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Outline

Part1: Critique
1.1 Summary of My View of the FNF Workplan
1.2 My Objections to the FNF Workplan
1.3 A Couple of Clarifying Points

Part2: New Directions for FNF
2.1 Continue to Design and Discuss Institutions for a Free Nation
2.2 Many Plans, Many Appraisals, Some Endorsements
2.3 Pre-Positioning Libertarian Social Networks

Conclusion

Notes
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Part 1: Critique
 
 

1.1 Summary of my view of the FNF Workplan

As I see Rich's Workplan, the central theme is that a small group of very wealthy libertarian individuals (the smaller the better)¹ would find an unstable, cash-poor, third world government which nominally controls a sparsely populated province and buy that province (or a part of it) from the de-facto regime².  The rich individuals would then become, in effect, a feudal nobility for a new sovereign regime to be located in that province and populated by a combination of a few libertarians from Western nations and a large number of refugees from the third world³.  A libertarian constitution would be adopted, thus making the new regime, at least nominally, a "Free Nation".  The primary task of FNF, according to the Workplan, is to assemble a team of highly reputed academic professionals who will write the libertarian constitution and various articles concerning systems of law, for use in the sovereign regime to be established in the purchased province⁴.  It is assumed in Rich's Workplan, that the existence of these academic documents - alone - would quickly convince some rich libertarian(s) to undertake the rest of the plan.⁵  It also seems to be assumed by the Workplan that the rich libertarian(s) would neither need nor particularly appreciate any other research regarding possibilities for a libertarian nation.⁶  It appears that Rich envisioned this package very narrowly, assuming that any significant deviation from its components would be inappropriate and "outside the FNF Workplan".⁷
 

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1.2 My objections to the FNF Workplan

I disagree with several of the assumptions which seem to be essential to Rich's Workplan.  My first objection is that, while I agree that some wealthy people are libertarian, it is unclear how Rich's Workplan would distinguish real rich libertarians from rich impostors.  All power in the proposed regime would be based on wealth, concentrated in a few hands, and largely derived from sources outside the free nation itself.  I see no way that mere words in a constitution would be able to stop either the original overlords or their successors from hiring armed mercenaries and using them to change the system overnight.  A wealthy person could use Rich's Workplan as a cover for purely personal anti-libertarian ambitions.  Further, even if the first generation of wealthy overlords is indeed libertarian, the Workplan provides no real mechanism to ensure that their heirs would continue to follow libertarian policies.

Another objection I have is to Rich's assumption that the writing of prestigious scholars is the best or even an especially potent sales tool for approaching wealthy individuals with this project.  Perhaps Rich is confusing the tendency of wealthy people to send their children to expensive big-named schools with a true respect for scholarship amongst the wealthy.  The benefit of Ivy League schooling to the wealthy is primarily in the networking opportunities this affords for the wealthy to interact with each other via fraternities and alumni associations.  The professors compete in another world on the same campuses, providing a form of prestige to the institution.  Influence between the academics and the wealthy tends to run in the reverse direction than what Rich envisions.  When a wealthy individual wants to add prestige to some project, professors are hired to add their prestige after the rich person decides what direction to go in (as was the case with the Cato Institute).

Another objection I have to the Workplan is that the free nation would depend on refugees from the third world for the bulk of its population, while simultaneously using a Western value and legal system which these immigrants will probably not understand.  This is an inherently unstable arrangement.  Rich assumes that each immigrant will sign a pledge to abide by the constitution before being granted residency.  But how will these immigrants view this pledge, signed to avoid life-threatening forces in their countries of origin, countries not likely to have libertarian traditions?  I submit that many, perhaps most such immigrants will sign any contract put in front of them, but will not necessarily feel obligated to abide by its terms.  If they become the majority, they may later feel justified in seizing the nation for themselves.

Rich's Workplan lacks a sociological perspective.  It ignores the need to build community values before invoking them.  It assumes that a value system can be purchased with cash.

