Bob Schulz told a small group of liberty-loving Granite Staters yesterday that of all the country's state constitutions, he likes New Hampshire's the best.

"My favorite, without question, is New Hampshire," he said yesterday, standing in front of a giant "We The People" placard on the Sweeny Auditorium stage at the New Hampshire Technical Institute. "You still have an article, as you know, in your constitution . . ."

Then, Rep. Dick Marple of Hooksett, seated in the audience, burst in: "Article 10."

"The right to revolution," Schulz continued, smiling.

Schulz visited Concord yesterday as the second stop on a planned 81-city national "Why Won't They Answer?" tour to spread the word about his organization's mission. Members of We The People, which has chapters across the country, have sent several petitions to congressmen and other government officials, asking them to answer questions about what they consider to be grave constitutional offenses.

Bob Schulz knows his constitutions. The New York-based founder of the organization has devoted the past five years to rallying people around his particular interpretation of the country's founding documents, urging followers to reject allegedly unconstitutional institutions, such as the income tax (which he says while curling his fingers into quotation marks) and the Federal Reserve, and to oppose what he views as unconstitutional laws such as the Patriot Act and the congressional resolution that authorized the invasion of Iraq. Schulz carries a pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution in his pocket, and he often pulls it out to quote from his favorite passages.

A clause in the First Amendment guarantees citizens the right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Schulz believes that means that any person can write to officials if he believes there has been misconduct and that the government actor is obliged to respond.

Schulz submitted his first petition for redress in 2002, asking government officials about the validity of the federal income tax, which he believes does not apply to most Americans. He never got a response but has since filed three more petitions, with a growing number of We The People members signing on to each.

Since the group's members have not gotten the answers they'd hoped for, they've sued the government for violating their First Amendment rights. A Federal District Court judge in Washington dismissed their suit, but the group has appealed to the D.C. Court of Appeals.

In the meantime, Schulz encouraged supporters to withhold federal taxes as a means of persuading the government to respond to the petitions. He said he preferred nonviolence but believed it was important to hold the government accountable. Withholding tax payment was the "common sense" solution, he said.

"Is there any other nonviolent way, when the government has stepped outside its bounds?" he asked.

"Rebellion," one audience member suggested.

"No, any nonviolent way?"Schulz asked.

"Oh, ok."

About a dozen local supporters came to yesterday's event to catch up on the movement's doings and discuss local issues, but for most of the meeting, Schulz and the group's lawyer, Mark Lane, gave prepared talks on the group's history to a camera onstage that broadcast the meeting on the group's website, givemeliberty.org.

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