New Hampshire is my home.
It’s where I was born, where I grew up, and where I wish to lay my final breath; buried among the land who bears so great of words as, “Live Free or Die.”
In the springtime, Granite Staters watch as the snowy ice caps atop of the White Mountains dissipate into luscious fields of alpine meadows. Fast forward one season, and the glistening waters of the Merrimack Valley and Lakes Region sprawl with the delicate sounds of summer. And as fall creeps in, the coolness of the air withers away at all the leaves who still remain, creating the scenic, autumn foliage which attracts admirers from all around the country.
To me, these idyllic snapshots of natural beauty, coalesced with our state’s commitment to hard work, camaraderie and individual liberty is what makes New Hampshire more than just a white star woven into the fabric of Old Glory. It’s what makes New Hampshire the paragon of our nation.
Yet, as with every fairy tale setting, there’s always a sinister shadow off in the distance, mirroring good with evil.
Festering beneath the feet of those who also call the Granite State home, lies an influx of out-of-state money that’s flooding into every crevice within our state, peddled by special interest groups that are determined to radically change New Hampshire to better suit their needs.
And worse, they’re recruiting state representatives, who serve on our behalf, to do their dirty work.
So now, before us all, we’re forced to watch our home be ravaged by soulless missionaries who don’t care about the history of our state or the values we hold sacred, but who only see our state as nothing more than a means to an end. All in pursuit of their own idealistic safe haven.
How did we get here?
Frustrated over the lack of libertarian representation in any meaningful way, Jason Sorens, a Yale graduate student, created the pro-liberty, anti-government organization called the Free State Project in September of 2001. His vision was simple: assemble a coalition of 20,000 libertarians to migrate and inhabit a low-populous state, seize control over municipal government and institute pro-libertarian ideals their party had always failed to attain. In 2003, New Hampshire was chosen as the first target for this vision.
United and mobilized, Free Staters began flocking to New Hampshire in droves, pursuing the “free state strategy,” a plan that centered on the deregulation of power, reformation of local government and expansion of communities where the libertarian credo could flourish.
The tide in New Hampshire politics began to change, as Free Staters started to gain power over local township positions, advisory committees and, eventually, state representative roles.
Keeping true to their word, Free Staters were morphing New Hampshire into the epicenter of libertarian life they had always dreamed of having. Dreams which are truly nightmarish.
They advocated for the abolition of public schools, a severe reduction in the police force — including opposing victimless arrests — and the idea that society would function efficiently if the government ceased to exist at all.
Rightly, any sane and rational-thinking New Hampshire citizen would oppose such lunacy, seeing these ideas as nothing more than egregious convictions of the fringe.
Instead, out-of-state money began pouring into New Hampshire by groups who supported this Free State model. They backed state representatives who would peddle the ideas they favored, and the society they wished to build. All at the expense of the rest of us.
Liberty is an ambiguous word. As liberty to some is tyranny to others.
Americans for Prosperity and the Citizens Alliance, two prominent American lobbying organizations, believe that liberty should be at the very forefront of American politics. And in this regard, I wholeheartedly agree.
Yet, where we disagree is how one should go about promoting liberty. Speaking for myself, we, as Americans, should promote liberty through our nation’s constitution, first and foremost, and through the idea that America is a nation that must forever remain governed by the people and for the people.
On the other side, Americans for Prosperity and the Citizens Alliance believe that liberty is able to be bought through corporate PAC money. Electing leaders throughout New Hampshire who are willing to play fiddle to their demands.
Now, you may be asking yourself: who are these representatives that these organizations are supporting in New Hampshire?
Among the representatives that they have supported, one was formally censured by the New Hampshire House of Representatives over racial comments he made online, another was arrested and convicted of drunk driving during tenure as a state representative and another was sued and found liable to pay over $200,000 for defamatory statements he made at a Town Council meeting.
I love New Hampshire, but I don’t love the direction New Hampshire is moving in.
This beautiful state is, and should always be, one that represents the hard labor of love — priding herself on her natural beauty and the promotion of liberty and sensibly.
This beautiful state is not, and should never be, one that represents the ideas of the fringe; those who ignore her natural beauty and try to force feed the common Granite Stater a perverse idea of liberty.
The Free State Project saw New Hampshire not for what it is, but for what it could be for them. A canvas of art they could destroy with their glops of thrown-on paint.
Interest groups, like Americans for Prosperity and the Citizens Alliance, see New Hampshire as nothing more than a weak link they can exploit. Injecting hundreds of thousands of dollars into the political ecosystem endorsing representatives who care only about the prestige of the position.
And so, to my beloved state and all of her citizens, this path doesn’t have to continue. It doesn’t have to gain momentum.
Because if it does, New Hampshire as we know it, will be lost forever.
Thomas Masciari lives in Derry.