... there was hope

Speech delivered to the 2006 Porcupine Freedom Festival
Friday, June 23, 2006, 5:00 p.m.
By:  Varrin Swearingen, FSP President

I wouldn't call the 20th century libertarian movement a total failure. Merely saying it that way gives a feel for my impression of it's level of success, though.

The libertarian movement got started sometime in the middle of the 20th century, accelerating in the latter part of the century. FEE (Foundation for Economic Education) led the way in 1946, the IHS got started in 1961, (I)SIL's roots trace back to the late 1960's, the LP in 1971, Cato in 1977, Reason in 1978, the Advocates for Self Government in 1985, the Republican Liberty Caucus in 1990, and countless organizations since then.

By the end of the last century, there were dozens of well known pro-freedom organizations that worked hard in various arenas to fend off the full-on assault of government. But as these efforts became better organized and, presumably, more effective, the government grew ever larger and our freedom ever smaller. The measurable result was still negative.

Budgets at every level of government were astronomically higher than they were at the dawn of the century, the amount and impact of regulation continued to grow at a mind-numbing pace, and freedom was quickly being extinguished by every level of government in every part of America. Indeed, the government is more or less a reflection of the people, and the people aren't too interested in freedom these days. At the beginning of this century, there was not much hope for the future of freedom in America.

This hopelessness is the backdrop for the formation of the Free State Project. Though many dedicated people did much excellent work to preserve our freedom, we were outnumbered. Successes were unusual and when they did happen, it was in an environment of net loss of freedom. One step forward, two (or three) steps back. Fewer and fewer people were willing to work for freedom and more and more people worshiped government.

The idea behind the Free State Project is to resolve the problem of too few people being interested in freedom. If a sufficient number of pro-freedom activists relocated to a single, low-population state, with an already freedom-friendly populace, maybe the routine failures could be turned around into routine successes. Maybe, we could have some hope of liberty... in our lifetime.

Since the founding of the Free State Project, things have gotten a lot worse. If we needed the project in the summer of 2001, how much more do we need it now? Remember, the FSP was founded before the acceleration into oppression that has marked the last five years. If it was hopeless then, in 2001, how much more hopeless is it now? Consider these examples. Since the formation of the FSP:

The supreme court has ruled private property can now be 'legally' taken for private redevelopment; federal spending grew 33% between 2001 and 2005; during that same period of time NH General Fund spending grew 27% and NH total government spending grew 31%; the freedom to travel has been dramatically reduced by numerous organizations, a national ID card has become a reality, dozens of new bureaucracies have been made, a universal healthcare program just passed one state to the south of us and a major west coast city is considering a similar move, and the list goes on and on and on.

There is little hope in this picture, no matter where you live. In fact, even here in New Hampshire, though things are measurably better than other states, freedom continues to decrease. All this is true despite continued efforts in the freedom movement to stop the decline of freedom. As optimistic as I am, I'm forced to acknowledge that the freedom movement continues to fail to even slow the rate of decline of freedom in America.

The question is, with all of this hopelessness, can the FSP succeed? Is there any hope at all? What will it take to build a Free State?

For the first two years of the project, nobody really knew the answer to that question. In fact, not only didn't anyone know, but those who guessed disagreed significantly on what it would take to succeed.

The truth is, predictions of success were entirely speculative. Sure, we could extrapolate data from activity in various environments around the world, but we had no evidence that an organized project like this would actually work. We didn't even know which state we'd end up in. We didn't know if anyone would actually move. And we didn't know if, after moving, there would be any measurable positive impact. Nevertheless, there was hope.

Hope is wonderful, and it can inspire people to greatness. However, it can be empty and disappointing when what you once hoped for appears impossible. So while some were hopeful, there was not yet much assurance of success. Even if the project, as originally designed, succeeded in meeting its goal of obtaining 20,000 commitments by pro-freedom activists to move to a single state, there was no assurance that anyone would actually move. Even if those 20,000 people did move, there was no assurance of any actual success. There were many unknowns just a few short years ago.

The project managed to attract 5,000 participants and the state vote was held. This, itself, was a huge successful step. Being ¼ of the way to completing the monumental task of persuading 20,000 people to move for freedom gave people hope, and rightly so. The credibility of the Free State Project as the single obvious organized freedom movement was solidly established. If a project designed to concentrate libertarian activists is to ever attract enough people to succeed, this is it. There is hope.

What has happened since then, however, gives me more hope ... more assurance than ever before. Since the state vote, we have established what could not have been established previously. We have proof now that pro-freedom activists will actually move to New Hampshire. If you have moved to New Hampshire as a result of the Free State Project since October 1st, 2003, please raise your hand.

There's proof. There's knowledge. People are moving. There's hope.

But the good news doesn't end there. Those who have already moved to New Hampshire have given us proof that that they can actually change things for the better. They've persuaded their new friends and neighbors that freedom is better than tyranny. They've written bills that passed, lobbied for good bills that passed because of their efforts, lobbied against bad bills that failed because of their efforts, successfully campaigned in local elections, won elected office, successfully defended themselves against government lawsuits, and the list goes on. If you've moved since October 1st, 2003, and you feel you've participated in some activity that has caused there to be more freedom in New Hampshire than there would have been without your participation, please raise your hand.

There's proof. There's knowledge. There's people having an effect. There's hope.

There is now concrete evidence that pro-freedom activists will move to New Hampshire for the purpose of increasing the level of freedom here and will actually be effective in doing so. This is not a pipe dream or untested theory, it is fact.

More impressive is the amount that has been accomplished with relatively few people. Though existing support in-state was strong, the effect of just those couple hundred early movers, some of whom just raised their hands, has been very noticeable and positive. Millions of dollars of current or future taxes have been stopped by the work of just a few recently-moved FSP participants. Bad changes to state and local laws have been stopped and good changes have been successful as a result of the work of a few recently-moved FSP participants.

If a few people can accomplish so much, imagine what 1000 people could do. Could they, by themselves, create a 'free state'? Could they get 50% or 75% of the way there? We don't know that much yet, but it seems to me that 1000 people could erase any doubt in even the most pessimistic skeptic's mind that New Hampshire is the freest state in the nation, bar none.

What then could 2000 do? Or 5000? Or 10,000? What about 20,000?

There's little doubt in my mind that 20,000 effective pro-freedom activists could create a Free State right here in New Hampshire. And even if we wound up arguing over the minutia in 10 or 20 years, we would be so much better off than the rest of the nation that no sane person who treasures freedom would want to live anywhere else.

But merely imagining our success won't assure us of it. We have a job to do. In order to succeed, it is imperative that we attract 20,000 people to the Free State Project. We succeeded in attracting 5,000 people in a fairly short period of time. Since October, 2003, our rate of growth has slowed – we have only added about 2600 participants.

The good news is, it should now be far easier for people to commit to the project knowing that the theory behind it has been, at least in part, demonstrated to work right here, right now, in this case in New Hampshire. Our job is to spread that message of hope to pro-freedom activists around us.

If there is to be any hope, I do believe this is it. Hope for freedom is fading in the rest of the nation. The light of liberty is being more rapidly extinguished each day. The most likely hope for freedom lies with the Free State Project and that hope appears brighter today than ever before.

Welcome to the Free State...