Allanea
31-05-2005, 12:40
Migrating for Freedom
by Kat Dillon • Updated May 24, 2005
What would cause a group of ordinary citizens to
uproot family, leave jobs and friends to move to New
Hampshire? It would have to be something important.
Yet 6,500 individuals so far have pledged to do so.
Though none are required by their pledge to move until
we have 20,000 pledgers, 104 people have already made
the move. I myself left a quite comfortable
situation in Texas and moved with my daughter to New
Hampshire in June 2004.
Why are all these people taking this drastic step? We
are part of the Free State Project
(http://www.freestateproject.org), a group of people
concerned about the ever growing intrusion by
government on the private lives of citizens. The Free
State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more
liberty-oriented people will move to New Hampshire,
where they may work within the political system to
reduce the size and scope of government. The success
of the Free State Project would likely entail
reductions in burdensome taxation and regulation,
reforms in state and local law, an end to federal
mandates, and a restoration of constitutional
federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to
the rest of the nation and the world.
Moving for the cause of freedom is nothing new. Jason
Sorens, founder and Chairman of the Board for the Free
State Project points out, "The whole American
experience is based on migrating for freedom. That's
what most of the immigrants who came to our shores
were doing. They wanted a better life, and that's
exactly what we're doing." From that movement sprang
the greatest nation this planet has ever seen. Nowhere
else was it recognized that individual rights are
inherent and inalienable, not a whim of those in power
to bless us with or take away. Nowhere else has the
protection of those rights led to such a prosperous
nation.
The problem is that daily, we see our brothers
sacrificing their inherent rights for the illusion of
safety. Our citizens have forgotten their power. They
have forgotten that their rights are not given them by
the government, so they accept it blindly when the
government takes away those rights. The founding
fathers were aware of this problem. Benjamin Franklin
once said, "Those who would give up essential Liberty,
to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither
Liberty nor Safety."
When we give up our 4th Amendment rights for
legislation like the Patriot Act, we open ourselves up
to something far more terrifying than a few
terrorists. We open ourselves up to the full force of
the U.S. being used against its own citizens. If you
believe the Patriot Act will only be used against
terrorists, you've buried your head in the sand. As
H.L. Mencken wrote, "The whole aim of practical
politics is to keep the populace alarmed - and hence
clamorous to be led to safety - by menacing it with an
endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
Sound familiar? Are you tiring yet of the elevated
security alerts, vague warnings of imminent terrorist
attacks? As John Stossel reminds us, "Patrick Henry
did not say, 'Give me absolute safety or give me
death.'"
When was the last time you read the Constitution or
the Bill of Rights? At the very least, read through
the Bill of Rights. You'll be hard pressed to find any
that the U.S. government is not now violating. You
might be surprised to learn what some of your rights
are.
As dire as the violation of our rights is, the fed's
trampling of our economic freedoms are almost harder
to bear. Let me give you a small example. A friend
wanted to start a restaurant here in Dallas. He was
all ready to go, wanted to provide his excellent
service to the people of Dallas, provide a few jobs.
It took nearly a year after his being ready to satisfy
government regulations and open his business. After
moving the business, remodeling to suit regulations,
getting all the necessary permits, etc., he was
finally ALLOWED to sell food. This small example is
multiplied a million times over in every business
across the nation. Is the illusion of safety worth
having our hands tied? Does the government actually
protect you? Wouldn't it be better to take
responsibility for your own life and safety? It is the
impossible weight of government regulation and
taxation that is driving our economy down, not greedy
capitalists, as we are told.
The U.S. left the gold standard in 1933. This allowed
the government to print money on a whim. When money is
printed without being backed by gold or silver, it
loses its value. That is what creates inflation.
Notice how prices have been rising in the past few
months, everything across the board costs more? That
is the price we all pay when the printing presses are
rolling.
How did schools become a government operation? Any
time you ask government to solve a problem that the
free market can solve itself, you will find the
problem solved inefficiently and often with
corruption. An individual will be cautious with his
own money and investments. Government, which takes its
wealth by force, is like a rich son who, not having to
work for his money, squanders it thoughtlessly.
The Free State Project proposes to take education out
of the hands of government, precisely because it is
too important to be left to that rich philandering
son, the state. Already we have in place private means
to fund schools in New Hampshire. The Liberty
Scholarship Fund (http://lsfund.org) has been set up
as a first step to providing privately funded
alternatives to the public schools.
With all these problems facing our once magnificent
nation, what can be done? Voting has not been
effective. The individuals who see through the media
smoke screen are scattered. Legislation is heavily
against allowing third parties to run for office.
Fighting for our freedom is not an attractive option,
even though the abuses we endure are far greater than
those that spurred the American Revolution. So our
proposal is to gather those scattered individuals who
understand the benefits of freedom. If we can create a
haven for freedom in just one state, it will serve as
a shining example to the rest of the nation, and the
world. If you value your individual rights and your
pocketbook, please check us out.
