Re: On Libertarianism and founding a free state (was Re: Food labels etc)

From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Tue Jul 29 2003 - 20:42:58 MDT

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    From: "Phil Osborn" <philosborn2001@yahoo.com>

    > One serious but unaddressed problem with building a
    > "free state" in today's world is that the existing
    > states will not let you.

    You've pointed out some serious problems. There are also - I'm not sure
    what to call them - maybe ... impractical problems?

    When I first came to live in Seattle I lived not far from the original "Love
    Family," who *all* lived in one of the most architecturally ugly buildings
    I've ever seen. They were like a blast from the past - when buffaloes
    roamed and the sky was not cloudy all day (I mean, they dressed up like
    "pioneers," you know?). I used to observe their children - the young ones
    seemed happy enough (in the special way that young ones being naturally
    curious can be), but the adolescents looked sad, restless, stunted, out of
    place ... they looked like they wanted *out.*

    Why am I comparing (irony of ironies) a free state to a cult? Because I
    keep coming up with all sorts of impracticalities (and many of the them are
    identical).

    Mama, what if your children don't want to grow up to be cowboys? Papa,
    how'r you gonna keep them down on the free state after they've seen
    Pareeeeeee ...? What if your sister falls in love with an outsider? (Say,
    are you even going to let outsiders *in*?)

    Maybe I've just not hung out with gun aficionados enough to understand the
    benefits of a free state, so pardon if my ignorance is showing. But, in
    trying to sew the troublesome strands together to make it whole, all I come
    up with is ... our dear little albeit imperfect democracy that has made
    great strides in (irony or ironies) the democratic process since its
    inception, and especially in the last few decades. From the perspective of
    the year 2003 the 1950s - holy Happy Days! - look like the Dark Ages.

    I don't think a free state is ever going to work, boys ... not unless
    something drastic happens, e.g., like if we blew ourselves back to the
    Stone Age. Too impractical, I say (not to mention a few other worrisome
    thoughts crossing my alleged mind from time to time).

    Olga

    Olga



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