I recently joined Carter of Unsafe Space for a freewheeling discussion about the Free State Project, my landmark court case, police reform, my Senate race, and more! Like what you hear? PLEASE show your support by:
Giving your most generous donation to my Senate race: Live free and thrive!
Buying my book, The Ecstatic Pessimist, now on Amazon.
Donating to the Free State Project. Now our last chance for Liberty in Our Lifetimes!
free state project
Tom Woods will be attending PorcFest for the first time this year–ooooh-lah-lah! In this episode, we discuss the 17th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, and what it will look like given the Control Freak Times we live in–spoiler alert, IT’S GOING TO BE EPIC (but only if YOU come!). Tom and I both feel strongly that THIS YEAR it is CRUCIAL to attend and show the world that free people move freely and can make their own decisions based on their own risk profiles. Buy YOUR $25 PorcFest tix today. Can’t join the fun but agree we’re doing the right thing? Show your support by buying “In Spirit” tickets. It’s the next best thing to attending (but attending is better!).
LISTEN to The Tom Woods Show NOW…
We also touched on:
My first book, The Ecstatic Pessimist, a collection of award-winning short stories and essays about the Free State Project and liberty in NH, which will be having the most epic of book launches at PorcFest, The Ecstatic Pessimist Book Launch Party. BUY YOUR KINDLE COPY TODAY! (Paperback coming soon!)
My Carla Gericke for New Hampshire Senate race. DONATE TODAY!
My super essential firefighting skills.
My podcast Told You So, which will return after Porcfest, so catch up on old episodes now!
#1: All the Woolen Underthings
When confronted with your first New Hampshire winter, everyone will tell you to invest in woolen undergarments. Everyone will tell you to, but YOU will ignore this advice for at least the first if not the second winter. You will say: “Don’t you tell me what to do,” while thinking, “What difference can a pair of woolen socks really make?” As someone who waited 4 winters to invest in all the woolen underthings, let me tell you unequivocally: A LOT. I’m talking warm tootsies 24/7. Toss in a pair of woolen leggings and a long-sleeved undershirt for when you will be outside for extended periods, and you will find yourself saying: “Wait, what? Winter is over already?” Treat your woolen items with respect–don’t toss them in the dryer!–and they will love you back, winter over winter. Toasty!
#2: Layer Up
And strip down when needed. Layers give you the flexibility to be comfortable, no matter what the temperature is, inside or out. Added bonus: New Hampshire winters come with built-in stripteases!
#3: Increase Your Vitamin D Intake
If you take vitamins, consider doubling your Vitamin D intake during the winter months. This is a no-brainer mood picker-upper.
#4: Invest in a “Happy” Light
Short days getting you down? Let technology be the cure! While winter technically starts mid-December, the days then actually start getting l-o-n-g-e-r again. In the meanwhile, chase away the blahs with a light designed to enhance your mood, and make you feel warm and fuzzy inside the head.
#5: Seize the Day!
Embrace the weather, and get outside. Learn how to ski, and then learn how to ski at night. Discover the tranquility and peace of snowshoeing in fresh powder. Ride a toboggan. Get into a snowball fight. Join fellow Free Staters at a winter luau (pictured). Take a New Year’s Day Polar Plunge. Whatever you do, crawl out from under that blankie, and carpe diem the crap out of winter.
#6: Embrace Your Version of the Serenity Prayer
Whether you are a believer or an ardent atheist, you can manage your relationship with winter by observing some version of the serenity prayer, whether your prefer the religious classic: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change/The courage to change the things I can/And the wisdom to know the difference,” or, the activist version from Angela Davis: “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change/I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
Accept your power will likely go out, a Nor’Easter will spoil well-laid plans (possibly to get laid), the plow guy will show up late; it’s winter, trust me, something gnarly will happen. Bottom line: New Hampshire isn’t for sissies. How you approach these challenges will determine how you cope long-term. Change your mindset, and the rest will follow. Including Spring. I promise. It comes like clockwork, every damn time.
#7: Community Reigns Supreme
There is no place on Earth for liberty activists like New Hampshire, regardless of the season. Pop-up parties follow people with power (literal power, like lights and generators). Friends help friends. And there is no better place on Earth to make real, lifetime, meaningful friends than as part of the Free State Project community. Liberty warms the cockles of our aching, over-achieving, dreamer, doer hearts. Join us in New Hampshire, and let us keep you warm with the glow of knowing we are achieving “Liberty in OUR Lifetime.”
