[extropy-chat] Live from the Free State

[Mike Lorrey]

--- BillK <bill at wkidston.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> On Sat Feb 28, 2004 06:28 am Mike Lorrey wrote:
> > FSP Winter Festival
> > Ongoing this weekend in Danbury, it has been an opportunity for
> > porcupines to visit the state, enjoy some NH recreational
> > activities, meet with leaders in the state movement, and be
> > involved in the
> > forming of the Free Town Project, which will concentrate 200-300
> > porcupines in the neighboring town of Grafton over the next year to
> > create a libertarian majority and serve as a test bed for
> > local-level libertarian policies.
> > We've been scouting properties for development, learning about the
> > town government from town residents, and getting to know this area
> > of the state much better.
> >
> 
> This seems a bit, - well, odd? to me.
> Would there be any objections to say, 300 Moonies, or 300 Muslims,
> doing exactly the same town invasion? And if so, why do these
> objections not apply to libertarians?

To start with, Grafton was selected because it already thinks much the
way we do. 
The LPNH chairman, John Babiarz lives there and typically gets at least
125 votes for libertarian ballot warrant articles in town elections on
a regular basis.
The town doesn't have zoning, one of the few towns left in the state
that doesn't, and does not want zoning. The people of Grafton are very
much a live and let live sort. So far they have all been very welcoming
and see this project as a good thing for the town. Their experience
with John Babiarz and his wife over the years (John is the chief of the
volunteer fire department, Rosalie is the Supervisor of the Checklist
(the list of registered voters)) have convinced the people of the town
that libertarians are good neighbors.

> 
> I'm sure I remember Mike complaining about rich townies who move to
> the countryside, then start trying to change their locality to be
more
> like where they came from.

Most FTP members won't be rich townies, they will be rurally located
people in southern and rocky mountain states (where real estate values
are much lower than other areas of the country) who are at an equity
disadvantage moving into high priced NH. The FSP and FTP members are
more interested in rolling back statist influences that have crept in,
making the town more like it once was, rather than importing big city
problems with big city 'solutions'.
In order to alleviate the typical sort of ignorance that is natural for
people moving to a new area, we are going to have a rather significant
orientation package for members to study that deals in detail with the
history and present situation of the town, how the town works, where
things are, etc.
We will also bring advantages to the town. Turns out the last doctor to
have his office in the town left a trust fund in his will to the town
of about $100,000 to be given to the next doctor that agrees to set up
shop in the town, for the purpose of building his/her office/clinic. It
appears we'll have a FSP doctor taking up that challenge. There are a
number of other little projects which need doing in the town, that the
people want done but don't have the time or resources to do them, and
we'll be working at getting involved in doing them. This will all help
integrate our people into the town.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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