Free State Project vote set for August
by Nadia White • Star-Tribune staff writer • 07/08/03
Liberty-minded activists will choose which sparsely-populated state will be the
focus of their collective political might in a vote beginning in August.
Members of the Free State Project will have until Sept. 8 to vote on which of
10 states they would like to move to in order to advocate for limited
government. Wyoming and New Hampshire are top contenders in the effort.
The Free State Project is an effort to sign up 20,000 advocates of limited
government to move to a single state in which they can incrementally reduce the
reach of government. That effort passed the 4,000-member mark earlier in June,
prompting organizers to set a vote date.
The deadline to sign up to participate in the vote is Aug. 15, by which time
the FSP should have more than 5,000 members, according to the group's
projections. The deadline for members to return their ballots is Sept. 8, and
the selected state will be announced on Sept. 15, according to a press release
from Jason Sorens, the Yale University doctoral student who founded and leads
the effort.
Tom Parker, a Louisville, Colo., resident who serves as the group's liaison to
Wyoming, said the movement is a reaction to the current government climate.
"In terms of liberty, we see things drifting away with the latest moves like
the USA Patriot Act, and the various wars, now Liberia, we feel our government
is not playing by the rules of the Constitution so we're hoping to change
things," Parker said. "By concentrating our numbers in one state we're hoping
to have more influence and move things more toward liberty."
Eligible voters will be able to choose from among Alaska, Delaware, Idaho,
Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and
Wyoming. Once the group reaches 20,000 commitments, members have five years in
which to move to the chosen state. Some members have already indicated that
they will move as soon as the state is chosen, Parker said.
Dennis Brossman, a Wyoming Libertarian, said the project is very appealing.
" I am tempted by the project even if Alaska or Vermont were to try it. I
prefer Wyoming, the climate and terrain and being in the heart of the 48
states, but the freedom experiment is very alluring to me," Brossman said. "
I'd be willing to move to Alaska."
Brossman said the idea of newcomers changing the way things are done in Wyoming
is nothing new.
"I think it's done in other realms, but not so openly and honestly," he said.
"For example, in Lander and Jackson in the last 10, 15 years, we've had a large
number of environmentalists move in and they heavily affect the policy in these
areas."
He said he thinks the plan has a shot: "I think it's something that would be
workable and doable. I don't think it's a pipe dream."
The Free State Project posts additional information on its Web site, (http://www.freestateproject.org).
More media articles about the FSP
These media articles are maintained on a non-commercial basis by
The Free State Project,
a non-profit organization, for historical, educational, scholarship,
and research purposes. (For information regarding "Fair Use", see
US Code Title 17,
Chapter 1, Section 107).
Look out, folks: We may need to be liberated
By Bill Nemitz • 04/25/03
Copyright ? 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Hang on, fellow Mainers. After 183 years of governmental oppression, help may
be on the way.
The Free State Project, which aims to "liberate" one lucky state from all of
its needless laws - including those that take the fun out of drugs,
prostitution and gun ownership - is in the market for a new home. And Maine is
on its list of 10 best locations.
"Any of the 10 states would be a good choice," Elizabeth McKinstry, the
project's vice president, said Thursday from her home in Michigan. "Maine is a
good choice . . . although it might not be the best choice at this point. But
you know, there's just no way to know right now."
The Free State Project hit the national news wires this week, but it's been
hard at work for months in pursuit of its ultimate goal: Select a state with
fewer than 1.5 million residents and, within five years, move 20,000
"minimalists" there who will dedicate their lives to slashing the size of
local, county and state government by anywhere from half to two-thirds. What's
more, they'll delete laws that impinge on a citizen's right to live life the
way he or she sees fit.
Thus Maine could become the kind of place where you could grow a crop of
marijuana without hearing helicopters hovering over your back forty. Where you
could stock up on guns without all that irritating paperwork. Where you could
hire a prostitute and, just like that, build a woman's self-esteem.
"Making prostitution legal is an empowerment tool for women," McKinstry
explained. "It allows them to get the protection under the law that everyone
deserves."