This article first appeared on fsp.org on December 15, 2014.
YOU moved your ass all the way to New Hampshire, where it is currently, well, yanno, wintery blerghinism, and, when you moved, YOU committed to EXERTING YOUR fullest practical effort, and I’m going to ask you straight up today to evaluate and determine, honestly, in your heart of hearts, to yourself, whether YOU are FULFILLING YOUR PLEDGE, or whether YOU could be doing JUST A LITTLE MORE to help build a voluntary society with smaller and more limited government here in NH?
I’m not here to (only) guilt-trip, I want to REMIND YOU:
1. It takes a quillage and we need HELP! It’s frustrating when the same 10-20 people keep doing all the work! SHOW UP!
2. You CAN make a difference! SHOW UP!
3. Find 1 or 2 things you are passionate about, and… SHOW UP. Be present. Pick a fight. Come testify on a bill. Support someone who is running for office (like Elliot Axelman‘s upcoming special election in Hooksett, you have two weeks to help, do it!) Run ideas by old timers if you want. Try something new and see what happens. But FFS, PLEASE DO SOMETHING to enhance Liberty in Our Lifetime.
Here are some simple suggestions to get started:
1. Commit to attending 3 liberty meetings a month. This could be your local meet-up, Bardo Farm’s potluck, Merrimack Valley Porcupines, Lakes Region Meet-up/North Country/FreeCoast, New Movers, Market Days, your local political events (where you can network) etc. Check the FSP calendar if you’re not sure where to go, or what’s cooking. Or, join me on Monday’s at The Currier Museum’s Cafe from Noon-3PM where we gather to co-work on projects together. Whatever you choose, please, choose to SHOW UP.
2. Find a board or group that shares your passions and VOLUNTEER. I joined Right-to-Know NH a couple of years ago for this very reason, and still serve as secretary, even though there are few things I hate more than writing minutes. SHOW UP!
3. Into politics? NOW is the frigging season. Come testify on bills! Join GencourtMobile. Volunteer with the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (basic membership is FREE, or support the organization by becoming an annual or lifetime member). Help the NHLA review bills—there are LITERALLY THOUSANDS! (See “we need help” above.) SHOW UP!
4. Buy YOUR Liberty Forum tickets today! Join hundreds of activists, state representatives, and speakers like Babylon Bee’s Kyle Mann and Julie Borowski (and me! :-)). I’m all for voluntary interactions, but I kinda wish I could make it mandatory. 😛 SHOW UP!
5. On Reddit? This Friday at 2PM help us promote the FSP to r/politics. This is a huge opportunity to help spread info about the FSP to a new audience. SHOW UP!
After a dozen years here in New Hampshire (yeah, that’s where the gray hair comes from) I still 100% believe in the Free State Project’s mission of attracting productive people to the freest state and working to keep it that way, and I 100% believe New Hampshire is our best chance (and now LAST chance in America) to achieve Liberty in Our Lifetime, but only if we all PULL TOGETHER, WORK OUR BADASSES OFF, and SHOW UP. Please, and thank YOU!!!!
I was delighted to join Peter R. Quinones of The Libertarian Institute on his podcast, Free Man Beyond the Wall, to pimp the great Granite State, and convince more people to move to the Free State of New Hampshire. We talk about how NH consistently ranks best for quality of living, its low taxes environment (no sales or personal income tax), how NH’s business tax rate is declining quarterly, how business-friendly the state generally is, and how Granite Staters recently worked together across the aisle to abolish the death penalty. Take a listen now…
From the Brian Nichol’s Show page:
“ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Want to really “live free”? Well, guess what. Today’s your lucky day.
Today I’m joined by Carla Gericke from the Free State Project, which is a historic mass migration of more than 20,000 people who have pledged to move to New Hampshire for liberty.
Today I wanted to have Carla join the show to talk more about the Free State Project, the work they’ve been doing, and how the prospects of liberty look for New Hampshire. We also dig into Carla’s personal path to liberty, her activism, and her candidacy for NH Senate.”
Find the FSP and JOIN the Free State Project for your chance at Liberty in Our Lifetime!
Carla Gericke, past president of the Free State Project, joins me for an update from New Hampshire and to discuss some important local issues that affect many communities. She has been at the forefront of a campaign against surveillance cameras, as well as securing the release of a list of bad cops — a list that a major state official is trying to keep suppressed.
