Libertarian International Organization | Voluntary Governance, Rights, Progress

LIO Fellow Dr. Russell Means confers with Fellow, US feminist leader, satirist and researcher Carol Moore who exposed official corruption at Waco in a bestseller, and now champions spreading interest in micro-communities and legal mechanisms for autonomy and secession  as key conflict management and choice tools that reduce, not increase, conflict and choice.

 Her site has new book with profile (http://carolmoorereport.blogspot.com )

Shortly after the fall of Communism, Czechoslovakia faced civil war from long- standing tensions among her two major ethnic groups, which Communist leaders had used to oppress each other and so strengthen their position, say critics. Inspired by pro-Libertarian leader Vaclav Klaus, who has indicated that one should not rush to secession but it is valid to put on the table, the groups instead separated into two countries which were then better positioned to resolve differences and are now firm allies. In contrast, countries such as Iraq, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan,  and others attempted to force centralization creating war-torn breakups or conflict that have drawn the whole world into supporting seemingly endless peacekeeping missions. Sometimes a bad social bargain, like a bad partnership, needs to be dissolved. Which is the wiser path?

Researcher and activist LIO Adviser Carol Moore has no doubts, working for decades to encourage interest in peaceful and rights-based devolution as a powerful tool of  conflict-reduction, conciliation and lifestyle choice; and of protection of minorities and cultural groups. Interest is increasing each decade in secession- and increased autonomy- based tools as a positive, natural and normal way of handling issues:

• In 1979, LIO advisors helped end war in Namibia centering dialogue on localism
• The Soviet Union devolved into a confederation, China has set a policy for eventual localism in a "United States of China" and the most peaceful and prosperous part of Iraq, the north, simply separated de facto to manage its affairs.
• While Europe expands as a common entity on federal lines, attention increases towards more local rule and autonomy, and use of traditional languages.
• Interest in charter cities, co-operatives, and intentional communities is spreading. States such as California and Florida have developed streamlined charter city and community association procedures. In the US many communities are disincorporating and hiring public services from private companies. Designed communities, once denounced as crazed Libertarian anarchism, have become a business as consulting companies provide plug-and-play methods and services. People are discovering personal secession from non-functional public entities as choice and local opt-outs increase.Examples of increasingly non-coerced service exist in every area from roads to pension plans. Co-operatives or services helping people to aid families abroad, to barter, to getting discounts have blossomed with the internet.
• In the US, there is legal interest in increasing state autonomy and devolution to local and personal levels. Piecemeal service secession has garnered interest. Said one policymaker in a recent brainstorm: "Why not 50 Social Security, medical and other programs? Why not cities competing by offering local services as they do library systems?" Some communities have encouraged local barter, money and other systems led by community groups down to the neighborhood level. In Vermont, the state may not participate in the Obamacare plan, citing what it feels is its own superior state plan; in the capital, Burlington, a food-co-op with local farmers toprovision a good part of the city has attracted international attention. Incidents such as Waco, however, where the long established principle of letting religious and voluntary communities mostly find there own way was ignored suggest there is much to do.

Moore consults on secession tools, urges use of the approach in big ways or small as a normal method of addressing problems and discovering solutions.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1-Share or link to this article; look into local co-operatives that may exist already

2-Inventory issues in your life where you can most benefit

3-Propose secession and personal opt-out as a method of handling local problems

RESOURCES:

• http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/carol-moore Secede and Survive discussion, also http://www.secession.net tools and encouragement
• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1007&bih=513&q=charter+city&aq=f&aqi=g7g-m3&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Charter cities information
• http://books.google.com/books?id=eyiYdWygQBcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=secession&source=bll&ots=a9Afg3FEcM&sig=UEt7uNFTwzItMRN57UUPgV2iegQ&hl=en&ei=fiMUTcO3G8P48AbH9tjJDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=16&ved=0CGYQ6AEwDw#v=onepage&q&f=false Free E-book on a secession strategy
• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1007&bih=513&&sa=X&ei=TiQUTaujK8G88ga_l6jvDg&ved=0CBMQvwUoAQ&q=temporary+autonomous+zones&spell=1 TAZ concept
• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1007&bih=513&q=form+a+co-operative&aq=f&aqi=g-m1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= About co-operatives
• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1007&bih=513&q=intentional+community&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Intentional community
• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1007&bih=513&q=libertarian+municipalism&aq=f&aqi=g1g-v8&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Libertarian municipalism tools