The problem I would see is a motivational one. Soldiers defending their country will be differently motivated from mercenaries:
Soldiers defending their country are motivated by patriotism. They even may do this as a profession, but still their motive is a calling. So they will find even when the odds have turned against them.
Mercenaries are however motivated by financial gain. They’ll will “cancel the contract” with their client, ones the odds are against them. While they’ll still try to extort money from that client.
Honestly I’ll don’t see that anarcho-capitalist defense model working. The closest one could come to a stateless defense model is perhaps the Swiss one. With all citizens carrying basic arms and supply. And some more expensive equipment owned by a the Swiss state. This is still a conscription army and draws from a clearly defined body of citizens. Since it is clearly defensive, this maybe even the most economic options thinkable.
I envision that the Liberty Colony PDA’s will function more like a skirmish line against a hostile attack and will not be designed or maintained to repel invasion unilaterally. Rather the individuals in the Liberty Colony will be the primary defenders and the PDA’s will encourage volunteer mlitia type organizations (think of volunteer fire departments) within the Colony to have some sort of organized defense.
I had not considered the possibility of the PDA’s having some heavier equipment that might be kept but only for the purpose of defense. Certain items that might require very minimal training to operate and could be stored and made available when needed. I am thinking along the lines here of small artillery and mortars which could be used reasonable effectively with minimal training. Also, simply having a stock pile of heavier weapons that could be brought out and distrubuted to the militia colonists, things like RPG’s and heavy machine guns would be effective as well.
I trade homebrewed (and stilled, respectively) beer, wine and liquor for food, mainly. That’s not illegal in PA, but the distilling itself is, and it is still unreported income. Also, if I do any manual labor I insist on being paid by other means than US dollars. I have a lot of favors owed to me, but it is done with people who understand the value of what we’re doing. I also know a privately liscensed mechanic who is willing to barter (I haven’t used his services yet, but will in the future), and have a lead to black market medicine sales (not hard at all to find - do a google search). Basically, I have several staples of day-to-day life which will continue to function even if the dollar were to fail completely tomorrow. It’s all very local and informal, but it works.
There are a lot of places with more formal Agorist communities, but none where I live as far as I know. The people I trade with are aware of the risks and rewards of what they’re doing, but with one exception they’re not really aware that they are acting counter-economically. Which I think backs up my point that people will be attracted to the counter-economy without being first converted to Agorism.
… An enemy needs to expect that invasion will be costly. AND any neighbours must be convinced that the settlers do not intend to invade their own territory. Militia associations would be a good idea. A well developed civil society should be able to provide what is commonly provided by the state in most countries at the moment.
That would emulate the Swiss model to some extent. At least as it was in the former times. The question remains on how any common defense against an invader would be motivated. What would happen, if only a small portion of the colony would be invaded? How would the other Colonists react?
I think in a more decentralized world, we’d see a lot of innovation in defensive technology. Not so sure that weapons of mediocore destruction like artillery or mortars would even be relevant. Those are area effect weapons. Remember, it’s the colonist’s land they are defending. They will want to defend it with a minimum of collateral and permanent damage possible.
That is a very good question. One would have to consider that the small portion of colonists under invasion might consider surrender if faced with bad or overwhelming odds, and no support from their fellow colonists. Ultimately, there would probably be some diplomacy, I wouldn’t rule out capitulation.
Most likely an assault against one part of the Colony would be simply the beginning of the assault against the rest of the Colony so the motivation is to help your neighbor because you know your house is next. Also, militias would most likely draw from the entire Colony and thus any attack would immediately involve a fair portion of the Colony to begin with. The PDA’s would be involved because most would have mutual defense portions as part of their contracts with each other.
As to the use of artillery or mortars, you may be right Liberty Student that those may not be optimal and I am sure much of the choice would depend on where the Liberty Colony was situated and the surrounding terrain.