It is my own observation that things work the other way around.  For every successful nation, there has evolved, by some means, a value system that the nation's laws rest upon.  Only after securing the protection of a stable society with widely held key values can individuals accumulated and hold great wealth.  On an international scale some societies may be seen to foster piracy - which can cause serious international problems.  But at a minimum, within itself, a given society must uphold  a set of core values. At a macro-social level, the evolution of this value system is usually linked to the community's economic system, to be sure.  But this evolution occurs over generations.  At an individual level it is usually a matter of learning an established tradition.

Sometimes, rarely, a new system of values can emerge quickly, attracting enough individuals to it to make up a sizable community.  But social ideology cannot be engendered simply with laws or constitutions.  It must come from pre-existing sentiments.  These cannot be mobilized easily most of the time or marshaled precisely at any time.

Rich's Workplan makes no allowance for ideology or tradition building. Rich envisions "born-again" conversions to libertarian tradition on the part of the immigrant work force, motivated solely by the availability of paychecks.  Were the immigrants to be brought in a few at a time, into a larger, already established libertarian community, they might absorb libertarian values - as individuals.  But when a mass of non-libertarian immigrants overwhelms a few libertarians other cultural values will dominate the resulting majority culture.  The local legitimacy of the libertarian constitutions would be threatened by this majority culture. Then the overlords would need to rely on mercenary guns to try to enforce their contracts.  It is a recipe for civil strife.

The final objection to Rich's Workplan which I will mention involves international relations.  Rich assumes that a chain of legitimacy for the new regime will be maintained on a world scale because the original seller of the province - that weak third world nation - will have had recognition by the United Nations, as most regimes now do.  But the UN's track record is unclear on this point.  Would the UN back the overlords, or the bulk of the population, if a dispute arose?  If the weak regime which had sold the province to the wealthy Westerners were overthrown and a new regime there tried to take back the enriched province, which side would the UN take? The evidence of Kuwait might support the notion that the UN respects the "rights" of a tiny minority of hereditary nobles.  The evidence of Kosovo might support the notion that the UN respects the "rights" of a majority population, even if it has entered a province fairly recently.  Generally, however, the UN stays out of such things, except for unenforced resolutions.  International legitimacy is far from certain in Rich's Workplan.
 

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1.3 A couple of clarifying points

I want to make it clear that I see merit in certain elements of Rich Hammer's FNF Workplan.  I am in favor of FNF soliciting articles about constitutions and legal institutions from prestigious academics.  And I welcome the support to FNF that any wealthy individual may wish to give. But I feel that the full Workplan - in depending exclusively on these contributions, and in considering all other aspects of FNF to be mere window dressing - is far too narrow.

In the last year, since deciding to resign as FNF President, Rich has made a considerable effort to detail his thinking.  However, he has never appeared open to truly questioning it - much less changing his mind about the basic elements of the Workplan.  Rich has said that he is the only person who really supports his FNF Workplan.  He has also said that almost no one else fully understands it.  Originally I was skeptical. But I am increasingly inclined to agree with these last two statements.⁸  Yet I think it is also fair to say that no one in FNF has hindered Rich's Workplan. Now Rich, its only advocate, has abandoned that Workplan.  But the unintended consequences of Rich's efforts, most of FNF as it is today, are considerable and valuable.  It would be a shame for everyone associated with FNF to abandon them.

It is time to move on.
 
 

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Part 2:  New Directions for FNF

Here I will propose some possibilities for a new FNF Workplan.  They are not intended as a complete proposal, nor even as a complete set of minimum requirements.

2.1 Continue to Design and Discuss Institutions for a Free Nation

The statement of purpose of FNF calls for "developing clear and believable descriptions of ... voluntary institutions of civil mutual consent". Pursuing this, FNF has published 26 issues of the journal Formulations . Half of these issues have been associated with a theme and a presentation of papers at a Forum.   These activities have produced a library of ideas. Formulations  and the Forums should be continued.  If the costs seem prohibitive to continue with paper issues, a purely on-line journal could be published.  On-line Forums could also be organized.  FNF should, however, reach out to a wider audience and solicit ideas from a wider group of authors.

