Libertarians on the radio
Changes in my routine mean that I now listen to the radio more than I used to. So it was interesting to discover Counterpoint, a radio program, that whilst not necessarily libertarian does manage to presents a number of libertarians guests. I had certainly heard of Counterpoint but I hadn’t listened to it before. Ironically it is on the government funded ABC.
Their most recent libertarian guest was discussing seasteading. And before that they had one discussing the US Freedom Festival.
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Patri Friedman is the CEO of the seasteading institute, an ex-professional poker player, an ex-contributor to libertarian blog Catallarchy.net and Milton Friedman’s grandson.
How much more libertarian can one guy be?
Well… look… I’m a supporter of seasteading… but I need to share a dark secret about Patri. We met up in a pub in New York, and the man ordered tea. Yes. Tea.
Despite this, he could still be a good person, deep down. Let’s not give up on him just yet! Perhaps you could simply tell him about all the amazing things that red wine has been discovered to be doing for us?
I need to share a dark secret about John.
Once I got into a jelly wrestling match with 2 vicious Thai waitresses and he just sat and watched, never once came to my aid despite my obvious need for a tag-out.
And then a few weeks later when I got into a real fight with some Arab woman-beaters on the street in Hong Kong he just watched and sipped a Corona!
Worthless! If you live in a glass house don’t throw stones John!
Hmm. I recall the arab woman beater story I heard from John involving more mutual heroics. Perhaps my recollection is faulty.
Sea-steading is a nice idea… but its going no-where, and slowly. We have more chance of bringing about revolution on our own soil than trying to live off the sea.
What about under the sea?
Sea steading isn’t crazy. But you do unfortunately need to prepare to defend your claim with force.
The alternative is you’ll just get bitchslapped by the local tin pot dictator. Tonga actually had no claim to the reefs before Australia “got suspicious”. Their claim was as dubious as terra nullius was in Australia, or that northern Australia should be Indonesian or Chinese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Minerva
Basically Australia was complicit in the invasion and annexation of a sovereign nation through an unprovoked military expedition.
Our policy in the Pacific so far has been to smash libertarian micronations and implicitly support Commodore Baninarama.
“What about under the sea?”
For a minute there I was hoping you’d made a link to a Bioshock website
If someone does make an underwater libertarian society, let’s hope it turns out better than Andrew Ryan’s failed Objectivist utopia, Rapture.
I think even well armed sea platforms are a sitting duck for submarine attack.
Whilst we are on the issue of Tonga (also something of a micronation) it is worth noting that they were quite unique amoung the polyonesian islands in that the monarchy remained intact during european colonialism across the pacific. They did this by using flattery to sign mutual defence treaties with both the french and the british. They got some good advice on this matter from a european missionary man. I suspect the long term success of any new micronation will ultimately depend on being recognised by other larger nations. For a sizable cash payment Tonga would probably sell recognition.
The easiest way to set up a seastead would be to “sail” under the flag of a non-interventist country that sells their flags, like the Caymans or Vanuatu. Then just float around in international waters a long way from your “home” country, and make sure you prevent any association with international terrorism.
The biggest problem I can see in not how it would work, but the social issue of making the seasteads fun enough to attract a vibrant community and profitable enough to attract people who are used to the “good life”. To get over that barrier I think it needs a couple of wealthy backers willing to fund an “instant community”. And good internet access!
Cruise ships dont seem to have problems staffing and turning a profit on their on-board casinos, I dont see why a sea platform would be any different.
They could put down a well and tap the sea floor for oil and then sell it to passing tankers.
This shows that any new Minerva would need to be wise enough to arm itself. The wise Roman saying was ‘If you want peace, prepare for war.’ So some of the first citizens would need to be the best mercenaries that our money could buy.
And it would need a good spy network, so you would know what other nations plan to do about your insubordinate nation-building.
The best way would be to get rich, and found your own nation, and use up all your wealth to keep the new place going. your reward would be a mention in the history books, and to have some places named after you.
Seasteading you say? Yes I agree with JTH, gotta have good internet access. Oh and a beverage supply, good logistics wins wars and helps you get pissed.
How about island planting? Find a seamount that is very near the surface, and dunp rocks onto it, turning it into a harbour, where foreign ships might go for facilities and rest. A totally artificial Venice, if you will. If you are near a wind zone, you could have power to get water from the sea.