Hi, I'm Dennis Pratt

Introduce Yourself
#1

My wife and I bought in Dover in Nov, so we now have houses in both MA and NH. I’m up here about four days a week, my wife two days a week, and we’re planning on increasing that over time. We’ll be exclusively here in less than four years.
0995: I’m Moving To Free State New Hampshire

I’ve been coming up to NH for the liberty scene since PorcFest 2011. Liberty Forums and PorcFests, with AirBnB vacations thrown in the mix. So, I’ve already met a few folks and am interested in meeting more and finding out what people are doing to create more freedom.
1168: PorcFest 2019 – Tues Jun 18 - Sun Jun 23

My background is high tech startups in new industries, but as gnarly as I’ve become, for the last 15 years I’ve worked on pro bono projects – mostly around freedom. My last two were creating the largest personal growth in person group (250 events per year, 4,500 members),
1123: How do I know if I am “failing forward” or just failing?
and before that was an organization that helped parents choose other-than-govenment schooling for their children and that helped alternative schools start up.
1146: Why might parents choose private schools even if they live in excellent public school districts?

I’ve spent the last 2.3 years writing on Quora about freedom. Quora is a competitive question and answer site where answers and writers are voted up or down. I’m a popular writer on several freedom topics (e.g., the #1 writer on Anarcho-capitalism, and last week I became the #1 on Libertarianism (which I never thought I would make.)) My essays are a bit longer and more didactic, targeted to “Open and Curious” newbies to try to explain the beauty of freedom, especially its ethics.
1078: My Second Anniversary on Quora

I became a libertarian in 1980-81 during philosophical debates with my conservative boss, but did not learn that it actually had a name for about a half year later. I’ve been a card carrying LP since 81, was delegate from MA in 87 (voting against Ron Paul and with the “feather coalition” for Russell Means), but despaired the political angle for years.
1186: Who led you to libertarianism?

I came by here looking for information about ForkFest. I’m going to PorcFest this year (I"m organizing the Building Communities tent – showcasing some of the things that we doing to create real community around freedom) and my goal is to meet as many folks as I can and learn who is doing why towards which liberty goals.
1153: How is the Free State Project impacting New Hampshire politics?

I am still trying to figure out how I can best invest my time to create more human freedom now that i’ve moved here to the Free State.
1166: Q: Where’s Dennis? (A: Creating Freedom In NH)

3 Likes
#2

Cool - congrats on your move!

1 Like
#3

Yea- a congratulations is in order! It’s so exciting to be in New Hampshire isn’t it?

I think you have to make NH what you will of it rather than worry about what others are doing or not doing. For me that has meant joining in on promoting crypto currency, speaking at the state house for or against bills that come up (good or bad, anybody can speak), assisting people in campaigns where they run for political positions (be it to take over a party, or win a mayoral race), and simply promoting the idea of a region where people are joining together to start a truly free society (for instance I go to a lot of tech conferences and meet like-minded people- and I will talk up the freedom migration when I can- including handing out brochures on the Free State Project and/or just the general migration movement). I choose those words particularly because not everybody likes the idea of a state and also because I think being here is more than just about taking over politically. There is a lot to be gained just from being around other like-minded people (even if we have so many people here that not everybody gets along).

I think right now one of the most valuable things people can do is just get the word out there that this is really happening and there are thousands of people in New Hampshire working to fundamentally change things. It’s not an overnight project- but one that will take time. Little things now, and big things later. You got to get people to come before you can expect real change to happen and right now we’re still on the getting people to come phase. We have 20,000 signers, but we now need to convert that into movers.

PS I read your blog post- loved it. It’s stuff like that which helps. I also started a tech show that leans in the freedom direction: https://www.freedomdecrypted.com/ and post about events like Liberty Forum and Forkfest/Porcfest on my company’s blog (ie run a GNU/Linux tech company that sells hardware: https://www.thinkpenguin.com/ ). I also will do the same with the show (which is aimed at a larger audience that just so happens to have a lot of liberty-minded people, maybe it’s 50%, maybe it’s 40%, but it’s still a lot more liberty-minded people than the less than 3% of the general population which you’d otherwise find elsewhere).

3 Likes
#4

Very cool you have been doing all those projects the last 15 years. I am looking forward to meeting you.

1 Like
#5

Welcome to the forum Dennis!

#6

Cool idea for your podcast. Of course, there is overlap – but I have to say there was a lot more overlap in the 80s! I can’t believe the extent to which statism has infiltrated what was an anti-establishment, entrepreneurial, individualist tech movement. 80
1029: Why are libertarians more likely to be entrepreneurial?

And thank you for your suggestions. Yes, I’ve been poking my nose under a few tents to see what folks are doing and where I can best help. Not all opportunities are as aligned to my hopes or to my strengths as others. Since arriving, I tried helping in two areas before I realized they weren’t particularly good fits for me. I’m enjoying organizing the Building Communities tent a lot, though. Jessica (Paxton) has given me free rein and it’s given me the opportunity to meet a lot of the people who are creating/contributing to the different types of liberty communities currently here, and I’ve even enticed a few to share their stories in my “Creating Communities” tent. (Always looking for more…)
http://porcfest.com/schedule/

I have a Big Project in mind to build something central to liberty here in NH. (I seem to be more successful when I lead on projects. :wink: And I’ve already received valuable feedback from the FSers I’ve met. I’m so looking forward to having more 1-1 time with folks to hear their ideas. I’ll be at ForkFest and PorcFest (although at PF, I will be working diligently to share various communities with attendees!) and I am looking forward to making lots of connections.

Thank you for your shoutout, Mr. Penguin!! :slight_smile: