In America’s heartland a battle is raging over so-called safe haven laws which enable parents to freely turn over custody of their children to various organizations like hospitals and fire departments. Most states have safe haven laws which allow parents of infants to abandon the children in hopes of reducing the rates of infanticide and infant abuse. Nebraska, however, has a safe haven law without an age limit, meaning that even teenagers can be abandoned without repurcussions for the parents. Interestingly, teenagers have actually made up the largest group of abandoned children in Nebraska, with some as old as 17 being left.

But with teenagers making up the largest number of abandoned children, Governor Dave Heineman announced a special session of the state legislature on Friday to address the issue. The decision led to an increase in abandonments.

Among the teenagers so far abandoned, six were aged 17, two were 16 years old, six were 15, three were 14-year-olds and three were aged 13. Another eight children aged 11 or 12 were abandoned.

Although I feel strongly that infants and very young children need some kind of safety net to protect them due to their complete inability to care for themselves, I can’t for the life of me imagine why a 17 year old needs a safe haven law to protect them from being abandoned by their parents. At 17, a “child” is old enough to work, become emancipated and live on their own. Do they really need these safe haven protections?

Perhaps, instead of extending safe haven laws almost into adulthood, the answer to the problem of child abandonment can be better answered by encouraging parents to take a more active role in their children’s lives and encouraging personal responsibility among all members of society. Instead of ramping up the welfare state to take care of all of our problems for us and medicating ourselves when the stress becomes too much to deal with, perhaps a better solution is to spark a fundamental shift in American society which encourages each man, woman and child to look for solutions to their own problems instead of looking to pass those problems off on others.

Safe haven laws are certainly beneficial in the case of teenage mothers who would sooner leave an infant in a dumpster than care for it. However, by creating a society of personal responsibility, perhaps we could eventually reach a point where safe haven is no longer needed.

Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy, then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness. Science fiction? It is already happening to some extent in our own society. Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed, modern society gives them antidepressant drugs. In effect, antidepressants are a means of modifying an individual’s internal state in such a way as to enable him to tolerate social conditions that he would otherwise find intolerable.

Those are profound words spoken of experience by a man who knew, all too well, the pressures faced by those who are “mentally ill” in a modern Western society. Those words were written by Theodore Kaczynski, and although his actions throughout the course of his life have been those of a deeply troubled man, his writings are sometimes so profound as to make me question the sanity of a world that would label him insane. True enough, Mr. Kaczynski is insane by any reasonable standard, but through the fog of mental illness, he saw something real in society that many have yet to find. These words, profound, haunting and true, have been ruminating in my mind, forming the basis for the words which you are about to read.

As much as it’s true that modern society has afforded Western humans with the technologies that we have come to take for granted in the span of only a few hundred little years, society has also changed us in a fundamental way. We are no longer creatures of work and self sufficiency. We are creatures of technology, creatures of dependence, creatures of entitlement and creatures of isolation. We are predestined to need the support of our tribe, but we now shun the tribe in favor of a brightly lit computer screen or television set. Without the technology that we have come to depend on, we would be lost. And with those same technologies, we have become prisoners in our own minds.

Humans are not meant to sit in front of a television and computer screen all day. Humans are not meant to substitute words on a screen for human interaction. Humans are not meant to live a sedentary life, nor are they intended to live to be 100 years old. All of these modern technologies are wonderful, but they have created a society of lonely and inhuman people. We no longer know how to interact with eachother. We no longer know how to find pleasure in simple things. We now seek happiness in a pill instead of seeking the root of our unhappiness so that we may slay it and be free from within.

We no longer accept childishness from our children. If a child acts up, we drug him instead of parenting him. If a child cannot concentrate in school, we assume there is something wrong with him. We forget that children are meant to be playful. Children are meant to test boundaries. Children are meant to be free to explore and learn in their own unique ways. Children are not meant to be locked in a room reading from textbooks. When children behave as children, we no longer accept their behavior as natural. Anything other than perfect is unacceptable and must be dealt with harshly. The free spirit must be removed from each and every child before he learns to think, question and feel.

By the time we reach adulthood, we’ve forgotten that there was once another way to live. We’ve forgotten that our fantasies are sometimes more real than our lives. We’ve forgotten that it’s in our nature to question our reality. We’ve lost the desire to better ourselves. We want the easy solution to each and every problem. We want the answers to be given to us instead of finding the truth for ourselves. We want the magic pill.

