What I Learned From My First Trip to the State House

I went to the New Hampshire State House for the first time on March 10th to support a constitutional amendment called CACR32. I handed out an informative flier to state reps and then sat in the gallery and watched the house session. What I learned about this strange cult shocked me. There were three things I thought were true before that day that turned out not to be true at all.

1. I thought the state reps wanted to balance their opinions with what their constituents and the people of New Hampshire want instead of just voting for what they want. 
2. I thought the state reps were supposed to work for (be representing) people who are alive and who live in New Hampshire.
3. I thought the state reps were supposed to read and comprehend the bills that they’re voting on.

The state reps often vote for their own or their party’s preferences, and not what the people want them to vote for. At least half of the reps would not even take my flier, Republican or Democrat. I had not met or seen the majority of them until that day, so they had no idea if they’d agree or be interested in what I was handing them. They knew I was a Granite Stater who cared enough to come to the statehouse at seven a.m. to hand them a flier but they didn’t even care to see what it was about. 

At lunch, my friend introduced me to Melissa Blasek. She is a republican state rep from Merrimack. I wasn’t going to ask her what she thought of the bill I was there to support until she actually brought it up by making a joke about how much the democrats hate the bill. So, she sounded friendly to the bill and I asked if she was going to vote in favor of the bill (more specifically, whether she planned to vote against the motion to kill the bill) that would let the people vote to grant or withdraw their consent to being governed by Washington DC. 

“No, I don’t think we’re ready for independence,” she said. 

I replied, “Okay, well you’re not voting on whether or not we should be independent today. You’re voting on whether or not it should go on the ballot for the people of New Hampshire to vote on independence.” She said that “that’s just what you activists are trying to make it seem like it is.” She told me that her vote is a reflection of her opinion on independence and she has to vote on what she believes. She said we don’t have ballot initiatives in New Hampshire and added that “California is a shit-hole state because they have ballot initiatives.”

This talk with Rep. Blasek really shattered the three preconceived notions  I had about how the system worked before that day. She was openly admitting that she believes she knows better than the people of New Hampshire and if the people got to decide things for themselves we would be a “shit hole state like California”. She was obviously voting for what she wanted and not what the people of New Hampshire wanted, but also protecting Washington DC’s status as our overlords by keeping the decision to leave out of the hands of the people. She also obviously didn’t read the bill herself if she thinks the idea that she was only voting that day to let the people of New Hampshire vote isn’t true because that’s exactly what the bill says in part II. It puts the question of Independence on the ballot in November for the people to vote on. If CACR32 didn’t get killed that day we wouldn’t have become independent, we would see what the Senate did with the bill and if it passed the Senate with 60% support, the question would go on the ballot in the general election. 

After inhaling my sandwich so I could get away from her, I headed back to the gallery. When the house came back in session, CACR32 was the next bill to be voted on. A republican representative, Al Baldasaro, motioned to table the bill. This motion sought to kill the bill with essentially zero debate. It was actually the Democrats who voted that down. Republican representative Brody Deshaies was overheard lamenting that it didn’t get tabled because he didn’t want to have to give his speech. He said the last time he spoke badly about the bill he had to deal with two weeks of hate mail and calls from constituents. Sounds like the people don’t approve of his “representation”!

A democrat was the first to get up and speak about the bill. He said we can’t leave the federal government because we are part of a “perpetual union,” so yes I wasn’t joking about these guys thinking they work for dead people before they work for you. He pointed to the picture in the hall of war criminal and racist, Abraham Lincoln, during his speech as if he was some sort of god we all need to worship and follow his ideals until we die. 

In the end, only thirteen brave representatives voted to give Granite Staters the ability to vote on whether or not they wanted to be ruled by distant tyrants in Washington DC. Those thirteen were the only ones who weren’t afraid of unlikely Washington DC retaliation against them and stood for their constituents who want to vote on this issue.

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.