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[E. Albright]

Or the formation of a continental army which fought all those battles the militia was too busy to fight.

Or the direct military intervention on the American continent of French regulars and naval forces in quite significant number.

For a more telling consideration of how well militias hold up against modern military forces, the consideration of Somalia or Afghanistan recommended above is more helpful... or looking at assorted guerrilla movements over the last several decades. Likewise for consideration of law enforcement.

And finally, in re: spaceflight and the like: hope you're happy with what we have now, because there's no way those sorts of systems would have been developed privately. There's too much massive, extremely long term investment against high risk with no ultimate guarantee of return on investment. Ever. If we get rid of the legal system that enforces patents and such for all the corporations who'd be forced in those cases to burn all that R & D capital... the corporate motivation to make something like this happen goes from slim to nil.

This is mostly boilerplate tragedy of the commons stuff.

On a more tangential and sarcastic note:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Rezan]

I'm an anarchist, and even I don't think society is ready for taking power from the government. We're all much too greedy, stupid and evil. After improving the level of education and empathy drastically, it would be a viable option for some countries.

Like Winston Churchill said; "The greatest argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

I think that applies doubly so to anarchism and libertarianism in general.

[chaoticag]

Taxes is like the house cleaning bill of a large mansion.

If they are paid you should not notice anything, and eventually things go wrong and you complain, little things that go wrong like the television breaking down and you get sick and tired of paying the cleaning bill, so what happens?

Dust is everywhere, disease is rampant, no one even wants to know what that thing over there is because no one can clean it by themselves, and why should they if they don't get paid for it. Then your computer breaks and you cannot play Dwarf Fortress and Liberal Crime squad and all bills get expensive and the cockeroaches mutate into some weird creature and EAT you!

[mainiac]

I'm an anarchist, and even I don't think society is ready for taking power from the government. We're all much too greedy, stupid and evil. After improving the level of education and empathy drastically, it would be a viable option for some countries.

Like Winston Churchill said; "The greatest argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

I think that applies doubly so to anarchism and libertarianism in general.

Are you sure you're an anarchist?

[Rezan]

Quite certain. The difference is that I am a realistic anarchist; not one of the ridiculous mainstream ones. I don't believe anarchism can truly be accomplished without elevating the level of intelligence, wisdom and compassion of our general populace. Only through ridding ourselves of hatred, ignorance and greed can we thrive as a society where everyone is equal.

Today's society is plagued with xenophobia, ignorance and greed. If we were to implement anarchism, then society as we know it would be destroyed utterly.

[Servant Corps]

Um.

I'm going to go out and show my anarchist colors by stating that if you believe that your political theory is accurate, that you form your own government and leave the US. After all, if your theory is right, you should be able to form a government and live a perfect life, away from those who disagree with your ideology. If your theory is wrong, we learn from the mistakes. But if your theory is right, then maybe other people will realize that and then this theory will be adapated on a large scale.

This applies to Libertarians, as well as Liberals and any other ideolouges out there. If you don't think this country is perfect, then instead of complaining about how this country is bad, leave this country, create a brand new one, and show the world how your ideology is correct.  After all, you know your ideology is correct, you just need to put it into action and prove to the world you're correct.

Well, this belief is called "anarchist" by my teacher in that I assume that if you do not like a government, you can just leave it and form a brand new one.

EDIT: I mean, it can't be THAT hard. Find a warehouse, declare yourself an autonomous zone that pays taxes to the US and promise to follow American laws, but manitan some sort of autonomy, then make most of your money via donations, tourism, T-Shirts, Anarchist Guardian maganizes, the selling of prestigious titles, and other stuff. Get all citizens of an "autonomous zone" to sign a contract that entitles them a share of the profit, but forces them to resort to an Arbitration Tribunal to resolve disputes rather than suing via the court system. Hire PMCs and security firms to defend your little warehouse from thieves, and you'd be set.

Or if you have some money, you could buy a private island for 30 grand.

[Rezan]

I assume you're not referring to me. I mean, there aren't enough clever, non-greedy people in the world to keep even a small country or warehouse going. Though I would give that a shot if I had an opportunity.

Islands for $30k you say? Where? Any ideas of estimates for simple irrigation, sanitation, plumbing and electricity? If one could find a relatively small island with a bit of farmland or some kind of natural resource, one could trade/be self sustaining. I wouldn't mind following US federal laws, but I'm not in the US so I don't think it's an option.

I guess I could perform a coup d'etat on my government. It wouldn't be that hard. I think we have a total of twenty jet-fighters and fifty tanks. Give me five hippies and two assault rifles and I'll have it done by 2020.

[Servant Corps]

I was referring to beorn080 as well as anyone else who believe in strange political ideologies and seem real adamant about implementing it in society. I was planning on buying an island like this one ($30,000), but I don't have the money at the moment. In the future, maybe. Even when you buy an island, you must still follow all laws of the country that claims that island (for example, you must follow the laws of Panama if you buy out Isla Gatun).

And sorry for just stating the US federal laws. I was just stating that you must follow the laws of the nation you're in, just to avoid getting in trouble.

