☆ How Houston, Las Vegas, and NH encourage personal liberty: Lessons from a local Libertarian

SCC Libertarian Party Campaigns Committee chair Brian Holtz explains the unique legislative frameworks he admires in Houston, Las Vegas, and New Hampshire — and why excessive restrictions and taxation are antithetical to a free California. An Opp Now exclusive.

Opportunity Now: Do you have any examples of U.S. cities that have libertarian-leaning policies (or a lack thereof) that you like? What are those policies?

Brian Holtz: Libertarians like to cite Houston as an example due to their lack of zoning laws. This means they have very modest restrictions on building. They’re a large, modern, successful city, and they’ve effectively navigated the housing industry without restricting zoning.

As another obvious example, Las Vegas has no vice laws. Vice laws are the policies designed to protect you from your own choices about your own body and own money. They’re often silly and heavy-handed. Very few places encourage a similar level of personal freedom that Vegas does in removing vice laws entirely. Now, Vegas isn’t for everybody. But its experiences illustrate that adults can operate without vice laws.

Finally, New Hampshire in general, traditionally a very open-minded place, now has a core group of Libertarians living there. It was chosen (voted on) years ago by the Free State Project as an ideal state to which for liberty-minded folks could move and live as a community. This is because New Hampshire has no income tax. It’s very business friendly. And a high percentage of the state’s revenue comes from property taxes; many Libertarian economists agree that property taxes are the least bad or disruptive kind of taxes. (On the other hand, California has one of the highest state income and sales taxes — even worse than our real estate taxes.)

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