Peter, Morey, and Varrin

We Made the Move! – Jean & Neil Alexander

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 26, 2004
[Sent to local media in southern Oregon]

SUBJECT: Josephine County Family Leaves for Liberty

Contact: Jean or Neil Alexander
Email: jalexander@freestateproject.org or nalexander@freestateproject.org
Phone: 541.218.2141 or 408.499.7778
Website: www.freestateproject.org

The Alexanders, a family of five from Selma, are leaving Oregon. They're not seeking work, to be closer to family, or looking for better weather. The Alexanders are leaving for liberty.

Originally drawn to Southern Oregon by the spirit of the "State of Jefferson", the Alexanders are looking for a somewhat more concrete version of that spirit of liberty. Neil Alexander states,"Let's face it, Oregon has very high taxation, and it never seems to be enough. The urban centers of Portland and Eugene overwhelm the politics of the rest of the state, frequently passing laws about subjects they don't understand. Why should that be allowed?"

Jean and Neil Alexander, along with more than 6,000 other people across the country, are participants in the Free State Project ("FSP"). FSP's mission is to coordinate the migration of thousands of libertarian activists to New Hampshire. Once there, they will work to create a pro-liberty culture within the political system to reduce the size and scope of government.

New Hampshire was chosen in 2003 by a vote of FSP participants, who call themselves "porcupines" - an animal that bothers no one, but has quills for its own defense. Oregon was not among the finalists, which included several Western states including Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska.

"Nationally, libertarians are thinly spread and therefore rarely get any real representation", says Jean Alexander. "This last presidential election showed that the two major parties continue to dominate politics and both are leading us to bigger and bigger government. I'd like to see a state, any state, show up as something other than red or blue on the national election maps."

The success of the FSP would likely entail reductions in burdensome taxation and intrusive regulation; reforms in state and local law; an end to federal mandates, and a restoration of Constitutional Federalism. Demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation (and the world) is the goal of the FSP.

Citing an historical analogy particularly apt to Oregonians, Neil says, "I like to think of our departure as the beginning of the 2nd Oregon Trail. 160 years ago, people from all over the United States used the Oregon Trail to gain opportunity and freedom. That migration was from East to West. The famous quote should now say, 'Go East, young man.'"

For more information on the Free State Project contact:

Amanda Phillips, President
Email: aphillips@freestateproject.org
Phone: 617-763-1996
Website: www.freestateproject.org

Back to We Made the Move!

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Region	Porcupine Group	Contact	Email List	FSP Forum	Meeting(s) <!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Northeast	New England (ME VT) (For NH, click here)	Rich Tomasso	Yahoo	Forum
	Mass & RI	Jon Maltz	Yahoo	Forum
	Connecticut	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- Fri 1/21 7pm at Molten Java Coffee Roasters in Bethel, CT. Details. -->
	Tristate (NYC NJ PA CT-suburbs)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Central NY	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Western NY (Buffalo-Niagara-Rochester)	Jason Sorens	Yahoo	Forum
	Western PA	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Mid- Atlantic	Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD se.PA s.NJ n.VA)	Phil Denisch	Yahoo	Forum	Usually the third Saturday of every month. See the FSP Forum for details.
	Appalachians (WV w.MD w.VA)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	Appalachians FSPers are more than welcome at the Mid-Atlantic meetings (above).
	Coastal VA & NC (se.VA ne.NC)	Bryan Stevenson	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
South	Florida-all Florida-Suncoast	Tim Condon (Vacant*)	Yahoo Yahoo	Forum Forum	Regularly scheduled dinners in Tampa Bay.
	Georgia	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Alabama (AL w.FL)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Arkansas	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Tennessee	Keith Carlsen	Yahoo	Forum
	Bayou (LA MS)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo
	Carolinas (SC NC e.TN)	Chris Rasch	Yahoo	Forum	Third Saturday of every month at Chris' apartment in Raleigh, 2-4 pm. <!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Midwest	Minnesota	Steve Bottari	Yahoo	Forum	For more info see Meetup.com
	Wisconsin	Richard Whitnable	Yahoo	Forum
	Chicago- Milwaukee (s.WI n.IL ne.IN)	Tim Bauman & Vito Vitkauskas	Yahoo	Forum
	Midwest (MI n.OH ne.IN)	Jeremy Couch	Yahoo	Forum
	St. Louis (e.MO w.IL)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Bluegrass (KY s.OH s.IN se.IL)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Plains	Breadbasket (SD ND NE)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Kansas (KS w.MO)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Iowa	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Mountain	Big Sky (MT ID WY)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Utah	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Colorado	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Southwest	Arizona	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	New Mexico	Amanda Odom Powell	Yahoo	Forum
	Oklahoma	Holland O. Van den Nieuwenhof	Yahoo	Forum
	North Texas U of TX - Dallas	James Strater (Vacant*)	Yahoo Yahoo	Forum
	South Texas	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Pacific	Pacific NW (OR WA)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	N. California	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	Bay area local group meetings
	San Diego County	Andrew Del Vecchio	Yahoo	Forum	Irregular meetings, but periodic events with other libertarian orgs.
	Nevada	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Hawaii	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Alaska	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
Region	Porcupine Group	Contact	Email List	FSP Forum	Meeting(s)

* = No one has stepped forward to lead this group, but the email list has been created and is ready for use. If you would like to volunteer to be the local group leader, please contact the Local Group Coordinator. <!-- ********************************************** Map --><!-- LGstat: G=good, B=bad(no local coordinator) --> function chosen(LGstat,LGname){ window.status="Local Group Region "+LGname if (LGstat=="B") { var newwin = window.open("","Volunteer","height=270,width=400") var mailtoaction = "mailto:localgroups@FreeStateProject.org?subject=FSP-LG Coord: "+LGname var mailbody = "I would like more information about becoming a Local Group Coordinator for the "+LGname+" region.'" var wintxt = "Free State Project: Local Groups" wintxt += "