Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
—ancient wisdom

My very great kudos and appreciation today go to L. Neil Smith, Yiing Boardman, and all the others who participated in the very first issue of The Libertarian Enterprise (TLE). It was a long, long time ago. The year 1995 seems like a dream time, to me, looking back.

As I recall, I took inspiration from that issue and wrote a book review of my friend Bob Boardman's very good book “Light Your Own Fire” which I still think deserves attention from science fiction fans. Happily, the book review was published in TLE and a few hundred of my other essays and letters have been, as well, over the years.

Some important things have happened here in these “pages.” Jason Sorens chose this site to announce his Free State Project. Of course, that became a bastion of north-eastern orthodoxy and remains a disappointment to those of us who were rallying for the Free Mountain West. I know they think they have 20,000 persons who have agreed to move to New Hampshire, but I happen to know that I'm at least 5 of those with differing email addresses, and since they failed to get their 20,000 movers before the 2006 election or even the 2016 election, I don't believe the commitment to move is applicable. Even so, it is an interesting idea, voting yourselves to freedom. And it got started right here in TLE.

More recently, my friend Sonora Jack and I met for the first time in “meat space” at the Jackelope Freedom Festival in Arizona. A few weeks ago, Jack announced his Caledonia project in the pages of TLE. I think it's a good idea to organise.

After all, one of my favourite essays published here, State Busting for Fun and Profit, was all about mutual aid, which is one of the bases on which the new Caledonia project stands. There have, of course, “been so many.”

There have been a number of editors of the Enterprise, but the longevity award goes to our fearless Ken Holder. He does a lot of good work, and y'all should throw him a few samoleans.

Well, that's all for me right now. I've got projects to get after. There's a new 3D printing of structures concept that looks wizard for providing low-income housing. I found out this week that a billion people have substandard or no housing, which seems like quite a market to pursue. Plus there's a new entertainment company working to roll up talent agencies and compete with William Morris agency but with smarter contracts, factoring, and other good things for writers, producers, and entertainers.

Perhaps in another thousand issues, TLE will announce the first hotel on the Moon. Many things are possible.

Jim Davidson is an author, entrepreneur, public speaker, private equity aficionado, member of the Dayton meeting of Friends, and currently the chief financial officer of DialogueKey.com and vision director for HoustonSpaceSociety.net