Original article:	www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2003/07/08/news/wyoming/ 4f8b9da9b9e870baecf20a54a5516986.txt
Date:	07/08/03
Title:	Free State Project vote set for August
Author:	Nadia White
Publication:	Casper Star Tribune

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).

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

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

• To find your Local Group, click on your location in the map below!
• Want to learn how help your Local Group become better?

Building a Local Group

Database Usage Guidelines

Packing Meetings

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• See some success stories in Real Activism.
• Find out about events at our Calendar of Events
• Discuss other outreach activities in our Local Group forums.
• Read the Local Groups Coordinator's Blog, make comments and give feedback.
• Of course you can always just E-mail the Local Groups Coordinator.

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.  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 += "

Analysis of Presidential Elections
in the 10 Candidate States

by Keith Carlsen

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
9	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
8	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

by Amanda Maxwell

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.

Natural Resources and Geologic Site

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.

Colleges and Universities

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.

Maine Counties

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

Moving Your Business to Maine

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.

Airports and Aviation

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

Taxes and Tax Rates

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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