What the Free State Project is and is not

by Varrin Swearingen • 06/16/06

The Monitor mentioned the Free State Project the last two Sundays. I'm writing to correct the paper's coverage of the project.

The June 4 Capital Beat column outlined the government's abrupt end to its prosecution of Russell Kanning and Kat Dillon. The Monitor calls them Free State Project leaders. Neither Kanning nor Dillon is currently involved in leadership.

"Tax resisters" (June 11) lists a half-dozen or so New Hampshire residents who claim not to pay income tax. The article mentions the Free State Project twice, one time implying the project is anti-tax. The project takes no official stance on any specific tax issue (like the federal income tax), nor does it advocate violating the law. None of the people mentioned in the article are spokespeople for the project.

The Free State Project does seek 20,000 participants who commit to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of civil government is the protection of life, liberty and property. The mission is to attract people who seek that style of government. The work of creating and sustaining such a society in New Hampshire is the job of residents, including project participants, not the Free State Project itself.

People who desire the limited government described above carry many names: libertarian, classical liberal, "Goldwater conservative," etc. They have many interests and styles of pursuing such a society. The Free State Project does not endorse any specific changes to government or strategies to achieve them but rather leaves that up to its participants to work on once they come home to New Hampshire.

The project does engage in one official activity in New Hampshire: the annual Porcupine Freedom Festival. This year's festival will be held June 23-30 in Lancaster. Information can be found at freestateproject.org/festival. Anyone interested is invited to attend.

(Varrin Swearingen of Keene is president of the Free State Project.)

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