Update: Free State Project by Jason Sorens (written two decades ago)
The ball is rolling! I’ve received over 200 responses to my essay in last week’s The Libertarian Enterprise, over 95% of them positive. So far 220 people have signed up for the email list I’ve created on Yahoo for announcements relating to the project. That means we are already a little over 1% of the way toward the 20,000 member target.
The purpose of the email group I’ve set up is to discuss a pledge and bylaws for the group. I’d like to achieve something of a consensus on these before sending them around for signatures. If you are already a member of the group, expect a posting soon with my proposed drafts for these documents. You’ll then have an opportunity to send your comments in, which will be compiled and posted as a digest. Then the next round of commentary may begin. At certain points I may conduct polls on certain elements of these documents if there is some point of disagreement. If you are not yet a member of the group but want to be, email me at freestateproject_com@yahoo.com. The group is extremely private-it is actually not accessible by the web, and neither members nor non-members can see the email addresses of members.
I also wanted to take the opportunity to answer as best I can a few frequently asked questions about this project. Here is the Free State Project FAQ version 1.0.
Q: Isn’t secession dangerous? Won’t we suffer the fate of the Branch Davidians?
A: I have several responses to this question. First, it is possible that I overstated the importance of secession in my essay. The point is to take over a state government and then advance liberty as best we can. At some point this pursuit may require actually seceding or threatening to secede. However, there are various political tools at our disposal, and secession is just one of them. Second, as I pointed out, no modern, democratic government has used force to prevent secession-to my knowledge, since 1933, when Australia used fiscal appeasement to forestall Western Australia’s secession. Third, the Branch Davidians, the Weaver family, and the Montana Freemen were all kooky. That doesn’t mean that those who were murdered deserved to be, but it does mean that the federal government was able to marginalize them easily. It won’t be so easy with us: we are not a militia, we are operating within the law, and we are building a “big tent” coalition of classical liberals, constitutionalists, pacifists, and the like. We’ll be as respectable as the Cato Institute.
Right on the money Darryl. I couldn’t have said it better.
“We’ll be as respectable as the Cato Institute.”
This statement aged like milk.