For Immediate Release

January 5, 2008

PORCUPINES TALK POLITICAL PARTIES, ACTIVISM, GUNS AND TAXES

Nashua, NH - The second day of the 2008 Liberty Forum started early and covered working with political parties, citizen activism, the law, taxes and being a better advocate for liberty. "All these topics are important for moving liberty forward, which is the overall theme of the forum. You have to know how the system works in order to change it." said Forum organizer Chris Lawless.

The day saw attendance surpassing last year's, with more than 350 attendees registering for the various speakers, lunch sessions and keynote dinner.

The morning sessions included working with the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire and a presentation by Dr. Jim Lark, former chairman of the national LP. Lark's presentation was "avoiding knee-jerk libertarianism" and highlighted that Libertarianism is "being a good neighbor" and that the burden of proof must be on the statists to show that their programs will actually work. Dr. Lark said that "getting people to think is the way to bring them to libertarianism."

Tyler Sterns, the 18-year old NH Liberty Alliance activist of the year, talked about his own experience getting involved in politics and his run for the statehouse. There were two sessions on the law, the IRS and income taxes, by Peymon Mottahedeh of the Freedom Law School, and by Jeff Dickstein, attorney and author of "Judicial Tyranny" who outlined Bill Benson's effort to show the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified.

The afternoon panel on the 2nd amendment and gun owners' rights was by far the most popular panel of the day. Rep. Dan Itse discussed the early history of New Hampshire and the importance of it's government structure. He said "New Hampshire is the crucible of liberty," and explained why. There was also a special session with Wayne Green, founder of "Byte" and "NH To-Do" magazine covering simple solutions to many problems, focusing on natural health and current legal restrictions preventing health and food choice.

A popular session was Jim Babka of Downsize DC, making his second appearance at the Liberty Forum. Attendees were very interested in the organization's "Read the Bills Act" and "One Subject at a Time Act," both of which aim to make congressmen know more about the laws they are passing, the former actually requiring them to swear they read the bill before voting on it. He pointed out how the media willfully ignores important stories about liberty and their new "Operation Everywhere" to put the pro-liberty message in the public eye and keep it there.

Prometheus award-winning author F. Paul Wilson talked about his "Repairman Jack" series and new novel as well as discussing "freedom-based" literature in general and his own experience being a Libertarian back in the 1960s. Ed Hudgins of the Atlas Society talked about the moral imperative of liberty and the need for moral arguments to advance freedom.

A full exhibitors' hall featured many local citizens groups, a job placement agency, political parties and silver merchants.

The keynote dinner speaker, Senator John Sununu, was very popular with the attendees, particularly for his help on stopping New Hampshire's participation in Real ID. Sununu talked about his own legislative work on privacy, reducing regulation and cutting taxes. As well as working in a post-9/11 Washington and standing up against his own party on civil liberties issues. His announcement of being the lead sponsor on a bill to repeal Real ID drew a long round of applause. He said "Freedom is threatened by the constant effort to tax, tax, tax." and that "New Hampshire is the best state to live in because it has the lowest tax burden."

The Liberty Forum continues until Sunday at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua. Full details are at http://www.freestateproject.org/libertyforum

New Hampshire?s 365-Day Sales Tax Holiday

Throughout August, Massachusetts parents and children will stock up on notebooks, clothes, and backpacks in preparation for a new school year. Many of them will confine their back-to-school shopping to August 13 and 14, since those days are "tax holidays" in Massachusetts, which means all purchases under $2,500 are exempt from the state's 5 percent sales tax.

This year Massachusetts joins ten other states and the District of Columbia in providing sales tax holidays (click here for a chart of each state's exempt items and other details).

But now it seems Massachusetts might be upstaged by its neighbor to the north. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has announced a new advertising campaign targeted at Massachusetts residents. New Hampshire will spend approximately $40,000 to run an ad in the Boston Globe on August 7, 10, and 11, proclaiming, "365 vs. 002 . . . Tax-Free Shopping Days (for those of you keeping score)."

New Hampshire is one of only five states without a sales tax and is therefore a popular destination for shoppers from neighboring states, especially those living near the border. Gov. Lynch is keenly aware of the lure of tax-free shopping:

"There is no need for shoppers to pack all of their shopping into two days during a beautiful summer weekend, when every day is a sales tax holiday in New Hampshire," Lynch said.

