We Made the Move! – Dave Mincin

Date of Move: February 2, 2004

Dave Mincin here! I made the move from Pittsburgh, PA.

I must admit I was a bit hesitant, so I decided to attend the Escape to New Hampshire given last summer, before the FSP vote was taken. My intent was to check out these folks, see how they were and what they were about. Well, it didn't take long for those good folks to win me over, and I decided within an hour or so that they were my kind of people! From that point I decided I would do all I could to see that New Hampshire was chosen as the Free State! The rest is history, and New Hampshire is now my home!

After the election and announcement of the chosen Free State on October 1, 2003, I sat down and thought "Now what?" My research had consisted of getting to know some of the folks involved. I didn't really look at much of the data on the website, but did work with and get to know many of the folks during the Great Which State Debate. From my experiences then, there was no doubt in my mind that these were good folks!

Hell, in my book a place to live is just that. What is most important is the people that you choose to have as neighbors. I must admit that my decision as to where to live in New Hampshire came down to a choice between the Seacoast and the Keene area. But it was more about Jim and Pat in Keene, Michele and Jim in the seacoast area, and others. I had already made a decision that I would be in NH February 1, 2004. Yikes! The seacoast won, because I believe the job opportunities for me were better, and, well, I've never lived close to the ocean before.

Still, it was a big step, moving over to the Free State from Pittsburgh. But I remembered a note I had gotten from Michele Dumas, "Don't worry Dave, when you are ready to move we will help you!" "Hot damn," I thought, and went that route. I sent Michele a note, and she sent me some addy's of places to rent. I called the first one, then Michele and her daughter Nicole checked it out for me, and the rest is history.

I ended up in Dover, and I'm just finishing up my classes to get my real estate license. Hell, I didn't come here for a career change; fact is, I was real comfortable in my old life. However, I came here to help create a free state, and I figure the real estate business puts me in a position to make a buck and also help the folks get here. (At least I'm hoping I can help the folks get here!) Otherwise, I'm just living in a studio now, just playing it by ear! I've come to believe that we are really just one big family, a "freedom family," so I'm hoping my new way of making a living will be a win-win for all of us. After all, I'm thinking we are all immigrants – freedom immigrants – so, hey, we need to help each other! And as we know, "help" for us is different than "give me."

I figure I've talked to most of the folks who have made the move. And we all agree, "good move!" New Hampshire is the Free State, we are here, and every time a new Porc shows up and moves in, we all get the warm and fuzzies.

Do I have new friends in the Free State? Have I met new people? Hey, all of the above! Those of us who have made the move are all friends, and many of the local Porcs and other folks we have met have become friends too. If you want names, check out the Seacoast Porcupines. Most of those folks aren't on the FSP forums---many are not even FSPer's---but we are developing friendships and working to promote freedom.

We'll all have chances to tell our stories when we move to the Free State. There's a gal coming tomorrow to our Seacoast meeting who is doing her college graduate work on the FSP. I expect she's a liberal, but she's up for hearing our story, and so we'll give it to her. The point is, the folks in NH are open and receptive and if we really believe we have the answers, and freedom is the way to go, the folks up here will listen. Nevertheless, I've come to believe it is about action not talk! I've really come to believe the folks in NH are receptive to freedom, we just have to understand that confrontation will get us nothing, we need to just ask, in order to let us tell our story.

Resistance to moving? It's too hard? Too cold winters? "Freeze in the dark"? Oh come on! The weather? You just dress for it. So you live were it is hot? Go from hot to cool car to cool building, etc.? Hell, I've been down that road, where it's so damn hot you can't breathe when you're outside. So it is a bit different here you go from warm to cold, or cold to warm? Big deal, and the fall is to die for! Those who say it's too cold are just using a cop-out excuse! Do you really care about freedom? Do you really want to have the opportunity to make a difference? Laying out the weather thing is just a convenient cop-out! Oops! "It's too cold for me"??? Please, everyone should know I've talked to most of the folks that have moved to New Hampshire. As I said, the fact is that we all agree, "good move!" Get a grip folks. We have the opportunity---just us common folks, regular folks--- to make a historic difference! To bring freedom back!

Hell, it's everyone's individual call, but I do think we just might have a chance to make a difference. Think about it: "Yikes!!! Hey, the common folks brought freedom back!" I can't speak for you, but I want you to know that in my book New Hampshire is the One-and-Only Free State. I'm here, and I know that I'll do all I can to bring freedom back. Our numbers are small in New Hampshire now, but we are definitely players in the political process. I'm quite sure that as our numbers grow we will become a real force in New Hampshire politics.

The people in New Hampshire? Did I feel like a stranger moving here from Pennsylvania? Not at all. Check out the folks in the Free State. They have not in the least disappointed me. In fact, that's the best thing about New Hampshire. I like the folks! I'm going over to Carl's place tomorrow to play a little poker. And I like the super ladies we have involved in this project. The truth is, most of them are married, but they are all so much an asset to what we are doing. Hey, I try to get a hug from each of them as a reward for what I am doing! Fact is, I don't think we give enough credit to the super gals we have involved in the project.

Hobbies? Sports? Pastimes? Just an old hippy ... and I expect I'm going to learn how to shoot a gun straight.

The bottom line is this: I think we have a chance to be a part of something bigger than any of us individually. Think about it. You, just a regular Joe, have the opportunity to save freedom! I just hope everyone understands just how important our mission is. And hey, when you get to New Hampshire I hope you'll look me up!

Back to We Made the Move!

FSP Mid-Atlantic Local Group

Welcome to the Mid-Atlantic Group page!

Please join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mid-atlantic_fsp/ for up-to-the-minute updates on Mid-Atlantic happenings! Here you can access the monthly meeting calendar, join our discussions, and learn how you can help us in local activism opportunities and projects, large and small, that will help us get to the 20,000 mark.

For those of you who cannot make it to our meetings, please let us know to help you start a meeting in your local area. Please feel free to contact us for help or questions. Thanks!

Phil Denisch pdenisch@freestateproject.org

Lynn Pina nhjobs@freestateproject.org

Rich Goldman rich1@umbc.edu

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
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• See some success stories in Real Activism.
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• 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. <!-- ********************************************** 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 += "