NH blogger Susan the Bruce has written an excellent post excoriating the police state and its invasive internal Border Patrol checkpoints, one of which was set up this weekend just south, curiously, of the NH Cannabis Freedom Festival. Sure enough, more people were arrested for drug possession at the checkpoint than were arrested for immigration, according to the article at the Union Leader.
(Border Patrol Agents Bothering Innocent Motorists)
In her blog, Susan writes:
NH was one of the states that fought hard against REAL ID. That opposition was in character with the “live free or die” philosophy we’re supposed to be famous for embracing. It was in character with our reputation as a libertarian leaning state.Somewhere along the way we stopped fighting REAL ID and meekly submitted. Sixteen years of indoctrination – a combination of fear based agitprop and training to submit to authority, changed our tune from Just Say No to We Have to do this for National Security. REAL ID means that the state maintains a database of information on people, including Social Security numbers and photos.
She's right. This year in the state house the supposed privacy nut state rep, Neil Kurk, capitulated after years of holding firm against REAL ID, and endorsed the state's partial embracing of the federal ID standards. One who wishes to acquire a non-REAL ID-compliant card can still get one, but according to someone I know who visited the DMV this week, the DMV bureaucrats are pushing the new REAL ID version.
(NH Internal Border Patrol Checkpoint)
I recommend reading Susan's whole post, it's well-done and there's very little she says that I can disagree with. Until the end, that is. She says in the final paragraph:
There hasn’t been a peep out of the liberty and freedumb crowd about this. Not a word from the allegedly liberty loving Free Staters. The folks who do the wailin’ about gummint encroachment on our lives are strangely silent when it comes to “show us your papers” stops. Their interest in gummint interference extends to deregulation and tax cuts. Actual violations of privacy and civil liberties don’t interest them in the slightest.
I may not be a "Free Stater", but I love liberty and am friends with many of them. I have seen plenty of liberty people upset about these checkpoints and they have posted their outrage online... on facebook. Which means no one hears it except those connected to the person on facebook - such posts only hit the libertarian echo chamber. Sadly, most of the people who are here are not bloggers like Susan and me. They are just as outraged as she, but fail to communicate it effectively to a wider audience.
(Free State Project President Carla Gericke Keynoting Keenevention 2014)
Some areas have made efforts in the past to blog, but all have failed, some multiple times. There was Free Grafton, Free Manch, and the most recent effort, Shire Liberty News. Of those three, the Grafton and Manch blogs are long-gone and Shire Liberty News hasn't had a new post since early summer, though they are still online and could make a comeback. Former FSP president Carla Gericke had taken a main blogger role at Shire Liberty News this year and it looked as though new life was being breathed into the site, however its posts have died off since Porcfest. Carla DID post about her feelings regarding the checkpoint, but unfortunately it was only to her friends on facebook. For the record, she gave me permission to share it here. After linking the Union Leader story she says:
This is not cool, NH, not cool at all. So much wrong with this I don't really know where to start. First, a reminder that once you allow rights to be eroded, it's mighty hard to put them back in the can... which is why so many liberty activists push so hard on issues. Second, during this I-93 roadblock--ROADBLOCKS, WHAT ARE WE, A BANANA REPUBLIC?--more people were arrested for drugs than for their immigration status, and since Border Patrol apparently doesn't have to comply with the Constitution, that means they get to search everyone without probable cause. Think about that: You are no longer free to travel on the roads of New Hampshire without the threat of being stopped and searched FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN TRAVELING ON THAT ROAD. I, for one, will record everything if caught up in this, and will sue, sue, sue!
(Border Patrol Agents Hassle Us Over Recording Video of their Checkpoint)
So, Susan is wrong claiming libertarians aren't concerned with this issue. It's libertarians from NH who FOUNDED Cop Block. Libertarians are the reason the Manchester checkpoints have basically been neutered over the last few years. Carla Gericke has even won a court precedent-setting case against the police for oppressing her right to record a police encounter. My co-host on my talk show, Free Talk Live, Mark Edge even made a video of his refusal to consent to a Border Patrol checkpoint during a visit to Texas. I made a short documentary about five liberty-lovers attempting to cross the border with various forms of ID at Derby Line, VT that includes an encounter with US Border Patrol where we assert our right to record and back them down.
That said, Susan is at least right that the libertarians who are complaining are not being heard - because they're shouting into the echo chamber of facebook. Facebook is hurting our movement and needs to be disused. Also, we need more people blogging and making other media. We've got some great radio shows here still like Darryl Perry's shows and Rodger Paxton's, but total liberty media content from NH is down from its heyday, despite having more liberty migrants than ever. I've tried my best to gather as many bloggers as I can here, but you can see the posts for yourself. Most of Free Keene's bloggers barely post a few times a year. It's mostly me posting here, and I can't cover everything alone, as much as I might like to. So, thank you Susan, for beating me to the punch and for writing what is 90% an awesome article about the recent NH Border Patrol checkpoint.