Alice DeSouza, director of the state's Division of Travel and Tourism Development, told onlookers the state annually welcomes about 27 million visitors. The link between the Granite State's permanent tax holiday and tourism is "significant," she said.

Tax holidays are popular with consumers, but if a state wants to bring in more non-resident shoppers, improve its economy, or give taxpayers a break, a better solution is a consistently low sales tax rate–or none at all–rather than a one- or two-day tax holiday.

As Curtis Dubay has written, sales tax holidays are poor tax policy because they distort consumer spending, decrease stability in the tax code, and increase retailers' compliance costs.

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Keene's the hook in Free State commercial

Keene's scenic beauty and vibrant downtown have been selling points for city business owners and politicians for years.

Now, the city's Railroad Square will be featured in a television commercial aimed at luring members of the Free State Project to the Granite State.

Keene resident James G. Maynard, the Free State Project's New Hampshire contact person, has produced and is featured in the commercial, which will begin airing Wednesday. He is joined in the ad by local Free Staters Patricia L. LaPree and Justin Somma.

The Free State Project was formed in 2001 as a movement to bring 20,000 libertarians to one state in hopes of gaining political power. Their tenets include small government, fiscal conservatism and individual freedom. On Oct. 1, the 5,000 members of the project voted to move to New Hampshire. Maynard estimates the group now has about 5,500 members.

"With the lowest crime in the nation, the lowest taxes in the continental U.S., and a part-time citizen legislature, the state of New Hampshire is the ideal place for libertarians and other friends of local, responsible government to relocate," the project's Web site states.

The Keene television commercial – which will air on WNNE Channel 31 throughout western New Hampshire and eastern Vermont, and WPTZ Channel 5 in Western Vermont and eastern New York – is part of a campaign aimed at convincing voters in Killington, Vt., to secede from that state and join New Hampshire. It was filmed last week.

The project has also developed three half-page newspaper ads which have run in the Mountain Times of Killington.

Killington selectmen are urging voters to secede from Vermont because they claim the town is overtaxed by the state. They have discussed rejoining New Hampshire – a move many claim is outrageous.

Vermont Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said Killington has little chance of secession "absent an armed-insurrection type of thing."

But supporters of the move say the town's restaurants, inns and other businesses send $10 million a year to the state capital in sales, room and meal taxes, but the state returns just $1 million in state aid to Killington.

The town is hit especially hard by a statewide property tax imposed in 1997 to fund schools. Killington, population 1,092, won a Superior Court order that called the state's method of assessing local properties "arbitrary and capricious," but the Vermont Supreme Court reversed that decision. New Hampshire, 25 miles east, has no income tax or sales tax.

Maynard said the commercial attacks Vermont's tax system "in a light-hearted, comical fashion."

He said the message the commercial tries to get across is that state government waste and a burdensome tax system can turn any town into another Killington. Maynard said the commercial serves a dual role in showing people what a great place New Hampshire – and Keene specifically – is to live.

"Keene is a beautiful, beautiful place," Maynard said. "I wouldn't want to do (the commercial) anywhere else."

While the Free State Project has been out of the national media spotlight lately, Maynard said the group has been busy with a "massive reorganization" designed to ease the move to New Hampshire.

"We've been working hard every day," he said. "We're really looking forward to making things better for ourselves, our parents and our children."

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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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).

Benson gives welcome to Free State

MANCHESTER – Gov. Craig Benson welcomed members of the Free State Project to New Hampshire on Saturday, saying he was excited about their plans to move to the state and promote their agenda of smaller government.

"We'd love to have you," Benson told several Free Staters at the annual convention of the state Libertarian Party, held at the Highlander Inn.

"We don't have to agree on everything to make things happen. What we have to agree on is that we're going to leave things better than we found them," he said.

The Libertarian Party and the Free State Project share members and political goals: scaling back government, taxes and reliance on public schools.

Saturday marked one month since supporters of the Free State Project announced they had chosen New Hampshire as the stage for their political "revolution." They hope to move 20,000 "liberty-minded individuals" to the state to transform the political system from within.

Some of the project's 5,000 members want to decriminalize drug use and prostitution and lift restrictions on gun ownership and gambling, as well.

Benson said he disagrees with some of those goals, but agrees with the Free Staters on "the important issues."

"What we're standing for is smaller government," he told reporters after his formal remarks.

"They don't want government on their backs, in their businesses, or in their private lives."

