“The free state project is working because it gives people hope”

Nearly one hundred liberty-loving early movers were in attendance for the press conference this morning held by the Free State Project at the Radisson in Manchester. FSP founder Jason Sorens spoke on the creation of the FSP and why the first 5,000 participants chose New Hampshire as the destination. Jason said,



That’s definitely true for me. When I moved here as an early mover for the FSP in 2006 I was pretty angry about the government. I felt very lonely in Florida, with little more than a handful of libertarians in the area. Now there are more liberty-minded people living at my intersection in Keene than there were in the entire city where I’m from.

With over 1,600 having moved across NH from all around the globe as early movers, (the official FSP move begins today) and having a major impact, it’s clear that there is hope for liberty here in the Shire. I’m not angry anymore and haven’t been for many years. I expect other libertarians who feel isolated or cornered where they live will have a similar transition when they are surrounded by people who actually care about liberty and are willing to do something about it. It’s quite encouraging to be here. Here’s the full video of the press conference:

After Jason Sorens’ speech, FSP president Carla Gericke got up to address the crowd and journalists in the room, officially announcing that the FSP has reached its goal of 20,000 liberty-minded folks signing and promising to move to New Hampshire within five years of today, Feb 3rd, 2016. It’s now been dubbed “Porcupine Day”, and happens right after Groundhog Day. (The porcupine is the mascot of the FSP.) Once here, the FSP movers are to put forth the maximum practical effort to achieve liberty in our lifetime. Carla explained to the audience what it took to get the project to completion, including a sustained, expensive ad campaign on Facebook, for which much credit was given to Vince Perfetto who is well known in the NH liberty community as the producer of the excellent documentary, “101 Reasons Liberty Lives in New Hampshire“.

All the speakers touched on various successes of early movers, especially within the political system. It’s clear that the FSP’s early movers have had more political successes in a decade than the libertarian party has ever had, nationwide, in forty years.

To the surprise of some in the crowd, Carla did announce that the FSP would continue to accept signers, as their goal now is to ensure 20,000 libertarians make the move here. She promised that more on the future of the Free State Project as an organization will be announced at the upcoming convention thrown yearly by the FSP, “ Liberty Forum “, happening 2/18-2/21 (also held at the Radisson in Manchester) .

The speakers answered several questions from the audience, including on the common objections to the FSP from libertarians considering a move. Of course, one of the most popular being that, “it’s cold in NH”. Ultimately, the panel of speakers, which included Porcfest organizer Matt Philips, agreed that the cold temperatures keep away the fairweather activists and the talkers. We get the best activists here in NH as a result of this natural filtering process. Plus, the weather also keeps out statists, though it was pointed out that it was in the 50s today in February, historically the coldest of all twelve months in NH.

With nearly 10% here for the FSP already (1600+ movers plus nearly 300 FSPers who were here at the time of the vote), it’s clear to anyone paying attention that New Hampshire is the best destination for libertarians and voluntarists who are willing to get active rather than just complain. Start making your plans to move – the fun’s just getting started. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest from across the Shire!