So, here we are at 7 years later... Where are we? When last I wrote, 2 years ago, we were (unknowingly then) at the end of 4 years of Democratic control, having gone from 1 FSPer elected (a Dem) to 4 elected (plus 3 Republicans). Fall of 2010, with a nationwide revolt back from the previous blue wave of 2006, New Hampshire went strongly red again, putting in a new supermajority of Republicans, including over a dozen freestaters in the majority party. I was lucky enough to be one of them. Time to put in action what I'd been putting into words. So two years later, results? Proof that the above was 'right'? I think so.
With 12-15 active freestaters, plus other pro-liberty people (many of whom were 'stirred up' via activism done in the past), we had between 10-20% of the House voting for freedom, and on issues where we were the swing votes, that was victory, on issues where the majority could be swung by holding fast to principles, more victory. Democrats (now in a 3-1 minority role) decried that FreeStaters had taken over the House... the Senate (a much harder and more expensive set of races) remained the domain of the Status Quo, despite a few freedom friendly voices, and more losses there showed us our next steps needed: big races requiring more time and money and most of all, more activists.
So with under 1000 movers, and far less political 'activists', I point to the results of 2011-2012's session, and say "Yes, I stand by my remarks, and continue to believe." I won't try and list the many many results here. Sites like
http://nhfreedom.wordpress.com do that, or the NH Republican Liberty Caucus (
http://rlcnh.org) which also tracks the many victories (and defeats) so far. Despite a pile of losses (many of us pushed envelopes and put in strong pro-freedom bills with no real chance of passage yet, merely to move the window of discussion along... a long term strategy of change), we had plenty of serious wins... and I figure a batting average of .300 is major league worthy, and we certainly had that.
Manchester has slowly grown a liberty political wing, but still is fledgling... Even in Keene, politics is no longer off limits and passe, but considered worth trying once again.
The Ron Paul Revolution stirred many here in NH, yielding proof that almost 25% of the Republicans, and a good chunk of Democrats as well, can be counted on voting for liberty. Stronger results than in 2008's primary, and considering that Ron Paul activism was driven by freestaters over and over, more signs of the truth that it's merely a matter of more numbers, and more time to get the message out there.
The NH GOP elected a 'tea party' Chair, and then in a bloodless coup, (due to money being the lifeblood of politics and withholding that money being equal to a stranglehold on the neck of the party), he was replaced by a very bloodless substitute. Expect that fight for the soul of the GOP to continue, as more people wake up, as in other places, where the RP crowd is active, and reforming activism grows more. Libertarians are currently working on, nearly done with, the previously impossible goal of collecting signatures for a full slate of candidates party wide, and perhaps they'll even keep that ballot access beyond this year. If not, we'll see what the activists do, whether to replace the LP with something new, reform it, or let it stagnate again. Time will tell, but it's all about activism and sheer numbers.
So with over 1k of movers, how many are active 'politically'? (which as I said above is the key number I'm using, not mere numbers of movers)
Not 1000... sadly. Hundreds? Yeah. Certainly over one hundred... closer to 200 or 300? perhaps on strong issues, Ron Paul primary style numbers... 500 hundred? No. We're seeing all of this with much less than 500 hundred _politicos_.
We're also seeing NEW sorts of people waking up to the Free State Project ideals: not just the usual libertarian sorts you'd expect. We're finding that politics can make strange bedfellows and alliances do happen. I predict we'll continue to see interesting growth in who is getting active and how, as a result. Vice versa, the opposition continues to worry. The NH American Federation of Teachers union added "Do you support the Free State Project?" to their 2012 political survey for candidates, and many Republican moderates have sworn in public about the influences of FreeStaters on politics as well. Not bad for a few hundred.... Imagine what'll happen next. Everyone else is already, and teeth are chattering and cold sweats in some circles.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that politics is broken everywhere, by the money (and lobbyists paid by the money, and the money the lobbyists pay out). But it's less broken here in NH. I can and do complain about this problem often. And it's not going away. But left and right politicos see the same problem, and some also want to fix it, and I do believe we're more likely to fix it than elsewhere. Stay tuned for how this changes. Unsolvable? No. Hard to solve? Yes.
So 7 years on, I'll stick to my claim still that "2K would work miracles", because I still think it would, because the trend is already favorable and shows no signs of stopping. We don't need 20k, we just need more activists who are willing to do real political action.