It is one of my favorite lines from the movie the "Untouchables" and I found myself asking this question of myself often on my journey to understanding the nature of freedom. As I read the various authors and studied information on freedom I found that what I call the Freedom Movement was lacking any concrete action that would lead to the free society that we deserved.
As a student of history I took my cues from the early settlers of America who left their homeland in search of a place where freedom could flourish and I began to consider the idea of working to create a place of freedom in this world. This would be a real place, not an exercise on the internet, or an intellectual discussion but a place that once settled would by definition be the free society that we as free people deserve. As a place of economic and political freedom there is no doubt that it would flourish and once the power of freedom was unleashed it would grow rapidly.
The question becomes where can this place exist? The answer is that we must seek in this world where the forces of tyranny are weakest or for all practical purposes do not exist. Only in a place that is so dysfunctional can we expect to have the opportunity to establish a small beacon of freedom. We must go to this place with the idea of liberating ourselves and seeking only freedom. We seek no conflict and seek only to encourage our fellow man to embrace freedom as we have and liberate themselves.
I have established the Liberty Colony for the purpose of creating this free society. I present it here for the purposes of your discussion and your support. It is only through action that we can expect to have freedom. No one will give us freedom and we can not expect others to act on our behalf without support. We must take the steps toward securing our own liberty to which we were granted upon our existence.
I ask all of you for your support of the Liberty Colony and for those who will participate. Those of you not able to make the intial journey can support in many other ways. This is the opportunity we have been waiting for to stop talking about freedom and start creating it. The path ahead is not easy for nothing worth having is easily obtained. For too long we have talked of freedom while the tyranny encroaches at every turn. The site is www.libertycolony.com and I welcome your visit and encourage you to tell everyone you know that seeks freedom.
Good stuff. As long as this isn't in afghanistan or something. I hope english still goes.
I'll have a look at the website.
Edit: Is this an anarcho-capitalist or a minarchist endeavour?
Fred Furash: Good stuff. As long as this isn't in afghanistan or something. I hope english still goes. I'll have a look at the website. Edit: Is this an anarcho-capitalist or a minarchist endeavour?
Yeah this is a pretty amazing idea. To answer your question, on their website it says "a variety of groups to include conservatives, libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, minarchists and a variety of other variously named groups."
I guess that's not a definitive answer but they seem more anarchist leaning as they refer to themselves as a private defense agency and say that after a year they will allow colonists to patronize other PDAs.
As far as language goes, there is no place where the Colony could go and succeed where english would currently be the local language. As to the question of what type of movement this would be, the goal is to establish freedom not to create a lesser version of what already exists. I hate to use certain terms because people tend to feel excluded if they define themselves one way or another. Thanks for your comments and questions.
majevska:after a year they will allow colonists to patronize other PDAs.
There's a red flag.
The state won't go away once enough people want the state to go away, the state will effectively disappear once enough people no longer care that much whether it stays or goes. We don't need a revolution, we need millions of them.
histhasthai: majevska:after a year they will allow colonists to patronize other PDAs. There's a red flag.
What do you mean?
Market anarchist, Linux geek, aspiring Perl hacker, and student of the neo-Aristotelians, the classical individualist anarchists, and the Austrian school.
wombatron: What do you mean?
I mean that right from the get go, they're presuming to grant permissions. I know, it's their thing, they can do what they want, and what they think is necessary to make it work, but it's one of the few clues they give to the way they're handling it.
Now that I've seen the site, though, there's some bigger flags. Can't know where you're going till you get on the boat and are being taken there? That's a desperation move, and I ain't that desperate yet. Banning abortion? Not very anarcho-capitalist.
All they need now is to set a rule that you won't be able to communicate back to your family or friends once you're there, and they've got the perfect setup. Arbeit Macht Frei.
OK, that last was a bit unfair, but they'e asking for a hell of a lot of control over the colonist's lives and property. I can see a lot of ways this could go horribly bad, and a few ways it could go very well. I'll be happy to watch.
wombatron: histhasthai: majevska:after a year they will allow colonists to patronize other PDAs. There's a red flag. What do you mean?
I agree. The red flag is that they will have a monopoly over defense/arbitration for one year (and there is the possibility of them reneging on that promise). I'm not saying people should not go because of this. But this is obviously an enormous commitment and risk; there will be countless red flags for anyone seriously considering going. I am really excited about this and seriously considering it, but I wouldn't advise anyone to go without thinking long and hard and really internalizing and comprehending what they are doing.
His,
Thanks for your comments and viewing the site. It is not about granting permission, it is fairly straight forward that in the first year the intial Colonists agree to be governed by the intial PDA. After one year is expired they are released from that obligation and can do as they please. As far as the location being kept secret, well that is the difference between talking about doing something and actually doing it. In the real world tyranny is not an intellectual pursuit but something that has real teeth and has to considered. Colonists will have every opportunity to leave whenever they like and it is the reason that the intial payment to get to the Colony includes a return trip.
This is not something for the feint of heart or for those who lack the courage to put in action their convictions. As the site says we must depart with the same spirit that the early pilgrims had and with the same desire to succeed.
