They pick up a few nutsoes around Idaho every now and then, but ever since they closed down that bunch up north and sold the compound there hasn't been much activity at all. No more than, say, Indiana.

Yeah, there are still Birchers and such, and compared to the bunch currently in Washington the Libertarian message seems more and more attractive, but as I said, the real nuts don't seem to be any more than when I lived in Ohio or Indiana or Kentucky.

As for the gun control issue -- this seems to me to be an urban-vs.-rural problem: there is a LOT of open land here, in WY and MT, many farms and ranches, and a population that has traditionally used firearms for hunting and, yes, family and personal protection (as I've said before, I'd use a sword and do up the baddies en brouchette).

But I think that the author of such books as the one under discussion, those who want a "free state" (whatever that is) such as some are or were trying to establish in New Hampshire, are seriously deluding themselves about a lot of things.

Remember: most people interact with people who believe the same things. This leads to the incorrect assumption that because "my friends all believe this" everyone believes it.