Sign the Right-to-Know Laurie’s List petition TODAY!
Follow the Told You So Podcast on Facebook to stay up to date on happenings in the Free State of New Hampshire.
The Free State Project is doing great:
- 24,155 current signers–we are continuing to actively recruit new participants and they are some of our stickiest/most interested–we’ve been holding calling parties, and at one I attended last month, we had 15 volunteers who called more than 500 new signers. We have been fundraising for this separately, and have earmarked and spent $18K for FY19 so far
- 4,392 free staters in NH
- 560 liberty meetups per year
- New movers arriving monthly
- $250M invested in real estate
- 120 companies started
- 45 elected free staters (21 current, working with Freedom Caucus of approx. 60-100, depending on the issue)
Politically, NH is in a weird situation right now, with the flip in 2018 to Democrat in the House and Senate, but still with a Republican Governor. Free Staters have been in the unique situation of furthering libertarian goals, by working with both sides of the aisle on issues we care about: criminal justice reform, legalization of recreational MJ (sadly, tabled by Senate), annulment of misdemeanor drug charges, pushing back on irresponsible Democratic high tax/spend budget, pushing back on attempt to backdoor an income tax masquerading as “family medical leave,” holding the line on business tax cuts, and a huge one for many of us: repealing the death penalty (which passed by ONE vote, phew!).
Our ideas are gaining traction, for example, at least 7 Republican House members said “Taxation is Theft” from the well during session speeches (and only one was a free stater!), and essays like this, “My Turn: Taxation is theft – and here’s why” have appeared in local newspapers. I even got to say “less and less is more when it comes to taxes” and plug the FSP on the BBC recently (listen to The Why Factor “Why is it so hard to get people to pay taxes?” I’m near the start).
I have also been working on new projects which continue to further Liberty in Our Lifetime:
- Government transparency and accountability: I now serve on the board of Right-To-Know NH, a nonpartisan coalition of open government advocates. We are working on an audit to determine what local municipalities charge for copying costs, and we’re pushing a petition urging Governor Sununu to release the secret list of bad NH cops.
- Privacy/surveillance state/”1984 is Not an Instruction Manual”: I’m a petitioner in an ACLU lawsuit filed on Tuesday with 2 other free staters and a 16-term retired Representative to fight the Manchester Police Department’s attempt to put up surveillance cameras downtown. You can watch a WMUR news clip featuring me here, or read about it, here, NHPR, USNews, and Union Leader.
- Leading by example: I’m still 65lbs down, following a Keto lifestyle. I stopped using alcohol in Dec 2017, and never think about it now. I practice Bikram yoga regularly. Hubby and I garden, walk the dog, and are slowly renovating our 1950s atomic ranch. I’m co-host of a weekly local cable access show called ManchTalk TV. At PorcFest, I will be launching my new website and podcast called “Told You So”. I am also doing a self-empowerment/improvement talk at PorcFest: “How I Learned to Stop Faking It and Be a Better Me: How are YOU living your daily life?”
- I will be running for NH Senate again in 2020. Not sure if you followed what happened in my race, but my district swung 12-15% Democrat, but despite this, I went up 2% over my 40% in 2016, which means I can win if I raise my profile enough. I’ll need support for this, but that’s a conversation for another day! Hopefully, in Vegas! 😛
Remember, donating to the Free State Project is your opportunity to support a living libertarian experiment with the potential to change the world. We’re doing it, but right now, we can use a little help! Thank you!
Fond regards and deepest thanks,
Carla
I was honored to be featured on the Tom Woods Show yesterday.
We talked about my NH Senate race, the positive changes I have made in my life, and why I believe District 20 is ready to elect me to office in order to preserve and expand the liberties we find in our great Granite State.
You can also catch a previous show from 2014 about my landmark 1st Amendment 1st Circuit appeals court case and my early life growing up in South Africa here.
Like what you hear? Please donate to my race. Every little bit helps!
Have an event in District 20 you would like me to attend? Email me at carla (at) carla4nhsenate (dot) com.
Looking for an easy way to show support? "Like" my Senate Facebook page.
If you like my positions and don’t live in District 20… tell a friend or family member who does! Word of mouth is a powerful tool.
Thank you for your support! Let’s do this!