eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder) (03/28/85)
> I vote for a miniscule country consisting of one person, me. My vote is > unanimously for. Hence the only laws on my land are those I wish to write > down... Goody! No victimless crime laws (inc. prostitution, drug use, > minimum wage, etc.). First thing I would do is contact as many of my > libertarian cohorts as possible and plan a relocation into a contiguous > section of land so we can protect our rights as soon as someone decides to > take them away from us... > > --Cliff Ok, political theorists, here's your chance to create a new country. With recent discoveries indicating the vast mineral resources of the deep seabed, and with offshore oil drilling platforms showing how to build semi-permanent structures in the ocean, it is possible to conceive of a floating country. This new nation would be located in the Pacific Ocean, and would shift about periodically to mine different sorts of minerals from the ocean floor. If it stays more than 200 mi from any coastline, it is strictly in international waters, and hence not subject to any national jusrisdiction. Physically, it would likely consist of a reinforced concrete floating structure, enclosing an artificial harbor for ore ships to dock at. Deep-sea mining equipment would work from the underside, and aquaculture and solar-thermal power generation would ring the outside. Population would be initially in the hundreds to a few thousand. Parallels to settlement of the western hemisphere can be drawn. Given this scenario, your task is to organize the nation: politically, economically. Write a constitution for it. Figure out how it first gets established in the community of nations. If we can come to any kind of conclusions, perhaps a paper to one of the political science journals might result. My personal starting concept is to require all citizens to purchase a minimum share in the 'Company' which operates the floating city, or they must live in a privately owned 'houseboat'. In that case they must pay separately for any services they use, or provide those services for themselves. Any small group is free to split off, set up their own services cooperative, and mine their own patch of seabed. This is what I consider a libertarian set-up. No need to worry about original ownership of the land by natives, because there aren't any. Go to it! Dani Eder / Boeing Aerospace Company / ssc-vax!eder