Fire!

Even with the best efforts of the multiple fire companies, sometimes house fires still occur. And last week it happened again. As is usually the case, the fire struck a home whose owners had "neglected" to sign on with a fire company. The preventative efforts of the fire companies make it almost impossible for a fire bad enough to require a house call to ever hit a home covered by their services.

Of course the fire was still extinguished quickly. The fire company which responded had customers next door to the damaged house and they didn't want to be liable for any loss to their customers. Since the affected house wasn't owned by repeat offenders (they had never had a fire before) and weren't on any ostrafer list of shunned individuals, the fire was put out and a bill for services rendered was presented at the scene. And these home owners will not face arbitration since they happily paid, and even signed up with the responding company right on the spot. Of course, they aren't covered for their current losses, since the fire company wasn't liable for preventing their fire this time, but I suppose a lesson learned late is still learned.

The last I heard they had received enough donations to replace and repair their losses a couple times over. I even pitched in an ounce for the cause.

Railroad Crossing- Look out for the cars...

Right near here is an intersection that has recently had some problems. It is an intersection of a highway for personal vehicles and a railway- commonly called a railroad crossing, although I don't see why the railroad gets exclusive billing. (It was also, in times past, the exact location of a border between two states so that neither state would take responsibility for the road at the crossing, but would pass the blame to the other state or to the railroad.)

Railroads had some pretty hard times right around the time the era of The State ended. Subsidies and government contracts were apparently pretty addictive, and doing without them was just about fatal. Yet, time (and liberty) healed the hurt and got rid of the chaff, and railroads soon came back healthier than they had ever been.

As with the crossing, though, sometimes residue and mistakes from the past era still crop up to haunt us.

While the railroads were "on hiatus" the intersection wasn't a problem. The new owners of the road (local residents and business owners) simply ignored the crossing while keeping the road in repair. The crossing was pretty easy to ignore. After all, the railroad's part of the crossing was the best-maintained component all along, even before Libertopia.

When railroads began to run again, they reached an agreement with the road's owners that allowed them to use the intersection for a fee. It was occasionally annoying, but nothing major enough to get worked up over. But recently the train traffic has increased to the point where there were significant delays many times a day as a train passed. And by "many times a day" I am talking about 150 to 300 trains per day. There was no way to avoid the intersection. The road's customers began to complain with good reason. Not only were the delays becoming inconvenient (and wasteful of time), but they were becoming dangerous. The nearest hospital is on the other side of the tracks and in an emergency a delay, or worse, a stopped train, could mean the difference between life and death.

A solution had to be found.

And it was. What eventually happened was the the road owners allowed the railroad to stop paying rent for use of the intersection for a time and put that savings into the construction of an elevated track to go over the road in that area. There was also significant fund-raising and business sponsorship to pay the expenses.

Everyone came out ahead, since the railroad owners would have been held personally liable had a crossing incident resulted in harm or death. The local businesses don't have to worry about a highway bridge resulting in customers being funneled past their doors. And local residents near the tracks don't have to listen to the crossing arms clanging, and the train whistles blowing, all hours of the day and night.

People wonder why this wasn't done sooner. I suspect that had this solution not been implemented, someone would have built a competing road with a bridge before too long (it has happened in other places), but I believe the solution which was found was the best one for this location and benefited everyone the most. As with all things in Libertopia, one size does not fit all and different solutions present themselves in different places and in slightly different circumstances. It is very liberating to not have solutions dictated from afar by clueless paper-pushers.

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Ostrafers Fill a Need

I know a guy here in Libertopia who has an interesting job. A job I would hate, but interesting, nonetheless. He is an "ostrafer". What is that, you may ask?

Let me explain. Long ago, back in the days before Libertopia, there were people who hunted down "fugitives from the law" and handed those they captured over to The State. They were called "bounty hunters".

Now that there is nothing really like "the law" anymore, and no "State" (not in this part of the world, anyway), and since there is no "bounty" to collect, and since forcing someone to comply with arbitration (when there is no aggression involved) is still normally seen as an initiation of force, bounty hunters are no longer needed. Dangerously violent aggressors on the loose are a different matter- perhaps I'll talk about that some day- but those cases are extremely rare due to the fact that there is no longer any State protecting aggressors from the consequences of their actions.

In our free society, after a person has been ruled against in arbitration, what happens if they still refuse to cooperate? How do you encourage compliance when enforcement isn't a legitimized option?

For that small percentage of individuals who refuse to abide by the decision of the arbiters there is the last resort of shunning. Freedom means no one can force you to do business with anyone, nor can anyone forbid you from trading with whoever you wish. Everyone has the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason, and a shunned person is facing a very hard life.

Those who refuse to live up to the obligations they brought upon themselves through aggression, damage to property, or theft/fraud are not generally people you would want to be involved with lest they do the same to you. It can also be damaging to your reputation if it is known you continue to trade with people who reject arbitration. So arbitration providers employ people to make it costly to refuse to abide by arbitration.

These people, known as "ostrafers", will follow, literally or virtually, a shunned individual and inform his prospective associates of the fact he is being shunned, and why. They publicize the offense in every way imaginable, without using force, without violating property rights, without deception, and without coercion. Ostrafers will also post announcements to let others know, and will inform ostrafers in another region if the shunned person tries to flee in order to escape.

I guess much of the thrill of chasing down a fugitive, and tackling him when he tries to run, is missing from the job of the ostrafer, but a free society has other thrills available.

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Littering in Libertopia

One thing residents of Libertopia figure out quickly is that as long as no force is initiated, nothing is stolen, or no one has their personal property damaged involuntarily, there really isn't a "right way" to get something done. Mutual consent is all that really matters.

As an example- A few days ago while I was visiting a friend he mentioned a problem he was having with a neighbor. The guy kept tossing cigarette butts, both tobacco and marijuana, onto the ground in his own yard. Of course, it is his property so no one has any say in that as long as the litter stays there. Reality means litter never stays put, and much of it was finding its way into my friend's yard.

So my friend spends a lot of time picking up his neighbor's trash that has blown into his yard. He was getting grumpy about that. Being the helpful person I am, I suggested he talk to his neighbor about the problem. He told me he has- many times. Nothing changes. His neighbor isn't a bad guy, just careless and a little lazy.

I then had another idea. I helped my friend build and set up a cute pedestal ashtray on the edge of his property nearest the neighbor; right where the neighbor normally leans against his car and smokes.

Then we called my friend's arbitration service. They sent an investigator out pretty quickly and we showed her the problem, as well as what we had just done with the ashtray. The investigator told us (although we already knew) that the ashtray was unnecessary considering the clear case against the neighbor, but that it did show good faith on my friend's part. She then looked up the neighbor's arbitration service and asked them to send someone out to discuss the options.

The neighbor (who wasn't home at the time) was contacted by his service and he and his representative met us all there. Fortunately he didn't deny that the litter was his- it could have taken longer to reach an agreement if he had- but he kept claiming he never tossed butts into my friend's yard, and that he couldn't control the weather, which is all true.

The arbiters listened to both sides and discussed the situation for a short time. They agreed that my friend's neighbor was responsible for the litter in my friend's yard, and they agreed on a monetary settlement as well as a warning to use the ashtray in the future, or dispose of the butts properly in some other way.

Now, here's the interesting part: My friend told his offending neighbor that he wasn't interested in the 5 ounces of silver that the arbitration had ruled he was owed. He just asked his neighbor to work with him from now on and seek solutions without having to use a third party. They even moved the new ashtray onto the neighbor's yard as a gift. Both seemed satisfied with the results. Most people would have probably gladly taken the silver- I probably would have myself- but my friend felt that good relations with his neighbor were worth at least that amount of money, and who am I to disagree?

So far he says things are much improved at his house. I doubt he'll have more trouble.

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Staci's Abortion

Here in Libertopia abortion is, obviously, not prohibited. But the pro-life folks are ecstatic. How can that be? Because no longer does abortion "stop a beating heart".