To be fair, McKinstry insists that The Free State Project is about a lot more
than sex, drugs and lock-and-load. Drawing heavily from Libertarian Party
philosophy, it also advocates things like lower state taxes, privatization of
schools and utilities and, of course, the end to asset forfeiture and eminent
domain. In short, it's about almost anything that makes big government smaller.
It's also about mathematics. The fewer people already living in the selected
state, the easier it will be for 20,000 newcomers to set that state "free."
The list of out-of-the-way finalists will be voted on when the project reaches
a critical mass of 5,000 members later this year. In addition to Maine, they
include New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming,
Montana, Idaho and Alaska.
From there, it gets complicated.
The project's Web site (www.FreeStateProject.org) contains all kinds of
rankings by which free-staters might choose their utopia. Among the 19
categories that range from private land ownership and dependence on federal
money to low membership in the National Education Association, Maine managed
only one first (coastal access), one second (low urbanization) and three
fourths (low crime rate, high livability and relatively few tax-sucking
government employees).
Still, there's hope.
The Web site also includes "state reports" written by project volunteers. A
woman named Amanda Maxwell wrote Maine's report - and as far as she's
concerned, this state empitomizes The Way Life Without Government Should Be.
Maxwell, who lives in Texas but summers here, loves all kinds of things about
Maine: The 3,500 miles of picturesque coastline. (Should we tell them it's not
"free?") The lengthy border with Canada. (Have they seen all the guys with
machine guns?) Legislative term limits. (Do they know John Martin's back?) A
one-of-a-kind citizen-initiative and referendum process. (Do they like
casinos?) And a huge land mass. (Should we mention the black flies?)
"Some have said that a smaller number of square miles will be advantageous and
easier for us to conquer," Maxwell wrote in her Maine report. "I challenge that
notion. I feel we will be very, very glad for all that territory when people
from every place on the globe start flocking to our state."
The Free State Project considered a number of alternatives, including an
overseas invasion. But its board ruled out the takeover of a foreign country as
"too difficult and costly."
"We couldn't get a lot of people to move there," the Web site explains, "and
then we'd have to get citizenship."
Besides, there's a big difference between Maine and, say, Iraq.
Iraq's already been liberated.
Columnist Bill Nemitz can be contacted at 791-6323 or at:
bnemitz@pressherald.com
More media articles about the FSP
These media articles are maintained on a non-commercial basis by
The Free State Project,
a non-profit organization, for historical, educational, scholarship,
and research purposes. (For information regarding "Fair Use", see
US Code Title 17,
Chapter 1, Section 107).
We Made the Move! – Alec Muller
Date of move: June '04
A Journey Toward Independence
by Alec Muller
Ten months ago I was unemployed, living at home with my parents, and
struggling to finish grad school (through distance-learning classes). I'd spent
five months looking for work both inside and outside New Hampshire with very
few leads. I'd been at home in Maine for just over a year, and I'd been
trudging my way through a master's degree for almost three years (they're
supposed to take about half that long). Gainful employment, a sense of
independence, and the satisfaction of having completed something all seemed
just beyond my reach. I was beginning to get discouraged.
All that changed, however, on a fateful day in May. A small engineering
and design company from Manchester called me and told me they'd take me on
as a contractor for a few weeks, and that it had the potential to turn into
full-time employment. I was elated to find any work at all, but this was a
double bonus because it meant that I'd actually be able to move to the Free
State right away, instead of waiting and having to change jobs later on. "How
soon can you start?" they asked. "Two and a half hours," I answered,
remembering how long it had taken me to drive down for the interview several
months earlier. They laughed and told me the following afternoon would be
fine.
I made arrangements to stay with an aunt and uncle in northern
Massachusetts, and for the next six weeks I commuted 45 minutes to an hour each
way into southern New Hampshire. Tired of the commute, I talked to other Free
Staters, found a rooming house through Joel Rauch, and did the paperwork to
become a New Hampshire resident. Deciding that a motorcycle wasn't going to
cut it through a New England winter, I made use of my residency and bought my
first car. New Hampshire's tax advantage hit me right away, and I figured out
that between sales tax and registration fees, I'd saved the equivalent of four
months worth of car payments just by being a Granite State resident.
