District 8 State Representative Cynthia Chase of Keene has made her position clear on liberty-loving activists moving here, and it’s quite the endorsement of the success of the Free State Project. In a post to Blue Hampshire, she reveals that she believes Free Staters are the biggest threat to the state (something to be proud of) and that she and some others on Central Square during the peace vigil attempted to scare away a visiting couple from moving here. (As an aside, what was Ms. Chase doing at the peace vigil? She must be very confused about what peace is. Hint- it doesn’t include using aggressive force on people via “the state”.)

Here’s her comment from Blue Hampshire:

In the opinion of this Democrat, Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today. There is, legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal. In this country you can move anywhere you choose and they have that same right. What we can do is to make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave. One way is to pass measures that will restrict the “freedoms” that they think they will find here. Another is to shine the bright light of publicity on who they are and why they are coming. They can not put their ideology into our statutes unless we elect them in great enough numbers to take over our General Court. We have already seen them try during the last session of the General Court. Our last election was a repudiation of their extremism.

Here in Keene we had a couple show up on Central Square to take part in our weekly Saturday morning peace demonstration. In the course of the conversation they allowed that they were Free Staters considering moving to Keene. The folks on the Square told them in no uncertain terms not to do that because Free Staters are not welcome here. Cheshire County is a welcoming community but not to those whose stated goal is to move in enough ideologues to steal our state, and our way of life.

Ultimately the Free Staters want NH to be a platform state for them to export their views to the rest of the country. Some of these folks dress up pretty well, but if you check their website you will find that they are really wolves in sheep’s clothing. The best strategy from my perspective is to keep shining a light on their views and activities and make it very plain that NH is not up for sale to any ideology. To ignore these people and hope they go away is a recipe for disaster.