Creating a Free State: Filmmaker Christina Heller on Building a Libertopia in New Hampshire

Tired of waiting for a libertarian United States of America? Maybe the answer is to start small.

Enter Libertopia, a documentary by director Christina Heller and producer Craig Goodale that follows three guys' attempt to make one state free. Heller sat down with Reason.tv's Ted Balaker to discuss the Free State Project, why she admires libertarians, and how a persuasive band of Free Staters just might have transformed her from a liberal into a libertarian.

The Free State Project was proposed by a Yale PhD student in 2001, and the goal was to convince 20,000 pro-liberty activists to commit to moving to New Hampshire in hopes of returning the state to its "Live Free or Die" roots. So far, the project reports that there are more than 10,000 participants, and almost 900 "early movers" have already settled in the Granite State.

The documentary follows one man who is walking across the country to raise awareness about the Free State Project, another who already moved to New Hampshire and works as an advocate for medical marijuana patients, and a Ron Paul-inspired teenager who decides to leave his friends and family in California to live in New Hampshire.

Interview by Ted Balaker. Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Hawk Jensen, and Alex Manning. Edited by Weissmueller.

Approximately 9 minutes.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ReasonTV
• Reason Magazine
• Nick Gillespie
• Ted Balaker
• Christina Heller
• Free State Project
• New Hampshire
• Libertarian
• Libertarianism
• Ron Paul
• Open Carry Gun Rights
• Craig Goodale
• medical marijuana

[Houshalter]

"Free state"? Kind of an oxymoron.

[TehBANN3D]

@successfulbuild you're bastardizing the word ethical, unless you think it is synonymous with 'legally permissible', in which case, democracy entails that it is ethical for the majority to rob and enslave the minority (which is precisely what happens)

[EmmaBeelah]

Every attempt at creating a utopia (whether libertarian or other) has let ideology dominate over logic. The Soviet Union was supposed to be a utopia (for communists). Nazi Germany was working to create a utopia (for Nazis). No ideology can address every problem. It is harder to address real problems as they arise, than it is to adhere to an ideology.

[EmmaBeelah]

How does NH feel about being the chosen land by outsiders who want to create their idea of utopia?

[eatinbongrips]

I knew she wasn't libertarian just by the people they chose to follow: A high school grad, a non profit guy and a walker...guy... Any entrepreneurs or folks with REAL jobs? Good idea for a documentary but on the surface, this looks like she completely missed the idea of libertarianism... Makes us look like bunch of hippies.

[diesrabb]

but its so cold! :/

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@TheThordir

As opposed to what poverty? Economic growth is not the only thing which brings happiness.

[Mark123USA]

@Gamermatt99 It's called transfering :-)

[Mark123USA]

I think it would have been better if they chose Vermont, since that state pretty much has no gun laws. I just think it would have been smarter to go there.

[TheThordir]

Jeffrey Friedman has criticized libertarians for often relying on the unproven assumption that economic growth and affluence automatically result in happiness.

[TheThordir]

the number of New Zealanders estimated to be living in poverty grew by at least 35% between 1989 and 1992; and health care has been especially hard-hit, leading to a significant deterioration in health standards among working and middle class people. In addition, many of the promised economic benefits of the experiment never materialised.

[TheThordir]

Of particular interest to economists is the "New Zealand Experiment", which began in 1984 when Roger Douglas became Minister of Finance and began radically restructuring the country's economy to fit the libertarian model. Over the next 15 years, New Zealand's economy and social capital faced a steady decline: the youth suicide rate grew sharply into one of the highest in the developed world;