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.

An Immigrant on Liberty

by Lu Norton

October 26, 2003

I moved to America in search of Liberty. Twenty-three years of deprivation from freedom, individualism, and personal happiness ... Twenty-three years of strategic mental detachment from the madness around me, to keep myself sane. I had come to the point of giving up. But I was still breathing, and my mind still functioned ... clandestinely. Until the first day I set my feet on the "holy" land – The United States of America. A mere stamp on my foreign passport by the Immigration Officer meant one thing to me – Freedom. At that moment, the sweet taste of Freedom was for me still an ideal.

But ... as I remain, the reality unfolds. Despite of the abundance of goods, there is still government control – of businesses, schools, citizenship, professional licenses, animal ownership, property, even one's morality. Businesses are crippled or go bankrupt from taxes, environmental regulations, and zoning laws. Affordable, competent, private schools are almost non-existent due to the incompetent public schools' near monopoly on education. Professional licenses are required of the most able in society, such as doctors – and this affects the costs of the doctors' services. Licenses are also required of accountants, which affects the integrity and efficiency of their work. Animal ownership is regulated, requiring individuals to pay a fee for having their own pets. Private property ownership is regulated and taxed, in fact depriving individuals from owning their own private property. And morality is controlled, through drug laws, gun control, gambling laws, FCC-controlled radio and television stations, government anti-tobacco advertisements (paid for by money extorted from the tobacco companies), and public schools, with their advocates of socialism, collectivism, and nihilism. Their near monopoly on education is their means of teaching us what to think, of teaching us to be good little citizens who surrender our freedom to them.

If America is the best country to live in, if the rest of the world is so much worse ... where else then can an individual move?

This is not the America that I had always envisioned. A place where respect for the individual, finally, existed. America was free, years ago. But now that freedom is eroding fast. But why let it go?

I will not let go my vision of a perfect society. A benevolent society with a rational government. A rational government that respects individual rights. I shall work toward a freer society for myself and those whom I value. I am not alone – for a quest for freedom has always been man's quest. Therefore, I reach out to those able people who seek to live independently and rationally with each other. I seek out to those who are willing and able to work to change the course of an America which is heading toward the frightening reality of socialism. I seek those who advocate individualism, political freedom and capitalism. I seek those who are sincere and persistent with their goals.

You can be free – ACT NOW – and join the Free State Project. It is a plan in which 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people will move to a single state in United States – New Hampshire, where they will be active in the political system to lessen government interventions and lessen the burden of taxes. So much benefit will take place in the Free State when government interventions are minimized. This will be a real-life, practical step toward the creation of a society that acknowledges freedom and individualism.

This is your life and it's the only one you're going to get – do not let a free society remain just an unknown ideal. Work to make it a reality.