EDITORIAL
So Hawai'i is no libertarian mecca

Tired of living in what Forbes magazine calls the "People's Republic of Hawai'i?" Consider moving to New Hampshire, America's most libertarian-friendly state. If the Aloha State has too many laws, the Granite State definitely has too few. Call it the Wild Wild East.

With a population of 1.2 million (similar to Hawai'i) and a land area of some 9,000 square miles, New Hampshire has no income tax, no property tax, no motorcycle helmet or seat-belt laws.

And get a load of the New Hampshire Constitution, which says: "Whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government."

For these and other reasons, thousands of members of the Free State Project, an Internet club advocating limited government, have pledged to move to New Hampshire, whose motto coincidentally is "Live Free or Die."

Next on their agenda is a push for decreased taxation and the curbing of prostitution and drug laws.

So if you're fed up with paying the price of paradise — and buckling your seat belt — New Hampshire awaits you. Bear in mind, now, that the state is less diverse than most, with minorities making up less than 5 percent of the population, according to the 2000 Census. And winters are endless, with lows plummeting to 10 degrees below zero.

Plus, New Hampshire residents aren't exactly thrilled at the prospect of being taken over by libertarians: "I like to be left alone by the government. But I need my trash picked up. I need police protection," said one Concord lawyer.

Guess there's a price to living free.