The benefits of moving to the Free State go far beyond taxes, though. Even
before I got here there was an existing network of people who'd moved before me
or had lived here all along, and they made it far easier for me to set down
roots and establish a circle of friends than it's ever been for me before.
Bars, movies, get-togethers at people's homes, a day or two in the blazing sun
collecting ballot access petitions at town dumps – I've realized that it's
important to have friends wherever you go in life, and for a libertarian in New
Hampshire, it's been a lot easier than I'd anticipated.
After five weeks in the rooming house, I moved in with fellow porcupine
Karl Beisel; he has a beautiful house in a nice north end neighborhood that's
only seven minutes from where I work. It has enough bedrooms for five or six
people, and he lets out rooms to porcupines, students, and professionals to
help pay his bills. It was a great improvement over the rooming house and the
long commute, but I think I liked the idea of Karl's house too much to
actually live in it for the long term; I wanted to copy it instead.
Over the next six months I saved everything I could while working on
distance-learning classes and pestering my bosses to define my employment. In
December I finally finished grad school after 3 ? years of screwing around, and
in early January, I finally came to an agreement with my bosses and became a
salaried employee after eight months as a contractor. Eight days after that I
made an offer on a six-bedroom house, and last week I closed on it and moved
in. After moving ten times in four years and owning nothing that couldn't be
moved by motorcycle, I finally have a place to call my own.
My struggle for personal independence is far from over, but the last few
months I've spent in New Hampshire have given me a tremendous sense of
self-confidence and satisfaction. My only regret is that I didn't start
looking for work here even sooner than I did.
Back to We Made the Move!
Local Groups
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• Want to learn how help your Local Group become better?
Analysis of Presidential Elections
in the 10 Candidate States
In Tennyson's report Analyzing the Freedom
Orientation of Existing State Populations, he analysed the results of the
2000 presidential election and what it means to the FSP and its members. The
gist of that report is in this table:
Voter Predisposition to Vote for Small-government Candidates
(2000 Presidential Election)
| Rank |
State |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Wyoming |
151% |
| 2 |
Idaho |
141% |
| 3 |
North Dakota |
73% |
| 4 |
Alaska |
70% |
| 5 |
South Dakota |
66% |
| 6 |
Montana |
53% |
| 7 |
New Hampshire |
-3% |
| 8 |
Delaware |
-35% |
| 9 |
Maine |
-21% |
| 10 |
Vermont |
-37% |
Source: Analyzing the Freedom Orientation of
Existing State Populations
By looking at the 2000 election, we see that Wyoming and
Idaho come out far above all of the other candidate states. However, one
election is just that – one election, and cannot be considered the whole
picture.
Nine most recent presidential elections
Here is the data from the nine most recent presidential elections: 2000 –
1968. This data presents a more complete picture of all recent Presidential
elections.
|
2000 |
1996 |
1992 |
1988 |
1984 |
1980 |
1976 |
1972 |
1968 |
| State |
Candidate |
% |
Candidate |
% |
Candidate |
% |
Cand. |
Cand. |
Cand. |
Candidate |
% |
Cand. |
Candidate |
% |
| AK |
Bush (R) |
58.6 |
Dole (R) |
50.8 |
Bush (R) |
39.5 |
Bush
(R) |
Reagan
(R) |
Reagan
(R) |
Ford (R) |
|
Nixon
(R) |
Nixon (R) |
|
| DE |
Gore (D) |
55.0 |
Clinton (D) |
51.8 |
Clinton (D) |
43.5 |
Carter (D) |
52.0 |
| ID |
Bush (R) |
61.2 |
Dole (R) |
52.2 |
Bush (R) |
42.0 |
Ford (R) |
|
| ND |
Bush (R) |
60.7 |
Dole (R) |
46.9 |
Bush (R) |
44.2 |
| NH |
Bush (R) |
48.1 |
Clinton (D) |
49.3 |
Clinton (D) |
38.9 |
| ME |
Gore (D) |
49.1 |
Clinton (D) |
51.6 |
Clinton (D) |
38.81 |
Humphrey (D) |
55.3 |
| MT |
Bush (R) |
58.4 |
Dole (R) |
44.1 |
Clinton (D) |
37.6 |
Nixon (R) |
|
| SD |
Bush (R) |
60.3 |
Dole (R) |
46.5 |
Bush (R) |
40.7 |
| VT |
Gore (D) |
50.6 |
Clinton (D) |
53.3 |
Clinton (D) |
46.1 |
| WY |
Bush (R) |
67.8 |
Dole (R) |
49.8 |
Bush (R) |
39.5 |
1 Ross Perot beat George Bush in Maine with 30.44% to 30.39% of the
popular vote.