The Internet can be used more effectively.  We currently make issues of Formulations available on-line.  We have an e-mail list.  We should also try to promote FNF and its activities with on-line publicity.
 

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2.2 Many Plans, Many Appraisals, Some Endorsements

FNF need not choose one single path to a free nation.  The new FNF Workplan should foster the formulation and development of any free nation plan which seems well conceived.  FNF should seek to assemble a list of all free nation projects which are currently being undertaken.  Where possible, FNF should help libertarians world-wide find information about these projects - especially contact information for project entrepreneurs.  But FNF should also review each of these projects, appraising weak and strong points in each one.  If it seems that a particular project is especially well conceived and has excellent organization and resources, FNF may wish to consider actually endorsing it.  At the very least, an FNF appraisal should reflect when a project seems to have an very good chance of success.  But I do not believe that FNF should pick a single free nation plan as the only one it endorses, when several highly viable plans exist.  Instead, FNF should provide individual libertarians with information and networking resources so that they can make their own individual choices in this regard.

Ultimately, we should expect that the existence of one free nation will stimulate the creation of others.  But there are many advantages to having several plans in effect at the same time, as soon as possible.  Historical, geographic or other concerns may differ significantly from time to time and place to place.  Different plans will suit different situations.  For various personal reasons, individuals who wish to join a free nation, may find one plan more desirable than another.  The very existence of more than one free nation may serve to distribute the random risks that each of them faces.  Finally, with more than one free nation, international relations between them can be explored.
 

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2.3 Pre-Positioning Libertarian Social Networks

A system of "property" rights, the possession and control of resources by individuals in a social context, requires the support of a community.  For this reason every successful society needs, at its core, at least one social network which provides voluntary enforcement for its value system. (In other contexts I have described this in terms of a community property code.)  Such a network provides its members with a social, economic, political, and ideological base of support, though these may be a matter of unspoken tradition rather than openly discussed rules.  All wealth, political power, or ideological influence comes from, depends on, or is channeled through such networks.

Any free nation will require such a network from its first day of existence.  The network cannot be purchased at the last minute.  It must be cultivated long before the nation begins to function as a sovereign entity. Cultivation will be a matter of individuals getting together and developing a keen sense, not only of the values they have in common, but of the methods they will use to legitimize for one another the pursuit of those values.  In a libertarian community, traditions of conflict resolution must be developed which maximize the value of voluntary association, while acknowledging the inevitable differences between the specific goals and methods that real individuals will choose.

Michael van Notten has been working on a free nation project for Somalia. He chose this land because a network of dispute resolution already exists in the traditional Somali culture.  When two Somalis meet for the first time to do business, they exchange a few words to orient them to the way they will resolve any disputes that may arise between them.  Michael presented a lecture on this process at an FNF sponsored dinner.  (I hope we can publish an essay version of the lecture in Formulations at some point.)  Part of Michael's free nation plan is for the Somalis, who are organized into tribes, to recognize the formation of a Somali-style tribe of libertarians who come from a European-style cultural background.  This European Tribe (not a name Michael used) would provide a basis for immigrants to Somalia to fit into the traditional Somali justice system. It would take advantage of the existing networks that the Somalis already have in place, where their traditional culture still thrives (many areas were never affected by either the colonial period or the more recent post-colonial disruptions).

Michael believes that this process would be appropriate only in Somalia itself.  But I see no reason why libertarians from European-style backgrounds cannot in fact learn so much from the Somali example that they can practice some Somali virtues even before they go to Somalia - or to any new free nation.  (I must point out, however, that Michael does see specific problems.  I hope he will discuss them with me in an FNF sponsored context at some point.)

