How a Libertarian Utopia Was Ruined by Bears

Libertarians often fetishize freedom from government.

They preach that we should minimize government services, maximize personal liberty, and deregulate markets.

It isn't that these initiatives are devoid of all merit. It's that puritanical devotion to any ideology blinds people to the messy realities of collective living.

And in this case, they failed to account for bears — lots, and lots, of bears.

"I'm tired of taxes and this nanny state."

The Free Town project was part of the "Free State Movement," which began in the early 2000s.

They aimed to make a state 99% free from government oversight and taxation.

They decided to run a pilot program on a town to prove it could work. They shopped towns in New Hampshire based on its "Live Free Or Die" motto.

They chose Grafton, a sleepy rural town with a population of 1000. It was a safe haven for eccentric conservatives, who they wagered would be receptive to this new system.

The 1300 free towners moved to Grafton and quickly took over their local politics. Surprisingly, the locals were deeply aggravated by their presence. Shouting contests broke out in town hall.

The invaders won. And the town's already barebones $1M budget was cut by 30% — despite the population more than doubling that year. Fire departments and emergency response teams were stripped bare. They reduced the police force to one cop. Repairs for street lights and roads were halted.

With the absence of government services, the town declined in every important measure. Civil unrest and domestic disputes went up. Potholes weren't fixed and cars were getting flat tires.

Trash was everywhere. There were several fires. There'd never been a murder in Grafton. They had two within the first year. The town saw the arrival of 14 additional sex offenders and dozens of felons. Unsurprisingly, crimes increased exponentially.

The one policeman's car broke down and there was no budget to fix it. He couldn't respond to emergencies in any quick order.

Where were these dudes living? Who were they?

The 1300 free towners were mostly white and male (which is highly consistent with libertarianism — it's one of the%20identify%20as%20Catholic.+) least diverse political affiliations). They'd organized via message boards online. Their material wealth varied greatly and that played out in their living situations.

Some bought the actual houses. Others lived in modified tent communities that were only a small step up in quality from skid row. Some lived in shipping containers. A few cobbled together shacks in the woods. Others built small huts.

These communities were prone to tons of infighting and drug use. But it was the trash, ironically, that became their undoing.

The locals didn't want the government making them pay for waste services. People emptied their trash into backyards, tossing it to the side. And this exposed an immediate and glaring flaw in their ideological approach.

And then the bears came

With loose house infrastructure and unsecured food (refrigerators/freezers), and food waste, it was only a matter of time.

A bear's sense of smell is seven times better than a trained bloodhound, and 2100 times better than a human's. Smell is how these creatures navigate the world.

Unsecured food, and trash is a magnet for bears. They have no qualms with long passed expiration dates.

Additionally, most people don't realize that a bear's intelligence rivals that of a primate (predators tend to be much smarter than prey). Their IQ rises when it comes to food. They're wired to troubleshoot problems and adjust their behavior towards humans. Pending hibernation keeps them in a perpetual state of voracious hunger.

They began trickling in within the first six months. By the end of the year, there were tons bears.

Meanwhile, the animal control budget was gutted. People were left to deal with the problem. Some set traps to hurt the bears. Others threw firecrackers at them to scare them off. A few residents shot the bears.

And other people thought the bears were cute and left food out for them. One woman had the nickname "doughnut lady". She routinely left sugared donuts in her yard for the bears. There were no officials to educate her on the broader ramifications of this behavior.

These same bears began to assume every human owed them donuts.

Notably, these were black bears, which are typically not aggressive towards humans.

But they were everywhere and got bolder over time. The ordinarily skittish predators were now ignoring loud noises. They sat on front porches and yards. The free towner's goats and sheep were disappearing. One bear snatched a woman's cat right out of her front yard. They were breaking into homes and mauling tents.

And for the first time in 100 years, there were recorded black bear attacks in the area. The three attacks led to serious injuries but, thankfully, no fatalities.

After rising complaints and concerns from regional authorities, public sentiment towards the project shifted and it unraveled.

These free towners faced the reality that blind faith in any one ideology invariably runs headlong into the realities of living. Life cannot be placed in a neat ideological box.

Government certainly has its share of waste. And even further, cutting spending feels like a political impossibility, even in the face of massive, obvious excess.

But most government services serve key, fundamental purposes. They weren't developed in a vacuum and without broader consideration.

In the absence of government, society quickly deteriorates to a medieval, feudal society. Man and nature get too close, both in proximity and in mindset.

For example, some of these free towners wanted to legalize duels and consensual cannibalism. Meanwhile, they didn't want to pay to fix the lone police car.

You can't settle for one fire truck. It works until there's an actual fire but the only truck is far away, getting trolled by some cat in a tree.

With zero minimum wage, you end up with desperate people taking borderline slave labor positions. Complete deregulation is the father of exploitation.

There's a striking overconfidence in so many citizens these days. Does nobody doubt their beliefs anymore? Everyone seems so certain that their ideas would solve all of our problems. Life isn't keen on absolutes.

Solutions born on social media and message boards don't pan out well in the fresh air. Unless you are a local, dispassionate bear, who likes the smell of donuts.

Source/Further Reading: A Libertarian Walks Into A Bar by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling