Due to technical difficulties in the studio, I only have the Facebook Live link for this week’s Manch Talk. Tune in while you still can!
Video
Opening line: “My name is Carla Gericke, and when I grow up, I want to be a disco ball!”
Zinger: “New Hampshire may be cold, but it’s still warmer than Mars.” (Free Staters <3 you, Elon Musk! Please come be my bestie! Or, at least, come to PorcFest–fondly referred to as “Burning Man for rational people!”)
Ending: “We don’t have to change the world, we just have to “Keep NH Awesome!”
Reason Magazine’s editor-at-large, Nick Gillespie, called my book, The Ecstatic Pessimist: Stories of Hope (Mostly) “a fantastic package of writings.” Buy your copy from Amazon, download for free on Kindle, or order your personalized paperback directly from me. Please support my efforts by buying my book, thanks!
“Liberty lives in New Hampshire!” Donate to the Free State Project!
This week, we delve into the election recount that took place in Windham, NH, where, strangely, 300 votes for all four the Republican candidates were picked up. An anomaly? A suspicious anomaly? I think so…
Senator Bob Guida has been covering this issue quite closely. This is what he had to say earlier today:
As the Windham Incident gains notoriety, I’ve received hundreds more emails, text messages and phone calls from you – our People – than for any other issue I’ve encountered in my 10+ years in the State House.Do not be discouraged because we’re having to fight this fight. It must be our legacy to our children and future generations. To those of you who are upset, please channel that energy into taking back your towns, your cities, your state, your nation from the special interests that are slowly destroying it, from the liars that antagonize us for their own political gain, from the treachery and retribution that threaten the Republic. Government cannot save it. Only we can. Only you can.Our fight today is right here in New Hampshire, and I will continue the fight to find out what happened in Windham. If it turns out not to be the machines, I am good with that. But we cannot relent because unless we can prove it was NOT the machines, there’s no way to be sure none of the 200 or so towns that use these machines weren’t compromised as well. This is not conspiracy theory. These machines are old and tired, and could well be having software issues. Some of you have shared that you are discouraged and losing faith in our electoral system. To be sure, there are forces in government that are supposed to work for us that are using every tactic at their disposal to make you quit, to make this go away. But I offer the following for your consideration. We need to realize that WE are the political system, unless we cede that right and responsibility to those in “government.” Many have, much to our detriment. Whenever I get discouraged, I hearken to George Washington at Valley Forge. His only encouragement was his faith, as he and his ragtag army had lost every battle they had fought, he was out of money to pay his men, they had no shelter other than tents against the bitter cold, and food, blankets and firewood were in desperately short supply. But he BELIEVED in a free America, and never gave up on it, and never gave up fighting for it until the Revolutionaries prevailed. He fought for me, for us – and we must do the same for every future generation, who won’t know our names but will be free because we took a stand and refused to lose. Washington once said, “Government, like fire, is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.” Thanks for staying in the fight.
Here’s the Union Leader’s coverage.
UPDATE 2/18/21: Listen to this insightful take on the Windham situation… which appears to have happened statewide… 6% flip from Republican to Democrat… guess how much I lost my race by? Dundunduuuuuuuun!
Why Don’t Kids Have “Stomach Aches” Any More? The Upsides of Closed Schools (Manch Talk 02/09/21)
Education Freedom Accounts are on the menu! How much adequacy funds are currently being allocated? What’s up with the surprising pushback from homeschoolers? Isn’t it time for change? Let’s put problem solvers in charge, and stop leaning into past failures that have resulted in poor educational outcomes!
This week on Manch Talk, I get a little feisty and frustrated at an article written by a Soros-funded anti-liberty authoritarian who goes around NH spreading misinformation about the Free State Project. Usually, I let people like her slide, because, life’s too short, ‘never punch down,’ eye on the prize, blah, blah, blah, right?
Readers know I generally try to focus on the positive in life, and see the best in people, but this lady is, in my opinion, an awful human being. Why? Because after her last dog-and-pony misinformation show held at a library in early 2020, several Free Staters spoke up to tell their personal stories about why they are liberty activists…
And, since it was clear our words moved the audience and helped them gain a better understanding of where we are coming from (ostensibly a good thing if you are trying to heal the world), she told me afterwards she would never let us speak again.
Most of us who spoke up that night are immigrants from repressive regimes (Russia, China, Ukraine, Apartheid South Africa, etc.), and we *know* what suppression of individual rights looks like, we *know* what happens when the Powers-that-Claim-to-Be start saying things like, “Well, yes, this may be bad for you, personally, but it’s for the ‘common good’.” This, of course, is one of the oldest authoritarian lies in the book. Trust me: We know. We’ve lived it.
That same evening, this was my message to local progressives: Can we find common ground between progressives and libertarians in NH? According to this lady, no.
But, I will not be dissuaded from trying to reach people with a message of peace, love, respect, founded in the principles of individual liberty. If we are not free as individuals, we are not free at all.
This week, we deep-dive into Manchester schools. What did the recent audit say? (Hint: Enrollment is down and costs are up; buildings need to be shut down.) Also, did school administrators really just get a 5% raise, and extra days off, while schools are closed? Join us for this week’s Manch Talk.
This was informative, so I wanted to share. I hope people who follow along with me understand something: we are all learning together, which is why allowing open, uncensored conversations is important, without one side controlling “the narrative.” The minute there’s “a narrative,” there’s less freedom, and more control. When that control involves huge profits (rewards) without any liability (no risk), we should be extra, extra skeptical.