Politics & Government
Dietsch: Free Stater Talk Gets SRO Crowd In Moultonborough
Free Stater from Milton listened to talk; said accurate
Despite McDonald's earlier Patch article poohpoohing "Who Are the Free Staters and the Out-of-Staters Backing Them?", the Moultonborough Library was packed standing room only to listen to Jeanne Dietsch describe what they're up to.
Free Stater Ian Underwood criticized Dietsch's presentation. Underwood was the leader in trying to halve the school budget in Croydon.
Underwood says Dietsch was wrong about the Liberty Alliance being the political arm of the Free State Project. However, the Executive Director of the Free State Project, Eric Brakey, was the one who wrote in the Free State Project's own newsletter, that it was. And why did Dietsch question the Free State Project's 501c3 nonprofit status? Well, that was because its founding document said its goal was to "take over the state government." You can't get much more political than that!
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Underwood also denies Dietsch's characterization of Free Staters wanting "No Regulations and No Responsibilities." Is that not a summary of Underwood's own list of what Free Staters believe?
1. Respect the property and autonomy of others.
2. Pay for the services they use.
3. Let others decide for themselves which charities to support, and how much support to offer.
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Put into policy, those statements mean: cut funding for school meals for poor children; cut funding for healthcare for poor families; cut state funding for public schools (which ends up raising property taxes and rents.)
The "Out-of-Staters" referred to in the title of the talk are not people who moved here. They are billionaire-funded organizations who spent over $1 million influencing NH elections and policies.
Free Staters would like you to believe that they just want to be left alone. What they mean is they want to be left alone to dismantle your state government and force you to live on their terms.
During Q&A, Dietsch stated that Free Staters are not against women's rights, as one audience member thought. When asked about secession, she let a Free Stater in the audience answer.
Jeanne Dietsch has lived in New Hampshire since 1984. She and her husband raised their family here. Jeanne served on the Conval School Board, town Zoning Board and the Economic Development Authority. She was CEO of their intelligent robotics firm for 16 years, sold to Adept Technologies in 2011. She earned an MPA from Harvard Kennedy in 2013 and served in the NH Senate 2018-2020.
