LANCASTER, N.H.—As its motto suggests, the “Live Free or Die” state is already pretty friendly to liberty-minded Americans—enough that the Free State Project has enticed scads of libertarians to move there.
It’s also one of the few places where a critical mass of Free Staters could influence politics. The population, though fast-growing, remains low, and its state legislature is a sprawling 400-member body, making entryism a viable strategy.
Throw in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, still the reality for Republicans though not Democrats, and Northwoods libertarians suddenly matter on the national stage.
That thought may have drawn Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Larry Elder, and Vivek Ramaswamy to the Free State Project’s Porcupine Freedom Festival, a yearly libertarian Woodstock held at a campground in the White Mountains.
Ramaswamy spoke with the individualist masses on a gray, rainy Saturday.
Distant green peaks framed the thicket of tents, RVs, and people; closer up, posters advertising cryptocurrency and detailing market concentration in the meatpacking industry shared a crowded space with peace sign flags, anti-Federal Reserve bumper stickers, and a small outdoor gym–the Free State Barbell Club.
Scattered here and there, even in bunches along the road to and from the campground, were signs emblazoned with Vivek’s motto: “Truth,” not to be confused with former President Donald J. Trump’s Truth Social.
Late in the morning on June 24, tech CEO Ramaswamy was fielding questions from the audience after talking to economist Matt Kibbe.
One man asked the GOP’s 2024 contender about his proposal to raise the voting age to 25 for young Americans who don’t pass a civics test or perform some form of national service. Would non-voters under 25 shoulder the same tax burden as their peers with the franchise?
“I think that’s actually a very good argument. I hadn’t thought of that dimension of that,” he answered, before pointing out that legal immigrants still pay taxes in the U.S. before earning citizenship.
Ramaswamy told the libertarians they agree with him on “85–I actually think it’s a lot closer to 90 percent” of issues.
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