Any estimates on the liberty population so far?

[RalphMalph]

Hey all.  I'm new to the FSW.  I first found the Free State Project and then stumbled onto your movement.  The harsh weather is about the only thing keeping me from moving to New Hampshire.  Wyoming sounds like a great alternative.  The communist regime here in Illinois makes me wanna puke!  I was wondering if any of the original FSW people are keeping records of how many have moved to Wyoming so far?  I realize that the FSW is different from the New Hampshire project.  You guys are more relaxed about it but it would be nice to see some numbers.  Thanks

-Ralph

[MamaLiberty]

Welcome! Please plan to visit Wyoming as soon as you can.

No, we don't keep track of numbers or much of anything else.  There are as many here who are native to Wyoming as those who moved in, probably a lot more. Being good neighbors is what is important. That's where our focus rests.

[NoKnownPurpose]

Hi Ralph and welcome.  I'm not entirely sure you'll find the weather in WY any balmier than NH but it is some very pretty country.

Whereabouts in Illinois are you?  I am just North of Peoria.

[peopleforget]

Welcome! The weather in NH and WY won't seem so bad as compaired to the coming storm facing our country...

[Boston]

Hi RalphMalph,

Thanks for your post, and welcome here.

By choice and design, I no longer know the exact #s, and I don't mind that.

For example, I've heard from many people who have actually
moved to Wyoming because of the FSW, but who have not
joined the FSW or even registered on our forum -- for privacy's sake.

Those new WY locals who are on the forum but not FSWers often
log in here from public terminals vs. their own computers. 

That's just fine with me. The FSW is (barely) an org, and with
the goal of kicking off a diffuse phenomenon of relocation.  It's working.
The idea of Wyoming is catching on, FSW membership or not. 

In streamlining my life from paperwork as much as possible, I didn't
see any need to archive the SOFIs of our FSW Founding Members and
Associates.  (Folks know when they signed, and thus when 7 years
hence is.  We're all adults here.  Besides, no FSW "SOFI Police" will
ever show up on their out-of-Wyoming doorstep, anyway!)

So, I shredded/incinerated all SOFIs (along with all other FSW paperwork),
in keeping with the virtual-orgness of the FSW and its purpose of being
the catalyst of a Wyoming relocation phenomenon.  This also frees me
up from having to lug about and store paperwork.

If I don't know the actual #s, then nobody does, or can.   

So, forget about any membership odometer.
Move to Wyoming if it's right for you.  We did!

 
Boston

[Danl]

I have to agree with BTP on this.  This FSW "organization" is not organized, at least in the classic sense of an Organization.  Rather, at least in my opinion, it is more of a group of friends with some like minded or similar thoughts on freedom.  Some of us have been in the free state movement since long before FSP voted to go to New Hampshire.  We are trying to move to the most free state in the USofA.  The thought being the more freedom minded individuals there are in state the more likely we can slow down or stop the creep of socialism and/or government aggression against the rights of the individual.  Many native Wyoming folk do NOT like big government already.  There is no need to revolutionize Wyoming, it is pretty much, at least in comparison to a place like Illinois, freedom oriented already.

The big government types have a foothold (more than a toe hold) already but they havent stole the hearts of the people, just some of their money and liberty .

BTW, welcome from another Illinoisan working towards moving to Wyoming.  I am downstate, West of Springfield, 75 miles or so, in Pike County.

Regards, Danl

[RalphMalph]

Thanks for the welcome and input everyone.  I'd rather not disclose my location in Illinois.  I was concerned with the weather in New Hampshire because part of the state borders Canada and another part borders the ocean.  (Sounds like the perfect state for secession, doesn't it?  But that's an entirely different discussion.)

Have any of you in Wyoming started preparing for the coming disaster in this country?  Do you all have ways of communicating without a computer, in the worst case scenario?  Just curious...

-Ralph

[Boston]

Have any of you in Wyoming started preparing for the coming disaster in this country?  Do you all have ways of communicating without a computer, in the worst case scenario?  Just curious...

As the British say, that would be telling.   

Boston

[rhodges]

Do you all have ways of communicating without a computer, in the worst case scenario?  Just curious...

We discussed this a little bit in this thread:
http://www.fundamentalsoffreedom.com/fswforum/index.php?topic=6263.0

I still think one-time-pads would be a feasible way to encrypt communications.

[Erik]

So, I shredded/incinerated all SOFIs (along with all other FSW paperwork),
in keeping with the virtual-orgness of the FSW and its purpose of being
the catalyst of a Wyoming relocation phenomenon.  This also frees me
up from having to lug about and store paperwork.

If I don't know the actual #s, then nobody does, or can.   

Haha, I really like that you destroyed them Boston.

[Boston]

Burn After Reading, and all that . . . 

I've grown to loathe paperwork, and have heated my
home for two winters as I pared down. 

Boston

[JohnKOTR]

Well, I am glad to hear that this has become less paper-oriented. That means a lot to people like me. I haven't made any decisions about Wyoming, yet, but I am nonetheless glad to hear it.

[kylben]

  This FSW "organization" is not organized, at least in the classic sense of an Organization.  Rather, at least in my opinion, it is more of a group of friends with some like minded or similar thoughts on freedom. 

This is what distinguishes FSW from FSP to me.  I came this close >< to signing the FSP pledge prior to the vote.  But the collectivism was just too much for me.  I like cooperation, not collectivism.  Free men cooperate when their interests coincide.  Collectives seek to align their interests because need to to cooperate.  Free cooperation is ad-hoc, it's over once the goal has been achieved, or abandoned.  Collective commitments are pre-ordained and open-ended.

Ad hoc cooperation is based on trust, which requires no record keeping. Even voluntary collectivism requires keeping tabs on each other.