Last month, I was interviewed by the BBC for their series on Autarky. In Episode One, around minute 21:50, I mention being an early Free State mover (2008) and how New Hampshire could be poised to become its own successful, peaceful and prosperous country, like a Switzerland or Iceland.
In the Media
Lifetime achievement unlocked.
Although totally NOT how I imagined it going down.
Every writer who completed their MFAs with me at City College probably also fantasized about being in The New Yorker. THE NEW YORKER!!!
Which, this week, I am, but not as a fiction writer, but for my political and socioeconomic views. I know it sounds like hubris, but I am in New Hampshire for a reason: To save one spot on Earth for individual liberty, property rights, and the freedom to be yourself. Live free or die! Those are the stakes.
So, sometimes when you are trying to get radical ideas across, you end up sounding… well, a bit bonkers, like this. But still, look Pa & Ma, The New Yorker called me “cheerful and energetic”!
On the plus side, the Free State Project gets ink and this means new people will learn about how great NH is and join us!
I’ll make an episode about the interview and subsequent fact-check call, but briefly, here’s some nuances:
Anti-vax/mandate was lost on them.
The discussion about self-ownership, which justifies my position on abortion. I think it’s wrong. I wouldn’t do it. But I don’t own you, so other than sharing my opinion with you–free speech–you need to be free to do what you want because reasonable people disagree on when life starts.
The discussion about independence being a strategic hedge against federal overreach. A discussion about why I oppose almost all federal laws, when state laws make do just fine, i.e. federalism and states’ rights.
Definitely read the whole article! Notice at the end the real reason for it all… Democrats pivot on messaging and literally steal Trump’s platform. Go look. For reals. It’s pretty remarkable.
Free Staters are NH allies
To the Editor: The vitriol against Free Staters must stop. I’m receiving death threats, Democrats are calling for our “extermination” — Twitter took weeks to remove this — and I received a letter at my house calling me the C-word and telling me to get the F-word “out of our state.”
Whose state? About 70% of the Legislature were not born here. Individuals moving here to bolster the New Hampshire Advantage, as well as thousands of Granite Staters who now self-identify as Free Staters, are allies not enemies.
Like you, Free Staters want limited government, low taxes, no income tax, and school choice. We subscribe to the non-aggression principle, the ethical stance that you cannot force someone to do something: “Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.”
We believe you are the best steward of your life and money. We believe the economic prosperity and quality of life found in the “Live Free or Die” state is worth preserving.
Sometimes, granted, the methods employed to reverse the harm being inflicted by Democrats and RINOs won’t appeal to all. On the flipside, they locked you down and called you “non-essential.” As a student of history, this is much worse than using the democratic process to try to cut a school budget or reform a government-owned ski resort.
Free Staters come in peace. We’re building a consent-based society in strong communities focused on a brighter future. If you are against Free Staters, you support the control and subjugation of your neighbors. Be a Free Stater instead!
CARLA GERICKE
Durette Court, Manchester
Boston Globe: “Free Staters Seek to… ” [Run for Office and Get Elected (Sometimes)]
MANCHESTER, N.H. — The doormat outside Carla Gericke’s house carries the warning “Come back with a warrant.” It’s a stark reflection of her broad distrust of government bureaucracy, an attitude that is the driving force behind the Free State movement, which has led thousands of like-minded people to move to New Hampshire on a quixotic quest — to build a libertarian utopia.
Gericke helps lead that movement, and her agenda is broad and unapologetically radical. More than 6,000 people have relocated to New Hampshire since the effort was launched 21 years ago, according to its organizers. And while some dispute that claim, legislators on both sides of the aisle in Concord agree that Free Staters have come to wield outsize political influence.
Inside her home, Gericke explained why an independent New Hampshire is a good idea, why its public schools are hopelessly broken, why Washington, D.C., is pervasively corrupt, and why Free Staters who believe big government is the enemy of personal freedom are determined to turn society upside down.
“I’m a problem-solver, I’m a solutionist, I am an innovator, I’m a visionary,” said Gericke, a former corporate attorney who moved to New Hampshire from New York in 2008 as part of the Free State movement. “I want to take a swing at making one place better, and this is the place I picked.”
But where Gericke and other “porcupines” — a nickname Free Staters have adopted— see a blueprint for shrinking government and protecting the rights to privacy and private property, critics see a back-door assault on democracy itself.
Their end game, detractors say, is to infiltrate New Hampshire government at all levels — from select boards to the State House — with the aim of dismantling it. State support for public schools is a priority target. Read more…
This was an absolutely smashing conversation! LISTEN NOW! Tom and I met each other yonks ago at Liberty Forum in Nashua. He also interviewed me at the Ron Paul Rally in Tampa, FL in 2012. Check out that BLAST FROM THE PAST.
Why is New Hampshire Becoming a Sanctuary for Liberty? In short, it’s because of people like today’s guest and the rest of her team at the Free State Project!
Carla Gericke returns to the program outlining the recent wins the FSP has experience, plus we discuss Carla’s brand new program, “The Carla Gericke Show”.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!
I sat down to chat to Eric Cervone of the Honest Offense Podcast where we cover a lot of ground: growing up in apartheid South Africa, to the impending medical apartheid people are clamoring for in America and globally. We talk about my book, The Ecstatic Pessimist: Stories of Hope (Mostly), life in New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project, and much much more!