We learn to love ease of use. We learn to give up a small bit of freedom here and another small bit there to make our lives just a little more simple. We learn to sign away a bit of privacy in exchange for a bit of weight off our shoulders. We learn not to question those topics to which no answer is easily obtainable. We learn to accept the answers we are given. It’s easier this way. Nobody has to think. Nobody has to argue. Nobody has to question the way things are, and nobody has to fight to make things better.

We’ll take that magic pill if you tell us to because that pill will make us happy. We’ll take that pill because we no longer have to make our own happiness. We no longer have to make our own destiny. We’ll take that magic little pill because we’d all just like to be happy.

But we’ve lost our sense of self. We’ve lost the unique character of the human species. We’ve lost that thing that makes us special. We’ve lost our willingness to question bad ideas. We’ve lost our ability to stand up for what’s right because what’s right is often hard. We’ve lost our drive to improve humanity for humanity’s sake. We no longer care to be free–to answer to only our own happiness, desires and needs. Humanity’s mantra has changed. “Rape me,” we say, “but promise you’ll still love me in the morning.” We can no longer see that he who rapes us could never love us. We’ve become blinded to the pain by our little magic pills. We no longer know how to make ourselves happy. And we no longer care. As long as we have our pill, we don’t need anything else.

But maybe we’re better off without it.

I came across a very interesting collection of photos from the old Soviet gulags. There isn’t much for me to say about this because I honestly don’t know a lot about the gulags or Soviet era Russian history. I just think the photos are great–not the highest quality, of course, but gut wrenching in the same way as photos from the holocaust or modern war zones. The photos were taken between 1927 and 1953. They come with very little description but I highly recommend that you take a few moments to look through them.

The BBC is reporting that Bolivia is suspending US DEA operations within that nation. This is great news for anyone that believes in national sovereignty, human rights and ending the war on drugs so the Western world can get on with more important matters like treating drug addiction instead of criminalizing it. Although Bolivia isn’t the most frighteningly dangerous country to ever step up to bat against the United States, it does symbolize a major shift in South America’s willingness to cooperate with outside influence and bullying and could lead to similar actions in other nations. Bolivian president Evo Morales believes that the DEA (and possibly CIA) were involved in attempting to stage a coup earlier this year which prompted his suspension of DEA activities.

It’s also important to note that coca leaves play an enormously important role in traditional Bolivian life with a scope entirely independent of the international drug trade. In fact, historical and scientific evidence suggests that Andean people were using coca leaves at least 3000 years ago, making it one of their oldest surviving sacred traditions. The leaves are chewed in traditional Bolivian culture, which gives a much less potent stimulant effect than the western manner of refining the drugs and snorting them. The use of coca leaves was also actively encouraged by the Spanish because, as a stimulant, it was effective in increasing the work output of the native peoples. To native Bolivian people, coca leaves represent both religious and cultural autonomy from western influence. One final note on the use of coca leaves in Bolivia–the effects of the drug help combat altitude sickness, making it an extremely useful drug for the habitants of mountainous regions of Andean nations.

Certainly, when used improperly, cocaine can cause devastating effects. But the United States have no right to interfere in the internal affairs of Bolivia or any other nation, and by doing so the US are telling the people of those nations that they have no rights as human beings and that their own ancient cultures are insignificant and wrong. It’s time to let Bolivia deal with the international drug trade on its own terms while allowing its indigenous peoples their sacred right to chew coca leaves.

Today, I thought I’d clue you in to a little bit of personal information about myself. I work in payroll. I process people’s paychecks. And I have first hand experience witnessing the devastation that Uncle Sam throws upon hard working American citizens.

It wasn’t always like this. When this nation was formed, taxes were low. The entrepreneurial spirit could take a person wherever they wanted to go in life. Things changed some during the Industrial Revolution and it became harder to leave the lower class for the middle class and even more difficult to leave the middle class for the upper class. And then, the Great Depression. FDR used the Depression as an excuse to socialize the American economy, and things have never been worse for the working class. Taxes are higher, work incentives are lower and it’s virtually impossible for the average person to start a business, let alone become successful as a business owner.