Sources:
www.multied.com/elections and
www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/frametextj.html
(Note: I stopped doing research at the 1968 election because in the
1964, 1960, and 1956 elections, most of the candidate states voted for the same
candidate and because the farther back you go, the less representative the data
is to the reality of today. Even in the 1970s and 1980s most of the candidate
states voted for the same candidate. Before 1956, well, most current Americans
were not even alive or at the very least, not even voting back then.)
Republican Totals
The Republican presidential candidates from 1968 to 2000 generally sold
themselves as, or were perceived as, or pretended to be, more pro-small
government than the Democratic Party presidential candidates. Generally
this is the case and is clearly evident by the specific campaign literature and
ads of the above presidential candidates.
So we can rank the states by the
number of Republican presidential candidates that won their state elections:
Amount for Republicans from 1968 to 2000
| Rank |
State |
GOPs
Won |
| 1 |
Alaska |
9 |
| Wyoming |
9 |
| North Dakota |
9 |
| South Dakota |
9 |
| Idaho |
9 |
| 6 |
Montana |
8 |
| 7 |
New Hampshire |
7 |
| 8 |
Vermont |
6 |
| 9 |
Delaware |
5 |
| Maine |
5 |
Reagan and Goldwater
What about races where a candidate from a major party ran on downsizing
the federal government?
This has occured twice in somewhat recent times. In 1980 Ronald Reagan (R) ran
for president and in 1964 Barry Goldwater (R) ran for president. Both times,
their major issue was Downsizing DC. Reagan communicated the message better and
won the 1980 election while Goldwater lost his election.
According to Harry Browne and many others, the media even tried to portray
Reagan as more libertarian than he was. Ronald Reagan did not act as a
libertarian once in office, but that is how he ran for his first
election.
(Note: Votes for the LP candidate, Ed Clark, are included with Reagan's,
because Reagan used many of Clark's ideas and this is the best election ever
for an LP candidate.)
1980 Election - Vote for Ronald Reagan
| Rank |
State |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Idaho |
68.4% |
| 2 |
Alaska |
66.0%2 |
| 3 |
North Dakota |
65.5% |
| 4 |
Wyoming |
65.2% |
| 5 |
South Dakota |
61.7% |
| 6 |
Montana |
59.5% |
| 7 |
New Hampshire |
58.2% |
| Entire U.S. |
51.8% |
| 8 |
Delaware |
48.0% |
| 9 |
Maine |
46.6% |
| 10 |
Vermont |
45.3% |
2 Ed Clark got 11.7% of the 66.0% total.
(He got < 3% in all the other FSP candidate states)
Source:
www.presidentelect.org/e1980.html
Barry Goldwater only had the opportunity to run for office because the
paleo-conservative and the libertarian Republicans were able to take over the
Republican Party primary and hand the nomination to Barry Goldwater. The
national GOP did not even support his bid for president after he was nominated.
All records show that Barry Goldwater was set on dramatically reducing the size
of government and those in change of the GOP wanted nothing to do with him or
such ideas.
