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Sthira and Sukha; Effort and Ease

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Thank you to the hundreds of friends who wished me “Happy Birthday” on my 49th yesterday! I feel much loved and appreciated!

2021 is again going to be a year of growth for me. The words I chose to guide my actions are “sthira and sukha,” which mean, “effort and ease.” I will continue to strive for this balance in all my endeavors, from my health goals and yoga practice to my activism and art.

I desire to create a consent-based society in the #LiveFreeAndThrive state where we acknowledge every single person is unique and where we respect each others’ body autonomy and right of self-ownership.

Also, these birthday flowers from Louis are real purdy! Happy Friday, y’all!

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Open Letter to Elon Musk: “Vrystaaters” Unite And Take Over!

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Dear Elon,

Without wanting to come across as too “boil-your-bunny-on-a-stovetop,” I’m a big fan. We share a common story. I too am from South Africa. I too was relegated to boarding school (Pretoria Girl’s High) and finished high school at 16. I too emigrated to America after winning a Green Card in the Lottery and worked as in-house counsel at Apple and Logitech. I too am a crypto and Bitcoin enthusiast (I bought my first BTC for $6 and was the second person in the world to use the first bitcoin ATM, imagined and built right here in Manchester, the capitol of the Free State of New Hampshire). I too have big dreams (but I’m bad at math :P), and see what we are building in New Hampshire as complementary, sort of a base station of thinkers, for YOUR dreams.

Now, let’s dispel with the most confusing part first. The Free State Project in America has nothing to do with “Die Vrystaat” in South Africa. Yes, I admit, it’s kinda confusing–you should see my Google Alerts!

The Free State Project is a movement of thousands of individualists living in and moving to New Hampshire in order to build a Free State, a new, truly consent-driven society, based on voluntary exchange, free markets, and individual freedom.

We are the most successful mass-migration movement for liberty since the closing of the American frontier. We are apple-pie baking anarchists, hippies and hipsters with guns, farmers with the internet, sustainable food freedom fighters, and techies with big aspirations.

The Free State Project is a 501c3 educational nonprofit. We host a summer festival, the Porcupine Freedom Festival, AKA “PorcFest,” which attracts up to 2,000 attendees to the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire. The 18th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival will take place from June 21-27, 2021, and we would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it if you popped in! Come land a helicopter on the field!

At PorcFest, entrepreneurs run “free trade zones” where you can buy homemade ice-cream, bacon weaves, grass fed beef, BBQ, CBD products, and other goodies. Vendors accept gold, silver, barter, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with FRNs being the least favorite mode of exchange. We encourage children to “free-range,” and to put their best entrepreneurial efforts forward. One year, a nine-year-old sold a beer to an NPR reporter. You know, it’s like that.

On the Main Stage, where you would appear, experts talk about their passions: what makes them tick, what matters to them, why? Across the campground, smaller “villages” offer workshops and informal talks on anything and everything: politics, homeschooling, cryptocurrencies, off-the-grid living, civil disobedience, energy policy, farming, etc. There are also nightly bonfires, music and bands, dance parties, daily hikes and ‘shrooming. As one attending professor put it, “PorcFest is Burning Man for rational people.”

I’m the former president and current chairman of the Free State Project, and an author, activist, and attorney. I’m confident you would have a remarkable and memorable experience with us, and we would be thrilled to have you. Past speakers at our events have included Edward Snowden (via video in 2016), John Stossel, Naomi Wolf, Ron Paul, Roger Ver, Rick Falkvinge, and more. Having you attend would, well, frankly, blow my mind, but it would also help elevate our mission and attract more like-minded, brilliant people to our cause. We are building it, but we need more people to come!

We “Vrystaaters” are pioneers and mad dreamers, but ultimately, pragmatists who are voting with our feet to build a better future without so much government meddling into every aspect of our lives–we are building our very own Wild, Wild East while we wait for you to colonize Mars. Come see for yourself!

I can be reached at cgericke@freestateproject.org or on my cell at 917-607-4353. I hope to hear from you.

Thanks for your precious time!

