As part of their documentary series on the thriving liberty movement in New Hampshire, NBC has invited various characters in the documentary to their studio for in-depth interviews about the episode. For episode four, NBC’s producers invited Karen Steele to discuss her opposition to liberty and independence. Steele is among the most active opponents of the liberty movement and she especially hates that so many Granite Staters are now considering peaceful separation from the DC politicians. A 2022 poll by SurveyUSA found that 29% of NH voters and 52% of NH Republicans already support secession. Throughout the very friendly interview (both NBC producers are anti-liberty progressives), Steele promotes myriad lies and disinformation about the liberty movement and peaceful separation. Before I even had the chance to deconstruct her ridiculously weak arguments, Free Talk Live obliterated her on their March 10th show. Due to Ian, the host of Free Talk Live, beating me to the punch, I may not make a video, but this article may also prove useful for rebutting her tyrannical claims.
Early in the interview, Steele lamented that her own State Representative was one of the sponsors of CACR32, legislation that sought to place the question of independence on the ballot for the people to vote on (Democrats love ‘democracy’, but only when it suits their desires). She did not mention that the legislation had nine sponsors, including one member of the Republican House leadership. The proposal had a public hearing, which was attended by a large crowd of citizens, nearly all of whom told the committee to support the measure so that they could vote to peacefully separate from the union. It is true that the bill died on the House floor by a huge margin. The largest reason for the margin, however, was the malicious lies and threats propagated by anti-liberty lawmakers about charging anyone who votes for CACR32 with treason, rebellion, and insurrection. Ironically, those anti-independence legislators may have violated numerous laws when they made those threats. It turns out the the New Hampshire Constitution grants extra protection to the speech of lawmakers when acting in their legislative capacity:
“The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate, in either House of the Legislature, is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution, in any other Court or place whatsoever.”
Which leads to the next major issue with Steele’s statements…
In August 2022, Steele filed a complaint with the Ballot Law Commission, asking them to prevent the legislators who voted to allow a vote on independence from appearing on the ballot in the November elections. The New Hampshire State government’s board that deals with election laws ruled unanimously that her complaint had no merit. The BLC consists of seven members, including the Secretary of State and the Attorney General (though the AG was represented by his deputy at this hearing). The assistant Attorney General said at the hearing that the legislators clearly did not engage in anything resembling insurrection, rebellion, or treason, because such acts necessarily involve violence. And The legislators are all peaceful people and law-abiding citizens. And the legislation literally called for a vote on whether the state should “peaceably declare independence” from the union. If peaceably leaving a union is illegal, unilateral divorce from an abusive husband should certainly be illegal!
Now that the BLC officially ruled that legislation cannot be considered ‘insurrection’, we can expect many more legislators to openly support and vote in favor of placing independence on the ballot next time it’s introduced.
While admitting that she was defeated at the Ballot Law Commission, she optimistically told the producers that a state judge in New Mexico did recently remove a county commissioner from office for participating in the January 6th ‘insurrection’ at the DC Capitol. She implied that anything done in any state is inherently legitimate. I wish the producers would have asked her how she feels about Florida recently passing a law making it a crime to say the word ‘gay’ anywhere in the state.
Throughout the episode, Steele references the US Constitution a number of times, passionately displaying her fidelity to the federal government’s founding and governing document. If she really were such a stickler for the Constitution, how could she support the federal government’s infinite, perpetual, and increasingly severe violations of the US Constitution? Does she not realize that the DC politicians’ countless violations of their one small document of restrictions and their many vicious violations of human rights comprise the 100+ reasons so many people feel the only solution left is secession?
Steele sorrowfully told the NBC producers that she was afraid of libertarians reforming government-run schools by no longer using the threat of prison to force everyone to fund the indoctrination centers. The obvious solution would be to let those who wish to fund the schools do so, while not forcing anyone else to pay for a product they do not support. I love pizza and chicken wings, but I don’t use violence to force my neighbors to buy those things for me.
The producers and Steele all chuckled about how secession is totally impossible because without the brilliant DC politicians controlling our lives, we would have no government and would be totally lost, both economically and practically. Sadly, it seems that they did not understand that the State of New Hampshire already has a government, a Constitution, and every institution that a nation could need. (I believe that we have too many government institutions and could stand to downsize our state government, but that’s a discussion for another day.) Of course, they likely do not know that ‘state’ has been synonymous with ‘country’ for all of history and that the states entered into the alliance called the ‘united states’ while retaining roughly 99% sovereignty for themselves. In fact, Article 7 of the New Hampshire Constitution reads that “The people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in Congress assembled.”