In his speech, Benson described various initiatives he has gotten funded by private businesses, as well as two proposed amendments to the state constitution that he supports.

One, dubbed the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, would limit increases in state spending to the rate of inflation, adjusted for increases in population. It also would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to increase existing taxes.

Members of the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, a new political action committee formed by members of the Free State Project living in the state, have already said they probably will support that amendment.

The other proposed constitutional amendment would give the Legislature exclusive control over state spending on education.

State Supreme Court decisions have found the state constitution includes a guarantee of public education for every child, paid for by state taxes. Those decisions led to the statewide property tax for schools.

Benson also called for putting the "passion" back into education, in part by letting students get credit for educational experiences outside classrooms.

He characterized public education standards as inflexible, based on a model of learning everything inside four walls, 180 days a year, six hours a day.

"Why do we make someone like my daughter, who's trying out for the Olympics, take gym class, too?" he said, to vigorous applause.

Kelton Baker, president of the Free State Project, presented Benson with a stuffed toy porcupine – the movement's mascot – after his speech.

"We're very happy and very excited about our work in the state of New Hampshire," he said. "And we're very happy to have a governor who supports us."

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).

TV segment about FSP

07/28/03

Unofficial transcript of WNDS TV-50 on-air news segment about FSP, with FSP member James Maynard. WNDS is New Hampshire's second largest TV station. This segment aired 7/28/03 at 7pm and 10pm.

Female anchor: An organization called the Free State project is looking to move 20,000 libertarians into New Hampshire

Male anchor: The group wants to change the structure of government and News-Now's Eric Scheiner shows us how.

(cut to James Maynard)

James Maynard (FSP member): We're trying to gather 20,000 liberty minded people to move to one state in the union together. To work within local and state government to bring about a more financially responsible and socially tolerant government.

(cut to http://www.freestateproject.org/state.htm as the reporter talks it scrolls down from the Low Campaign Expenditures portion)

Eric Scheiner (Reporter): The idea is simple, yet revolutionary. And for libertarian members of the Free State Project New Hampshire is one of 10 possible destinations. A destination where political goals have already been established. Lowering property taxes being the first among many.

(scrolls as far down as Low Crime Rates, then cuts back to James)

James: We want to lower the Business Enterprise Tax, we want to lower the business property tax.

(cut to Colony Mill marketplace sign, then Ye Goodie Shoppe sign, Time Leon's "Family" Restaurant, Creative Encounters, Prime Roast coffee company while reporter talks)

Eric: Project members believe the influx of 20,000 libertarians would boost the economy. By buying and renting homes, and starting businesses, all while establishing themselves in communities and promoting the free enterprise principles of the Libertarian Party.

(cut back to James)

James: We're going to be going door-to-door, we're going to be working on warrant articles, on the school budgets...

(cut to reporter sitting in front of a PC on the FSP's homepage)

Eric: Nearly 5,000 people have signed up on the Free State Project website, agreeing to move to New Hampshire if it is chosen as the project's state. Final decision on the issue will come on August 15th.

(cut to James)

James: New Hampshire, as much as you can tell from the thousand or so people who go to the forum seems to be a front runner.

(cut back to shots of storefronts)

Eric: If the Granite State is chosen for the project there's still no deadline for the influx to begin. Nearly 15,000 more libertarians would need to agree to move to the Live Free or Die state before the Free State Project would get underway.

(cut to a closeup of the porcupine logo on the homepage, then the top of the homepage).

Eric: For WNDS News-Now, I'm Eric Scheiner.

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).

Self-Sufficiency Living

Past "Questions of the Week"

• Q: Dear Andrew,

  Your Question of the Week and Rant of the Week this week look a lot like last week's. I think that's weak. What happened? Did you lose the fire, or are you just taking a break, or what? I was just getting interested, don't stiff now!

  Jason in Colorado

A: Dear Jason,

You caught me, pal. I have been neglecting my duties a little bit lately, but not for lack of motivation. Time has been at a particularly high premium the past few weeks, but, even so, excuses are lame. Thanks for keeping me honest, Jason.

Andrew

A: Dear Matt,

You must be a Bruce Springsteen fan, right? And Bon Jovi, too? Everybody in New Jersey loves The Boss and Bon Jovi, right?

