Jim Ostrowski

What Did NH Liberty Learn This Election? NH liberty lovers are still a very small minority. Believing we’re already driving liberty in New Hampshire is heady, but we must remember our actual numbers, otherwise our depression when smacked by reality can be overwhelming. Real, durable winning power comes only when we evolve from being a tiny fraction to become at least a small but meaningful one -- a minimum of +2% of the population, and more likely closer to the higher end of Jason’s thesis (around +8%). Until then, we may enjoy influence but it'll be limited; our influence grows exponentially, but in a democracy, it grows primarily with our numbers. Our biggest obstacle is that most humans (even liberty ones) are impatient. A multigenerational project like the Free State Project is simply too long a time horizon for many to hold in their minds and hearts. New arrivals often assume that because they have finally moved here, our work must be done and liberty already secured. It’s difficult to gently readjust their expectations. The obstacle is that most humans, even liberty ones, are impatient. A multigenerational project like the Free State Project is simply too long a time horizon for many to hold in their minds and hearts. New arrivals often assume that because they have finally moved here, our migration is basically complete and liberty is already secured. It’s difficult to gently readjust their expectations. Many of us can only see as far as the next election. The natural volatility of those elections -- in in which we remain a teensy slice of the electorate -- swings their spirits far more than the underlying reality warrants. That reality is better measured by something quieter and more powerful: the steady arrival of more liberty-minded movers to NH to help guide the state towards liberty. So far, we have roughly doubled the serious liberty population in New Hampshire relative to the rest of the country. Our +0.5% has made liberty-serious now about 1% of the state. That is still modest, which you may think is small, but we are already twice the density of any other state. Every additional mover strengthens our foundation. Our long-term trajectory towards freedom is best measured by that infusion of liberty lovers, not by any ups and downs of any single election cycle. I’ve been fighting for liberty for over 45 years. The free state movement in New Hampshire is already further along than I could have hoped for after my first 35 years in this fight. Concentrating liberty-minded people in one small state is still the most viable path to outmaneuvering the unthinking and unethical majority within a democracy. I’m sorry it’s slower and harder than you’d like it to be; heck, it’s slower and harder than I’d like to be!. It’s hard enough and long enough that I won’t see its fruition. All I can do is keep urging you to stay focused on the path -- one step at a time -- through the noise of election cycles. That path to success is infusion. Make no mistake: we are on the right path. We succeed by continuing one unglamorous, compounding job: bringing in more liberty lovers to build our communities, institutions, and political capacity that turn our increasing numbers into lasting power for peaceful cooperation. Those who need continuous, unbroken progress may find this early stage of building a libertarian homeland too emotionally unnerving. We need people with the backbone to treat our inevitable setbacks and plateaus as normal parts of a long struggle, and who respond not by getting discouraged but by simply taking the next step: One more liberty mover. One more liberty home. One more liberty family. One more liberty project. One more election cycle. Repeat. And that’s how we'll win.