The Free State Project has advertised itself for 20 years as all about liberty and the little guy, limited government and local control. Its history here strongly suggests otherwise. In fact, the FSP is largely funded by Texas organizations that feel oppressed by regulations that benefit workers and the environment, and taxes that nibble at their profits. Offshoots of the Heritage Foundation — the same organization responsible for Project 2025 — have sunk millions into marketing New Hampshire as a libertarian utopia and financing political campaigns for state and local offices.
Their sales pitch isn’t new: if government just steps aside and lets wealthy and powerful people do what they want, we’ll all be freer and wealthier. When is this supposed to happen? The process of deregulating corporations, defunding worker and consumer protections, and cutting taxes for the wealthiest among us began 40 years ago with “supply side economics.” The millionaires of the 1980s have become the billionaires of 2025, while New Hampshire property taxes, health care costs and energy costs keep rising, and New Hampshire workers still labor under the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
New Hampshire’s Liberty Caucus dances to the tune of its funders. In 2020, it had already taken control of the Republican Party, including then Governor Sununu. Majority Democrats passed dozens of bills to support families, public servants, small businesses and workers when the COVID-19 pandemic was still out of control. Sununu set a record number of gubernatorial vetoes in the 2019-2020 legislative session. It takes a two-thirds majority to override vetoes, so the legislature was only able to override one.
In 2022, the FSP-engineered debacle in the town of Croyden became national news. Liberty Alliance funded candidates campaigned on fiscal responsibility and won majorities on the town board and school board. They didn’t mention that they intended to dissolve the police department and slash the education budget in half. When voters discovered they’d been deceived, they rose up and restored public safety and public education in their town.
Now as the true costs of school vouchers are coming to light, including denial of public oversight of how our taxes are spent, people are rising up again. “If you don’t like it, move
somewhere else” isn’t an argument. Granite Staters, exemplified by the citizens of Croyden,
cherish our public institutions, and we’re ready to fight for them.
It will be a fight. Earlier this year, GOP leader Jason Osborn, frustrated by the increasing scrutiny and citizen pushback against the destruction of our public institutions, said in an interview they “might have to put a leash on some of these local governments.”
One thing we’ve learned from our decade here is that Granite Staters won’t put up with being put on a leash. Our public institutions and governments, from the State House to town halls, are our voice. They’re also our watchdogs, and we’re theirs. Record numbers of people have stepped up and filed to run for state and local offices this year. Those who are elected will take an oath to “…bear faith and true allegiance to the United States of America and the state of New Hampshire, and will support the constitution thereof.”
That constitution gives us the governing framework that allows us to thrive in community. It admonishes us that a free society requires us to cherish public education. Our job is to make sure we elect those who will be true to their oath of office.
Jean Lewandowski is a retired special needs teacher. She lives in Nashua.