Re: Down with Democracy!

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Seth D. Schoen <schoen@soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU> wrote:
: Daniel C. Burton writes:

: >A really interesting idea that I think I like is the virtual canton
: >constitution proposed by the Free Nation Foundation (a new country
: >project).  A canton is a sort of subunit in a Switzerland's decentralized
: >system (which is so decentralized most people don't even know the name of
: >their national president).  In the virtual canton constitution,
: >jurisdiction of the cantons is based not on territory, but voluntary
: >membership.  Think your taxes are too high?  Don't worry, just join
: >another virtual canton with lower ones.  That would certainly nip the
: >welfare state at the bud....

: Wow, an explicit social contract!  Are people allowed to belong to no canton
: at all, since there's presumably no territorial sovereignty?

I don't think so, because the national government is essentially a
confederation of the cantons.  You can't really be under its jurisdiction
at all without being part of a canton.  Plus, they're trying to look
something like a country that can represent itself to other countries.

: >It's sort of designed to be the next best thing to anarchy for people who
: >want to buy out territory somewhere and have it recognized by the United
: >Nations and protected from the kind of meddling a region with no
: >government at all would be subject to.
: >
: >Actually, they're negotiating with certain tribal leaders in the breakaway
: >region of Somaliland for the rights to create an independent libertarian
: >country.  For the uniformed, the former Republic of Somalia has had no
: >governemnt for the last seven years and the region of Somaliland wants no
: >part in any new national government.  (Interestingly enough, in the
: >absence of government, Somalia has developed a sort of defacto
: >laissez-faire economy and it now has about five times as many exports as
: >the last year for which government statistics were available.  It has also
: >developed a telecommunications network which rivals any of those in
: >sub-Saharan Africa.  The Freedom Network News had a recent article called
: >"Does Somalia Really Need a Government?" in which a Somalian argued that
: >it doesn't.)

: Wow, that's interesting.  Have you heard any criticisms or reports that
: life in Somaliland leaves something to be desired?

Oh, of course.  That wasn't really the point.  You probably wouldn't have
wanted to live in Somalia when there was a government.  The point was only
that things were better after it was gone.  Supposedly, they're trying to
install a new government, backed by loans from the IMF and European Union.
I haven't hear anything lately because this area of the world isn't
getting much coverage right now.

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