Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

"The people to whom your fathers told of the living God, and taught to call 'Father,' and whom the sons now seek to despoil and destroy, are crying aloud to Him in their time of trouble; and He will keep His promise, and will listen to the voices of His Hawai'ian children lamenting for their homes."
— Queen Liliuokalani Of Hawai'i

What Is the Igloo Luau?

The Igloo Luau is an event being organised for late September. We feel that people in the Free Mountain West should have a gathering, a festival, and a time for enjoying the traditional activities and crafts and foods of the Rocky Mountains. Our festival will include musical acts, speakers, presentations of crafts, and contests. Our goal is to bring people together in celebration of freedom, free markets, and the opportunities and possibilities of working together toward a better future.

Why Have a Luau?

The tradtional lifestyle of the people of Hawai'i did not allow men and women to eat together. However, in 1819, King Kamehameha II removed all the religious prohibitions and in an act of great symbolism ate a meal with women. Since then the luau has been a traditional Hawai'ian celebration of their freedom.  Traditional foods are served, including kalua pig, salmon, and beer. Music and dancing are included. All these things are part of a way of life even further West than the Rocky Mountains.

When Is the Igloo Luau?

We are gathering on Thursday 24 September 2020 in the evening. We plan to have a musical event on Friday evening, perhaps with a band or musical guest of some fame. There will be crafts and games and contests on both Friday and Saturday. Saturday evening will include a luau with roast pig, dancing of all kinds, and music provided by a DJ. There will be a "dead dog" party at noon on Sunday 27 September. After that, you can stay, leave, or jump in the river (there is a river!) because you were always free and sovereign.

Where Is It?

We are currently working to reserve a campground near Bedrock, Colorado and make arrangements for hotel space nearby. We are also working on negotiating deals for overflow space in Naturita, Colorado and possibly in Moab, Utah.

Who Is Involved?

Our first corporate sponsor is CryptoHippie.com which provides a multi-jurisdiction, multi-hop virtual privacy network for people who want communications privacy and data security in their work and web browsing. We are also sponsored by BedrockBeef.com.

The organisers of the event are Dr. Freckles Global Tontine Club, the Houston Space Society, and the Resilient Ways Foundation. Our main goal is that everyone have fun.

How Do I Get Involved?

You can get access to all the events, except the special musical performance on Friday evening which we are arranging with a music promoter in the valley, for a one-time all-in-one fee of $100 for adults and $50 for children 12 and under. That includes the luau meal and dance party on Saturday night, the dead dog party on Sunday, and access to all the crafts, vendors, booths, contests, and activities. Individual vendors may charge for their wares and activities at their booths or conducted through them.

We are working to include horseback riding, a petting zoo, demonstrations of quilting, knitting, soap making, candle making, metal forging, leather working, wood working, jewellery making, 3D printing, and other crafts. We are eager to include vendors who get two adult passes and 25% off additional passes with space for their wares for $220. Corporate sponsorships are also available.

We want to encourage crafts, so vendors showcasing crafts get an additional discount.  We want to encourage musical acts, so if you sing, dance, or wish to speak or otherwise be part of the programme, please be in touch.

We are working with local people on a gun range for Friday and Saturday, afternoon hours only (noon to 5 pm) to avoid being too noisy. We are also working on an archery and tomahawk range for Friday and Saturday. Depending on how these arrangements work out, the range safety team may charge an additional fee.

What If I'm Poor?

We want to help crowd fund the participation of people who have financial difficulties. We're well aware that 40 million people were thrown out of work by state actions this year, and so if you are struggling to get to the event, or need a fellowship to pay for your costs of participating, we're very eager to help you set up to get the help you need. As well, we are working to arrange car pools and caravans from different parts of the country, so people can travel to the event together.

Please don't let your poverty or any other aspect of your situation interfere with being involved. We think this event is going to be the first in a series, but it may be a once in a lifetime opportunity - 2020 is being one of those years where many things happen that seem to change everything.

What Is Gearing Back?

Gearing back is a term from the book 1632 by Eric Flint. Published in 2000, it discusses a time travel event caused by a cosmic art experiment gone wrong. A circle of special energy some miles in circumference takes a community in West Virginia in the 1990s back to the Thuringinwald in 1631. In the novel, the local people develop simpler ways of doing things that still work, knowing that their 20th Century technology has a lot of parts that wear out.

Gearing back means preparing for a future without centralised power systems, or without centralised surveillance systems, or without a huge invasive socialist government encroaching on every aspect of freedom. Some events, like a supervolcano eruption or earthquake or war or Carrington event or electromagnetic pulse can take down large parts of the infrastructure of technological civilisation.

But, remember, our recent ancestors built the technologies we see today. In many cases they built carefully and well, keeping things local, making sure that people knew how to keep things running. Later, especially in the early 20th Century, much effort was made to centralise and, thereby, make fragile all kinds of systems. There was an economic myth of "economies of scale" which were captured by those who ran government-granted monopolies and gave them opportunities to profit greatly. For many reasons, these monopolies are going away.

We think the Igloo Luau is an opportunity to get in touch with older ways of doing things. What if the grocery stores were empty for three or four years? How would you get food? Identify edible things in the wild? Locate edible mushrooms? Make tools? Communicate over long distances? Travel?

People three hundred years ago (1720) had large steam engines, complex hydraulic systems for pumping water, and many scientific methods for working in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Two hundred years ago people had incandescent lighting, gas lighting, and were working on telegraph systems, railways, and steam ships. A hundred years ago, submersible ships, aircraft, high altitude rockets, and radio communications were commonplace, and television was an experiment coming soon.

In gearing back and making robust, decentralised systems available, we have the knowledge of today and a vast array of failed experiments in community building to look at. We can learn and teach from a very different perspective because we know so much more today than we knew then. Including a great deal about what not to do.

It is in that spirit of possibility and discovery that your hosts invite you to attend Igloo Luau 2020.

 

Jim Davidson is an author, entrepreneur, actor, and director. He is the cfo of KanehCN3.com and the vision director of HoustonSpaceSociety.net You can find him on Twitter.com/planetaryjim as well as Pocket.app and Flote.app also as planetaryjim. He appreciates any support you can provide as times are very difficult. See the Paypal link on this page. Or email your humble author to offer other choices. Visit IglooLuau.com for more information. Those seeking a multi-jurisdiction multi-hop VPN for communications privacy please visit https://secure.cryptohippie.com/houstonspacesociety.php For those seeking colloidal silver try ppmSilver.com/Jim Ask Jim about CryptoWealth.