Saturday, July 19, 2008

An Island Ragnar Danneskjöld would Love.

As private wealth increases there may be people or groups of people capable of creating an island state free of national sovereignty. This fantasy makes the libertarians ga ga. I agree with this author that the problems would quickly overwhelm the project's libertarian goals.

Wealthy people could probably bribe some African countries to cede sovereignty over certain uninhabited islands to them right now. But as soon as people got there the old problems would arise regardless of what people agreed to before hand.

The Mayflower Compact was quickly amended when the socialist plan went wrong (as the WSJ joyfully reprints the change in procedures every Thanksgiving).

The hippy Left in the 60's dreamt of taking over a small state like Vermont by mass migration and creating its own socialist Eden. They have succeeded in making Vermont a left-wing outlier but it loses jobs and still has the same problems as every place else. Prostitution and drug use are still illegal there and gun possession and private property ubiquitous.

The libertarians will do no better in their island fastness; even though I prefer libertarianism to hippie socialism. Old Adam dooms the project. Original Sin will be with us always as we bring our own snakes to the Garden.

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