Free State Project

In November, I learned about the Free State Project from the Swedish blog Libertarian in Room 101. The aim of the project is to gather as 20,000 pro-liberty activists in New Hampshire in order to gain political power and create a freer society—a kind of utopianism in practice.

Yesterday, I learned that New Hampshire’s legislators voted down a proposed amendment to ban gay marriage. I do not know if this had anything to with the Free State Project, but it is not entirely unrealistic to think that it had. With many outspoken libertarians, it is harder for politicians to pass laws that restrict the liberties of citizen.

Update: On his blog, Andrew Sullivan has published a nice email from a New Hampshire journalist. It confirms the libertarian attitudes in that state. He writes:

”New Hampshire has been—and will continue to be—a libertarian state. We hate taxes (no sales or income tax here!), we hate big government (we trust it to plow roads, and that’s about it), but we don’t hate each other. Gays and lesbians are too much a part of our social fabric—our friends, family, neighbors, and yes, politicians—for this ridiculous constitutional ploy to have had any chance. In response to your post, then, I’m not sure if this marks ’a turning tide,’ as the tide was never flowing in favor of the amendment. At least not here.”