It's like a vacation at deathcamp Disneyland.
For $2,000 you get transport, one meal a day for 60 days, a shotgun, some rounds and a return trip.
Maxliberty:It is not about granting permission... i
Max, I understand that there's reasons for the choices you have to make, and applaud the "actually doing something" approach. The only problem I have with it is the double leap of faith, first that a colony of self-governing people can work - which I don't have any fundamental problem with - but second that you will be able to make it work, and that you have honest intentions. I have no reason to doubt that you do, but I also have no reason to believe that you do. The secrecy leaves me with no way to judge it.
Assuming you do have honest intentions, I wish you luck. I'll be interested to see how it works out, and grateful if you end up blazing a viable trail. But this isn't the way I want to do it, and from the point of view of being a colonist, essentially putting my life in some stranger's hands is not conducive to the goals I want to acheive. It's not about the "courage of my convictions", it's that I have no conviction that your approach is the correct one.
So is it Somalia?
Maj,
Thanks for the comments. It is true during the first year that the primary PDA will be the only established PDA but this is part of what the Colonists agree to when they join the Colony as part of that first 200. Having the PDA is designed much more for our defense than any other purpose. In the early days of the Colony, worrying about an overreaching PDA will be pretty well down on the list in the first year and after that point it will be mute.
liberty student:...deathcamp Disneyland. For $2,000 you get ... a shotgun, some rounds ....
Remember, always save the last one for yourself.
Lets look at the practical logistics. I propose we go somewhere and lets say you agree not knowing where it is. When we are ready to go we obviously have to meet somewhere to begin at which point you will know where we are going, if you dont like it then you can decide not to go. Or you could decide to turn around anywhere along the journey. The reality is that I am as in much in the hands of the Colonists as they are in mine. Remember there will be a 100 of us of which I am 1.
A few questions:
1) Are the colonists allowed to bear arms in the same capacity as the PDA? Is there a real counterweight here?
2) Why is abortion illegal? To increase reproduction rates? It is certainly not libertarian (demonstrably so) and goes against the most basic principle of self-ownership.
I know you don't want labels but I think it will be difficult to get anarchists (such as myself) unless there is some kind of prohibition on the establishment of a state (a state being defined as a coercively funded and maintained monopoly on defense/arbitration and taxation over a given territory). If you do that, you might alienate some minarchists and conservatives though. This is a possible problem. You see, anarchists will want a guarantee that there will not be an attempt from within to establish a state (which is why your temporary contractual monopoly is a bit troubling). Also, the abortion thing bothers me a little even though I don't plan on ever being involved in one.
Thanks for the questions.
1. There are no restrictions on what arms the colonists can have. There are some restrictions on the intial transportation of explosives but that is a transportation issue and not restricted upon reaching the Colony. The intial transportation of equipment will provide for the transportation of firearms and a shotgun is supplied for the express purpose of making sure everyone is at least minimally armed.
2. Abortion is illegal because the most reasonable defintion of the beginning of human life is at conception. We could debate this issue and probably some others forever and never come to an agreement. This is just one area that we can't resolve and we have to be willingly to move forward in spite of our disagreements on the matter.
maj,
I am leading, not forcing anyone. The intial contract is to make sure that when we go that we have everyone in basic agreement to what we are doing. It will be difficult enough without us fighting with each other. So the Liberty Colony is entirely voluntary and I simply propose the initial framework so that in fact there is no confusion about what we are doing and we all understand the framework we are operating in. Again, I am just one among 100 who are all armed with very libertarian views so its important that the intial group be pretty much in agreement on how we are going to handle things.
We are definitely not talking about invasion. We are talking about moving to an area of the world that is dysfunctional which will allow us to operate freely. The place is habitable and you should expect that we will have, almost immediately, involvement with people already living nearby. The key is not lack of people, but lack of functional and organized control.
Hell Yeaaa! I hope this gets off the ground. Way better than the Paul worshipping Paulville, we worship liberty not a person. I am there once I get through college, I'll bring guns, lots of them.
"The plans differ; the planners are all alike"
-Bastiat
Libertas est Veritas:So are we talking about an invasion of some sort?
I'm guessing Somalia. But Zimbabwe may be effectively without a government any time now (though more likely it'll be "meet the new boss"). Hell, a relatively wealthy individual could probably just buy Zimbabwe at this point.
Maybe Max bought Sealand, wasn't it up for sale recently, and refused to sell to Pirate Bay? Though I don't think that Sealand has 500 to 1000 acres on it - same for any other seastead/oil platform. Though that 5-10 acre stipend combined with the 100-200 colonist goal might indicate that they have exactly 1000 acres somewhere to be divided equally among however many colonists they have. That could be a clue.
Chase,
Thanks for the encouragement. Feel free to email me at [email protected] .
Also, there are other ways to help:
1. Spread the word about the site.
2. Help recruit colonists.
3. Help sponsor a specific Colonist or contibute to the general fund to pay for the Colonists. Every bit helps.
4. Volunteer to be a mod in the forums and post in the forums.
When do you get out of college?
I start in the fall so not until 2012 :(,
edit: now that I think of it I will leave after my 2 year degree if this thing really gets off the ground.So 2010.
