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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Are the colonists allowed to bear arms in the same capacity as the PDA? Is there a real counterweight here?
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.
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.
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.
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.
My main problem with this is that there is no place left that is easily habitable and lacks habitation. So are we talking about an invasion of some sort?
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.