I sat down with some Free State Project movers who live in the Merrimack Valley to talk about why they moved there, and what they love about their region. View our future webinars HERE.
This weekend was one for the books! I went to three Free Stater-led events, and had to bail on several others! If you feel like you’re missing out, know this: Your one stop source for goings-on around the Free State can be found on the FSP CALENDAR. We make an effort to keep the calendar current and up-to-date, so let Chris know if you spot something awry.
Saturday morning kicked off with MVP, the Merrimack Valley Porcupine meetup, which has been running for almost 20 years. This event, which conveniently takes place on the first Saturday of the month from 11:30AM-1PM is an excellent place to come find out what’s happening over the next month. It’s where you can meet candidates and other activists, pitch ideas, and generally ease into life as an activist and Free Stater in the Merrimack area.
I learned there’s a lot cooking (will post more later), including this important CALL-TO-ACTION for tomorrow/Tuesday, Sept 5th:
STOP IRL SOCIALISTS AT CITY HALL! 9/5 Tues at 6PM, before New Movers, come tell real life communists that we don’t want a city department dedicated to homelessness because we know: WHAT YOU SUBSIDIZE YOU GET MORE OF and we don’t want more homeless people! Stay at 7pm to give your 3 minute remarks on why a brand new “Housing Instability” department is nonsense.
Next, I attended West Manchester Day, hosted by We <3 West, where my husband, Louis Calitz serves on the board. This family friendly event, now in its third year, was held at a new, more convenient locations at 300 Prescourt Street, where the soccer fields are located. Parking was easy. Toilets were available. Definitely a good location to scale the events. Hopefully more people will learn of the great work We <3 West is doing to revitalize the west side without demanding our neighbors pay for it.
On Sunday, I went to Durham to speak at the Fifth Annual FSB-DAC event at the Fenton’s Farm. I have spoken at 3 of the 5 events, and it was an honor to do so again. I spoke of the close ties between Free Staters and crypto, and some of the FSP’s history with Bitcoin, where Free Staters in New Hampshire were very early adopters, starting in 2012. The world’s first Bitcoin ATM was developed in Manchester!
Porcupine Real Estate, where I now work as a Realtor, was well represented, and I was delighted to pitch the crowd the following idea: Every libertarian and liberty lover in the world should own a piece of the Free State! And, through tokenization and a DAO, I am going to make that happen!
I also gave an impassioned shout out to Free Ross, which I have consistently done since I started attending this event. I won’t stop until we Free Ross!
On August 25, 11 years ago, several Free Staters went to support Ron Paul in Florida.
We had a booth with Bill’s LIBERTY TOO BIG TO FAIL sign, we solicited signers, and I gave a speech about the value of concentrating pro-freedom folk together in the great state of NH.
My highlights from that excursion were:
Tom Woods walking by me as we were getting ready to speak, me timidly greeting him fan-girl-style, Tom saying something like, “I know I should know who you are because I see you at these things,” and, as we shook hands, I mentally vowed that he’d remember me one day! (I think he does! 
)
Getting interviewed by Tom Mullen for The Washington Times:
Meeting the great Walter Block. Walter has been a big intellectual influence on me, although he may not know it.
In September, my submission, solicited by him, will be included in a new autobiographical anthology of libertarian thought leaders edited by Prof. Block (yeah, I’m fancy now). Of my personal essay, he said: “Wow! This one blew me away!” Stay tuned for info when it drops.
What I remember most, though, about that trip, is the deep anxiety I felt. About life, about broken friendships, about having to give a speech in front of so many people. I surely did some tequila shots beforehand.
Looking back now, I’m so grateful for the choices I made to change my trajectory. Giving up the crutch of alcohol materially reduced my anxiety.
If YOU suffer from anxiety, you have to be willing to dig deep to make changes, and part of that is recognizing HOW YOU ARE FUELING YOURSELF. What do you consume? Alcohol, sugar, too much caffeine? Porn? Doom scrolling? Psst, all of these can cause you to sleep poorly.
Sleep poorly? Don’t expect your noggin’ to function right.
If you truly want to LIVE FREE AND THRIVE, with the emphasis on THRIVE, you have to ACTIVELY & CONSCIOUSLY seek to make that happen!
If I can do it, so can YOU! Follow me on social and subscribe here to CarlaGericke.com, where I frequently blog about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (emphasis on PURSUIT… YOU are the steward of your life, thoughts, and dreams!).
The Free State of New Hampshire is where it’s at, and this FREE conference is a fantastic excuse to come for a visit! Not only do you get to hang with the cool kids, but you’ll learn more about what crypto plays are cooking, providing you with an insider’s glimpse into the future. REGISTER TODAY to secure your spot. Space is limited, so don’t delay!
Sign up today for our Investor Newsletter, where you can find various Porcupine Property Picks.
Read Annalisa Quinn of the Boston Globe’s article about her week at the 20th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival. This article will appear in this Sunday’s Boston Globe magazine.
Whenever you see drama in the community, may I remind you:
1. Freedom is, in the immortal words of Ron Paul, “messy”.
2. The enemies of liberty will always lie and call you names. Start growing a thick skin because it is the nature of the game in politics and public life.
3. This too shall pass. Whatever “this” is at any given moment…
In THIS CASE, it was the Concord Police Department, a decade ago, calling Free Staters “domestic terrorists” and a “daily threat” in a federal grant application for a BEARCAT (a po-po “tank”).
We fought this, garnered 1,500 anti-tank petition signatures, testified at Concord City Hall for 6 hours, delayed the vote for a month, and then they–of course–voted to get it anyway.
