Building A Microstate

ABSTRACT: A microstate is a contiguous secure perimeter. A secure community is a microstate. Any group that has no ability to defend itself and is open to all influences and forces is not a state. The question we all ought to be asking is how do we form into a microstate? The old method of top-down coercion always creates risk and where there is risk security is compromised. Microstates must be built organically, through accretion. Security has to be extended outwards from a solid foundation. Building A Microstate is a detailed explanation how the process works and why the microstate model is universally valid and practical.

A microstate is a self-supporting sovereign community that may be no bigger than a town or city. There are examples historically and in existence today. Originally cities were sovereign states. Athens, Constantinople are just two examples. Lichtenstein, Dubai, Taiwan, Singapore, Andorra, San Marino and others are all small nations doing well economically. There are at least twelve microstates with populations under one hundred thousand.

States do not need a billion, or 300 million or even 30 million persons to survive, nor do they require thousands of square miles of real estate to prosper. There are many examples of small nations doing well and larger nations doing poorly. Africa is a landmass with many nations of many different sizes. Many are richly endowed with natural resources and others, less so. Yet, there is no hard and fast rule that says larger states with many natural resources will do better than a smaller less populated place with fewer natural resources.

A microstate is not a fixed structure. A state is defined by its market. A jurisdiction is defined by the economic activity it encompasses and by extension, what it excludes. A state is an operational entity more than a political jurisdiction. Though a state will tend to promote and defend a contiguous land boundary what is more crucial is the level of domestic trade or internal economic engagement.

The size and shape of the state follows the adoption of its criteria for inclusion. These specifications reflect the Biblical description of a church. Citizens are accountable to the group. Their actions support and build up the group or state. Citizens are prepared to secure the contiguous border of the state.

The key to understanding the operation of a state is to understand the nature of ownership as provided by Scripture. We own what we create. The state is a creation of its citizens. A state is not a physical entity it is a cultural barrier to an external threat. When the threat of foreign culture is not defended against the state is an abstraction and has lost relevance.

The state is a security perimeter defined by the culture of the inhabitants. Think of the culture of a state as a border wall which secures citizens from internal and external threats. Foreign culture in a state is a virus that if permitted to permeate throughout the culture destroys the state and it becomes a different state if it remains a state.

The colonization of the West did not just alter the culture of the places Europe inhabited the process created new nations.

The contiguity of the state produces a secure theater in which a culture can thrive. Culture is what defines the continuity of the state in both space and time. In other words, if the arena contains serious threats to the culture of the area, it is not a state but is a place in transition. The setting up of a microstate is a process of identifying threats to the local culture and expunging them. Threats to the security of the polity include such things as debt, inflation, unemployment, poverty, homelessness and taxation. Anything that is a liability to property is a threat to security.

A state is a secure state, or it is at war.

Why do the rich create enclaves? These gated communities are ministates. The gates and walls protect the culture of the property owners.

A microstate ought to be considered a commercial enterprise owned and operated by citizens. Citizens are owners of a contiguous property possessed as a security device. States are accurately considered a security services, created to provide security for its members. The business as state envelops its owner/clients.

There are three rules of statehood.

1. If the state provides no security to its citizens, it is not a state.

2. If the citizens do not secure the borders and culture of their state, they are not citizens nor do they possess a state.

3. If the citizens do not share an identity provided by their economic activity secured by the state, the state has no contiguity, and the people have no culture and therefore no visible state.

The first step in establishing a microstate is to define how the borders of this state will be defined. This step requires defining the protoculture of the citizen, the common identity that will be defended and secured by the agreement. This requires a commercial entity be established. If the citizen cannot at least begin the path towards security through mutual economic support the state has no genesis.

Citizens have to understand, if you do not have something to defend you have no culture and by definition, no state. If you do not have commercial capacity, you have nothing to build and nothing to build with.

The following paragraphs will discuss the setting up of a microstate within the context of a liberal democracy. Christian’s ought to take note that the church is a proto microstate already. The process of transitioning a liberal church into a microstate or Exchange is discussed elsewhere and will not be addressed here. This is a discussion on starting from ground zero. This being said, the probability is that the citizen will be a Christian.

