NH -- the Luckiest State

NOTE: The opinions and commentary expressed in this essay are those of the author and are an exercise of free speech. They do not necessarily represent the views of Free State Project Inc., its Directors, its Officers, or its Participants.

New Hampshire – the Luckiest State

Tim Condon's Speech at the FSP Announcement Press Conference
10/1/03

(Note: A video of this speech is available here)

Good morning, my name is Tim Condon, and as Jason said I'm a lawyer from the state of Florida. I'm on the board of directors of the Free State Project, and I'm director of member services. I wanted to speak just a little bit about the changes that may come to New Hampshire as a result of it being probably the luckiest state in the history of the United States, to be chosen by the Free State Project. (applause)

There are going to be great economic and social benefits we believe that will accrue to the state as a result of being chosen by the Free State Project, and the reason I wanted to make a few remarks about that is because change in general is very difficult, a difficult process, and made even more difficult if the change is in the direction of individualism and more individual responsibility and more individual freedom and a more open social system, which is what we advocate. We hope that the prospect of the great economic benefits that will accrue to the state will help to allay any natural suspicion of the Free State Project members.

Throughout history some societies and some governments and some countries have prospered, while others have stagnated. And for generations of economists, they have scratched their heads over this, saying, "Gee what makes a successful economic system? Why do some societies stagnate and others are wildly successful?" How can Hong Kong, a couple of hundred barren square miles of coastline in China turn out in the 1960's and 1970's to have one of the largest economies in the world?

Well, even though a lot of economists have scratched their heads over that issue, other economists such as Nobel laureates Milton Friedman, Frederick Hayek, and James Buchanan have had no problem explaining the big mystery. The answer is what the Free State Project stands for: Individual freedom, property rights, equality before the law, low taxes, and minimal governmental power to interfere with all of that (otherwise known as bureaucracy, which we hope to cut back). Those are the conditions that we will want to safeguard if they're already in New Hampshire and exist; we would like to strengthen them if they're there but they are weak; and we would seek to establish them if they do not exist.

In addition to the salutary political, economic, and social beliefs that are held by Free State Project Porcupines, as we call ourselves, we will also bring an influx of very high energy, hard-working, and entrepreneurial good citizens. To the people of the fiercely individualistic state the Live Free or Die state of New Hampshire I would say: We come as good citizens with the aim of working with you to make New Hampshire an even greater state of freedom than it is today. Therefore I would say, as I've told lots and lots of people at the Free State Project as we've grown our movement, "Next year in the Free State!"