I can assure you I am not a radical extremist of any kind, nor are most other self-sufficiency enthusiasts. On the contrary, most of us are about as down to earth individuals as you're likely to meet. Sure, a bit eccentric, maybe, but that's only because of the keen intelligence of which most of us are possessed.

One thing I've learned is that radical extremism is almost always a bad thing. Worthy causes turn into crusades, peace turns to conflict, then people start gettin' blowed up.

Obviously I care a great deal about self-sufficiency – enough to sponsor a web page – but I know two very important things: perfection can never be attained, and what's right for me isn't right for everyone.

The closer you get to perfect, the harder it becomes to make any more progress. It's called the law of diminshing returns. That's just the way it is.

Not everyone can become self-reliant, and not everyone should try.

As strongly as I feel on the subject of sustainability and renewability, I have enough sense to know it's not worth taking a hard line, either with myself or with others. This hasn't always been the case. But recently I learned that taking a hard line on nearly anything is less a sign of commitment to principle than it is a sign of one's capacity to annoy people.

Ultimately, you'll have to decide for yourself if I'm a foolish utopian. As I've explained in these pages, I believe self-determination and self-reliance are like two sides of the same coin. I only ask that you judge me on my merits, not on some ill-conceived stereotype.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must go prepare the incense for my Moon worship ritual.

Andrew

Back to self-sufficiency page

Interest Groups

While the FSP is looking for activists who support liberty for all, we can find libertarians in many different communities of ignterest, each with its own priorities and reasons for valuing freedom. It makes sense for some members of these communities to interface with their own, since they are more likely to empathize and speak the same language, figuratively speaking. This has been going on informally since the FSP's inception, but we are formalizing it a little.

Below is a list of interest groups and people assigned as liaisons. The list is not exhaustive, and the people are not exclusive. We ask that the liaisons make efforts to reach out to their communities, and we ask that anyone else doing so keep the liaisons informed, so as to coordinate activities.

Feel free to suggest additional interest groups, especially if you are willing to volunteer as a liaison yourself, if you believe that connecting with them will help further the FSP mission. Please send any feedback to the Coordinator: Wade Bartlett.

Also, you can visit the Interest Group Liaisons discussion board in the FSP Forum.

(Some blank space above, so table entries align at top of the screen, from external links)

We Made the Move! – Denise

Greetings and salutations! :-) (anyone who knows me knows I'm not really that formal in person!)

I was a *really* early mover. (I have been in NH for just over a year now). I had signed a lease to move to NH from MA in August 2003, mailed my ballot in, and moved into my new apartment. I had been considering moving North for some time, and with starting graduate school last year, I needed to not be paying $1300/mo + utilities anymore. Besides I like the liberty minded independent streak in the whole state. (Just look at how many vanity plates are out there on NH roads. Freedom of expression is certainly alive in that way up here!)

I am currently working in MA, and living in Southern NH. I expect to change jobs within the next year, but right now I am biding my time while pulling together funding to purchase a small camp. I will eventually rebuild it, in order to make it affordable for me to own my own home.

Some people complain about the high property tax rates up here. But considering the average cost of the homes themselves here, compared with living in a major metro area such as Boston/NYC/DC as I was, the amount spent in taxes is much lower, as the housing prices are lower for much nicer homes. As a comparison, my parents live in northern NJ. When I told them what the annual taxes were on a home of the same selling price as their home might go for, they were amazed how much less per year they might pay in NH, for a home of similar size but including a nice amount of acreage near Concord, and are seriously considering moving up to retire. And as more freestaters move up here, we should all join the NH taxpayer association (as all local New Hampshire-ites should!) in order to work on reducing the rates even more, allowing us to influence how our money will be spent in our communities, and attempt to move more toward a smaller government.

In any case, if a single woman can make it work to move up here, and be considering purchasing a home, I think most anyone can.

I hope my little note is useful to some, and I am on the local porcupine list (ladypantherrr) if anyone would like to ask me more.

- Denise, Nashua area

Back to We Made the Move!

Taxation

Coalition of NH Taxpayers

The Patriot Network - Defending the U.S. Constitution through the Tax Freedom Movement. "Taxes are Revolting ... Why Aren't You?"

Note to Links participants - if you feel your link has been improperly categorized, please email us at info@freestateproject.org. Thank you!

Moving to Manchester – Head 'em up! Move 'em out!

by Karl Beisel • 6/9/04

I'm pleased to report that I closed on my house in Manchester last weekend, and will be making the move on June 19, just in time for the PorcFest and NHLA dinner the following weekend.

