Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

"Josiah Warren's disillusionment led him to conclude that social harmony required a radical individualism that he labeled "the Sovereignty of the Individual." In his work Practical Details, Warren explained the meaning of this phrase: "Society must be so converted as to preserve the SOVEREIGNTY OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL inviolate. That it must avoid all combinations and connections of persons and interests, and all other arrangements which will not leave every individual at all times at liberty to dispose of his or her person, and time, and property in any manner in which his or her feelings or judgment may dictate, WITHOUT INVOLVING THE PERSONS OR INTERESTS OF OTHERS." Thus, Warren planted the seeds of a fundamentally individualist approach to society, which was further developed by the next generation. His protégé Benjamin Tucker expanded on this theory, maintaining that society did not exist—only individuals did."
—Wendy McElroy, "I the Person versus We the People"

This year has already been fairly exciting, and it is only 8 January as I'm writing this essay. Despite all the rage, some of us are getting ready to stop being rats in a cage.

This week I have been contacted by prospective investors in the VALIANT Community project in Oklahoma, been on Free Talk Live to discuss a Keene New Hampshire project growing up to join the work, and heard from a freedom enthusiast in Maine about two land parcels available there. The idea of freedom communities has never been more enthusiastically received, at least during my life. I also learned today about a parcel in the Paradox Valley of Colorado that would be very suitable.

Let me set that in a bit of context, which I think may be important. My anti-authoritarian roots include joining the committee against registration and the draft in 1979, being part of Students Against Militarism and Young Americans for Freedom at Columbia 1981-1982, and working very actively in the space migration movement since 1977. As Freeman Dyson once noted, "Once we get to the asteroid belt, the IRS will never find us."

In the last presidential election in which I voted, the candidate for whom I voted was Libertarian party nominee Ron Paul. Earlier this century, I worked for his campaigns in 2008 and 2012, though I did not choose to vote. Since then, I've tracked how tens of millions of Americans have withdrawn from the system, not filing tax papers, not voting, not being counted in the census. Roughly 123 million did not vote in 2018. I believe in 2019 about 115 did not file income tax papers, and 95 million were counted as " not in the work force" though only 41 million were receiving food stamps - meaning that 54 million or more Americans are making it work without being "employed" in some coercive, manipulated, heavily taxed occupation.

Back in 1991, all my illusions about how the American system actually works were eliminated, destroyed when I was falsely accused in February 1991 of "felony gambling promotion of a lottery" because of a lawful sweepstakes my friends in the Houston Space Society and I organised between May 1990 and December 1990 to give away a trip to the Mir space station. We had a contract with Glavkosmos in October 1990 for that purpose. In May 1991, the state of Texas attorney general and the Harris county Texas district attorney agreed to drop the false charges, admitting we had been conducting a sweepstakes the entire time. Nevertheless, my business was destroyed, and my finances ruined.

During the ensuing thirty years, I have been looking for a free country. I concluded by 2004 that there were none, and that in order to have a free country one would need to be created. With that idea in mind, I had joined Courtney Smith's New Country Foundation in 1995 when he founded it. He and I worked with Michael van Notten and Spencer MacCallum through 2002 on the Somali Free Port project and the Awdal Roads Company, but it was not possible to build a free port in Africa where we wanted to do so.

In 2004, at a meeting in Three Forks Montana, I helped draft the declaration of independence of the Free Mountain West. I continue to believe that the mountain communities of North America are the best hope for freedom. The spirit of the frontier and the determination of free people make these great places to live. Accordingly, I am focused mainly on Appalachia, Ozarkia, and Cordilleria for new freedom communities. I believe that by creating a network of these places, we will be able to build a free society, a voluntary social order, many new businesses, and a culture of individual liberty. No other place in the world that I've been is even close in terms of readiness to build freedom.

How it started: Voluntaryists & Agorists Living In Absolute Non-Aggression Today (VALIANT)

A memorial to Spencer MacCallum and some more details: VALIANT Too

A look at Howard Lichtman's project for New Hampshire and beyond: The Art of Liberty

Which States, Though?

