“Live Free or Die” is the motto on every New Hampshire license plate. You can easily read it on the car in front of you if you happen to be at a McDonald’s drive-through waiting for your Angus Deluxe, with its 750 calories and 1,700 milligrams of sodium. Not that you would order it every day, but you could—just as you can in any other state in America.
Unlike the other non-right-to-work states that make up most of America, New Hampshire is making moves that will make it freer. Its legislature is prepared to pass right-to-work legislation this week, loosening the grip public-sector union leaders have over New Hampshire’s public-sector workers who love their freedom. It’s going to be quite a spring in New Hampshire.
Shifting gears, spring and freedom are the reason skiers come to New Hampshire to ski Tuckerman’s Ravine, for free.
In North Conway, New Hampshire, the snow has melted. But even this late in the season you can still get some paid ski-lift-accessed runs at Wildcat Mountain, located in Pinkham Notch within New Hampshire’s White Mountains. And for many skiers, the action is across the street at Mount Washington, “Home of the World’s Worst Weather.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLMPNj1HK_c For the adventurous, spring marks the beginning of the ski season at Tuckerman’s Ravine. It’s a skier’s rite of passage, attracting thousands on any given weekend to test their skills on the glacial cirque or headwall sloping as steep as 40 to 55 degrees, or simply to sit on the “lunch rocks” to take in the spectacular views and excitement. It’s their choice.
U.S. Forest Service rangers provide daily avalanche risk updates by 8:30 a.m. “People will ask, ‘Is the headwall open today?’ The headwall’s always open, regardless of whether we think it’s a good idea for someone to ski it,” ranger Justin Preisendorfer told the Concord Monitor. “We’re not in the business of controlling people or controlling the natural environment.”
Control is what public-sector union leaders have over public-sector workers in New Hampshire. Public-sector workers in New Hampshire currently pay dues to the public-sector union as part of the collective bargaining agreement. The new right-to-work legislation will give public-sector workers who are not part of the union a choice whether or not to have dues deducted from their paycheck.
If you can choose to order an Angus Deluxe or to ski Tuckerman’s Ravine in “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire, you should have control over how a union spends your money. Ending the automatic deduction from public-sector unions is where it all starts.