And it isn’t just individual taxpayers who suffer as a result of this socialized governmental system. Even huge corporations suffer–you may not believe it, but I have proof that they do. Take the example of the average Federal tax levy. The IRS sends the levy to me–the payroll girl–and I’m expected to first sift through 12 to 15 pages of legalese to determine what needs to be done with the levy. It’s then my responsibility, after spending at least an hour of company time trying in vain to comprehend the document, to track down the employee (still on company time) and demand that they give me the social security numbers of any dependent children. I then take another hour or so from my company to set up a garnishment on the employee’s wages. All told, enforcing a Federal levy (or state levy, garnishment, child support order, etc) could take up to 4 hours of my time. That is wasted time. That’s wasted wages that my company is paying me and that the IRS (or state, etc) is not reimbursing us for. That’s forcing employers to do the government’s job and giving the employer nothing in return for it. In fact, when we return documentation to the IRS, the envelopes don’t even come postage paid. You heard me, it’s the employer’s responsibility to pay postage to return the IRS’s documents to them after doing the IRS’s job for them!

There’s also the story of that poor, unfortunate employee. There are legitimate reasons that a person may fall behind on their taxes–illness, financial hardship, moral opposition to having one’s property stolen to fund wars, a deadbeat baby daddy refusing to pay child support, or in the case of my employees, they’re good southern folk who don’t think they need to pay Uncle Sam since they tried to secede from this country anyways. And then the IRS tracks the employee, often times a person who has worked for my company for years and often times displaying an exemplary work ethic, and enforces a Federal levy on them. The IRS doesn’t care if you have rent to pay, children to feed or medicine to pay for. The IRS only cares about one thing, and that’s stealing your time and the fruits of that labor. If you, Mr. Taxpayer, should become the victim of a federal levy, you’ll bring home $200 every two week pay period, no matter how much your gross pay is. If you don’t have medical benefits, you may be lucky enough to bring home a whopping $350 MAXIMUM. The IRS isn’t going to give you enough money to buy shelter, food or gas to go to work. You will be working and homeless once the IRS has its way with you. You, Mr. Taxpayer, are very literally better off on welfare because it’s a waste of your time to work if you can’t keep enough of your pay to even feed yourself.

I’ve had three employees simply quit coming to work within the last month after the IRS caught up with them. It’s unfortunate because these aren’t the leeches on society that the IRS would have you believe. These people work full time–in fact, these three people were working full time plus days worth of overtime each pay period. These are people with a work ethic. These are the kind of people that we need to be encouraging to be productive. Instead, society is encouraging them to get on welfare. That puts a burden on my employer who now needs to fill three new positions and train three new employees who, unfortunately, may not be good employees like the three we’ve lost. It puts a strain on the families of those three workers who are now unemployed. It puts a strain on every member of this society who must now subsidize those families who can no longer financially support themselves.

I’d say that the IRS should be ashamed of itself, but I know that the IRS has no shame. The IRS isn’t like a human being capable of showing compassion for others and the IRS has no interest in seeing individuals or American society succeed. The IRS has one goal and that goal is at odds with the individual goals of every single person in the United States. Don’t let them fool you into thinking that these predatory tax collection methods are good for us. They’re not. They’re just causing good people lose their incentive to contribute to society.

With the election drawing near, the media is talking a lot about red states and blue states, but there are a number of underlying issues that don’t get much coverage in the mainstream press. The most fundamental questions about what the role of government ought to be are conspicuously absent, and it seems that both major parties envision a much larger role for the state in the daily life of Americans.

Over the last few years the Republicans have drawn some much deserved criticism for their willingness to erode constitutionally protected civil liberties in pursuing a “War on Terror”. The fact that America has been led into two invasions in an undeclared war against a tactic has also gotten a healthy amount of discussion. The US constitution stipulates that only congress may declare war, and there has been no declaration of war by congress since December, 1941.

Now it seems likely that the Democrats will take the reigns of power because Americans are rejecting Republican abuses, but I wouldn’t expect constitutional government to be the result. The Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, and FISA enlargement will likely all remain in force. FISA only passed with the support of Democrats in congress. American foreign policy will remain interventionist even if it becomes a little less unilateral. New enlargements of government are likely to follow. An interview with Barack Obama has surfaced, which indicates he favors the redistribution of wealth by the state. Once a nation has reached a point where it is openly legislating wealth redistribution, it has become avowedly socialist.

