by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

In the rural town of Grafton, NH, a small group of libertarians decided that this is the place to start the “Free Town Project”. Grafton was a town who historically hated to pay taxes. And the libertarians wanted to find a place they could increase their freedoms – pay less taxes and have less restrictions on their life. But, the bears who live in the area soon become habituated in a town where some residents actively feed them, many of the new residents don’t want to follow local trash laws (or nosy busybodies advice), and almost no one wants to call the authorities. What happens as even more libertarians move in and the local tax rate decreases? The Bears move in.

So the book shows the problems with the libertarian party before the Mises caucus took over. It was a loose collection of people who wanted minimum taxes and minimum laws. But they ranged from survivalists, to hippies, to idealogues, to very practical people who want to be left alone to make their own choices. The groups may have some things in common; but they have a diverse set of beliefs and practices. This means they tend to want to discuss things to death when they disagree…but because they all are principled, it’s hard to get them to change their minds and sometimes work together.

Over against that are the locals who like the minimal New England, democratic forms. They don’t like taxes, but they have their own sense of community. As the municipal government was starved, the bears grew in number. And as they became more used to people, they became more aggressive. This led to missing pets and livestock. And then to attacks on human.

Anyway, interesting book. And what happened here shows the weaknesses of living in a utopia.

274 Pages

4/5