Would it be possible today to actually build Galt's Gulch, for real?
This post is dedicated to "dino". Would it be possible today to actually build Galt's Gulch, for real? Or would the government kill us and shut it down? (Would it have a nice lake for fishing?)
While not quite a Galt's Gulch, the plan is for minimum government, a free market, and becoming a reliable offshore banking haven. The architecture is concrete and modular, so as population increases, new modules can be added.
In perspective, this sounds like the New Utopia plan, without the monarchy slant. Getting the financial base together has always been the problem for these type of plans. The failed New Utopia plan involved sale of bonds, which got the founders in trouble with the SEC. Anyone who tries to create a new artificial island state better have big money behind it, but it's theoretically possible.
Geographically, an artificial island would best survive in a shallow water environment. The problem with that is that nearly all shallow water globally is in the economic interest zone (200 miles offshore) of an existing nation.
There are some islands that currently fall under the control of an existing nation that might be purchased and given a degree of autonomy that would enable a Gulch. It's hard to find any that are unpopulated and not part of some environmentally controlled territory. Johnston Island, west of Hawaii, is a mess, with lots of toxic waste stored there. Wake Island has some reasonably good facilities, but is under feverish watch by environmentalist radicals. A more likely target might be some of the islands of a small nation like Tuvalu. The problem is how to avoid restrictive entanglements, or an unstable government that would view successful development of a Gulch as a target for takeover and plunder.
It would have to be done fairly openly.
What might be doable:
Buying some island (with full or at least partial sovereignty) from some poor island nation.
Building a platform in some shallow waters?
And variations.
https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...
If the majority of the residents come to believe that they need a new deal it doesn't matter what your founding documents say.
Or we could wait a few hundred years to find a planet in a healthy star's Goldilocks Zone.
https://www.vladi-private-islands.de/...
Construction of a near earth space habitat using robotic mining of asteroids might be quicker than waiting for a planet, since such a planet would likely be claimed by earth-bound political bureaucracies.
That is a short term solution if it's possible.
Lesson learned, Disneyworld was built in the Florida boonies.
“term2”, what you determines to be “independently wealthy” or “willing to live a relatively minute lifestyle” might be completely different than what you perceive today compared to tomorrow. It definitely was for me. My biggest downfall is stamina, finding it hard to catch my breath. I’d even trade a portion of my fortune for better health so I too could go out and trudge through the mountains and wilderness for hours just to kill something again. My advice to youngsters that I meet (and like) is (1) Don’t Smoke”, (2) Save Your Money. And now (3) Take Care of Your Health. You don’t have to be rich to be rich to live in the Gulch, you just have to be satisfied with what you have.
You are probably in as much of a gulch right now and you could ever hope for. I doubt the country is going to collapse during the time you (or I) have left, and if you can live it out without the government bothering you too much, thats great.
The collapse will be the destruction of the US dollar through inflation, but that tends to be slow enough so as not to get politicians fired.
It has worked so far.
When I took my first job after graduation, the CEO of that large NYSE company had an annual salary of about $110k and the CFO had an annual salary of about $33k. Today it would take +- ten times those salaries to get decent talent for those positions. Slow, indefatigable inflation destroying value and discouraging savings every instant of every day.
Not to say that it cant be done somewhere, but it would be expensive and definitely not easily up the normal standard of living we enjoy today. That assumes we are all healthy, or are willing to just die natural deaths without current medical care.
Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957, the same year Sputnik first circled the earth.
Doubt Ayn Rand, the genius that she was, had any idea there would be so many spying eyes in the sky.
Me dino can now go to Google Maps to see an overhead photo of my home.
The point you make about Rand's purpose in describing the Gulch in AS is obvious, but necessary to make. As you say, the Gulch shows how humans can interact rationally in a civilized manner. AS is what our MM calls romantic writing, it is not a set of instructions.
I took that "in theory" question in stride for science fiction also.
because after one more generation, the variables of possibilities are so huge, to what could happen to humankind on planet earth, that there is no point discussing it (unless you are young, of course, which i am not).
All tittled and closing is done in notaria, like a title company in the USA, only 18 lots available and benefits include comunity center or clubhouse and unlimited organic food.
Working on my web page, is not done but I’m getting there. www.movingtochile.com
I’m in Houston and moving to Chile soon and i can meet anyone in Houston or Chile. Thanks for looking. Caesar
#2 Gotta have lotsa dedicated persons willing to work their butts off.
#3 Rather than mysteriously appearing and talking the right people to go along (There are fewer today than in '60) State the premise (1 paragraph should do) and advertise the hell out of it.
#4 Find a privately owned island in the tropics. Big enough for a good sized landing strip and purchase it.
#5 Create a village. (No thatch roofed yurts) with modern apartments, condos, and free standers.
#6 Create a modern port, fully equipped to do business.
And that's just for starters.
So, I would say, not possible at this time.
However, I think your #4 is too size limited to be successful at more than a resort for the rich. There has to be room for tens of thousands of producers and their children and grandchildren, and for new technology development safely separated from living space and food production, and for a defensive military force to defend freedom from those who want to plunder and loot it.
Who among the Forbes 400 would be most likely to take such a risk in defense of western culture, free markets, and individual liberty?
Maybe there's need for a research project to find Midas.
The upside for Midas is unlimited.
The issue with the members of Fortune 400 is that they are part of the elite, have already set up access to political "pull", and rarely want to rock that boat. Too bad they don't recognize the blind spot in that thinking that enslaves them, too
As far as building a Gulch as in the book...it would be very challenging, at best.
Could you do a microgulch with no more than perhaps 50 people, probably.