When can we invest in SDK?
Where are the forums located?
I want that job training the PDA folks.
I know a little Spanish and have been to Jungle School down in Panama when I was in the 82nd.
You're not expecting any full out shoot em ups with drug lords or anything though?
Forums: http://freedomforum.libertycolony.com/
Yeah, I missed the 'freedom forum' link on the site.
All Colonists are committed to the principle that an attack against one Colonist is an attack against all Colonists. All Colonists are expected to come to the defense of any colonist whose property or person are attacked by any party outside the Colony. Failure to do so will result in the confisication of all property within the Colony and the offending party will be banished.
I don't think the pacifists will go for that one...
One problem I thought of is gender balance. If 95% of the first colonists are males this could lead to a lot of anger of rejected advances, disputes over "taken" females, problems with natives, and fights amongst us guys. I dunno, just throwing it out there. It may sound silly but it is something rather serious. I know this was a problem to some degree in the early American colonies and there is reason to suspect that the initial colonists will be disproportionately male.
Guys, please let's get rid of the browser validation. The forums (http://freedomforum.libertycolony.com/) don't work on Firefox here (I guess the Linux distro uses a different identification string), and I'm sure it won't work for Opera, Safari and other browsers:
An Error Has Occurred in the Application Incompatible Browser: Mozilla 1.0.8You are attempting to access the Forum using an unsupported browser. Only the following browsers are supported: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later FireFox 1.0 or later (same as Netscape 5.0 or later)
Equality before the law and material equality are not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time. -- F. A. Hayek in The Constitution of Liberty
Well there will be other people around besides the Colonists and also we create this Colony in the spirit of the early Pilgrims but we have enormous advantages. The Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock had a little over 100 people, they had no pictures or real information about where they were going and realistically no way back. We on the other hand will be able to travel and within 1-2 days be back visiting family or loved ones so there isn't nearly the sense of isolation that our forefathers faced.
Although the location of the Colony is a secret for operational security, but once established there will be enormous information available about the area and incredible opportunities for business and economic activity.
Anonymous Coward,
Thanks for the post. Please feel free to sign up as one of the first 100 Colonists and send me a summary of your qualifications. Something I will add to the site regarding the location of the Colony is that I do not expect and have no reason to believe that we will be treated with hostility upon our arrival or be in any immediate danger. In general the area is dysfunctional and anything could happen but I have no reason to anticipate conflict.
I read your post and visited your web site and its all crap. Why would anyone turn their life over to some group of people with no assurances of their right to defend themselves in a tribunal or address issues that may not be what they think freedom really is. No idea about how they would live or care for themselves or others, and no defense against an armed forced large enough to take what ever the group did manage to produce.
we must resist the borg
Thanks for the response and visiting the site. It is certainly the case that early Colonists will have to be self-reliant. As for turning your life over to some group....nothing could be further from the truth, as a Colonist you will enter the Colony voluntarily and can leave whenever you choose. Simply having some organization is not a limitation on freedom. The Colonists who go will have agreed in advance to this very minimal arrangement. The whole point of having some structure to start the Colony is to reduce conflict amongst the early Colonists. I have no doubt that the first 100 Colonists will not feel in any way that they have turned their life over to some group and in fact they will feel for the first time in their lives truly free and living by their own voluntary consent.
It will certainly take self-confidence to be one of the early Colonists. You have to believe in freedom, believe that it is possible, and believe in yourself.
I will see what I can do about the browser issue on the forum.
what is the reason for having to forfiet their property? You also failed to answer the defense question and the individual rights question
More power to anybody who is willing to jump on a boat destination unknown, grant authority to some external security force to trample over their "property" to look out for any hostile forces and have a tribunal of three people appointed by the SDK corporation decide over their fate. Sound like a bunch of b/s and money making to me.
How does a "potential" colonist know that the land they are going to inhabit isn't going to be taken back from them
If it is indeed some place like Somalia or some other African country....good luck!
Let's hyperthetically say that I as a single woman decide to move to this "destination unknown", assuming the hired security force (that I don't know anything about) are native people. Hyperthetically two of them, as they are walking/driving across my 5 acres looking out for possible hostile forces end up raping me. I get pregnant and now what? I can't even get an abortion? Doesn't sound very free to me.
As a woman, that choice should be left up to me. Not some corporation, religious cult or government.
Sometimes "majority" simply means that all the fools are on the same side
he's not talking about that king of freedom, I beleive he is talking about a person giving their consent to be free by their standards or something like that. Sounds like some kind of socialism with a dab of commie.
I would imagine that if you disagree with any of the rules or reguations that will govern this "colony", you are free to, ya know, not go. If you want the right to have an abortion, perhaps this project is not for you.
Just a thought.
dunkel: I would imagine that if you disagree with any of the rules or reguations that will govern this "colony", you are free to, ya know, not go. If you want the right to have an abortion, perhaps this project is not for you. Just a thought.
Also, the abortion rule may be a PDA-by-PDA issue. After the first year, other PDAs that allowed abortion may be formed. Sort of a Freidmanite thing. Correct me if I'm wrong.