Below is a map that I've presented several times, which I think is worth seeing again.

As you can see, places like Maryland, New Jersey, Hawai'i, big cities in New York state, and coastal California are extremely unlikely to be good places for freedom. Nor are the populations in Nevada and New Mexico as keenly pro-freedom as those in other parts of Appalachia, Ozarkia, and Cordilleria. I think much can be done in the bright green states above, which are " constitutional carry" states, meaning that they recognise no permit is ever needed by anyone to keep and bear arms.

Progress Report

Today we have a far more advanced business plan, about 50 pages, detailing the things we know about the property in Oklahoma and the people we're working with to make it happen. We just today picked up a new team member, and accountant who is very interested in investing and living in the VALIANT community in the Oklahoma Ozarks.

Our chief engineer, Mike Swatek, has done great work laying out the lots, identifying the issues with the property, and showing where the existing ATV paths can be best made into roads for the community. We've identified costs and opportunities related to developing the front of the property for a bed and breakfast, an agorist market, a campground, RV pull-throughs, and self storage sheds. We're looking at moving forward swiftly in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, we are also very happy to provide consulting and support services to anyone seeking to build a freedom community near themselves. In fact, I think the team in the Keene, New Hampshire area has nearly all the skills to implement the VALIANT project plan there, on the 70 acres we've located across the road from the gun club. So it should be possible to move forward quickly there and in many other places.

Some of those other places: Vancouver Island near Nanaimo; Alberta, Canada near Edmonton; Saskatchewan, Canada; Ontario, Canada north of Toronto; Maine; New Hampshire; Colorado; Montana; North Dakota; South Dakota; Texas; Wyoming; Missouri; Arkansas; Arizona; Mexico; Belize. What about near you? Let's talk! Please see my email address at the top of this essay.

What Next for America?

You've all seen the events of this week. Your interpretation may vary quite a bit depending on your personal outlook and views. I believe we have seen that election fraud is rampant, any process for reviewing the "results" of that election has been denied, and a very unpopular pair of Democrats are going to be shepherded into the White House at the end of January to institute an even more open campaign of violence against small business owners. Communism is being implemented in a big way, and there will be death camps near the major cities, especially in those areas shown in red on the previous map.

I don't mean to spend my time building freedom communities once the slave camps are set up. I intend to spend my time breaking into those camps and freeing the slaves. That will involve working with big rig truckers and others dedicated to freedom. It is going to be a constant battle to get people out of those camps and uphill to free places. It will also be important to build freedom communities on a strong foundation, not on the shifting sands of expedience, which is why building on bedrock in the mountains is so important, literally and figuratively.

The war on freedom goes back thousands of years. Ancient sites in Turkey reveal that 12,850 years ago people lived in freedom. About seven thousand years ago, that began to change. Authoritarian rule became widespread. People were enslaved. Wars became frequent sources of profit for a few. Since 1745, the propaganda campaign for a "social contract" and a " communist manifesto" have been pushed, very hard, by those oligarchs who see their power dissipating with the advent of technologies like the pistol, rifle, and rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The revolutions in industry and information have cemented the fear of losing power into the oligarchy, and they have opted for a vast orgy of enslavement and mass murder now in process.

To win our freedom and head out into the Solar System and the galaxy, we must be prepared to fight, to build, to live in new ways and with fewer rulers. We need effective escrow, effective dispute resolution, and effective decentralised finance especially of collateral like land and homes.

In sum, we need to build a free future.

Free the slaves. Stop the wars. End the state. You'll be glad you did.

 

Jim Davidson is an author, entrepreneur, actor, and director. He is 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. This week Jim learned that SubscribeStar.com/planetaryjim is working, so he'll be adding new things there soon. 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. Coming soon: FreedomLandDAO.com - under construction. Just arrived: FreedomDeFiSoftware.com