Carla Gericke, who chairs the board of the Free State Project, leads a group discussion about how Free Staters should measure their progress in making New Hampshire more libertarian.
Carla Gericke, who chairs the board of the Free State Project, leads a group discussion about how Free Staters should measure their progress in making New Hampshire more libertarian. Credit: CHARLOTTE MATHERLY / Monitor

A crowd of libertarians is convening in Concord this weekend at a conference organized by the Free State Project.

Their agenda of presentations covers everything from energy to currency to education as participants envision a future where New Hampshire is the holy grail of small government, beginning with secession from the United States as a “free state” providing services based on voluntary contributions rather than taxation.

Attendees who moved to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project said they came here to escape high taxes and to find what the movement describes as a “liberty-minded” society.

Meanwhile, more than 100 people protested the Free State Project in front of the State House on Thursday, arguing that the group has an outsized influence on New Hampshire politics and doesn’t represent the state as whole.

Find the full story in Tuesday’s Monitor.

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter, covering all things government and politics. She can be reached at cmatherly@cmonitor.com or 603-369-3378. She writes about how decisions made at the New...