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Posted on 08/16/2011 11:28:05 AM PDT by Freeport
Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine.
Thiel has been a big backer of the Seasteading Institute, which seeks to build sovereign nations on oil rig-like platforms to occupy waters beyond the reach of law-of-the-sea treaties. The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place. Details says the experiment would be "a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."
"There are quite a lot of people who think it's not possible," Thiel said at a Seasteading Institute Conference in 2009, according to Details. (His first donation was in 2008, for $500,000.) "That's a good thing. We don't need to really worry about those people very much, because since they don't think it's possible they won't take us very seriously. And they will not actually try to stop us until it's too late."
The Seasteading Institute's Patri Friedman says the group plans to launch an office park off the San Francisco coast next year, with the first full-time settlements following seven years later.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“Maybe just enough for a big boat.”
Not big enough for a “society”. John F’n Kerry’s boat cost 7 million.
Without agricultural land for crops, livestock and consumables; they is gonna need one big ass import export tarriff agreement with foreign governments.
Energy? - solar won’t cut it.
Desalinization? - will require huge facilities.
Medical care and equipment?
If they are not totally self-sufficient they are going to have to pay some other country for all their emergencies.
Tax-payers beware!!!
since a manned Mars mission is not in the foreseeable future, this will have to do.
sign me up!
Since they will practice open borders, we can all live there.
2004 Libertarian Party Platform, on Immigration.
Immigration
The Issue: We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S. officials to create a new “Berlin Wall” which would keep them captive. We condemn the U.S. government’s policy of barring those refugees from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects.
The Principle: We hold that human rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of nationality. Undocumented non-citizens should not be denied the fundamental freedom to labor and to move about unmolested. Furthermore, immigration must not be restricted for reasons of race, religion, political creed, age or sexual preference. We oppose government welfare and resettlement payments to non-citizens just as we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons.
Solutions: We condemn massive roundups of Hispanic Americans and others by the federal government in its hunt for individuals not possessing required government documents. We strongly oppose all measures that punish employers who hire undocumented workers. Such measures repress free enterprise, harass workers, and systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics.
Transitional Action: We call for the elimination of all restrictions on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for all people who have entered the country illegally.
I am a rock
I am an island
Libertarians believe in armed self defense. (Heavily armed self defense) One of their first priorities would be defensive armament like this
No moral code = stealing and murder is legal.
“Oath of Fealty” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
“...no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons.”
Oh no, they are trying to re-create Somalia!
I was thinking of Rapture myself.
I have got to get around to finishing that game...
“The idea is for these countries to start from scratch—free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place.”
More like Lord Of The Flies for real.
I’m living on a cruising sailboat I picked up years ago for a song and earn the bulk of my income through the Net, self employed anywhere I get a cell signal; my cellphone is my only bill, unless I choose to tie to a marina. If I really had to I could live on $100mo. Right now I’m in a FL river with fishing and hunting at hand.
It’s not for everybody.
Hush, you. Quit raining on their parade. ;)
Do they plan to use oil as their primary energy, or mostly a combination of solar, wind, and wave?
I think for libertarians stealing and murder are illegal, but sex, drugs and rock and roll are not immoral.
So...What they will create will be the world’s first floating slum. I’ll pass.
The first key industry could likely be medical tourism, where the world's most skilled doctors flee Obamacare, lawyers, and huge insurance liability costs. Locating the country within a one hour flight from the USA would help.
One area to consider is south of the Bahamas, where the sea depth is less than 20 feet deep for hundreds of miles. New land could be dredged up and cemented for less cost than buying land.
...and it shall be called “Cobra Island”...
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