Toward this end, I believe that it is appropriate for FNF to actively foster the development of real world institutions for conflict resolution in the here and now.  Members of FNF (and others who may choose to associate with us) should be encouraged to pledge themselves to specific methods by which they would attempt to resolve conflicts with other members.  We should, of course, discuss how that would work before getting too committed to a particular method or methods.  And, indeed, several methods might be tried in several networks, with varying degrees of autonomy from one another, but still within the broad community of libertarians.  Then, when a Free Nation is proposed for some specific time and place, a living tradition can be relocated there.  Hopefully, enough people will have become associated with this living tradition to form a viable society in the new nation, right from the start.  Meanwhile, libertarians could benefit from practicing their beliefs with one another wherever they live.
 

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Conclusion

The old FNF Workplan designed by Founder Rich Hammer does not appear to have support from within FNF at this time.  It will be hard for FNF to proceed without a revised plan.  We have no clear strategy.  My own views expressed above are, as I said earlier, intended to start a discussion, not to set in stone another inflexible Workplan.
 

Notes

1  Why Not a New Hong Kong? (Formulations Vol.6, No.4). "What if, before Hong Kong reverted to communist rule two years ago (in 1997), a handful of that city's wealthiest industrialists had decided they would pool their billions in an effort to launch a new Hong Kong, a city on a new site leased from some poor, third-world country."

2  In Toward a Free Nation the land of the new nation is to be leased from "the government of some poor, third-world country, struggling to stay in control", indicating that this government is having difficulty maintaining credibility with its own population.  In Life Without Lice!? The FNF Work Plan (Formulations Vol.3, No.4)., this government is described as "an impoverished government".

3  Rich's initial description of the new nation in Toward a Free Nation portrays a nation composed entirely of libertarians.  However his more recent description in Why Not a New Hong Kong? portrays a population composed of a very small number of "owners", a moderate sized middle class composed of libertarians "from America", and a large number of "low level employees" from the third world.  A similar description is found in A "Nation" is Born (Formulations Vol.5, No.1.).  While Rich notes the theoretical possibility of many middle income investors contributing enough cash to the project in Life Without Lice!? The FNF Work Plan, his writings have over time given increasing attention to how much easier it would be if a single billionaire funded the project, as in his Letter of Resignation (Formulations Vol.6, No.3.)

4  In Rich's Letter of Resignation he says: "I believe that if a think tank with the professionalism of the Cato Institute were to sponsor an ongoing free-nation forum, in which top-notch constitutional and legal scholars proposed and debated solutions to the various issues which would surround establishment of a new Hong Kong, then that would establish plausibility in the minds of investors who could accomplish Step 3." and "Step 3: Some people (not necessarily FNF people) form a nation-building corporation and gather sufficient assets in escrow."

5  In Get A Free Nation by Running a Professional Think Tank (Formulations Vol.7, No.1.) Rich says: "If such a think tank operated then it would not be long before billionaires and famous leaders could be recruited to the cause..."

6  Rich has not, to my knowledge, written this.  The point was, however, well established during the question and answer period which followed Rich's presentation of his paper Get A Free Nation by Running a Professional Think Tank at an FNF Forum in 1999. Rich had stated that his Work Plan envisioned activity by FNF only on the topics of "constitutions and systems of law."  When asked why he thought that rich people would have no use for anything else from FNF, such as discussions of the topic of infrastructure, Rich replied, "because that's the way I think."  It appeared that Rich had made no effort to objectively study the opinions of his proposed customers.

7  "outside the FNF Workplan" - For many months before Rich announced his resignation as FNF President, and during his last year as President, he came to use variations of this phrase a great deal.  It was not until he responded to the questions cited in note #6 above, that I had a concrete reference with which to interpret the phrase.

8  This puts me in the unfortunate position of relying on the quotes cited in these notes.  It is unclear to me whether Rich still believes each of these assertions.  But he has not recanted any of them, to my knowledge.
 

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