Extremists are taking over New Hampshire

Extremists are taking over New Hampshire

Granite State Matters Monthly Newsletter While you weren’t looking, groups called the Free State Project and the Liberty Alliance chose New Hampshire for takeover. They decided that our state would be the easiest place to implement a “libertarian utopia.” This utopia resembles David Koch’s Libertarian Party platform of 1980. It demands the abolition of Medicare,…

News from Concord: Punishing Towns for Gun Safety

News from Concord: Punishing Towns for Gun Safety

Public Safety at Risk Insanity continues to reign in the NH House. HB307 denied towns the right to ban the firing of a gun in Town Hall, at the Fire Station, even in a Police Station! Aforementioned Freedom Caucus members led passage of this bill last spring. The slightly less trigger-happy Senate Judiciary Committee rereferred the bill. This fall, they…

Radicals in the NH Statehouse: How a St. Anselm’s Prof Led to Bill to Secede from US

Radicals in the NH Statehouse: How a St. Anselm’s Prof Led to Bill to Secede from US

RADICALS IN THE NH STATE HOUSE: Two decades ago, Jason Sorens challenged “free staters” to move to New Hampshire, run for office and secede from the union. The goal of the cult is to create a “Libertarian Utopia” without rules or regulations beyond the protection of private property and personal liberty. There would be no…

Gerrymandering harms both parties and the New Hampshire Public

Gerrymandering harms both parties and the New Hampshire Public

Democracy should mean that every person’s voice is heard, right? But the practice of gerrymandering, with the help of computers, has been optimized to the point that, even in a state like New Hampshire, where voters are nearly evenly split between Republican and Democrat, one party dominates in district-level races. That means that, instead of compromise happening…

News from Concord: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Legislative Service Requests

News from Concord: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Legislative Service Requests

New Hampshire guarantees every bill from the 400 House members will get a hearing. Over 3 dozen Legislative Service Requests [LSRs] were filed regarding vaccine mandates; 2 dozen regarding reproductive rights; 2 dozen about ballots and voting; 1 dozen addressing climate change issues, same for water safety and PFOAs, and 5 regarding childcare resources.  HOUSE “LSRs” HAVE BEEN…

Voucher Update: Costs at 60 times budget, so far!

Voucher Update: Costs at 60 times budget, so far!

New Hampshire Taxpayers are in for a surprise when the bill comes due for vouchers. Instead of the $140,000 budgeted for 2022, current projected spending is $6.9 million, with 800 more applications pending! Applications soared after Americans For Prosperity sent out mailers and canvassed door-to-door urging parents to apply. Many applicants are parents already paying for…

Why Work? It’s not just COVID causing our workforce crisis.

Why Work? It’s not just COVID causing our workforce crisis.

It’s no secret that America has a labor shortage. Anyone who has seen their favorite cafe curtail its hours and menu knows the problem. It’s not just sick and quarantined employees. As shown in the chart below, employment is still 3 million workers short of pre-pandemic levels. The problem will eventually be solved through automation or…

US Conservatives Eyeing New Hampshire Vouchers Why the GOP hates the world’s top education models

US Conservatives Eyeing New Hampshire Vouchers Why the GOP hates the world’s top education models

When a former Secretary of Education and a future Presidential candidate come to New Hampshire for the rollout of a new state educational policy, you know something important is afoot. The candidate, Mike Pompeo, stated at the event that US schools are falling behind because we have a “public-school monopoly”; adopting NH’s “Education Freedom Accounts”…