If you’ve ever seen the MORE MAYBERRY LESS FALLUJAH sign, it’s from this incident.
We originally learned about the grant from the ACLU-NH, who were as outraged as we were. ACLU National had been working on a country-wide “police militarization” project when they uncovered the language… because of my personal relationships with people at ACLU-NH, it was passed on to me.
The BEARCAT story was covered in various MSM outlets, incl. Reason, VICE & Mother Jones.
The Concord police chief Duvall did sorta apologize, and, ahem, was forced into retirement as a result.
It was a PR battle we were winning, with a left/right coalition developing and working together, sympathetic coverage, townsfolk coming out with us to stand shoulder-to-shoulder against police militarization until that dumb-fuck Crying Nazi wrote a blog saying it was now probably a good time to start killing school teachers & postmen.
Yeah.
Sometimes you have to wonder.
This lead to the banning of Cantwell (truth in advertising: it’s right there in his name), the first person to be made persona non grata by the FSP board.
Over the years, I have struggled whenever big, unpopular decisions like this need to be made, and sometimes I’ve regretted the outcomes, but not once with Chris Cantwell, who went on to tiki-torches at Charlottesville and federal prison after that. I believe he is now out and hope he steers tf clear of New Hampshire.
I would also caution people regarding the addictive nature of social media and “hits” from online audiences. Writers and thinkers sometimes escalate their messaging over time in a desperate attempt to try to garner ever-more attention. Like chasing any other addictive substance, this is a recipe for disaster, resulting in either finding yourself in some real bad company or with increasingly un-libertarian positions and un-libertarian “culture war” messaging.
As a free speech absolutist, it is a constant challenge to find the right balance: even if you are free to say what you want, no one has to listen to you or stay your friend. If you find yourself saying increasingly unpleasant things for attention… you might want to take a moment and reflect on whether you are starting to suffer from The Cantwell Effect. You can probably do better!
What’s the point of sharing all this?
It’s good to know our history, which we haven’t always done the best job of capturing. I have a lot of stories in my head that I need to start getting down. And, while everything feels so intense IN THE MOMENT, this should serve as a reminder that whatever THE HUUUUGEST PROBLEM RIGHT NOW is, is often just one more fleeting piece of the great puzzle of Life.
Building a voluntary community based on consent isn’t a picnic, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Live free and thrive!
Yesterday, I had the honor of celebrating the life of my beautiful friend, White Marriott, with many other friends in the Porcupine community. I have to say, ending this memorial with a balloon sword fight, as White had requested, may have to become a ritual in the Free State community. Great way to bring joy and smiles during hard times… exactly White’s life mission! Love you, Balloon Man! R.I.P.
Whoa–That time CNN came to PorcFest (back in 2015 long before the current NBC BOSTON docu-series). Sharing this makes me… uncomfortable?!?
1. This is close to Peak Sick for me. Not only am I overweight but that rasp in my voice was from allergies that I now have under control through lifestyle changes. Did YOU know antihistamines suppress serotonin uptake? Neither did I…
2. Of course CNN found the one guy with a Confederate flag to include. I remember that dude bc the PF producers that year had to ask him not to park his ATV & flag in the middle of our group photo. Never saw him again.
3. Seems I have a long record of calling us “weirdos.” Perhaps, like me, y’all can adopt this into your lexicon to help explain away things you don’t personally agree with but understand other ppl might choose to partake in.
As individualist, you don’t have to agree with everything other ppl are doing. It’s a permanent built-in TEACHABLE MOMENT to explain INDIVIDUALISM.
4. The current dramas have all happened before in some way, shape, or form, and the degeneracy at PF has always been WILDLY overstated.
Always has, always will be.
If you’re a complainer, ask yourself about the tradeoff between looking away or going somewhere else on a massive campground when something is not to your liking vs. complaining publicly online and creating a permanent, searchable record to be trotted out to besmirch us.
Also, may I suggest if you complain:
A. Did you volunteer yourself?
B. Did you first THANK THE ORGANIZERS & VOLUNTEERS for the 99% that WAS amazing or just hone in and complain & make demands about the one small part that wasn’t to your liking?
5. Every time you ask for a new rule at PF, you are creating a strain on the organizers and on-site staff.
It’s called an APPEAL TO AUTHORITY and we prefer YOU sort your own shit out. We DO expect ppl to stick to their words & agreements too, tho, so if you make representations to PF staff STICK TO THEM.
6. I’m struck by how in this clip, even “friendly” politicians didn’t want to attend PF, and yet, now, eight years later, we had A SLATE OF REAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES bending the knee bc they KNOW they NEED Free Staters to do well in NH’s First in the Nation. We have *just* enough sway to be a spoiler or tipper. This is actual evidence of our actual success on the ground in NH. Embrace it. We are going to win in the long run!
7. Life will never be perfect. There are not enough rules to be written at PF to satisfy each of the thousands of attendees personal preferences.
The ethos of “live & let live” and “don’t hurt ppl & don’t take their stuff” should be able to carry a high-trust event…
In the end, the goal of PF is to showcase all the weird & wonderful things we ARE accomplishing, showcase the growing community, attract new attendees we can persuade to move, and to leverage legacy media coverage to help more ppl learn about the Free State Project and the better future we are building in NH.
Ultimately, we want more great people like YOU to join us!
Live free or die!
Live free and thrive!
How do you get a politician to answer your questions? You invite them to your party… which is what I did! Watch the video to see history in the making!