Sometimes anarchists talk about forming liberty colonies or seasteading. The goal being to find somewhere, anywhere outside of state jurisdiction, or prime for micro-secession from the monopoly institution of state.
The one place that provides an escape from the state and the scarcity of “property” (in the loosest sense, elbow room) is space.
Sure, it might not be feasible to live generationally on space ships or stations. Sure, there may not be many or any easily habitable planets. But it seems to me that we’re getting closer and closer to commercial space travel. And when that day happens, someone is going to wander off the accepted and beaten path, and attempt to blaze their own trail. It’s quite likely many will.
My goal is to never stop looking upwards with hope no matter how much the state wants me to focus my gaze down.
I’m bringing this up because (1) I am in a sci-fi mood lately, (2) libertarians/austrians/anarchists seem to do a lot more staring backwards than forwards, and (3) a young fella on the Mises Forums inspired it.
We have the same problem in Canada. People have no concept of what their rights are, and thus have no drive to defend them against state encroachment and exploitation. Now is the time to organize and push back against Leviathan.
I don’t have the time right now to do all of the research, but specific data won’t undermine the premise of this post.
If it takes 20 Palestinian “terrorists” to kill an Israeli, does this mean the Palestinians are really bad at terrorism? I’m the last guy to justify violence by anyone but the math simply does not add up. 7,000+ rockets over 8 years, but only 20 Israeli fatalities. Contrast that with thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of Israeli force during the same period.
Typically, we assume a single rocket (like a single terrorist/suicide bomber) to be capable of harming or killing more than one person. To the layman, or someone educated by the western media, 7,000 rockets is synonymous with at least 7,000 deaths. The facts don’t bear this out. And when one looks at these pathetic rockets, it’s a wonder they haven’t killed more than 20 some people by what can only be called sheer random chance.
Contrast that with American made bombs. The per bomb death totals, even the aggregate totals are never revealed. How many bombs will Israel drop on Gaza? How many people will die?
Obviously, I have sympathies for the Palestinians. I also have sympathies for Israelis. There are ways these conflicts can be solved without violence. But as long as the killing is distorted as justice, such resolutions will never become possible.
One positive outcome of this recent mass slaughter in Gaza, is that the world is re-aligning against dramatic and massive use of military force. Shock and awe is giving way to shock and horror.
As the global depression deepens, it’s important for those of us who would champion liberty to remind everyone that declining prosperity has definitely come at the expense of military adventurism, empire and conquest for the elites.
Juan @ the Mises Forums posted up a link from a site I have visited through some other sources before.
It’s a list of obscure tax havens. When I first looked through it, Nevis caught my eye (it’s near the beginning of the article). A new habit of mine, when considering any country as a destination, is to head over to NoState.com’s Renunciant Resource page, to check the viability of surrendering citizenship and/or gaining stateless status in that country.
Unfortunately, Nevis doesn’t pass the renunciant test, however I did also visit it’s Wikipedia page, to find out that like most small countries so-called “financial services” are a growth area, and a leading sector of the economy. Financial services is a creative way of saying that these countries attract capital by offering financial freedom, either with tax sheltering, low taxes, no taxes, creative incorporation schemes etc.
A small joint like Nevis doesn’t need an imperial army, or massive redistributive schemes. There aren’t thousands of miles of highway to maintain. The obscure tax haven article makes mention that one might be able to purchase citizenship quickly.