1964 Election - Vote for Barry Goldwater
| Rank |
State |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Idaho |
49.1% |
| 2 |
South Dakota |
44.4% |
| 3 |
Wyoming |
43.4% |
| 4 |
North Dakota |
41.9% |
| 5 |
Montana |
40.6% |
| 6 |
Delaware |
38.8% |
| Entire U.S. |
38.5% |
| 7 |
New Hampshire |
36.1% |
| 8 |
Alaska |
34.1% |
| 9 |
Vermont |
33.7% |
| 10 |
Maine |
31.2% |
Source:
www.multied.com/elections/1964state.html
Average of Reagan and Goldwater elections
| Rank |
State |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Idaho |
58.7% |
| 2 |
Wyoming |
54.3% |
| 3 |
North Dakota |
53.6% |
| 4 |
South Dakota |
53.1% |
| 5 |
Alaska |
50.1% |
| 5 |
Montana |
50.1% |
| 7 |
New Hampshire |
47.2% |
| Entire U.S. |
45.1% |
| 8 |
Delaware |
43.4% |
| 9 |
Vermont |
39.5% |
| 10 |
Maine |
38.9% |
Conclusions
I computed this table by averaging the "Amount of Republicans from 1968 to
2000" and "Average of Reagan and Goldwater elections" rankings:
Total Average Ranking According to this Report
| 1 |
Idaho |
| 2 |
Wyoming |
| 3 |
North Dakota |
| 4 |
South Dakota |
| 5 |
Alaska |
| 6 |
Montana |
| 7 |
New Hampshire |
| 8 |
Delaware |
| Vermont |
| 10 |
Maine |
Now that we have the whole picture, let's compare it to just the 2000
presidential election:
State Rankings
| Rank |
Tennyson 2000
Report |
This Report |
| 1 |
Wyoming |
Idaho |
| 2 |
Idaho |
Wyoming |
| 3 |
North Dakota |
| 4 |
Alaska |
South Dakota |
| 5 |
South Dakota |
Alaska |
| 6 |
Montana |
| 7 |
New Hampshire |
| 8 |
Delaware |
| 9 |
Maine |
Vermont |
| 10 |
Vermont |
Maine |
Amazingly, they are very similar, almost eerily similar. Maybe I was wrong.
Maybe, just maybe, the 2000 presidential election really does provide us with a
very good look at the ideology of the candidate states. None of the candidate
states move more than ONE position in the state ranking.
Whatever the conclusion, one thing is for sure: Time and time again, both
Idaho and Wyoming stand out in the above rankings.
Maine Report
This report is presented in two parts. Part One offers the items of general
interest, the demographics and an overview of the vitality and variety of life
in Maine. In Part One there are many links to pertinent websites. I hope you
will enjoy these as much as I did. Feel free to linger awhile. Part Two is more
directly focused on concerns of the Free State Project and is a comparison of
the four eastern states.
Part One
History
Maine was at one time part of Massachusetts. It became its own state in
1820, becoming the 23rd state admitted to the United States of America,
although its northern borders were not finalized until 1842. Below is a link to
a brief but easily readable historical review: http://www.state.me.us/sos/kids/allabout/historydetail.htm.
Facts
This is a link to an untold number of facts about Maine: http://www.maine.gov/portal/facts_history/facts.html.
Meanwhile, here is a brief overview:
Population of Maine in 2000: 1,274,923
Counties: 16
Land Area: 33,215 square miles
Length of Coastline: 3,500 miles
Lakes and Ponds: 6,000
Forest: 17 million acres
Persons per Square Mile: 41.3
Largest City: Portland
State Capitol: Augusta
Statehood: Became the 23rd State on March 15, 1820
There is another way to discover interesting facts about Maine ... through
CHILDREN'S
BOOKS ABOUT MAINE.
Government
The Maine State Constitution created Maine's government system, with three
co-equal branches - the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches.
The State of Maine also has three Constitutional Officers (the Secretary of
State, the State Treasurer, and the State Attorney General) and one Statutory
Officer (the State Auditor). For more information see http://www.maine.gov/portal/government/index.html.
Governor Angus King (Independent)
The Executive Branch is responsible for execution of the laws created by the
legislature and is headed by the Governor. The Governor is elected every four
years, and no individual may serve more than two consecutive terms in this
office.
The Judicial Branch is responsible for interpreting the laws and is headed
by the Supreme Judicial Court. All judicial officers are appointed by the
Governor and serve a term of 7 years.
The Legislative Branch is responsible for making the laws and is made up of
the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 35 members who are
elected every 2 years, and the House has 151 members who are also elected every
two years.
This is one of the most beautiful and impressive sites I found. It
demonstrates the enormous diversity of geologic elements. Check this one out
for sure.