The concepts of collectivism and authoritarianism have been present in both major parties for a very long time, and while Obama and McCain both represent the flowering of different brands of statism, one must look to the roots to find a real explanation. Some Americans will welcome socialism at first, but “spreading the wealth around” and putting “country first” have totalitarian implications.

When the government provides “free” health care it becomes invested in all the lifestyle choices of its citizens. I wonder how many Obama supporters on college campuses realize that their binge drinking becomes an issue of national interest when the cost future health problems will be borne by the taxpayer?When government confiscates a portion of your income through taxation for the “social good”, it has control over the way the fruits of your labor are spent. If you have an aversion to undeclared wars, welfare, germ warfare research, subsidies for corporations, or the torture of enemy combatants you are still forced to pay for these things rather than being given the choice to freely give to social causes that you support. When government mandates a “free” education for every child it also controls what curriculum may be taught, how school districts may be run, and which children get extra funding. The list goes on.

The more that government grows, the less choices citizen’s are allowed to make. Not to mention the fact that government does not have a great reputation for efficiency. What choice does a citizen have if government runs the health care system poorly? In many countries there is no alternative, so if waiting periods for treatment are long sick people will just have to cross their fingers and hope that they survive until they can get medical attention. Just take a look at social security as an example. The money that was paid in by people approach retirement was not set aside for that purpose, but rather raided to pay for government largess throughout the years. That is why social security is facing insolvency over the next decade or two. Could individuals have really done any worse had they been left with their their earnings and the responsibility for their own retirement savings?

America has had neither a free market nor a constitutional government for many decades, but we may be on the verge of seeing politicians abandon any pretense of adhering to these ideals. Ultimately I find the prospects for America’s near future to be very depressing. The political class is having great success in getting the American people to trade in their freedom using fear and thirty pieces of silver. If the American people don’t realize the implications of this soon, then it may be too late to stop it.

There are many scientists who claim that human emissions of carbon dioxide are warming the Earth through a greenhouse effect, but there is another camp of scientists who are pointing towards the heavens in the search for what drives the Earth’s climate. The Sun is the source of all energy for planet Earth, and ironically the greenhouse effect is just a model in which a little bit more of the Sun’s radiation is trapped in the atmosphere by certain gases. Over the last year there has been news that the Sun is acting in an unexpected way and that could have big consequences here on Earth.

There is evidence that global temperatures dropped by as much as 0.65C between January of 2007 and January of 2008. These data alone are not particularly useful, but they correspond with an unusual drop in solar activity. Reduced solar activity could mean a reduction in the amount of solar energy that enters the climate system of the Earth, and a reduction in solar wind could allow more cosmic rays to enter the Earth’s atmosphere, which may increase cloud formation according to laboratory tests.

There is also anecdotal evidence that many places may be headed for a cold winter this year. Here in New England, 3-6 inches of snowfall are being forecast in some areas over the next couple of days and parts of upstate New York may see 12 or more inches this week. That seems like a very unusual amount of snowfall for October, especially when one considers that some scientists are claiming that the Earth is in the middle of an unprecedented warming period.

A lot of people are going to say that global warming can cause cooler temperatures and greater snow fall in certain areas, but I have a feeling that global warming hysteria may go the way of global cooling craze of the 1970’s as the story unfolds. I’m not a climate scientist, and I don’t claim to understand everything that affects global climate. However, it seems like historic climate shifts such as the Little Ice Age could not have been produced by man, and therefore indicate that climate fluctuates naturally.

Just because some scientists endorse a theory, doesn’t mean that it’s right. History shows that scientific consensus can be terribly off base. Like the ancient Greeks, who gave us the idea that by bleeding a sick person one could balance their humors and restore them to health. It is possible that current “cures” to global warming may not be needed and may possibly be counter productive. Greatly slashing the use of fossil fuels and energy consumption is not cost free. It will in fact have a great impact on the world economy. Only time will tell which theory of climate change is correct, but if the proponents of cooling are correct we may know before too long.

It’s not exactly news that the United States has a very militaristic foreign policy, but it does have an effect on Americans, whether they realize it or not. Military adventures overseas can escalate into full scale wars, which are costly in both money and lives. These interventions also have a negative impact on how the United States and US citizens are viewed by the rest of the world.

