Press Center

Naomi Wolf keynote speaker at NH Liberty Forum

December 1, 2010

Nashua, NH – The Free State Project is pleased to announce bestselling author Naomi Wolf will be the keynote speaker at the fifth annual NH Liberty Forum, being held February 24-27 at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua.

Judge Andrew Napolitano keynote speaker at NH Liberty Forum

March 7, 2010

Nashua, NH – The Free State Project is pleased to announce Judge Andrew Napolitano will be the keynote speaker at the fourth annual NH Liberty Forum, being held March 18-21 at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua.

Libertarians seek a place in the New Hampshire sun

Date: 07/29/09

Title: Libertarians seek a place in the New Hampshire sun

Author: Adam Geller

The appeal of 'Live free or die': Antigovernment activists putting down roots in N.H.

Date: 05/27/09

Title: The appeal of 'Live free or die': Antigovernment activists putting down roots in N.H.

Author: Sarah Schweitzer

Publication: Boston Globe


 

NH Liberty Forum Welcomes a Strong and Growing Free State Project

NH Liberty Forum Welcomes a Strong and Growing Free State Project

For Immediate Release
March 3, 2009

Third Annual Conference Highlights Success and the Many Paths to Liberty

America's boldest pro-liberty experiment, the Free State Project, is moving into 2009 with real momentum. With more than 9100 members and nearly 700 of them now in New Hampshire, and those numbers climbing daily, the project is nearing the halfway mark of its goal of 20,000 participants.

Free State Project to Host Freedom Festival at Gunstock

For Immediate Release
March 5, 2008
Contact: Rich Goldman at 215-480-0879 or rgoldman@freestateproject.org

Free State Project to Host Freedom Festival at Gunstock

The Free State Project, one of the largest pro-liberty organizations in the country, will be hosting their annual Freedom Festival (aka "PorcFest") in New Hampshire June 9-15, to showcase the FSP and NH and to entice thousands to relocate.

New Hampshire Once Again Shows the Way to Freedom

For Immediate Release
February 13, 2009

New Hampshire Once Again Shows the Way to Freedom

CONCORD -- As it has done in the past, New Hampshire is once again leading a pack of states in taking a stand against intrusive government.

Presidential Candidates Meet Free Staters

For Immediate Release

January 6, 2008

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES MEET FREE STATERS

Nashua, NH - The final day of the 2008 Liberty Forum started early and featured a presidential debate, sessions on working with the NH GOP, citizen activism, the constitution, and making the move to New Hampshire. "Moving liberty forward also means meeting face to face with the current and future political leaders of our state and the nation, so we're very happy to have all the candidates at the Forum to share their message with the Free State Project", said Forum organizer Chris Lawless.

The final day of the Forum saw more than 400 attendees, surpassing last year's attendance by a third.

The morning featured a two-hour presidential debate among five Libertarian Party candidates - Daniel Imperato, Michael Jingozian, Alden Link, George Phillies and Wayne Allyn Root. Questions came from the moderators, the audience, and each other and covered a full range of issues. The candidates talked about the conflict in Iraq, taxation, spending, foreign policy, the environment, infrastructure and the promoting the Libertarian message. Candidates talked about why they were the best choice, their own campaign for the nomination, and their plans for the general election should they win the nomination.

The other popular session was a panel made of Free State Project members who have moved to New Hampshire, highlighting the challenges and successes of making the move and getting acclimated to their new home. They fielded questions from the audience of likely movers as well as hearing other advice from natives who offered to help in any way they could.

The keynote speaker for the closing ceremonies was Congressman Ron Paul, who drew a capacity crowd of nearly 500 people and dozens of media outlets in the hotel ballroom. He talked about his campaign and thanked the hundreds of volunteers in New Hampshire and those who've come to the state to help the campaign. His speech garnered lots of applause, particularly his message of a sound monetary policy, bringing the troops home, cutting spending and returning the GOP back to its conservative roots. Dr. Paul told the audience that there is no need to give up liberty in order to provide security for America.

The Liberty Forum ran from January 4th through 6th at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua. The Forum featured speakers on a variety of topics ranging from drug policy to immigration to taxes to the morality of liberty. Full details are at http://www.freestateproject.org/libertyforum

###

Free Staters Talk Political Parties, Activism, Guns and Taxes

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

###

Free Staters Talk Drugs, Activism, Immigration and Real Money

For Immediate Release

January 4, 2008

PORCUPINES TALK DRUGS, ACTIVISM, IMMIGRATION AND REAL MONEY

Nashua, NH - The first day of presentations for the 2008 Liberty Forum covered the broad themes of the War on Drugs, citizen activism, school choice, immigration and real money. "All these topics are important for moving liberty forward, which is the overall theme of the forum", said Forum organizer Chris Lawless.

Over the afternoon, attendees had the choice of presentations, covering drugs, activism and immigration. The session on the War on Drugs was led by Peter Christ, former undercover narcotics officer, who highlighted the origins in the government policy and what it has done to policing in America. In short, it has made everything worse.

Those interested in citizen activism at the federal level could hear Bob Schulz of We The People, which currently has a writ in front of the U.S. Supreme Court being heard today to hear a case to validate the right to petition for redress of grievances against the government; the Court will issue its decision on Monday morning. The writ was filed after all prior petitions concerning the income tax, the Iraq war, the Patriot Act and the Federal Reserve were ignored by the federal government.

For more local activism, Don Gorman, former state legislator and political director of the NH Liberty Alliance, gave a stirring appeal for people to move here and how they can become effective activists right away. Carla Howell of the Center for Small Government, discussed the ballot initiative in Massachusetts to eliminate the state income tax and what effect that could have on the rest of the country.

The panel on Education Choice covered homeschooling, private schools and public school choice. Gardner Goldsmith discussed the history of immigration laws and the repeated arguments of the 1800's being used today against foreign workers. He outlined his federalist position to let the states handle immigration rather than the federal government, since it has no constitutional authority to do so.

Rounding out the day was a session on the NH real estate and job market, which is a primary interest to the many would-be movers. Artist Peter Bagge of Reason Magazine related many funny stories of his journalistic endeavors.

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

The keynote dinner featured Bernard von NotHaus, founder of the Liberty Dollar. He spoke about sound money, and how "we cannot gave good government without good money". He pointed out that the last time the global economy collapsed was the fall of Rome, which resulted in 1000 years of no liberty and no money, and how we are headed for a similar disaster if we do not take control of our money. "We are Americans. It is our duty to fix it" he said, stirring the crowd to applause.

NotHaus also announced that the Liberty Dollar is still in business with a new 2008 minting featuring an MSRP and a private barter currency marker. He said a $1 silver liberty from 1999 recently sold for $700 on eBay, showing the huge demand for an appreciating currency in contrast to the depreciating federal reserve note.

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

###