There are nine public universities; two state training academies, a
criminal justice and marine maritime; eight technical colleges; and seventeen
private colleges, including Andover, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby and Maine
Theological Seminary.
This link will take you to a beautiful color map of the counties.
Number of Counties: 16
Smallest county: Knox (366 sq miles)
Largest county: Aroostook: (6672 sq miles)
Counties: Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec,
Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo,
Washington, York
Climate & Weather
Portland, Maine
| Month | Ave. high | Ave. low | Warmest ever
| Coldest ever | Ave. dew pt. | Ave. precip.
|
| JAN | 31 | 12 | 64 | -26 | 13 | 3.7
|
| FEB | 33 | 14 | 64 | -39 | 14 | 3.3
|
| MARCH | 41 | 24 | 88 | -21 | 22 | 4.0
|
| APRIL | 53 | 34 | 85 | 8 | 32 | 3.9
|
| MAY | 63 | 43 | 94 | 23 | 43 | 3.6
|
| JUNE | 73 | 52 | 98 | 33 | 53 | 3.1
|
| JULY | 79 | 58 | 99 | 40 | 59 | 2.9
|
| AUG | 78 | 56 | 103 | 33 | 58 | 2.9
|
| SEPT | 69 | 48 | 95 | 23 | 51 | 3.2
|
| OCT | 59 | 38 | 88 | 15 | 40 | 3.6
|
| NOV | 47 | 30 | 74 | 3 | 31 | 5.0
|
| DEC | 36 | 18 | 71 | -21 | 18 | 4.3
|
In addition to supporting traditional industries such as agriculture, paper,
commercial fishing, and shipbuilding, and many small businesses that represent
Mainers' independent spirit, Maine has attracted some large new companies in
the last decade. MBNA, the world's largest issuer of the Gold MasterCard and
the second-largest lender through bank credit cards, selected Camden as the
site for its northern regional headquarters and has opened several additional
facilities in Maine. National Semiconductor, a multinational semiconductor
manufacturer, selected South Portland over 25 other sites worldwide for an
eight-inch wafer fabrication plant. ICT Group, one of the world's largest call
center teleservice companies, opened its first call center operation in Maine
during 1997, and has since opened three additional facilities in the state.
Comprehensive list of all FAA-registered airports in Maine.
- Augusta State Airport (AUG), located 1 mile from downtown Augusta.
- Bangor International Airport (BGR), located 2 miles from downtown Bangor
- Houlton International Airport (HUL)
- Knox County Regional Airport, located in Owl's Head, Rockland.
- Northern Maine Regional Airport at Presque Isle
- Portland International Jetport (PWM), located 2 miles from downtown Portland
Property taxes are the primary source of revenue for Maine's cities and
towns and are used to provide local government services. The only other sources
of local revenue for municipalities come from excise taxes on motor vehicles
and boats and some user fees, such as parking, recreation and license fees.
Maine law from using any other form of taxation to raise revenues to fund local
services bars municipalities. Property taxes also fund county government, which
adds about $50 million to municipal budgets statewide.
While it is true that property taxes no longer reflect on a person's ability
to pay, it is nonetheless also true that property taxes in Maine are a bargain
when you look at the quantity and quality of the services that the state's
local governments provide.
Local government is the level of government "closest to the people." It is
the level of government which citizens have the greatest access to and the most
control over. It is as close as we come to self-government. However, with this
right to self-govern comes the responsibility to be informed and to make
thoughtful decisions that are in the best interest of all the citizens
in your community. Being an active participant in municipal affairs is the
responsible way to exercise this right of self-government.
Part Two: Comparison of 4 Eastern States
At this point in the FreeStateProject efforts to select a state, it is, in
my view, appropriate to compare and contrast only eastern states and
only western states. At another juncture we will move to comparison of
eastern and western states. In other words, for now, lets compare "apples to
apples" and later "apples to oranges."
The four eastern states are: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Delaware. In
an attempt to make a fair comparison I devised a chart using fifteen categories
and the stats from the state comparison charts on the FSP website but comparing
only the eastern states to each other. None of these categories was weighted
because we have no valid basis for doing so. Without true statistical
research, weighting is simply a matter of personal opinion. In each category,
first place received a value of 4, second place a value of 3, third place a
value of 2 and fourth place a value of 1.
