The Boston Globe reports that a libertarian has been elected to the New Hampshire legislature:
He embraced libertarianism in his late teens and early 20s after reading Ayn Rand and the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein , from whom, he said, he learned the value of individual responsibility. Among Winters’s principal political concerns is individual privacy. He does not carry a cell-phone, and he prefers not to use credit cards or ATM machines because, he said, they create a map of a person’s movements.
“I am not willing to have my life turned into a bunch of 0’s and 1’s,” he said.
A key plank of his campaign was opposition to the federal Real ID Act, which mandates that states impose stricter identification requirements for driver’s licenses, a move that some say could lead to institution of a national ID card. Winter says he decided to run when the Republican-controlled state Senate last year rejected legislation that would have exempted the state from some of the law’s requirements.
Another interesting aspect of the story is that he ran as a Democrat:
Democrats say they are pleased to have Winters in their fold, which next session will count 271 members in the House. They note, though, that he has promised to toe the party line.
“Joel is a unique Democrat,” said Mike Brunelle , a newly elected House member and vice chairman of the Manchester Democrats. “But he is a Democrat.”
I have a feeling the local Democrats might be disappointed if they expect him to “toe the party line” on all issues. It should be interesting.