My friend Staci discovered that she was pregnant a few weeks ago. After much deep thought and talking to friends she decided that the best thing for her, and for the fetus inside her, was to end her pregnancy- have an abortion. And, in her case, she got paid for it, too!

She went to the clinic and the fetus was removed (people don't quibble over the terms "fetus", "baby", "human", or "person" with regards to fetuses anymore, and the reason is that it doesn't matter anymore) and placed in an artificial womb, ready to be adopted by one of the thousands (probably more) of people wanting a baby.

In cases where there is severe malformation of the fetus, the best chance for it to have a life is an abortion. the fetus can be placed in an artificial womb and therapies can be tried to repair it. The amniotic fluid can be adjusted and infused with helpful genes and medications; surgery can be performed, and in some cases limb growth can be stimulated.

The fetus can either be left to develop fully in the artificial womb, or if the new parent is a woman, and she wants to, she can have the fetus transferred into her own body. A few people even pay to have the home version of the artificial womb installed in their home so they can watch the fetus develop without going to the abortion clinic. Fetuses are not any more attractive now than they have ever been, so: Ewww! But, whatever floats your boat.

Some clinics pay for fetuses, and some are strictly charity. I say if someone is willing to pay for what you are willing to sell you'd be silly to give it away... but this is Libertopia and as long as you don't attack, steal, or destroy other people's private property you can do what you want.

Anyway, Staci is fine (and has more gold in her vault) and her fetus has already been implanted in a loving mother. Everyone wins.

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Leaving the Museum of Government

So that concludes all the Museum of Government exhibits. Perhaps there may be more some day, but I'd rather focus on current events than unfortunate historical happenings.

So let's leave the past behind and step into the sunshine!

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Museum of Government- Migrants and "Borders"

"Now that the government has evaporated in this region, 'America', more or less, we have an interesting immigration situation. But first, the historical perspective.

"Back when the old US government was ruling this region, borders and immigration were big points of contention. The borders gave government agents a great excuse to 'earn' extra bonuses and exercise their inflated authority. Too few people recognized that a wall keeps you in as effectively as it keeps 'them' out. Or even more effectively. The state kept demanding more and more documentation of Americans, using the dreaded 'illegal immigrants' as the boogeyman. The true migrant aggressors never were worried about documentation. So, once again, the 'government solution' only harmed those who were not part of the problem. You see the same pattern emerge time and again.

"Only one side of the issue was given much attention: the aggression (usually called 'crime' back in the Era of Government) caused by independent migrants. The other side; the positive benefits, were ignored or downplayed. As is always the case, the migrants were 'taking over', costing 'us' millions, speaking some other 'unAmerican language', or had 'different values'. A hundred years before they would have been accused of cannibalism.

"The government was assumed to own all the land within 'its' borders, otherwise there would not have been an issue. That was the only justification, faulty though it was, for not allowing property owners to administer the use of their own property.

"Now that America has no government, and the governments of some nearby countries are entering their death throes, the border situation has become a bit cloudy. People come here; people leave here. Only the governments worry about it. Many Americans earn a profit ensuring safe passage into and out of free territory. That enrages those nearby governments, but they are too busy trying not to evaporate to do much about it. And each new freedom-loving friend who moves here is one more 'for our side'.

"Since there is no more welfare of any kind, no one moves to America to get free anything, except for opportunity. Since self-defense has become standard practice again, aggressors stay where they are safe: under the wings of government. So many new businesses are started by these 'liberty-migrants' that there is no way to compare the economy before and after. A 'singularity' has been achieved. Businesses compete for any new employee they can get. The pay for those workers has also skyrocketed, and with no more state to tax or extort, they keep that money and then often start more new businesses. You see why I say a 'singularity' occurred.

"As news of free territory leaks back to those other countries, still languishing under government, more people choose to stay and change their own land than choose to move here. Love for 'home' is strong. Liberty is a wildfire sweeping across the face of the planet. I can't predict with certainty, of course, but based on past experience, I would say government as an acceptable human activity is in its last decade. It will die everywhere as it did here, and not a moment too soon."

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