Sincerely,
Carla Gericke

More about the Free State Project: https://www.fsp.org
More about PorcFest: https://www.PorcFest.com
More about me: https://www.carlagericke.com/about/ and on Wikipedia

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Keep NH Awesome: My Speech from Porcupine Day 2021

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Opening line: “My name is Carla Gericke, and when I grow up, I want to be a disco ball!”
Zinger: “New Hampshire may be cold, but it’s still warmer than Mars.” (Free Staters <3 you, Elon Musk! Please come be my bestie! Or, at least, come to PorcFest–fondly referred to as “Burning Man for rational people!”)
Ending: “We don’t have to change the world, we just have to “Keep NH Awesome!”

Reason Magazine’s editor-at-large, Nick Gillespie, called my book, The Ecstatic Pessimist: Stories of Hope (Mostly) “a fantastic package of writings.” Buy your copy from Amazon, download for free on Kindle, or order your personalized paperback directly from me. Please support my efforts by buying my book, thanks!

“Liberty lives in New Hampshire!” Donate to the Free State Project!

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Election Fraud in Little Ole NH? (Manch Talk 02/16/21)

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

This week, we delve into the election recount that took place in Windham, NH, where, strangely, 300 votes for all four the Republican candidates were picked up. An anomaly? A suspicious anomaly? I think so…

Senator Bob Guida has been covering this issue quite closely. This is what he had to say earlier today:

As the Windham Incident gains notoriety, I’ve received hundreds more emails, text messages and phone calls from you – our People – than for any other issue I’ve encountered in my 10+ years in the State House.Do not be discouraged because we’re having to fight this fight. It must be our legacy to our children and future generations. To those of you who are upset, please channel that energy into taking back your towns, your cities, your state, your nation from the special interests that are slowly destroying it, from the liars that antagonize us for their own political gain, from the treachery and retribution that threaten the Republic. Government cannot save it. Only we can. Only you can.Our fight today is right here in New Hampshire, and I will continue the fight to find out what happened in Windham. If it turns out not to be the machines, I am good with that. But we cannot relent because unless we can prove it was NOT the machines, there’s no way to be sure none of the 200 or so towns that use these machines weren’t compromised as well. This is not conspiracy theory. These machines are old and tired, and could well be having software issues. Some of you have shared that you are discouraged and losing faith in our electoral system. To be sure, there are forces in government that are supposed to work for us that are using every tactic at their disposal to make you quit, to make this go away. But I offer the following for your consideration. We need to realize that WE are the political system, unless we cede that right and responsibility to those in “government.” Many have, much to our detriment. Whenever I get discouraged, I hearken to George Washington at Valley Forge. His only encouragement was his faith, as he and his ragtag army had lost every battle they had fought, he was out of money to pay his men, they had no shelter other than tents against the bitter cold, and food, blankets and firewood were in desperately short supply. But he BELIEVED in a free America, and never gave up on it, and never gave up fighting for it until the Revolutionaries prevailed. He fought for me, for us – and we must do the same for every future generation, who won’t know our names but will be free because we took a stand and refused to lose. Washington once said, “Government, like fire, is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.” Thanks for staying in the fight.

Here’s the Union Leader’s coverage.

UPDATE 2/18/21: Listen to this insightful take on the Windham situation… which appears to have happened statewide… 6% flip from Republican to Democrat… guess how much I lost my race by? Dundunduuuuuuuun!

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When Your Hairdresser Is Worried About Wheelbarrows of Cash, It’s Time to Move Home to the Free State of New Hampshire

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Usually at Starbucks, my order of two coconut lattes and two sous vide egg bites costs $19.84, which I remember because it always tickles my anti-authoritarian fancy. Today, that same order was $20.93. That’s a 5% increase.

I was returning home from my hairdresser, let’s call her “J,” who, as a mom supporting 2 young kids, has been struggling during the government-induced lockdown, because, like most hairdressers, she makes the bulk of her income from events like proms and weddings. I noticed her prices had, understandably, also increased.

While J was cutting my hair, we chatted, muffled and repeating ourselves through government-mandated face coverings (mine might have been a loosely draped silk scarf).
J: “You should hear what clients have been saying in that chair.”
Me: “Folks finally over it, or they still think this crap is good?”
“So over it! People just want their lives back! Seems like more and more clients are questioning the whole narrative. How dangerous they claimed it was. Whether any of this was even necessary. I just got back from Florida, no one is wearing a mask!”

