LIVE
FREE OR DIE
UNSCATHED BY THE INSANITY OF OUR TIMES
By: April Shenandoah
We all talk about freedom, but do we really
understand what it is? Most of us could at least say what it is not. Freedom is not:
telling Mothers and Fathers how to raise their children or educate them. Freedom is
not: putting American citizens in fear of their own police force (we were told they are
our friends). Freedom is not: enforcing rules and regulations that make it almost
impossible for good citizens not to break the law at some time. Freedom is not: having our
privacy invaded with cameras, wiretaps and home invasion with out a warrant. Freedom is
not: confiscating our homes and generational-family-farms for corporate development. This
entire column could be a list of things that infringe on our freedoms and the list
grows longer each day. If you are fed up with said loss of freedoms perhaps you can move
to New Hampshire.
The Live Free or Die state is the location voted on in October, 2003, by the Free State
Project (FSP) where folks are demanding "Liberty in our Lifetime." The words
Live Free or Die were generated by General John Stark, the states most distinguished
hero of the Revolutionary War, July 31, 1809, in a volunteer toast which he sent to his
wartime comrades. It became the official motto of the state in 1945. Starks toast
said in full: "Live Free or Die; Death Is Not The Worst of Evils."
Founded in 2001, the FSP is attempting to recruit 20,000 liberty-loving people
aiming to preserve one bastion of freedom in the age of intrusive government, to migrate
to NH. They are looking for neighborly, productive, tolerant folks from all walks of life,
of all ages, creeds, and colors who agree that government exists at most to protect
peoples rights and should neither punish them for activities that interfere
with no one else. |
These Libertarian types who are migrating to the
Granite State will have no general income tax, nor sales tax. It is second only to Alaska
for the lowest poverty rates, and the lowest crime levels in the U.S. The economy is
booming with plenty of jobs and investment, and a culture of individual responsibility
there are no seatbelt or helmet requirements. Get this since 1889 NH
legislators have earned a paltry $100 a year for their services. The state maintains the
only Constitution in the country that protects its citizens the right to
revolution. One hundred (perhaps more by now) of NH residents have signed up for the
FSP, and ex Republican Governor Craig Benson stood behind them. However, NH has since
voted in Democratic Governor John Lynch to the mix.
Though the aforementioned sounds almost too good to be true, taking up residence in a
warmer climate is best suited for survival for what we may face in the future. However,
after the interested parties did their research, NH won out from among Montana, Wyoming,
Delaware, Vermont, Maine, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska (all cold-climate
states). The runner-up state was Wyoming, which defeated every other state but fell to NH
by a 55 per cent to 45 per cent margin.
As Tim Robbins tells Meg Ryan in the 1994 movie IQ, "Question Everything."
The FSP movement may have been started by freedom loving purists with the best of
intentions. Or could it all be a ploy to round up like-minded "enemies of the
state" (nation state) to put the squeeze on them? It will be most interesting to
watch and see if the "elite powers" actually refrain from imposing present day
rules and regulations on the good people of the FSP.
The average American citizen willingly follows sensible laws, and wants to live
peaceably among his fellow man. But due to the strangeness of todays world events,
there are those playing with the idea of how to escape the horrors of living in a
socialist police state. The human race simply does not do well when being told what they
can and cannot do, especially when there is no logical reasoning behind it. We are slaves
because we have allowed it and we have no right to complain about what we
allow!
More research is needed to find why NH appears to be unscathed by the insanity of our
times. May God Bless and protect those who want to Live Free or Die - what ever state they
live in.
"Published originally at
EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
April Shenandoah is the author of So Help
Me God! (An Inspired Letter/Book Addressed To President Clinton and Those Who Cherish
Freedom). Since 1988, after serving as the Los Angeles press contact for the Pat Robertson
presidential campaign, Shenandoah was led to research and gather material pertinent to the
"changing world" we live in. Shenandoah sits on the board of the National
Council of Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, headquartered in Greensboro, NC and ABC
Learn in San Fernando, CA. She is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.
April Shenandoah can be reached at: april@politicsandreligion.tv
Published in the February 10, 2006 issue of Ether Zone.
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