I've thought about this for a long, long time, vassilated, debated, discussed with my darling wife, discussed with some close friends.
No. No, I'm never gonna live there.
Contrary to what some people think, I've never been against moving. I won't have anything to do with the FSP as an organization because of my often referenced issues with honesty and integrity, which have still yet to be publicly addressed, but the idea of moving was never completely removed from the table.
Dennis Goddard offered to get my name removed from their list, which is cool and a nice gesture, but that wasn't the point. The point was addressing the issue of lying about FSP membership numbers. (Dennis, you're obviously not personally responsible for this, so nothing against you. I appreciated the gesture.)
But this isn't even about the FSP organization, actually.
The list of complaints is a Death by a Thousand Cuts. Lots and lots of little things. Which is very frustrating because I know there are a lot of cool people out there.
But the final nail happened today. Not so much an event, as a realization. There's no place for me in the NH freedom movement.
I'm not going to run for office, and I'm not going to protest, and everyone there seems to think I would have an obligation to do so or open myself up to ridicule.
I don't need ten people to run in here and jump on me with "Naw man! Lots of people move to NH as Free Staters and just chill!". It seems inevitable that we'd be harangued into doing some crap beyond what I'm interested in.
I have no interest in your politics, and I have no interest in your protests. Yeah, there's a small slice of place for me in the "Exposing the enemy quietly, from afar." area, but frankly, the "From afar" thing can happen right here. (Once the goddamn movie is done.)
So yeah, there's no place for me to fit in. At least not one that would motivate me to throw away everything I have and chug it out there. The only thing that would happen is that the activists and politically active alike would annoy the piss out of me with their pushiness, and I'd keep retreating until both sides start calling me "Fence sitter" or some shit when they have no idea what I'm doing.
I do freedom oriented stuff every day, but I keep my mouth shut about it, and I don't need people busting my balls and second guessing me when I'm already pulling my weight, just because I'm not stupidly exposing myself/bragging about shit.
The other issue is my beloved wife, who, while quieter publicly, has a razor sharp intellect and some very strong opinions. She went over to the FSP forum, covertly, read several dozen threads (Maybe hundreds, she's a quick reader.) and watched for a couple days. Her conclusion was that "As a person who graduated high school almost 25 years ago, I have no interest in returning."
She never comes here for somewhat similar reasons, substituting "high school" with "Freak show" and "Graduated" with "Saw", an opinion that I don't agree with, but understand.
We don't really drink, and we don't really smoke (Green or brown), and we don't really drug. Parties aren't our thing. We're publicly quiet homebodies who keep to ourselves, pretty much. We have friends and enjoy their company, but in a mellow, quiet way. Like, movie night and shit.
In before "We don't need you anyway!" and other expressions of anger. If you feel angry from what I'm saying, or the need to jump in, think about that. I haven't attacked anyone. I'm not badmouthing people. I'm just saying why we aren't a match for NH.
I like the majority of people I've met in and from NH. Nice people. Shit, even anarchojessie was polite to me (If not friendly) after I repeatedly dressed him down publicly. (An action I stand by without reservation.) Shitton of awesome people came and helped with the movie. I'd love to be able to hang with those peeps regularly. But I don't think it's worth it to move there. I can shoot out for Porcfest and hang out. Maybe I'll do Liberty Forum at some point. That's enough for me. Besides, I'm a small doses kinda dude for most people. I'll end up pissing people off anyway.
So there. That's my official, final decision. Unless I change my mind.