DadaOrwell
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New Hampshire's "outlaw manicurist" Mike Fisher got what he was after this week...his own arrest and a new focus on the legitimacy of business licensing.
His goal was to deliver a message: "In a free country, you do not need the government's permission to start a business."
On Monday May 9, Fisher chose to perform a manicure without a license, in front of the New Hampshire Board of Barbering. He had vowed to continue doing so "until they force me to stop" and was as good as his word. After giving him multiple avenues for retreat, Concord police reluctantly cuffed the 23-year-old Free Stater after he told them he would not voluntary stop performing the manicures nor appear in court if summoned.
Fisher had to spend one day in Merrimack county jail, but by the 11th his defiance of authority had generated coverage from every major media outlet in New Hampshire and many others outside the state. He made the front page of the state's main paper (the Union Leader), received hours of news and talk attention on the state's primary talk radio stations and was on the evening news at least three times WMUR, New Hampshire's main TV station. On Wednesday the Union Leader published a double-sized editorial against overzealous licensing and a sympathetic political cartoon depicting Fisher on a wanted poster.
At least 5 TV stations outside New Hampshire reported the event, as did The Liberator Online. The Free Staters themselves have a syndicated radio show which airs in about 9 markets around the U.S.; coverage there lasted all week.
Virtually all of the media attention was positive or neutral.
A sampling of coverage:
http://www.soulawakenings.com/under...p?page=Activists+to+Defy+State+Licensing+Laws
The question no one knows the answer to is...what's next?
More information on the libertarian migration to New Hampshire:
www.FreeStateProject.org
His goal was to deliver a message: "In a free country, you do not need the government's permission to start a business."
On Monday May 9, Fisher chose to perform a manicure without a license, in front of the New Hampshire Board of Barbering. He had vowed to continue doing so "until they force me to stop" and was as good as his word. After giving him multiple avenues for retreat, Concord police reluctantly cuffed the 23-year-old Free Stater after he told them he would not voluntary stop performing the manicures nor appear in court if summoned.
Fisher had to spend one day in Merrimack county jail, but by the 11th his defiance of authority had generated coverage from every major media outlet in New Hampshire and many others outside the state. He made the front page of the state's main paper (the Union Leader), received hours of news and talk attention on the state's primary talk radio stations and was on the evening news at least three times WMUR, New Hampshire's main TV station. On Wednesday the Union Leader published a double-sized editorial against overzealous licensing and a sympathetic political cartoon depicting Fisher on a wanted poster.
At least 5 TV stations outside New Hampshire reported the event, as did The Liberator Online. The Free Staters themselves have a syndicated radio show which airs in about 9 markets around the U.S.; coverage there lasted all week.
Virtually all of the media attention was positive or neutral.
A sampling of coverage:
http://www.soulawakenings.com/under...p?page=Activists+to+Defy+State+Licensing+Laws
The question no one knows the answer to is...what's next?
More information on the libertarian migration to New Hampshire:
www.FreeStateProject.org