The three DC apologists agreed that New Hampshire residents would not survive without federal money and would be totally lost in every area of life without DC politicians and regulators in the picture. In reality, far more money flows from NH to DC than from DC to NH. So, cutting ties with DC would keep much more money in our state. Of course, I explained in my many articles and books that Granite Staters are among the most hard-working and prosperous individuals in the world, we have the highest median household income in the union, and once we throw off the yoke of federal restraints, we’d become exponentially more prosperous. Without federal laws, our economy would boom exponentially.
Predictably, Steele references the infamous Supreme Court case of ‘Texas V White’. In an 1869 ruling about an unrelated issue, a federal judge mentioned that unilateral secession was not legal. Steele implies that the words of federal judges are inherently canon. I wonder if she would agree with the much more recent SCOTUS ruling that clarified that abortion is not a constitutional right.
Does Steele support all of these rulings, too?
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): This case declared that African Americans could not be considered US citizens and therefore had no legal rights. It also ruled that the Missouri Compromise, which banned slavery in certain territories, was unconstitutional. This court upheld slavery.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): This decision upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal,” which allowed for segregation in public facilities such as schools, transportation, and restaurants. This case was later overturned by Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
Korematsu v. United States (1944): This case upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, despite the fact that it violated their constitutional rights. This decision has been widely criticized for its discrimination against Japanese Americans and for failing to protect individual liberties during a time of crisis.
Bush v. Gore (2000): This case decided the outcome of the 2000 US presidential election, which was controversial due to the contested vote count in Florida. The Supreme Court’s decision effectively awarded the presidency to George W. Bush, despite the fact that his opponent, Al Gore, won the popular vote.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010): This case ruled that corporations and unions could spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns, under the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. This decision has been criticized for its impact on the integrity of US elections and for allowing the influence of money in politics to increase.
She claimed that because the DC Empire won the Civil War, the question of secession was settled. She seems to believe that might makes right. Again, this seems very disturbing, especially for abused women who wish to escape their abusers.
She claimed that secession would hurt her because if New Hampshire peacefully declared independence from the union, she would lose her US citizenship. This statement is either borne from malignant ignorance or malicious dishonesty. Any toddler could understand that being in a different country does not instantly revoke a person’s citizenship. Many people who are citizens of one country currently reside (even permanently) in other countries without any issues. And yes, Americans who retire to France still receive social security checks like any other senior. Furthermore, if Steele so wishes, she would be totally free to move back to the union once New Hampshire becomes independent. There would be no travel restrictions (especially not from the New Hampshire side). She would likely be able to move to Massachusetts or any other authoritarian progressive state without any trouble. She would even be able to visit New Hampshire whenever she wanted cheap liquor, legal fireworks, or a whiff of liberty. I discussed interstate travel in depth in a 2022 article.
The tyrannical threesome then turned their attention to guns. They were clearly distressed that New Hampshire has no restrictions on firearms, making it the #1 state for gun owners. One of the producers tried to recover a bit of credibility with libertarians by prefacing her statement with “I have been an NRA member and I have owned guns…and I understand the second amendment” before making it clear that she horribly misunderstands the second amendment. She actually claimed that it was not about defending against a tyrannical government. The founders and authors of the amendment would disagree, of course. Steele et al mocked one libertarian for carrying a pistol while playing a casual game of kickball. They didn’t mention that guns are used millions of times each year by peaceful citizens in self-defense, according to their own beloved federal Dept. of Justice. They also neglected to mention that people can be attacked while playing sports. Most recently, Congressman Steve Scalise, the US House majority whip, was shot and nearly killed by a deranged leftist while he was playing a baseball game. Scalise needed surgery and blood transfusions, but he survived. He and the other players may have fared better had they been carrying pistols while playing ball. While on the topic of guns, Steele made the classic error of assuming that all black long guns are ‘automatic weapons’. She acted as if all free staters carried M16s everywhere. First, if she is so afraid of armed citizens, she should move to NYC, where only cops can legally own guns. Second, automatic guns are essentially illegal for anyone (besides government officials) in the union to own. Third, I do believe, as every other free stater likely does, that machine guns should be totally legal for civilians to own. In fact, free staters recently helped pass a state law that prohibits state and local cops from assisting federal agents with the enforcement of gun control laws! Most (if not all) free staters reject all gun control. And we are only getting started. The House Majority Leader is a free stater, as are over 50 State Representatives. If you hate freedom and if you are afraid of guns, consider leaving New Hampshire.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Liberty Block or any of its members. We welcome all forms of serious feedback and debate.