I want to take a moment to explain how I came to select Manchester as my new home, and tell a little about my impressions of the city.

Last December, I did a week-long driving tour of southern New Hampshire, stopping in the towns on a list of possible destinations. My route took me through Keene, Claremont, Lebanon, and Hanover, then down to Concord and Manchester, then up to Rochester, Portsmouth and finally Hampton. I prefer a more urban lifestyle, so I did not stop in small towns and rural areas. I'll describe my impressions of each town briefly.

Keene: This is a neat and vibrant medium-sized city, dominated by Keene State College in the center of town. Its downtown has many businesses that cater to a college crowd. By all appearances, Keene is a great place to live. It is, however, a bit too isolated for my wants, and it has a reputation for being one of the most "liberal" towns in the state, which has advantages and disadvantages, I suppose.

Claremont: This city was mentioned months ago as a possible destination for Free Staters. But be warned, this town is in rough shape. Claremont was the town that originally brought forth those infamous Claremont lawsuits, which resulted in the statewide property tax. The Claremont lawsuits are just the latest attempt by the Claremont government to foist their self-created economic disaster onto the rest of New Hampshire.

Although it has a reasonably pretty downtown with a beautiful City Hall, about a third of the shops are shuttered. It has several abandoned mill buildings that will soon be the home of a technical college that will be moving from its current location north of town. Otherwise, the downtown is in a perpetual state of "revitalization" that has apparently been going on for decades, at great taxpayer expense, and to little effect. Despite all this, the town manages to support BOTH a K-Mart and a Wal-Mart, among the many stores located on Claremont's particularly ugly sprawl strip. There are few jobs and worse-than-usual public schools. The good news: dirt-cheap housing, and the city is nestled amidst some beautiful rural semi-mountainous country.

Lebanon: North of Claremont, Lebanon is like a smaller version of Keene; it has a community college at the town center. It's much prettier than Claremont, and there is actual industry there; it seems to benefit from the nearby interstate highway and its proximity to wealthy Hanover a couple miles north.

Hanover: Home of Dartmouth College, with its premier medical school. Georgetown on the Connecticut River, and absolutely beautiful. This is the definition of a college town; Dartmouth College practically IS the town. Downtown, the many shops, bars and restaurants cater to a college crowd, and the many out-of-state visitors. There are a couple of ski resorts close by as well. By most measures, a fine (though expensive) place to live.

Concord: A bit closer to what I'm looking for, though a tough egg to crack politically, due to the large number of state employees and lobbyist-types. It has a vibrant downtown, with the State House at the center. I visited the State House, and the stories I've heard are true. No metal detectors, no bag searches. I walked through the corridors unmolested. I walked by the office for the "Speaker of the House." I could just walk in if I felt like it. Living with the police presence of Washington, DC, this experience was quite novel. I didn't stay in Concord long, because I wanted to get to the 2nd city on my "short list", Manchester before the end of what, as it turned out, was literally the shortest day of my life (the farthest north I've been on a winter solstice). As I headed out, I noticed the Federal Building, which is oversized and fronts the street at crooked angle, with its bunker-style architecture, completely out of character with the rest of the city, like a UFO had landed in Concord. Typical. Anyway, I decided to avoid I-93, and traveled back roads through Bow to Manchester.

Manchester: There's a whole lot more going on here than anywhere else in New Hampshire. Manchester is the largest city in the state, at about 108,000 people. Its downtown is dominated by a series of large mill buildings, many of which had been abandoned for a long time, but are now mostly in use as warehouses, offices, hotels, retail shops, apartments, a museum, and even a branch of UNH. The downtown is bustling, and it promises to become even more so, with the construction of a new minor league baseball stadium, and new downtown apartments. Manchester may have a reputation for an industrial-grit character, but its downtown is becoming increasingly "yuppie" with new independently-owned coffee shops and restaurants. I'm a yuppie, so I like this stuff.

Transportation is excellent. I-93 and I-293 both go through town (I-93 is being widened now), and there is a small bus system, apparently used mostly by the elderly. As in most NH towns, homes tend to have a lot of off-street parking, which is especially important because of the winter parking ban (most towns in New Hampshire have ordinances that ban street parking during the winter months). There is also rumored to be a future passenger rail line connecting Manchester to Nashua and Boston, but its status is unclear.

Manchester has several identifiable neighborhoods. The very center of the city east of Elm Street (Manchester's "main" street) is densely packed with 4-12 unit tenements, where mostly lower-income residents live. Along Elm Street and in the Mill district along the Merrimack is the site of much post-industrial redevelopment, and an increasingly popular area (read: pricey) for those who like genuine urban living.

Outward, the neighborhoods are generally identified as one of four "ends" – north, east, west and south. The "West End" is the part on the west side of the Merrimack River. This is mostly lower-middle income, mostly apartments mixed in with businesses but also some houses. The "North End" is the upscale part of town, with many large houses, especially along Elm Street, which is ridiculously wide. The "East End/Hanover Hill" neighborhood is largely middle class, as is the "South End" both of which consist mostly of single-family homes. Beyond these urban neighborhoods is the customary asteroid belt of sprawl, with its cookie-cutter colonial houses and strip malls. Beyond that, it gets rural quickly.

Manchester has everything – three pro sports teams (baseball, hockey, and arena football), a major shopping mall (The Mall of New Hampshire), and a newly updated airport with flights throughout the country (note to self: get on Airport Commission and make them stop piping FOX NEWS throughout the airport). There are also many parks, and a large lake (Lake Massabesic) where you can enjoy fishing and light boating. The quality of life here is something to behold.

Rochester: After visiting Manchester, I knew that was the place to be. But Rochester was also one of my "short list" cities, so I headed up that way. I've heard some not-so-flattering things about this city, but I didn't think it was that bad. If you like the seacoast region, Rochester still has reasonably-priced real estate, and a reputation, whether true or not, for being among the more libertarian-leaning towns in New Hampshire. The city's main newspaper has an emblem that reads "Your Rights, Your Liberty." Sounds good to me. I think Rochester is a good compromise city for those who want a city like Claremont but with less poverty. Some Free Staters have suggested Rochester as a candidate for a larger "free town" but I'm not aware of any takers so far.

Portsmouth: I buzzed through Portsmouth pretty quickly. I hear it's a great downtown, but fabulously expensive, being right on the seacoast. It's also a major retirement destination, and a high-tech employment center, due in part to the proximity of a US Navy shipyard that builds submarines (this base has been under the threat of closure for some time). I hear the downtown was a dump not so long ago. Now it's a major tourist destination and a choice spot for uppity living. Lots of restaurants and touristy shops.

Hampton: After a few days in Portland, Maine, I headed back south to Hampton, one of New Hampshire's beach resort towns. It is located adjacent to the Seabrook nuclear power plant. Its downtown is right on the coast, with a small beach, complete with a boardwalk and beachy trinket shops. It was the dead of winter, so the whole place was shut down; even the McDonalds was boarded up. From what I could observe, at least in winter, there must be a rule that you have to be over the age of 65 to live in Hampton. Apparently, like Portsmouth, Hampton is retirement destination. I'll have to return this summer to get another take.

The decision: Manchester.

So, why Manchester? Having lived in very urban neighborhoods in Washington, DC and Arlington, VA, I've come to prefer the urban, where I may walk to most of my destinations, and where I feel I can take a more active part in the community. New Hampshire is one of those special places where its inner cities are, for the most part, still vibrant, productive, and safe. Manchester in particular has a sort of aura about it that seems almost to brag about its industrial ethic, an embodiment of the Yankee spirit that I find so appealing. I want to be a part of that. Other towns share that spirit, but perhaps Manchester's mill yards and the raging Merrimack River through the center of town, and even its large buildings and traffic congestion on Elm Street, make it stand out.

Manchester is the very heart of southern New Hampshire; anyone living there has access to the employment opportunities and amenities available in Portsmouth, Nashua and Concord, and even Metro Boston.

Politically speaking, I know only a little about Manchester politics, just what I've occasionally read in newspapers. As the largest city in the state, with its share of urban problems, I see living there as an opportunity to help open up discussion to new ideas for solving these issues in a way that is consistent with the principles of liberty. I certainly don't see Manchester ever becoming a libertine "free town", but I can imagine that one successful and innovative reform in local government, in a city of that size, could serve as a powerful example of what such policies can achieve. I'll do my best to take my time in becoming a member of the community; and I will pursue my goals as such a member. And so, we'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, on to the Manchester in New Hampshire, the Free State…

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