'Free' New Hampshire: Could it sway country?

'Free' New Hampshire: Could it sway country?

Editorial • 10/07/03

It is difficult to know whether New Hampshire should be pitied or envied. Every four years, presidential hopefuls tromp through the state, courting its voters and hoping for a big win in the nation's first primary election.

The presidential primary position gives New Hampshire power and influence out of proportion to its population of 1.2 million (just as the Electoral College gives New Hampshire and other small states a disproportionate impact on the presidential election).

Perhaps New Hampshire deserves the notoriety in exchange for enduring the onslaught of politicians -- and the reporters who follow them -- and providing a public service by helping to whittle the field to a more manageable size.

But do its residents deserve an invasion by libertarians?

The libertarians who are part of the Free State Project aren't planning a quadrennial visit; they intend to stay and transform New Hampshire in their own image -- smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation, more freedom.

The group is not affiliated with the Libertarian Party, but both have similar views and many members in common.

One reason New Hampshire was targeted is that its residents already embrace many libertarian ideals. After all, the state's motto is "Live Free or Die."

Of course another reason for New Hampshire's selection is its relatively small population, which will make it easier for a small, but determined, group to have influence. In seeking a place to develop its "free state," the project only considered states with a population of 1.5 million or less.

The Free State Project hopes to have 20,000 supporters move to New Hampshire by 2011, at the latest. They expect these activists to recruit like-minded, long-time residents to join their transformation efforts.

It will be an interesting sociological and political experiment to see if the Free State Project can (1) get its supporters to move to New Hampshire and (2) influence significant changes in state government.

If the project succeeds and if New Hampshire continues to play a pre-eminent role in the early stages of picking a president, the Free State Project could have implications for the entire nation.

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