The way I saw most people making money off their own 'zone' (or 'micronation'), is via selling the 'symbols' of nationhood rather than produce actual goods. Selling fake stamps, fake passports, and fake titles to collectors is a common way of commericalization. Finding people to pay for tourism to your island or warehouse seems also a good idea.

[Aqizzar]

I was referring to beorn080 as well as anyone else who believe in strange political ideologies and seem real adamant about implementing it in society. I was planning on buying an island like this one ($30,000), but I don't have the money at the moment. In the future, maybe. Even when you buy an island, you must still follow all laws of the country that claims that island (for example, you must follow the laws of Panama if you buy out Isla Gatun).

There's a pretty big difference between buying a manor-island, and claiming independent sovereignty, even in name.  A commune tried the same thing in the South Pacific a while back, bought the use rights to an atoll and built a platform thing to live on.  When they started making noise about it, Tonga sent a gunboat over to annex their little project.  For some indefinable reason (not a snark - I really don't know), established national governments take a lot of umbrage to people declaring themselves independent.

[Servant Corps]

I believe they are against the idea of secession because doing so can cause anarchy in international relations, and that the territory that may be seized may be used as a way to avoid taxation from the main government, or may have some more valuable resources. I can understand why nations are opposed to secession, because if it isn't, a nation may easily fall apart with lots of people claiming their own territory.

And I don't recommend claiming independent sovereignty. What I prefer instead is the "Autonomous Zone". You pay taxes and you follow the rules of the main nation, because you do not wish to seecede from that main nation. You do however wish to rule yourself, but you will follow whatever the main government states. "Self-rule,, not indepedence." The main point, of course, is to test your theories out, not to wage a struggle to fight for 'indepedence'.

[Aqizzar]

You pay taxes and you follow the rules of the main nation, because you do not wish to seecede from that main nation. You do however wish to rule yourself, but you will follow whatever the main government states. "Self-rule,, not indepedence."

What part of that is self-rule then?  For these purposes, the only difference between living in America and Panama is that Panama has considerably laxer laws and enforcement.  But living under a lax authority does not equate self-rule.  If the Panamanian government changed it's mind on some policy, you'd be just as subject to it as you would under any other government.

The big question here is, "How important is ideological purity to me, compared to the illusion of following my ideology?"  By the sound of it, you've already conceded to practicality and are willing to pretend you're completely free while following prevailing law, in the sense of some kind mutual agreement between you and threat of force.

Not that I'm a total stick in the mud.  If you want to really rule your own slice of the Earth, take your money to Africa.  Equatorial Guinea was overthrown by 30 people, only half of them armed.  Then just rule the place as a personal fiefdom, like Omar Bongo did in Gabon.

[Servant Corps]

I suppose it is a consent to practicality. It is self-rule in that you get to rule yourself, as long as you obey the nation you are in, but it is pretty much sophistory. Meh. It's just a way to see if your beliefs about how society should govern would acutally work.

Think of those utopian communities in the 1800's who was trying out different ways to organize society based on logic. Most of them fail, true, but at least they tried their ideology in practice and (hopefully) figured out it didn't work. I'm sure that the US had full control over the communities, but the communites still regulated themselves.

[Rezan]

I'm thinking there might be a way to purchase parts of the Antarctic. I mean, provided you followed international laws on pollution etcetera to keep you from messing with the ecosystem. With the right equipment, one could import earth and nutrients to grow food. Electricity would be a bit harder, but thanks to the snow, you could run fairly effective solar-panels up there (dual-sided, considering snow reflects a great deal of the sun's rays). Wind-generation is also a viable option up there.

Water would not be a problem, what with all the snow and all.

Not sure how many people would move to the Antarctic though; even for a libertarian nation.

I'd do it. I love snow, cold, and penguins. Nothing's like fried Emperor Penguin. Could probably hunt me some whale, too. Especially in Queen Maude's land (Norway allows commercial fishing of whale! In your face, PETA!)

Whale meat is surprisingly tasty. It's like steak. I recommend you to tas- OH WAIT, YOU CAN'T. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

Okay, so I might have had one too many energy drinks.

[Little]

-52 weather...

[Servant Corps]

The Antartica Treaty prohibits any new land claims on Antartica since the 1960's. All previous land claims are acknowledged, but not recognized (and so, these claims sometimes overlap). Claims to Antartica are usually for national pride, so you can't get nations to sell their claim over to you.

Now, there is a group called Westartica that claimed a loophole in the Antartica Treaty, which states that only nations cannot make any new claims. This group states that because of that, persons do have the power to make new claims...and hence claimed all the unclaimed portions of Antartica, below the 60 degrees South. However, Westartica has gone inactive for a year or two. You can make your own claim, if you so desire. Just don't expect anyone to really take you seriously. Claims derive their power from how many people recognize them, and I think most people are sane enough not to recognize Westartica.

If you really want to have some sort of "scientific research station", you could just get premission from the Antartica Treaty System to do such a thing. You better have a good reason for doing scientific research, as well as tons of money to manitan such research stations. And I don't really think libertarians would like doing scientific experiments out in the cold...

EDIT: And nothing ever prevents you from going against the Antartica Treaty, of coruse, if you got the manpower to unilaterally set up a station. Doing so would be violating international laws though.