When Would You "Go Galt"?
A fascinating development, as reported by the New York Daily News:
Peter Thiel has made his fortune by being part of the next big thing: He was a co-founder of Paypal and one of the early investors of Facebook.
But a new Details profile sums up his new plans: “Forget startup companies. The next frontier is startup countries.”
Thiel has donated $1.25 million to the Seasteading Institute, the brainchild of Patri Friedman, a former Google engineer and grandson of economist Milton Friedman. Here’s the gist: creation of libertarian, sovereign nations built on oil-rig-type platforms anchored in international waters and free from the laws and moral codes of any other country.
This is one step beyond the Free State Project, the plan to turn New Hampshire into a libertarian paradise. Rather than working within the system, Thiel and company's more radical vision essentially says the whole system of government is so broken that we have to start from scratch.
(There is a precedent for this, by the way. Another group of libertarians attempted to create the Republic of Minerva in the South Pacific in the early 1970s. The 'nation' was quickly annexed ... by Tonga).
As unsatisfying as the Obama years have been for most of us here, I think it safe to say that none of the Ricochetoise have any plans for seasteading in the near future. It does raise an interesting question, however: what would the government have to do to compel you to "go Galt", give up on the whole American enterprise, and search for greater liberty elsewhere?
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Comments:
May '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
As an entrepreneur, I think I'd "go Galt" when they take my company from me. Provided the babes on the island were of breeding stock.
Jul '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
That's easy. Obamacare. I have a child that requires modern, active, and creative medical support. Putting him at the mercy of a federal rule book means a life of pain at the very best. The vain Alinskyite cleverness in the White House is a mortal risk to my family. The medical market Mrs. Sisyphus and I negotiate every day on his behalf withers, the talent evaporates. They already candidly discuss their career plans as their mode of operation becomes unacceptable to our federal masters.
Obamacare delenda est!
Jul '11
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
I grew up on science fiction, so I will say the following:
I will 'go Galt' the day my company establishes it's facilities on the Moon. I'm not sure there is anywhere on Earth that is safe from this nonsense (assuming we are unable to repair America).
Apr '11
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
It's a juicy question, but there really has to be someplace one could go, that actually already exists. It's not Japan, by the way. I think I'll be repatriating before long.
We [you guys] really can't leave, so you'd better fight for it.
Jul '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Charlie in Kobe, Japan: It's a juicy question, but there really has to be someplace one could go, that actually already exists. It's not Japan, by the way. I think I'll be repatriating before long.
We [you guys] really can't leave, so you'd better fight for it. · Aug 17 at 8:14pm
I'm think that when millions of Americans go Galt at the same time, options will change. In the meantime, I most certainly am fighting for it.
Edited on August 18, 2011 at 5:21amApr '11
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
That's the rub. My parents left Italy with nothing when I was 5. They came here so their children could have a chance of a better life. Where would I go? I would gladly give up my white collar life and dig ditches for my kids, but where?
Oct '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
I like the idea of these floating waterworld fiefdoms. This reminds me of a few years ago when I was working in the food service industry and a coworker would come in every day talking about his latest gun purchase (he was getting all he could before Obama got sworn in and outlawed them) and he also talked about his brother and his plan to buy an island. I asked him where he'd buy an island, he said "they got a website. Buyanisland.com" I just double checked, the site is down.
Jul '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
I'm not seeing the downside here. Are they taking sign-ups?
Apr '11
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Sisyphus
Charlie in Kobe, Japan: It's a juicy question, but there really has to be someplace one could go, that actually already exists. It's not Japan, by the way. I think I'll be repatriating before long.
We [you guys] really can't leave, so you'd better fight for it. · Aug 17 at 8:14pm
I'm think that when millions of Americans go Galt at the same time, options will change. In the meantime, I most certainly am fighting for it. · Aug 17 at 8:20pm
Edited on Aug 17 at 08:21 pm
Besides leaving, another sense of "going Galt" is to go 'on strike'. UK kids seem to have done that in the face of socialized medicine by not entering the medical profession. If ObamaCare were to be fully implemented, there might be a doctors' strike that would make a significant Galt-like impact.
Edited on August 18, 2011 at 6:13amSep '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Ok, so what are these people going to do to make a viable economy there? Unless it's actually built on a working oil rig (which I highly doubt) there are no natural resources. The logistics of delivering basic food, water & energy needs of a community will be daunting. I guess internet-based techy programming services could be based there. Oh, of course - Libertarian means it will be totally drug-friendly. Drug Lords will flock to this places. Gambling too. Prostitution of course. Oh, and the mighty porn-river will flow. Yes, it will start out as high-minded and well-funded posh place but will likely degenerate into a version of the Mos Eisley spaceport (ie "a wretched hive of scum and villainy"). No I don't think I want to move to that neighborhood.
Nov '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Agree... You can run, but you can't escape.
Sep '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Yeah, a place like that will be just fine until the first really big storm hits, or undersea earthquake, or one of the citizens decides to go nuts with plenty of ammo....
May '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Did this remind anyone else of the floating city real estate development "Bluthton" from Arrested Development?
Dec '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
If you put the platform in a tropical zone in deep enough water, you can use ocean thermal energy conversion, driving a Sterling-cycle engine on the heat differential between the surface and the bottom (the first pilot plant was on a barge, and the existing plant is on the Kona coast, one of the few land sites with nearby deep water).
For food, you can catch fish and grow vegetables hydroponically.
The question is, what do you trade with the outside world to earn foreign exchange to buy things you can't source locally?
Dec '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Charlie in Kobe, Japan
Sisyphus
I'm think that when millions of Americans go Galt at the same time, options will change. In the meantime, I most certainly am fighting for it.
Besides leaving, another sense of "going Galt" is to go 'on strike'. UK kids seem to have done that in the face of socialized medicine by not entering the medical profession. If ObamaCare were to be fully implemented, there might be a doctors' strike that would make a significant Galt-like impact.
Another phenomenon similar to "going Galt" is retirement. If productive people over 50 just retire and refuse to apply their entrepreneurial talents to new businesses, that will have a big impact. Arguably, the ordinary retirement of Baby Boomers will have a similar impact: they will go from taxpayers to consumers of taxpayer-funded entitlements. Isn't that what Paul Ryan is trying to stave off?
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
You're now officially my hero, John.
Dec '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Reminds me of my teenage utopian fantasies, and I would join in one of these "floating cities" in a heartbeat if I thought it would work for me. However, I don't think they will need my skill set (law), and my age (60) works against me. As Obamacare and its successor programs proceed, I can see a real market for offshore healthcare catering to people who can afford it and want free choice. But making such a floating citystate succeed would require, at least at first, meaningful contributions - more than capital - from all of its adult citizens, given its small size. Where this could go intrigues me.
Edited on August 18, 2011 at 7:27amDec '10
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
On the contrary: they wouldn't need long-haul truck drivers (sorry, Dave), but legal expertise might be just the type of service they could export.
Jul '11
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
This one is easy for me. I was nearly bankrupt billing regular insurance companies until I became a retainer or concierge doctor 6 years ago and have never looked back. If the government in all its wisdom deems anyone outside its system illegal then I quit. I doubt I'll quit working just out of habit but I'll stop being a doctor. It has been a long hard road and now, once happy, I will never return to something I consider akin to indentured servitude.
Just wait and see what the socialist in the white house has planned if re-elected. Somewhere out there is Ellis Wyatt and his match is lit.
Apr '11
Re: When Would You "Go Galt"?
Your intelligence.