The categories are as follows: 1) Economic Freedom Index; 2) Highest Per
Capita Income; 3) Low Violent Crimes; 4) Low Federal Land Ownership; 5) Fewest
Gun Controls; 6) Livability Index; 7) Population Density per Sq. Miles; 8) Jobs
Forecast; 9) Highest Votes for Conservative/Libertarian Presidential Candidate;
10) Legislative Party Balance; 11) Lowest State/Local Taxes; 12) Small Total
Govt. Sect; 13) Small State/Local Govt. Sector; 14) Coastal State; 15) Foreign
Border. In addition I added two categories: 16) Initiative and Referendum
Process and 17) Term Limits for Legislators.
I did not add voter population or % of population voters because I strongly
disagree that this is a relevant factor. In my mind there is zero degree of
certainty or even probability that a smaller population is easier to influence.
I feel it is much more relevant for whom the votes were cast than the number of
votes cast. Had I added that category, the outcome would have varied little.
And the envelope, please: With a sub-total of the first 15 categories, New
Hampshire finished first with 45 points; Maine was second with 38 points;
Delaware was third with 36 points and Vermont fourth with 31 points. However,
adding the final two categories listed above changed the results remarkably.
Maine is the only state that has initiative and referendum process and the only
one with term limits, thus receiving a 4 in each category while the others did
not score. Adding these scores pushed Maine into first place ahead of New
Hampshire leaving the other two in the same places. Since these categories were
not truly "comparative," I decided not to officially count them, but I think
they are extremely important and certainly worth mentioning.
In summary, may I say that I think Maine has many things to recommend it as
a strong choice, even a first choice, among the eastern states. Let me review
the positive aspects in two categories: the immutable or unchangeable and the
mutable or "fixable."
In the immutable category, Maine has 3500 miles of coastline; at least 20
times that of Delaware and almost 200 times that of New Hampshire ... Vermont
having none, of course. No other state in the contiguous U.S. can approach this
benefit in terms of financial and aesthetic opportunities. It is unparalleled.
In addition, Maine has in excess of 500 miles of border with Canada. It
seems widely accepted among this group how important this aspect is, since
overall, seven states have been selected with this characteristic.
Finally, Maine has the largest land mass. Some have said that a smaller
number of square miles will be advantageous and easier for us to conquer. I
challenge that notion. I feel we will be very, very glad for all that territory
when people from every place on the globe start flocking to our state.
When all the unjust laws have been discarded and we have set Maine free, we
will be left with these three enviable characteristics and a free
state in which to live. Consider this carefully.
The second category of positives, which are taken from the comparisons on
the charts at the FSP website, are those that fall within the mutable category.
Another way to say that is these are the aspects of the current society in
Maine that have been wrought by human effort. When we choose Maine from among
the four eastern states, we choose a state, which has:
- Least gun controls
- Lowest federal land ownership
- Lowest population density
- Second highest livability factor
- Second lowest violent crime rates (112 vs. Delaware's734, for example)
- Highest number votes Libertarian presidential candidate (3094)
- Second highest number votes for conservative or libertarian presidential candidate
- The only one of the four states with Initiative/Referendum process
- The only one of the four states with term limits on legislators
- The only one of the four states with 2 Republican senators and an Independent Party governor
- 5 elected Libertarians in office
Still in the mutable or "fixable" category I offer you what I consider the
shortcomings we would initially encounter:
- Higher state and federal income taxes
- Sales tax
- High federal, state and local government spending
- Lower economic freedom index
- Larger government sector
These economic factors would demand our immediate attention and remediation.
I have no doubt we FreeStaters would have a challenge to face in the
political and economic arena in Maine. But, did someone say this would be easy?
Has "easy" ever been a consideration for people of passion and devotion to a
cause? I urge you to look at the unequaled qualities of Maine's geography and
the excellent attributes of Maine's livability factors as you decide among the
four eastern states.
August 28, 2002
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those
of the Free State Project, its Officers, or Directors.
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