On Monday, October 25th, Elliot “Alu” Axelman argued in favor of New Hampshire declaring independence from the union. Zachary Hampl argued the negative – that we should remain in the union. Both participants are authors and members of the broader New Hampshire liberty movement. The debate took place at 7 PM at the SHELL, a libertarian event center in Rollinsford, NH. The Live Free & Debate Series at the SHELL was created as a satellite to the original SoHo debate forum in conjunction with Gene Epstein himself. 

Alu is one of the loudest pro-independence voices in the united states, and this was his first formal debate. He created libertyblock.com in 2017 as a radio host on 1490 WGCH in southwest Connecticut. He moved to New Hampshire in late 2017 and began to shift the site’s focus to the live free or die state. Today, the site is the #2 most visited website based in New Hampshire, and he has reached millions of readers and listeners with his articles, videos, and podcasts since 2017. His current roles include owner, director, and editor-in-chief of The Liberty Block. His work has been featured on OANN, Tim Pool, Karlyn Borysenko, and many other shows. 

Alu has published 6 books, all of which relate to secession, and he is always working on another book about liberty and/or independence. His hundreds of articles include dozens relating to secession. Alu is a critical care/flight certified paramedic, FTO, adjunct EMS instructor, and has worked in EMS since 2011. Alu identifies as a voluntaryist. 

As per Zachary James Hampl’s own words, he is “a diehard conspiracy theorist and political force to be reckoned with. Mostly working as a slick entrepreneur, his extensive extracurricular history supersedes traditional private practices of freelance filmmaking, graphic arts, and multimedia entertainment. After becoming a published author in 2019, he was recognized as an ultra proponent of free-market venture capitalism in American economics. Boldly declaring himself as an absolute anti-communist and pro-industrialist for commercial enterprises in urban development, his passion for Liberty and Freedom largely drives each aspect of his life. 

Adaptive and cunning to the minarchist libertarian philosophy, he was involved with the Young Americans For Liberty in the State of Vermont while double majoring in psychology/social sciences and held a minor in health sciences before moving to New Hampshire where he began a medical career on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. His current roles and qualifications include EMS, phlebotomy, and extracorporeal shockwave therapy to cure erectile dysfunction. Additionally, he exercises his SCUBA diving certification during what little free time he has and will stop at nothing to pursue graduate school. This is his first formal debate.”