Explore the Free State Virtually
I recommend starting with the award-winning NBC docuseries (13 episodes, all around 15 min each). For a regime-media outlet, it treated us well, while also entertaining by including a lot of Free Haters. They did well primarily because they embedded with us for a year, and weren't just there to do a ten minute hit piece.
After you've watched the docuseries, scroll down to my curated list of documents, podcasts, etc. that will get you up to speed the fastest.
NBC DocuSeries on Free State Project
"Life Liberty and the Pursuit of New Hampshire"
This is a movement that has been decades in the making and Free Staters are shaking up politics and communities in New Hampshire. As they've continued to grow in strength and numbers, a New Hampshire progressive nonprofit - Granite State Progress - has been tracking their political activity, calling the movement "dangerous."
In 2022, an NBC-Boston crew followed the Free Staters and Free Haters for a full year to better understand what was going on in the state up north. They had heard stories of NH towns cutting school budgets by 60% and ski resort towns up in arms against audits.
The resultant 13 part DocuSeries won numerous awards. More importantly, it surprised Free Staters who are use to regime media drive-by hit pieces that grab enough B-roll so they can quickly re-mouth regime dismissive statements and move on.
Episode One: The Manifesto
In 2001, one man penned a manifesto suggesting that if at least 20,000 libertarians committed to relocating to one state, they could start to make political impact. The idea - which became known as the Free State Project - gained traction and members ultimately chose New Hampshire. In episode 1 of Life Liberty and the Pursuit of New Hampshire we introduce you to Jason Sorens, the man behind the Free State Project.
In this set-the-scene episode, the viewer is introduced to Jason Sorens who proposed the Free State Project idea in 2002 and Zandra Rice Hawkins who is a union operative and one of the leaders of the Free Haters, a group trying to prevent Free Staters from turning New Hampshire into the libertarian homeland.
In the interview, Jason sends a shot across the bow of Zandra who is there to violate people's rights in order to shunt money to her bosses.
Recommended: Episode 1 w/ Interview of Jason Sorens (28m)
Alternative: Episode 1 w/o interview on YouTube (13m)
Episode Two: Porcfest
Welcome to Porcfest! The Porcupine Freedom Festival is a festival dedicated to the exchange of libertarian ideas. Every year Free Staters gather in northern New Hampshire to get together, host and attend classes, party with friends and foster a deeper engagement in the libertarian credo. One board member of the Project describes Porcfest as "Christian camp with harder drugs.
This episode has the NBC crew introducing itself to the Free State community at the 2022 PorcFest. You get to see a small selection of the myriad groups that make up the Free State movement.
In the interview, the regime reporters appreciate the freedom but wonder how the weakest can be helped without enslaving the strongest.
Recommended: Epsiode 2 (w/ Interview of Carla Gerike) (28m)
Alternative: Episode 2 w/o interview on YouTube (13m)
Episode Three: The Move
"Do you want liberty in your lifetime?" That's the call to action to encourage people interested in the Free State movement to make the move. New Hampshire is the chosen state, after all the state motto is Live Free or Die. Meet the people that made the move and some granite staters concerned with the influx of Free Staters
You get to see the excitement of liberty people as they move into New Hampshire. In the interview, the reporters talk to two FSP participants who help move liberty people to NH.
Recommended: Episode 3 (w/ Interview of Mark Warden and Chris Lopez) (28m)
Alternative: Episode 3 w/o interview on YouTube (14m)
Episode Four: Secession
To secede or not to secede ... that's the ballot question Free Staters wanted New Hampshire residents to vote on. The proposed bill had some Granite Staters upset with the move to make New Hampshire its own country. Oh, but don't worry, it's not personal, as some Free Staters tout, "It's not you, It's me!"
The series shifts into the controversies, the first one, handled in this episode, is secession. The anti-secessionists explain how it's unthinkable that they can ever leave DC. The Free Staters who are secessionists explain that it is a right.
The interview is with one of the Free Haters who tried to kick out any NH House representative who voted to allow the NH Granite Staters to consider secession.