We chat on, she mentions “money printing” and “inflation” and “a wheelbarrow of money” to pay for stuff. Now, mind you, J is an ordinary working mom, not some monetary supply guru. I mention a true crime series about the Hotel Cecil in downtown LA., because I was struck when the narrator said, “It cost a million dollars in 1924 to build. That was a lot of money in those days.”
Me: “Why does no one stop and question WHY money was ‘worth more’ in the past? Or wonder, when magazine articles say things like ‘in 1980 dollars,’ what that actually means? Why don’t more people wonder, ‘What happened? Why is my money worth less now? Where did the value go?'”
J: “What do you think happens next?”
Me: “I hope it’s not a dollar collapse, but it’s hard to imagine what else is coming with this extra $4+ TRILLION in debt and counting. This past year, the feds have put close to the amount of all previous money in circulation, in circulation. It’s not sustainable. My best guess is it’s not going to end well for us, the little guy.”

Inflation is an invisible tax on us all courtesy of the US Federal Reserve colluding with a corrupt, immoral federal government driving us deeper and deeper into unimaginable debt and decline. Over this year, you will notice prices eking up, then possibly even skyrocketing. Know this: your government is ACTIVELY MAKING YOU POORER WHILE PURPORTING TO “CARE.”

America is bankrupt. Withdraw your consent.

Stop believing in the myth. Stop believing their criminal bullshit. Start thinking for yourself. Turn off your TV, especially the “news”! Start putting your extra cash into crypto, and hard metals like gold, silver, and lead. If you can, buy a gun and learn to shoot. Start cooking your meals from scratch. Get healthy. Like real health: where you have clarity of mind, energy, and the stamina to help others. Learn new things. Curiosity is the antidote to statism. Tell a friend what you know. I helped turn on J to some of these ideas through years of chit-chat in that chair.

As more people grasp the truth through their own experiences (after all, the sky didn’t fall), we can build better lives free from government overreach. I am building a community based on my values, that includes looking people in the eye and making your word count. So… If you are a free stater not living in New Hampshire, get your butt home! It’s time to #MakeYourMove in order to #LiveFreeAndThrive! We’re waiting to welcome YOU soon with your very own “Passport to Freedom!”*

*Want to know more? Move! 😃

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BlogIn the Media

The “Shock-Troops” Cometh (To Spread Peace and Prosperity)

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Oldie but goodie! Back in 2016, The Economist said “shock-troops” were coming… Don’t know why liberty should be “shocking” unless you are so quelled that you like your life with a hulking side of Big Bad Bro totalitarianism, but thousands of “allies” have indeed moved to the Free State to join thousands of liberty lovers already here because “Liberty Lives in New Hampshire!” #MakeYourMove #LiveFreeAndThrive

Live Free, or Try: NH’s Free State Project Reaches Critical Mass

“AFTER successful careers in engineering, Dan and Carol McGuire could have pursued retirements of highbrow ease—the couple’s interests range from American history to collecting modern art. Instead they moved across the country from Washington state in response to an essay by a young libertarian, Jason Sorens, arguing that if enough believers in limited government moved to a single state (ideally one with a small population and a “live and let live” ethos), they could exert real influence.

That essay spawned the “Free State Project” (FSP), whose early members voted to make New Hampshire their testbed. This was a nod to the state’s modest scale, its culture of Yankee self-reliance and low taxes, and its unusually accessible political system, starting with the state’s House of Representatives, whose 400 members answer to a few thousand constituents each, and are paid $100 a year. The FSP devised a pledge for activists to sign, by which they agreed to move to New Hampshire if 19,999 other libertarians made the same commitment. Once that critical mass was reached, FSP members pledged to make their own trek within five years. The FSP announced on February 3rd that the 20,000 target has been reached.

In the past decade 2,000 pioneers could not wait and moved anyway. A total of about 40 Free Staters have been elected to New Hampshire’s statehouse at various points, among them the McGuires, husband-and-wife Republican legislators who represent overlapping districts. Free Staters have helped to legalise gay marriage and ease rules on everything from home schooling to selling unpasteurised milk.

Some wins were easy. A repeal of all state knife laws passed in 2010: Mr McGuire shows off a now-legal switch-blade that can be opened with one hand, noting that such knives are handy tools for paramedics. Mrs McGuire is proud of a law making it simpler for farmers to slaughter their own chickens and rabbits. The couple credit Free Staters with making New Hampshire juries more aware of their right to throw out cases that seem to offend natural justice, under the centuries-old principle of nullification. Future battles loom over school choice and over using public money to send children to private schools.

