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I first noticed the opportunity in 1980, when I was reading the New Hampshire State Constitution. The New Hampshire House of Representatives has 400 seats, providing a person with his best chance of getting elected anywhere in the country. I was living in Massachusetts at the time, and as time passed, eventually the economy changed and allowed me to move to New Hampshire while there were jobs here.
I moved to New Hampshire 29 September 1988 with the intention of running for the House of Representatives. There was a special election to fill one seat in my ward in 1989, but the state constitution says you must be a 2-year resident. I ran as a Democrat in 1990, because running under a party allows the easiest access to the ballot. There were 4 candidates in the Democratic primary for three seats, but I came in last place. The guy who got the most votes hadn't even been showing up in Concord! He got more votes than the other two incumbents who had been doing the job.
In 1992, I ran as a Libertarian, while they had ballot status. I tried to secure the Republican nomination, since there were vacancies on the Republican ballot, but by law, you need at least 10 write-in votes and I got seven after campaigning at the polls all day. They were using voting machines, and most people don't know how to do write-in votes on those. I lost in the general election.
In 1994, I ran as a Libertarian again, but was defeated in the primary for the at-large seat held by Theresa Drabinowicz.
In 1996, I was busy running as a Republican for the U.S. House seat held by Rep. Charlie Bass, because he wouldn't file my bill to simplify the visa process for spouses and fiancees of U.S. citizens. I didn't know at the time that you can run for Congress and the New Hampshire House of Representatives at the same time, as Martha Fuller Clark did in 2000.
In 1998, I was busy working the overnight shift at Wal-Mart while raising my young son during the day and trying to make ends meet. I just didn't have time for the Legislature, even if I had won.
In 2000, I decided to remain a "Republican" and ran for state representative again. Winning the primary was easy, because I was unopposed. Then I got to be a delegate to the Republican State Convention, because I was the nominee, and I also got money from the party, for my campaign. I planted campaign signs wherever I could get permission, and then campaigned near the polls, smiling and waving to lame-brains who'll vote for anybody who smiles and waves to them. I was later accused of deceiving the voters.
I've had plenty of time for calm reflection. My comments about resisting the cops were far too graphic for most people. I've come up with something since then: When the government places a thin blue line between some people and their constitutional rights, those people have a right to tell the government to remove it; and if the government won't remove it, those people are justified in removing it themselves.
That sounds a whole lot more abstract and metaphorical than, if the goons don't want their guts blown apart all over the drug dealer's carpet, they're free to get a job and work for a living, instead of waging the politicians' War on Drugs against the American people. (I didn't think of the abstract metaphor at the time. Maybe the next freedom fighter who infiltrates the enemy's legislature will be smarter, and think faster, than me.)
Please consider running for the New Hampshire House of Representatives. You won't get elected if you don't; you might get elected if you do, so you really have nothing to lose, and perhaps you can do better in battling the enemies of liberty than I did. I proposed a few bills to get the enemy government off the backs of the people. When the firestorm erupted over anti-cop messages I had posted on the Internet. Rep. Gary Greenberg said he'd sponsor my bills if I'd resign, and I had no way to know whether he would go back on his word or not, so I took that chance. The alternative was to remain under intensely hostile media coverage, constantly being questioned by reporters about stuff that has nothing to do with the Legislature. Even the stuff about shooting cops has nothing to do with the Legislature, as they refused to understand. Armed resistance is a response to injustices committed by the government. In the Legislature, it made more sense to propose that the government discontinue its violations of people's rights.
I was certainly in a unique situation. This was uncharted territory. Further, I didn't have advisors, since I'm a loner of sorts. My wife couldn't provide much encouragement, since she didn't really understand that all this media coverage was disproportionate to what New Hampshire state representatives get. She's from the Dominican Republic and has trouble with English. My son is little and can't even talk much. I got e-mails and phone calls of support, but those supporters were not physically with me in the Legislature. I was truly alone.
Maybe you can get elected. If you don't live in New Hampshire, you must become a permanent resident of the state by 2 November 2002 so you will qualify on election day 2004. That's a Presidential year, when lots of uninformed people will vote for anybody who smiles and waves to them. There may be other infiltrators who join you. Then, if there's a firestorm, you're not alone. The avalanche of crap I got was about the anti-cop messages I posted on the Internet. If you propose repealing the unjust laws and seek sensible solutions to the problems with the police, then presumably they'll go much easier on you.
Oh yes, one important thing. Attend a meeting of the local party chapter, of the party in which you're planning to run, and let them know. They probably have a little old lady in charge of candidate recruitment, and when you let her know, she'll be delighted that she has enough candidates now, and she will stop recruiting. If she doesn't know, she'll keep calling, until she has enough names, and then learn that you've also filed. That would be terrible, because then the voters will have some choice whether to nominate you.
New Hampshire needs you, if you're qualified. The United States needs one State where there is liberty, where people who don't like unjust laws can reside and elect freedom fighters to Congress as well, while exporting to neighbouring States the sweet smell of success. The public could easily enough vote the government off the backs of the people, but most of the public is asleep at the switch, or wants the oppressive measures. About one percent of the population votes for Libertarians, the rest vote wrong, so if you vote for Libertarians, consider yourself in the top percentile. If you know the difference between a democracy and a constitutional republic and you are concerned about the discrepancy between the plain language of the state constitution and the far-fetched judicial misinterpretations, you're way ahead of the pack.
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