A US official is confirming reports that US forces launched a raid inside Syria on Sunday, which supposedly targeted an Al-Qaeda member. Syrian sources claim that civilians were killed in the raid. Some people may feel that such an action was justified because the Syrian government may not have been cooperative had the US sought permission to apprehend this alleged terrorist. The fact remains that the US congress has not declared war on Syria, and the US did not have permission to invade Syrian territory. When a foreign power sends troops into a sovereign nation without permission, it amounts to an act of war without a declaration of war. That violates long standing international law.

Readers of the blog will know that I’m not a fan of the United Nations, but there is merit to the idea that a nation should only go to war if it has been attacked and it has made its hostile position clear. The US now has a doctrine that says the military can go into a country unilaterally and kill its citizens without that constituting an act of aggression against that country. This is a very troubling and post modern way to look at the rules of war.

The US has also been engaging targets inside Pakistan, apparently without permission at times, for quite a while now. This resulted in some tense situations on the Pakistani border, where members of the Pakistani army reportedly exchanged fire with US and Afghan forces. It is now being reported that 20 people were killed in the most recent attack by an armed drone aircraft inside Pakistan. This attack took place 20 miles inside the country, and is reportedly the 19th strike to take place in Pakistan since August. These attacks may be having some success in killing militants who are responsible for attacks into Afghanistan, but they are likely also killing civilians in the process. Moreover, these attacks may radicalize the populace in Pakistan, especially when they are launched without consulting Pakistan’s armed forces.

Strikes like these present a danger of widening the war in the Middle East without the consent of the American people or the congress. Only congress has the power to declare war, but this means very little if the president is not restrained from attacking targets inside countries with which the US is supposed to be at peace. We could be plunged into a conflict with a country virtually overnight, and the US is not in a good position to be fighting another war at the moment. The United States is on the road to bankruptcy for a number of reasons, but excessive military extension overseas is a major reason why Uncle Sam is deeply in debt to foreign nations and investors. Sadly, it looks like there may be more wars on the horizon, no matter who gets elected to the White House.

The American government is no longer for the American people. The American government has stationed active duty military officers on American soil. The American government has used mercenaries (Blackwater) against its own people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the “war” against immigration, etc. The American government has engaged in secret spying against its own citizens and passed the USA Patriot Act which gives the government unprecedented powers to harm its own citizens. These powers remind many of the states of Germany in the 1930s and the former Soviet Union. It’s time for a new Independence. We must take what our forefathers have given us and we must make it ours.

The Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The Free State Project is an effort to get 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to a single state where they will work towards reducing government to a maximum role of protecting life, liberty and property. It has been five years since the FSP membership selected New Hampshire out of a field of 10 low population states. Since then the growth of the project has been less spectacular than many were hoping, but activists are continuing to move into the state and as someone who was living in New Hampshire prior to the vote I can say that there has been a real impact.

New Hampshire remains the only state in the union not to have a law requiring adults to wear a seat belt. A bill proposing a seat belt law was narrowly defeated, and in my opinion it would have passed without the influx of Free Staters. New Hampshire was one of the first states to opt out of the Real ID program, thanks to a large rally at the state house and an intense lobbying effort. There have been a number of other successes worth mentioning, but I’ll save that for a later article.

Many libertarians who have heard of the Free State Project say that it’s a good idea, but they seem to find some reason why they can’t move. A common objection is that the weather is too cold, but there’s nothing anyone can do to change that. The other concern that keeps people from moving is whether there are enough jobs. The fact of the matter is that New Hampshire probably has one of the strongest job markets in the United States.

Forbes magazine looked at 141communities with populations between 65,000 and 188,000 to see which local economies were the least and most vulnerable to recession. Three New Hampshire towns made the list of the ten least vulnerable to recession. Lebanon came in as the least vulnerable to recession, while my hometown of Keene came in third least vulnerable and the state capital, Concord, came in as seventh least vulnerable. Not bad for a state with a population of 1.3 million.

The state has a fairly dynamic economy despite its small population. Lebanon and Keene are college towns so that helps insulate them from economic downturns, but in the case of Keene there is also a mix of retail, manufacturing, and office jobs. Retail stores draw in a great deal of business from out of state because New Hampshire has no general sales tax and many office jobs are attracted because the state has no personal income tax. There are plenty of regulations that need to be done away with in New Hampshire, but compared to other states, New Hampshire’s economy benefits from low taxes & regulations.

If you’re looking for liberty & prosperity then come to New Hampshire.