Recommended: Episode 4 (w/ Interview of Karen Steele) (28m)
Alternative: Episode 4 w/o interview on YouTube (13m)
Episode Five: Croydon
One Free Stater proposed cutting the school budget in half in his small town. Parents were shocked by the decision and even the man proposing the cuts was surprised by the vote.
Recommended: Episode 5 (w/ Interview of Hope Damon and Linda Tanner) (28m)
Alternative: Episode 5 w/o interview on YouTube (13m)
Episode Six: Croydon, Part 2
When parents in the small town of Croydon realized their school budget was cut in half, they were in shock. They blamed Free Staters for the cut. Residents and parents organized a special meeting for a redo vote.
Recommended: Episode 6 (w/ Interview of Ian and Jody Underwood) (28m)
Alternative: Episode 6 w/o interview on YouTube (13m)
Episode Seven: The Impact
Free Staters are often referred to as "extremists" or "radicals." This episode explores the controversial efforts they've had on communities. What fuels their push for smaller government?
Recommended: Episode 7 (w/ Interview of Zandra Rice Hawkins (28m)
Alternative: Episode 7 w/o interview on YouTube (14m)
Episode 8: The Free Town
With the Free Town Project, a libertarian migration to the small community of Grafton, NH, allegedly came bears? Or did they? A small town navigated controversies as it became the focus of this libertarian political trial run.
Recommended: Episode 8 (w/ Interview of John Babiarz) (28m)
Alternative: Episode 8 w/o interview on YouTube (15m)
Episode Nine: NH Primaries
The Goal: Get elected to government to effect the change you want to see. Many Free Staters ran for office in 2022. This episode follows some of those candidates and the clash in ideas they have with Free Haters.
Recommended: Episode 9 (w/ Interview of Bill Marsh) (28m)
Alternative: Episode 9 w/o interview on YouTube (15m)
Episode 10: The Crypto Six
An early morning raid by the FBI caught on camera on the group later dubbed "The Crypto Six." The federal case against some Free Staters who were charged with wire fraud and money laundering ... using cryptocurrency.
Recommended: Episode 10 (w/ Interview of Aria DiMezzo) (41m)
Alternative: Episode 10 w/o interview on YouTube (20m)
Episode 11: The Pursuit of New Hampshire
The continued pursuit of liberty and the focus on New Hampshire. What is next for the Free State Project? What are the hopes for the future? Is the movement going away or are Free Staters here to stay?
Recommended: Episode 11 (w/ Interview of Stephen Nass) (42m)
Alternative: Episode 11 w/o interview on YouTube (20m)
Episode 12: The Crypto Six Part 2
The FBI and US Attorney's office explain their investigation of the case, and the "The Crypto Six" share their perspectives from prison.
Alternative: Episode 12 on YouTube (18m)
Episode 13: 20 Years of Liberty
RFK at Porcfest. The nude Olympics. A new secession bill, board shakeups. A new Executive Director. We check in a year later, at the 20th of the Free State Project, on the progress of the libertarian migration.
Alternative: Episode 13 on YouTube (13m)
Post-Release Interview
Interview with Reporter, Producer, and Filmographer at St. Anselm.
NBC Boston Original Series: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of New Hampshire Panel
Explore the Free State - Virtually
So, you are connected to us virtually - to our Twitter account, to our FB group, to our newsletter, to our Twitter community, etc. And so far, you are curious about what you see!
But you're not quite ready to come and check us out in person yet (e.g., a Porcupine Vacation, PorcFest, NH Liberty Forum). You need a bit more information before you will get out of your comfy, theoretical armchair in your sinking-towards-tyranny Authoritarian-49 state, and come out to see for yourself what's what. And frankly, you wound't be libertarian if you didn't research things better than non-libertarians.
So, here are my suggestions for things to read, to watch, to hear, that will give you an excellent background about the Free State Project's aspiration to build the first ever libertarian homeland in the #1 in freedom state of New Hampshire, in the order I recommend them. (If you have other suggestions, please let me know!)
Jason Soren's Original Appeal of a "Free State Project"
Let's start where everyone (who isn't Jason) had to start, the first explication (July 2001) of the rationale and plan for the Project.