Mankind operates using concepts and language. A name for what will be styled a business is needed. For the sake of modelling the process, the model security business or microstate will be referred to as Securiton. Securiton is a corporation serving the security conscious community. A way to model this business to the secular world is to think of Securiton as security for gated communities or a program for creating the security level available to a conventional gated community.

Securiton is capitalized by investors contributing money and other assets to the corporation. In this example citizens are investors and investors are citizens. Regardless of the kind of investment made, whether in cash or kind, capital is swapped for equity.

An investment of five hundred dollars in cash or kind increases the equity of the Exchange by the same amount. Securiton issues preferred shares equal to the assets provided to represent the equity position it now occupies. Securiton maintains the value of fiat currency on par with the value of the preferred shares so there is always a 1:1 correspondence between domestic currency and its preferred share value.

Securiton has the option of selling bonds. These do not bear interest. They serve to give the company flexibility in its investment options.

Depending on the economic options being explored, the corporation purchase some form of commercial property. This may be land or a business. Once property has been purchased members use their preferred shares as a form of currency to buy into the operation. Every investor is issued one Common or Voting Share which is used to vote in the chairperson and other executives.

Preferred shares are issued as a credit to the member’s account. Preferred shares, which can be contracted to prefers, are utilized as a unit of account and a store of value. The company maintains a ledger in which each member is represented by an account. This is similar to the way a bank operates. Earnings are recorded as credits and expenses as debits.

The investment is protected by the asset donated. The Exchange business model permits any amount to be invested and any amount spent or converted back into assets. Investors can invest one million into the project and control one million equity. The investment entitles them to one million preferred shares on par with the fiat currency invested.

The investor can purchase property or anything else for sale by the Exchange. The amount purchased is not tied to the investment. Those who invested more may purchase less than their investment and those who invested less may purchase more. Debits and credits are entries in an account book or digital account.

Securiton does not incur debt but is able to liquidate equity positions. A property with a million dollars’ worth of equity can liquidate $300,000.00 worth of their equity position and purchase materials or other property or perhaps a store. By expanding property borders and business streams security is increased. The level of security is equal to the area governed by Securiton.

Imagine if you will a 1000-acre estate purchased by the corporation. Each family acquires a two-acre plot; there being 20 families in all. This provides a 40-acre personal use allotment. The homes can be modest with storage, entertainment, exercise and other facilities held in common. One way of providing for community facilities is to create a resort area with dining, entertainment and sports facilities. Individual gardens can be maintained though each family might specialize in two or three crops. These are reaped and processed in the community kitchen which is commercial grade. The food may also be stored in community storage facilities and sold through the eateries and food stores.

The grower, producer, processor and so on are all paid for their labor. The consumer purchases what products he or she needs using credits that are debited from his or her account.

The community facilities may account for another 5 acres. The remaining acreage is farmed and used as a source of lumber and firewood. If clay deposits exist, as is likely, a brick works can be established. The object is to keep everything in house and engage in external trade only when the savings are substantial.

Needless to say, if the community requires foodstuffs that cannot be provided in-house the corporation makes an effort to purchase a store or other outlet to provision the community. There are no restrictions on selling to the wider community, and indeed this is encouraged. Profits ought to go towards expanding the perimeter and productive capacity of the Securiton Exchange.

All exposure to the external economy ought to be considered exposure to risk and therefore a security risk.

All prosperity is the result of specialization. Monolithic economies dedicated to a single commodity or service are at risk. In the early stages people will be required to multitask and engage in activities they are not proficient in. However, security requires a lack of friction. It also needs sustainability and resilience features that only come with the existence of a complex economy. We all have different interests and abilities. As we expand and deepen security remember this is a process that involves giving people the freedom to choose the way they will add value to the state. Freedom is something we give, not something we take.

Our contribution ought to make others more able to do what they want to do. If we want to paint but someone else paints better, then they ought to do the painting. Being best is relative. Seek what one is best at absolutely and relatively, within the jobs available.

If we are all doing what needs to be done in the best way possible the highest possible security will be delivered.