Free Staters are yet to overcome national partisan divisions. In 2015 New Hampshire’s Democratic governor vetoed a law making it legal to carry a gun without a licence, backed by conservatives of all stripes, some of them libertarians. Interviewed at her suggestion in a smoke-filled Manchester cigar bar, the FSP’s president, Carla Gericke, stresses that some Free Staters have run for office as Democrats (though they are a small minority). One Democratic Free Stater is currently trying to legalise prostitution. Others are moved by internet privacy and alternative currencies such as bitcoin.

Ms Gericke would like to see New Hampshire become a “mix between Alaska and Amsterdam on personal freedoms, and Hong Kong on economic freedoms”. That is a stretch. As a fine place to live New Hampshire attracts lots of newcomers, many of them more conventional than the FSP’s shock-troops. Still, Ms Gericke hopes that are allies on the way. Pledge-signers have e-mailed to say that their homes are on the market, she says. New Hampshire boasts a property firm founded by a Free Stater (and former member of the state House) to help project members move. It is called Porcupine Real Estate, after a favourite libertarian animal, honoured as a beast which is dangerous only when attacked.”

Source: “Live Free, or Try” at The Economist.

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Stop the Insanity Of Gun Control Advocates Once and For All: CACR-8 Testimony

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Dear Honorable Committee Members:

My name is Carla Gericke, former Republican state Senate candidate in District 20. I live in Manchester, NH, am an attorney by training, and serve on several local educational nonprofit boards. I ask you to please SUPPORT CACR-8, and ask my testimony be presented to all committee members and form part of the permanent record for this bill.

Is your time not valuable? How many gun bills do you have to sit through annually? Hearing the same arguments for and against over and over again. For an issue all of us know, despite whatever your personal views about gun ownership may be, is an unequivocal, inalienable US and NH Constitutional right. I’ll go even further, and say it is a natural right to be able to defend yourself, and no one, no man, and not you, has the authority to restrict natural rights.

Article 2 of the NH Constitution says: “All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.” The US Constitution says: “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed”.

It’s a “Right.” 
That “SHALL NOT be infringed.” 
What part of this is confusing? Can we please stop wasting each other’s time and move on? 

Know this: We gun rights folks are. never. ever. going. to. give. up. our. rights. So you have to ask yourself, do you want to continue to behave like crazy people, doing the same thing over and over again ad nauseum, or do you want to pass this proposed Constitutional Amendment and put the matter to rest so that we can focus on issues where bipartisan solutions can be accomplished?

It’s your call, but my recommendation is, support CACR 8, which states: “The Legislature shall enact no law that limits the right of a person to own, carry, or use firearms or firearm accessories in any manner that would create a greater burden than that in federal law. Any federal law that infringes upon rights guaranteed in this New Hampshire constitution shall be unenforceable by New Hampshire law enforcement.” 

Let’s do this, and free up all of our time for more productive matters. I have no doubt this proposed Constitutional Amendment will pass with flying colors if brought before Granite Staters–give us all the opportunity to weigh in directly! 

Please SUPPORT CACR-8. Thanks for your consideration. 

Sincerely,
Carla Gericke
West Manchester 

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Why Don’t Kids Have “Stomach Aches” Any More? The Upsides of Closed Schools (Manch Talk 02/09/21)

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Education Freedom Accounts are on the menu! How much adequacy funds are currently being allocated? What’s up with the surprising pushback from homeschoolers? Isn’t it time for change? Let’s put problem solvers in charge, and stop leaning into past failures that have resulted in poor educational outcomes!

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Liberty Lives in New Hampshire: Porcupine Day 2021

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Last weekend, Free Staters gathered together to celebrate the Free State Project’s 5th Annual Porcupine Day. This sold-out event showcased the PBS documentary film about world-renowned economist Thomas Sowell, Common Sense in a Senseless World, and we were honored to welcome the president of Free To Choose Network, Robert Chatfield, as one of our speakers.

Porcupine Day holds great significance for me as a milestone because five years ago, under my leadership, we landed Edward Snowden to speak at Liberty Forum, and triggered the move, calling all principled libertarians home to the Free State of New Hampshire.