Jason Soren's original appeal for FSP
Mother Jones; Live Free or Move
The early press was actually positive if snarky: here, Mother Jones, a socialist magazine, describes the project in July 2003, before a state was decided.
Mother Jones: Live Free or Move (July 2003)
The First PorcFest: PorcFest 0
And now let's turn our focus to the first Porcupine Freedom Festival, which was so new we didn't even call it that. It was "Escape to New Hampshire", the attempt for libertarians in and near New Hampshire to try to sway the upcoming vote of the liberty lovers who were attracted to the Free State Project idea to choose New Hampshire. (They were successful, especially after the NH Governor welcomed the FSP to NH.) (This is a retrospective by Michelle of the effort from 2022 - 2023 to sway to NH.)
PorcFest 0: Escape to New Hampshire
The Mechanism for Choosing the State
Most people want to know "Why NH". Here is a concurrent explanation by a grad student of the process that was being used to select which state would be free. (Note, as we have developed NH, we have learned why NH was far better than we imagined for a wide variety of reasons. We need a retrospective list as well from the wisdom gained over 20 years.)
An Experiment in Civic Engagement: The Free State Project
Jason overviews the mechanism for choosing
A quick 3m video of Jason overviewing the thinking that went into choosing NH as the Free State Project's target.
Free State Project Early Movers: Founder Jason Sorens
Libertopia the Movie
In 2010, a non-libertarian documentarian heard about the Project and thought it interesting enough to attempt a documentary. Her resultant documentary is sweet, sharing the rationale and dreams of three libertarians who were moving to New Hampshire to become "Early Movers" - movers to NH before the move was even triggered. (1.5Hr)
101 Reasons to Move to NH
In 2014, we Free Staters crowdfunded, crowd brainstormed, and crowd-starred in our first glossy video about why libertarians should move to New Hampshire and join the Project. It was called "101 Reasons: Liberty Lives in New Hampshire" Famous libertarians and early movers share the advantages of moving to NH to grow freedom. (1 Hr)
Full Fillm (1hr) 101 Reasons: Liberty Lives in New Hampshire (Full Length Film)
Splash (4m) Why You Should Move to New Hampshire
Official Announcement of the "Trigger the Move"
It took far longer than anyone guessed to get 20,000 libertarians to pledge an intent to move to New Hampshire, and over 2,000 had moved already, but in 2016, the migration was "triggered": all who had signed were asked to start moving to New Hampshire.. This video reflects on the transition from convincing people to pledge to move, to libertarians actually moving to New Hampshire. (1 hr)
Free State Project Officially Announces 20,000 Signers - 100% Reached
15 Years of the FSP
On the fifteenth year of the project, Jason reflects on the decisions and successes of the Free State Project so far: 15 Years into the Free State Project: Interview w/ Founder Dr. Jason Sorens
15 year update on the project by the left: Mother Jones: Libertarians Still Plotting to Take Over New Hampshire (Feb 2016)
NH Celebretarians: Only the Free State Works
Jeremy Kauffman overviews why the FSP is the strategy that can get us to liberty-for-real
Jeremy Kauffman overviews why you should move.
Dennis Pratt on Liberty, Community & The Free State Project.
Dennis Pratt explains to an OG libertarian the power of the concentration strategy.
Dennis Pratt explains why it would be hard for a libertarian to not live in a libertarian homeland, using the analogy of cannabalism.
Eric Brakey, New Director of the Free State Project, talks about the importance of the Free State Project relative to his past work as Maine Senator.
Carla Gericke discusses steps she took to remake herself in New Hampshire.
One Minute Clips
Over several months, I clipped 1m segments from various podcasts about the Free State to give potential movers short tastes about what is going on here. It offers a rich overview of the variety of groups and what they are doing. Page through the hundreds of clips to listen to segments you are most interested in. (The only copies are on Twitter.)
Additional investigations
Various outlet's coverage of the Free State Project
Reason Magazine (Regime Libertarian)
Mises Institute (Radical Libertarian)
NH Public Radio (Progressive)
Granite Grok (Conservative)
Concord Monitor (Progressive)
Union Leader (Progressive)
Boston Globe (Progressive, Massachusetts)