Politics

Reason.tv: Creating a Free State—Filmmaker Christina Heller on Building a Libertopia in New Hampshire

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

Filmmaker Christina Heller, along with co-producer Craig Goodale, made the documentary Libertopia , which follows the journeys of three individuals who decided to move to New Hampshire to participate in the Free State Project. Heller sat down to talk with Reason.tv's Ted Balaker about the project and says that the passion and principled nature of the Free Staters inspired her and may just have changed 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 transforming the state's politics back 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 there.

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 high school graduate 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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