As we surpass two decades of building a Free State in New Hampshire, I’m feeling a need to document our history (and my role in it) accurately.
Look at that room.
Liberty Forum, 2015. Back when it was still held at the then Radisson in Manchester.
The year before Edward Snowden joined us in 2016 as keynote speaker–our biggest, most historic Liberty Forum, with more than 600 attendees.
And 2016, of course, was the year we Triggered the Move.
On February 3, 2016, we stood at a press conference and said: It’s time. If you signed the pledge, you need to start moving to New Hampshire.
Watch the announcement:
Here’s a little-known fact: we hit that trigger almost THREE YEARS ahead of projections.
Why?
Besides having a full-time, paid President for the first time (me), it was because we embraced new tools early: targeted Facebook ads.
My tech team told me I had to pick two keywords to find our people.
I chose Ron Paul and George Carlin.
Still stand by that.
Ron Paul: for principled consistency in a world that rewards compromise.
George Carlin: for seeing through the illusion before most people even had language for it.
The ad itself was simple: two human figures.
One asks: “Should the government?”
The other raises a hand: “NOPE!”
That was it.
And it worked.
For the first time, we could reach libertarians directly… at scale.
What had taken years of slow, steady growth suddenly accelerated. We closed out the final thousands of signers in months.
That moment matters. Those achievements matter.
And as new waves of Freestaters arrive, it’s worth remembering what this is actually about:
Property rights. The non-aggression principle. Your actions.
Our Statement of Intent is clear:
“I hereby state my solemn intent to live in New Hampshire and exert my fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of individual rights to life, liberty, and property. I am a Free Stater.”
That’s it. Still is.