On February 18, hundreds of libertarians will flock to the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire, for the ninth annual Liberty Forum, a four-day conference featuring presentations on topics such as religious freedom, school choice, and "Anarchy: Dressing for Success." A big draw will be Edward Snowden's keynote speech, delivered over a live video stream. As the exiled NSA whistleblower speaks, conference goers may mull their own flight from government oppression—not to Russia, but to the haven of New Hampshire.

The Free State Project, which runs the Liberty Forum, has spent 15 years trying to recruit 20,000 libertarian-minded activists to take up residence in the Granite State. By accruing a critical mass of small-government advocates in a state with just 1.3 million people, the project seeks to exert substantial influence on state politics to create a utopia of social liberties and deregulated markets. Those who sign the Free State pledge promise to make the move to New Hampshire once 20,000 participants have signed up. Now, with 19,858 signers, the project's organizers say they are finally recruiting the last of those volunteers.

However, the organizers readily admit they don't know how many of the would-be Free Staters will actually come to New Hampshire. "That is the million-dollar question," says Free State Project president Carla Gericke. "It's all speculative at this stage." The most fervent believers are likely already in the state. Free State Project founder Jason Sorens says he expects about a third of the remaining signers to move. The group plans to track down those who may have forgotten and nudge them with direct mail, phone calls, and email reminders about their commitment.

Sorens first published his idea for the Free State Project in 2001, when he was a PhD student in Yale's political science department. In an article in the Libertarian Enterprise webzine, Soren fantasized about a place where state and local budgets would be slashed and federal highway funds would be rejected. By 2003, a community of several thousand Free State Project pledgers had coalesced online and were debating the relative merits of colonizing Idaho, Wyoming, or Alaska. Then a delegation met with then-New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson, a Republican, who told them, "Come on up. We'd love to have you."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/libertarians-new-hampshire-free-state