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can
labor in freedom. – Albert Einstein
--New Hampshire Underground
http://nhunderground.com/
-- Free State Project
http://www.freestateproject.org
by Kat Dillon • Updated May 24, 2005
What would cause a group of ordinary citizens to
uproot family, leave jobs and friends to move to New
Hampshire? It would have to be something important.
Yet 6,500 individuals so far have pledged to do so.
Though none are required by their pledge to move until
we have 20,000 pledgers, 104 people have already made
the move. I myself left a quite comfortable
situation in Texas and moved with my daughter to New
Hampshire in June 2004.
Why are all these people taking this drastic step? We
are part of the Free State Project
(http://www.freestateproject.org), a group of people
concerned about the ever growing intrusion by
government on the private lives of citizens. The Free
State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more
liberty-oriented people will move to New Hampshire,
where they may work within the political system to
reduce the size and scope of government. The success
of the Free State Project would likely entail
reductions in burdensome taxation and regulation,
reforms in state and local law, an end to federal
mandates, and a restoration of constitutional
federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to
the rest of the nation and the world.
Moving for the cause of freedom is nothing new. Jason
Sorens, founder and Chairman of the Board for the Free
State Project points out, "The whole American
experience is based on migrating for freedom. That's
what most of the immigrants who came to our shores
were doing. They wanted a better life, and that's
exactly what we're doing." From that movement sprang
the greatest nation this planet has ever seen. Nowhere
else was it recognized that individual rights are
inherent and inalienable, not a whim of those in power
to bless us with or take away. Nowhere else has the
protection of those rights led to such a prosperous
nation.
The problem is that daily, we see our brothers
sacrificing their inherent rights for the illusion of
safety. Our citizens have forgotten their power. They
have forgotten that their rights are not given them by
the government, so they accept it blindly when the
government takes away those rights. The founding
fathers were aware of this problem. Benjamin Franklin
once said, "Those who would give up essential Liberty,
to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither
Liberty nor Safety."
When we give up our 4th Amendment rights for
legislation like the Patriot Act, we open ourselves up
to something far more terrifying than a few
terrorists. We open ourselves up to the full force of
the U.S. being used against its own citizens. If you
believe the Patriot Act will only be used against
terrorists, you've buried your head in the sand. As
H.L. Mencken wrote, "The whole aim of practical
politics is to keep the populace alarmed - and hence
clamorous to be led to safety - by menacing it with an
endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
Sound familiar? Are you tiring yet of the elevated
security alerts, vague warnings of imminent terrorist
attacks? As John Stossel reminds us, "Patrick Henry
did not say, 'Give me absolute safety or give me
death.'"
When was the last time you read the Constitution or
the Bill of Rights? At the very least, read through
the Bill of Rights. You'll be hard pressed to find any
that the U.S. government is not now violating. You
might be surprised to learn what some of your rights
are.
As dire as the violation of our rights is, the fed's
trampling of our economic freedoms are almost harder
to bear. Let me give you a small example. A friend
wanted to start a restaurant here in Dallas. He was
all ready to go, wanted to provide his excellent
service to the people of Dallas, provide a few jobs.
It took nearly a year after his being ready to satisfy
government regulations and open his business. After
moving the business, remodeling to suit regulations,
getting all the necessary permits, etc., he was
finally ALLOWED to sell food. This small example is
multiplied a million times over in every business
across the nation. Is the illusion of safety worth
having our hands tied? Does the government actually
protect you? Wouldn't it be better to take
responsibility for your own life and safety? It is the
impossible weight of government regulation and
taxation that is driving our economy down, not greedy
capitalists, as we are told.
The U.S. left the gold standard in 1933. This allowed
the government to print money on a whim. When money is
printed without being backed by gold or silver, it
loses its value. That is what creates inflation.
Notice how prices have been rising in the past few
months, everything across the board costs more? That
is the price we all pay when the printing presses are
rolling.
How did schools become a government operation? Any
time you ask government to solve a problem that the
free market can solve itself, you will find the
problem solved inefficiently and often with
corruption. An individual will be cautious with his
own money and investments. Government, which takes its
wealth by force, is like a rich son who, not having to
work for his money, squanders it thoughtlessly.
The Free State Project proposes to take education out
of the hands of government, precisely because it is
too important to be left to that rich philandering
son, the state. Already we have in place private means
to fund schools in New Hampshire. The Liberty
Scholarship Fund (http://lsfund.org) has been set up
as a first step to providing privately funded
alternatives to the public schools.
With all these problems facing our once magnificent
nation, what can be done? Voting has not been
effective. The individuals who see through the media
smoke screen are scattered. Legislation is heavily
against allowing third parties to run for office.
Fighting for our freedom is not an attractive option,
even though the abuses we endure are far greater than
those that spurred the American Revolution. So our
proposal is to gather those scattered individuals who
understand the benefits of freedom. If we can create a
haven for freedom in just one state, it will serve as
a shining example to the rest of the nation, and the
world. If you value your individual rights and your
pocketbook, please check us out.
Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can
labor in freedom. – Albert Einstein
--New Hampshire Underground
http://nhunderground.com/
-- Free State Project
http://www.freestateproject.org