On Saturday, we celebrated the hard work necessary to take the musings of a graduate student in an online essay and turn it into a genuine, grounds-up libertarian movement, the one and only of its kind in the world! The reality of what we are building in New Hampshire is the global success story for libertarianism. Not only do Free Staters put the “move” in “movement,” we are not going anywhere, and, in fact, we’re growing like never before!

Vince Perfetto showed us some impressive numbers. In addition to significant measurable year-over-year growth between 2019-2021, Vince included a goal to increase the mover rate 50% in 2021, from 225 to 338. This is an exciting and aggressive goal, and he will need all of our community’s support to achieve this. How can YOU help activate a new mover?

You should support the brave vanguard that, frankly, every libertarian should be helping in some way, either by moving, donating, or telling a friend. Share our social media posts, sign up for the newsletter, get (and stay) involved!

Speeches were also given by some of our local allies. State Representative Herschel Nunez spoke on behalf of the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, and Andrew Manuse of ReBuild NH gave us a run down of their ReOpen activities over the lockdown. Jeremy Kauffman of the Free State Project’s board floated a few new ideas for consideration, including what the definition of “free stater” should be now that we’re doing away with the formal pledge and pivoting towards simply marketing New Hampshire as “the best state for libertarians, period”. The FSP is also considering changes to our board structure and bylaws to create a more “shareholder/membership” based model to reward doers and donors more effectively. Want a greater say in the organization? Contribute to our success!

I spoke briefly about the history of Porcupine Day, the ridiculous year we had in 2020, and how totalitarianism helps us grow by allowing us to sell New Hampshire as a “libertarian safe space.” I plugged my recent appearance on The Tom Woods Show, thanked Porcupine Day organizer, Stephen Nass, for his excellent work putting together a successful event, and told folks about PorcFest XVIII being spearheaded by Dennis Pratt. I also unveiled the new Free State Passport, a unique initiative to help the groundswell of new movers we are expecting. The passport includes “visa” prompts inside to direct new movers to network more efficiently with the existing community. The goal is to have a scaleable way to assist new movers in order to better integrate into the existing community. I will post more information about this “Passport to Freedom” in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

You can read the full speech I delivered back in 2016 to announce that the move had been triggered in my collection of award-winning work, The Ecstatic Pessimist, but you can catch some highlights from this post, A Free State: An Idea Whose Time Has Come. As I said in 2016, the ability to freely use the internet has always been crucial to our success, and back then, I told the Statists to keep their grubby little paws off OUR internet… At the time, I never thought de-platforming and cancel culture would become the norm we see today. It is clear to me (having just come off my own 30 day Facebook ban) that we are losing the battle for free speech, and need to push back even harder. On the plus side, as government overreaches more and more, more and more people are waking up, and we already know, you can’t put the liberty genie back in the bottle once you know what liberty looks and feels like…

So… long-term, we will win, but I fear it is going to get worse before it gets better, and it’s going to take time and treasure, and reinforcements… It is going to take… YOU!

Come join the fun! Not ready to move quite yet, but curious? Come to the 18th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, aka PorcFest, taking place June 21-27, 2021 in the White Mountains. Join thousands of like-minded people for a weeklong celebration, with confirmed speakers like Tom Woods and Jeffrey Tucker. This year, we are putting ourselves front and center, and showcasing our incredible community of incredible free staters doing incredible things. Learn more at PorcFest.com. It’s going to be the greatest year ever, so don’t miss out! Get your ridic cheap $30 tickets TODAY because prices will go up! You also need to book your accommodation with Rogers, and sites are selling out. Don’t wait. This year is going to be BANANAS!!!

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In the MediaPodcasts

Guest Appearance on Tom Woods Show, Ep. 1829

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

“Carla Gericke of the Free State Project updates us on what’s happening in New Hampshire and gives us ideas for how liberty-lovers can support each other and keep each other sane during these difficult, even insane, times.”

UPDATE 2/11/21: If you think my claims about totalitarianism is far-fetched, check this out: “In Ep. 1829 we did together last week, someone asked in the comments, ‘What was the source for the ‘no increased death rate for 2020′ in NH? Just glancing at the CDC data shows a 10% YoY increase between ’19 and ’20, but maybe NH’s own data is different.’ Four times now, FOUR TIMES, I have added the source link only to have it disappear moments later! #JustSayNoToBigBadBro”. HERE is the source material (compiled by my husband, Louis Calitz, using the data made available by the state).

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