Freedom for All

Dear members of the Amish community,

I’ve learned recently from an episode of a radio show called Free Talk Live that some of the members of your community have been persecuted. They have been singled out, simply because they were going about living their lives as they saw fit.

Daniel S. Borntreger of Wisconsin wanted to build a house for himself. He had the audacity to think that he could build his house with his own two hands, on his own property, without asking anyone’s permission. Apparently, he was mistaken. According to LaCrosseTribune.com, officials of the town of Franklin, Wisconsin have taken him to court for building his house without getting permits from them. He is facing “fines of between $25 and $1,000 for every day of violation and could be barred from inhabiting the home he built without a permit”. I’m imagining that he must now be thinking that he doesn’t really own his property as he once thought he did. I’m sure he’s frustrated that a group of individuals who claim to have authority over him are demanding that he pay them money, or else possibly lose his house.

I would like to offer a potential solution to Borntreger and anyone else in the Amish community. If you desire to do whatever you want with your property without asking for anyone’s permission — please, come to New Hampshire. The article on LaCrossTribune.com mentions that there has been “a steady increase in the number of Amish families moving to rural areas, lured by…privacy”. From that statement, it’s obvious to me that you’re willing to move your lives and your families to a place where you think you will have more freedom.

I’m not currently in New Hampshire, but I will soon be moving there. Starting in April, I will be walking across the country with my family, from the west coast to New Hampshire, on a journey we call the Walk For Liberty. The primary reason I want to move to New Hampshire specifically is to participate in a movement called the Free State Project. The Free State Project is an effort to recruit 20,000 liberty-loving individuals to move to New Hampshire, individuals who think that they should be able to decide for themselves how to live their lives. They don’t think other people (i.e. the government) should be able to tell them how to manage every little detail of their lives, such as building a house.

Why should you move to New Hampshire though? Why make all the effort to move all the way across the country? Well for one, New Hampshire is arguably the most free state in the country already. The existing population there primarily has a live-and-let-live mentality. In fact, the New Hampshire motto is “Live Free or Die”. It has extremely low taxes, and the laws in general there aren’t quite as oppressive as in other states. As a prime example, the town of Grafton in New Hampshire has no zoning or building codes at all — that’s right, there’s a place in this country where you can build whatever you want on your own property, and no one will make threats to you because of it.

But there’s an even better reason to come to New Hampshire. Let’s say for whatever reason, Grafton is not the location for you. Although Grafton doesn’t have building codes, there might be somewhere else in New Hampshire which you like better, which unfortunately might have building codes. There is an existing network of activists already in New Hampshire willing to back you up if you decide to live your life as you want to. There are already over 500 Free State Project signers in New Hampshire, as well as many more natives also friendly to the idea that you should be able to live your life as you want.

If you decide to build a house there and don’t want to get the “required” permits, people will rally to your defense. They’ll protest, show up in court, or even help protect you in your house if need be. Take the recent example of Ed and Elaine Brown, who are individuals who think that they should be able to keep all the money they earn without paying a portion of it to the federal government. Dozens of Free Staters showed up at their house in support of them. The Browns were holed up in their house for a while, and Free Staters and others came to defend them. They even went out to get them groceries and anything else they needed, as well simply keeping them company.

There are also the ongoing stories of Lauren Canario. She rejects the concept that anyone has any authority over her at all. She simply goes about her life, not harming others, but living as she wants to. She has been in jail a number of times. Each time though, Free Staters and friends have come to her aid, making phone calls requesting her freedom, protesting outside her jail cell, showing up in court, and generally being a thorn in the side of the state. To a large part through their efforts, she has always been let go, often without a trial.

If you decide to make your home in New Hampshire, there will be many people there who will welcome you with open arms. I’m sure all you want is to live your lives as you want, without bothering others, and you’ll find many kindred spirits there. I look forward to your arrival.

Live in freedom,

Will Buchanan

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This entry was posted by Will Buchanan on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.