After more than 30 years of liberal and libertarian political activity, including personal contacts with federal ministers, the following became clear to me: my classic liberal/liberal convictions that freedom, self-determination but also personal responsibility are the values that enable a life of prosperity and satisfaction are not shared by the majority. Nowhere, in any system, not even in the USA or Switzerland.
It is therefore a futile love struggle to convince democratic societies of the merits of these values. Those who promise free services, redistribution and extensive social security will always win the elections. Always and everywhere. Over time, this will lead to exploding national debt, over-regulation, incapacitation and infantilization of citizens. Such long-term considerations, however, do not usually play a role in election decisions. Liberal or libertarian parties must therefore also transform themselves into redistributive parties if they want to survive in democracies. After a certain period of time, they can hardly be distinguished from their competitors.
So I was faced with the alternative of trying for the next 30 years of my life to continue convincing people of the "value of better ideas" (Mises), with the expected result. Or I could try something completely new. Then it became clear to me that our coexistence is also a market and that political systems are nothing but products. If you want to create a real alternative here, you have to take yourself completely out of the previous system and offer a niche product from the side, so to speak. If the thing works, the others will want it sooner or later. This is exactly what Free Private Cities are all about. Of course, it is not easy to convince governments to surrender some of their sovereignty. But it is still a hundred times easier than changing existing systems "from within" towards more freedom and less redistribution.
[Titus Gebel, CEO of Free Private Cities]
Institute for Nuclear Research, Kiev |
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