If all the Classical Liberals, Ron Paul supporters, Ancaps and Minarchists in the USA heavily armed themselves, brought a large swath of land somewhere (such as New Hampshire), moved there, and declared themselves independent, and ready to fight and die for their liberty, how would the US government respond? Embargo them? Send in agents to infiltrate and undermine them? Send in the army for a Tiananmen style massacre?
Something like this happened in 1861.
If I had a cake and ate it, it can be concluded that I do not have it anymore. HHH
Conscript the masses in the name of preserving the union, fighting terrorism, and the fact myth that it will help create jobs and stimulate the economy.
“Since people are concerned that ‘X’ will not be provided, ‘X’ will naturally be provided by those who are concerned by its absence.""The sweetest of minds can harbor the harshest of men.”
http://voluntaryistreader.wordpress.org
Government would respond with A) propaganda to rally the US against them, B) extreme hostility and violence, C) red flag terrorism, agent provocateurs and all the works. There is no way on God's green earth that the US would ever allow a libertarian society. Most likely, the gov would simply watch and dismantle things during the planning phase--unless they found a way to profit from and limit liberties through allowing it to some extent and for a short period (or an extended never-ending-war type of thing like wars on drugs or terrorism).
Teh kitteh with the improvised helmet knows too much.
It depends upon exactly how the seceding area identified itself. If it attempted to perform much more of a combined a war of ideology and of victimization, then it may well win and convince the U.S government to simply give up the area. If it focuses too much upon militarization and isn't open and "press-ish" enough, then they may well be conquered. With this said no force that is not directly assigned with the task of destruction and mass murder can possibly maintain stable order against a steadfast and wealthy population. The images of American soldiers killing American civilians over a mass liberty movement in our day could well result in disastor for the state.
My guess, they would treat it just like the Tea party, "they're all racists" then they'd send agents in posing as libertopians to blatently and systematically kill people of various races leaving all kinds of evidence that they were "hate crimes". Once they convinced a good amount of the populace they would use whatever force necessary to crush it. My bet is they would kill large numbers for the sake of dissuading similar attempts in the future.
On second thought I doubt they would go that far to manufacture justification, unless the group had huge public support, they'd probably just crush it and then make up stories about what atrocities occured there later.
How about selling it to the Democrats as a way to cut 5-10 million from the Republican voter base (of voters for the two main parties, Republicans would be more likely to move to a libertopia than Democrats). It could also be sold to the US as a solution to illegal immigration: all the illegal immigrants would be allowed to immigrate legally to libertopia and work there. To fight off claims of racism, a PR agency could be hired, nationwide advertising campaigns run, a black lesbian placed as Head Of nonState, etc. Imagine this: Detroit, Michigan. Some black teenagers in a room celebrating the twenty-first birthday of one of them with some marijuana. Swat team bursts in, violently manhandles them, drags them away. Bullets of text appear on screen, Arrested for Possession, some statistics about alcohol being responsible for far more deaths and injuries than marijuana, shot of the black kid being put in a cell, 5 Years, bullet list of all the violence and abuse he encounters in prison, statistics on how this will impact his life in future, maybe a shot of his mother or another close family member looking sadly at a childhood picture of him and longing for his release. Then, cuts to Wall Street, New York. Shot of a banking executive snorting cocaine, fervidly betting on some derivatives or something similar. The stock ticker crashes, an voice in the background is describing the loss in jobs, pensions etc. that the executive's misjudgment and greed has caused. Executive looking upset, thinking of how he'll be fired and fined for this failure, whatever. Then, he has an idea. Picks up a phone, calls his buddy in Washington. A shot of some money changing hands. Then, cuts to the executive and his company receiving encouraging words and a bailout from some government officials. Cuts to the incarcerated black kid's mother, hearing news that her pension/savings have been wiped out in the crash of executive's company, and there's nothing she can do to get it back. A shot of the executive laughing over cocktails with a government official. The bolded text This Is Justice superimposed over a blank background. The final frame: Disagree? Then vote with your feet.