Hello - just thought I'd introduce myself.
I'm a 35 y.o woman living in San Diego with my husband and our dog. We're having a baby in January and know that we can't raise a child in this statist environment. My husband grew up in a different Southern California - one full of eccentric hobbiests who just wanted to be left alone - but now - well, I don't have to tell any of you what it's like, I'm sure you're aware.
I grew up a liberal - was raised in a college town by college professors to believe that guns are bad, hunters drunken buffoons, Republicans evil, and Christians unthinking cult members. My eyes started to open some 15 years ago when I met some libertarians whose ideas made sense, but it wasn't until 2004, hearing election coverage, that I was absolutely convicted that I had been lied to and led astray for my entire life.
I've spent much of my youth building a career that means nothing to me, and I realize now that all I want is to be a mother to my child (or children if we're blessed), a wife to my husband, and an active member of a community of bright, eccentric conservatives. I would like to home school our kid, perhaps using some of the unschooling principles I've been learning about. I'm not stuck on gender roles necessarily, but this is what I wish for in my heart and what fulfills me, and I find it sad that building a home and nurturing a family was never presented as viable to most women of my generation.
My husband hunts, fishes, shoots, and collects firearms (which of course means he practically has to have a law degree, being a gun owner in California), and while I'm not much of a shooter, I know how to handle a gun and will be practicing more when I'm not concerned about the affect on a small new life.
I just finished reading 'Enemies Foreign and Domestic' (which gave me nightmares) and am about 1/3 through Molon Labe. About every 3 pages on that book I have to read sections to my husband - and he's already read it! I hadn't heard of Free State Wyoming before - and I always did say to myself "New Hampshire?" when thinking about the FSP. We're both active in the local libertarian party and have campaigned for local candidates - to no avail, but we hope that the ideas getting out there is a positive thing. I was lucky enough to meet Harry Brown in 2005 at a San Diego Libertarian Party convention, and he struck me as one of the kindest and brightest men I have ever met. Yet, the words in Molon Labe about the party being stuck in strategy when what we need are tactics ring true.
So, all that remains is to find the community where we fit, make the move, and figure out how to support ourselves. We've been looking at Idaho and Montana, but now we're curious about Wyoming and this project, too. The State run liquor stores in Idaho bug us a bit - not that we drink much, but it's a breach of freedom that we don't care for.
I look forward to chatting with some of you, and perhaps meeting some of you at some point.
Ellie
