Gideon MacLeish

Comments

Gene Nash

on Sep 24, 2004

I've been theorizing about something like this for the last couple of years. I've been looking at small town politics and thinking it should be relatively easy to take over a town or city with a relatively small number of voters/activists. (A state is another matter entirely.)

I think the HUGE mistake made here was being so public about it. Attempting something like this should be a secret.

They should have taken a page from "the Illuminati" and other supposed shadow organizations "secretly controlling the world."

(Yes I realize FSP didn't mean to "take over" New Hampshire or be a string-pulling shadow organization, but their failure proves they should have at least adopted the secrecy techniques. Your analysis of them being to public is right on target.)

drmiler

on Sep 24, 2004

(Yes I realize FSP didn't mean to "take over" New Hampshire or be a string-pulling shadow organization, but their failure proves they should have at least adopted the secrecy techniques. Your analysis of them being to public is right on target.)

They haven't *failed*, yet!

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