KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021)

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 359. Related: Structural Safeguards to Limit Legislation and State Power Constitutional Structures in Defense of Freedom (ASC 1998) Randy Barnett’s “Federalism Amendment”–A Counterproposal; and related posts How to Fix the US KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021) KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021) Libertarian Nation and Related Projects Update:  See The Universal Principles of Liberty (Aug. 14, 2025) Libertarian Nation and Related Projects (cataloging various libertarian "free nation" and related projects) Update: there was already a union among the states, a loose confederation, based on a treaty, a compact--the Articles of Confederation. A convention was called to modify it. Instead the Convention staged a coup and produced a new central state in secret instead of simply amending the… — Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) December 1, 2025 "the Articles were never abolished. So the United States of America under the Articles still exists; I suggest the 13 original states revive the original USA by having their legislatures appoint its delegation members to the Congress of the Confederation; each State delegation gets one vote in Congress. Then the Congress can permit applications from the other 37 newer states and expand the size of Congress to 50 delegations. Then the new Congress of the Confederation can seek to abolish and disband the USA and the illegal Constitution." From the recently-concluded Fifteenth Annual (2021) Meeting of the PFS, Bodrum, Turkey (Sept. 16–21, 2021). For others, see the links in the Program, or the PFS YouTube channel, including the growing PFS 2021 YouTube Playlist. Additional media of the proceedings will be released presently. Also re-podcast at PFP231 | Stephan Kinsella, State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021). https://youtu.be/hPPC9OfzHgI For a similar talk, see KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021). The followup panel discussion later that day is here: Related: Structural Safeguards to Limit Legislation and State Power Constitutional Structures in Defense of Freedom (ASC 1998) Randy Barnett’s “Federalism Amendment”–A Counterproposal; and related posts How to Fix the US KOL345 | Kinsella’s Libertarian “Constitution” or: State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PorcFest 2021) KOL359 | State Constitutions vs. the Libertarian Private Law Code (PFS 2021) My notes are below: State Constitutions vs. The Libertarian Private Law Code Notes Stephan Kinsella Property and Freedom Society Annual Meeting Sep. 19, 2021 – Bodrum, Turkey   Joke: I’ve prepared a libertarian constitution, and I hope to cover as much of its 18 parts and 45 pages as possible in the next half hour. Part I, Section A, Subsection 1: “Definitions.” Just kidding. I’m not going to read it. I haven’t even finished it yet. My wife said “is this what you geeks think is funny?” I said we’ll see. Half of them may be relieved, but some of them will be saying “Oh damn, I wanted to hear a Libertarian Constitution read to me.” Tell Hoppe Porcfest choking joke. I’m going to talk about the idea of constitutions and libertarianism—whether the idea makes sense at all. Since I’ve been a libertarian in the early 1980s, I’ve seen various utopian libertarian projects, many of them scams, most of them failures— [UPDATED list at Libertarian Nation and Related Projects] Tipolis—"creator, owner and operator of a global portfolio of International Cities characterized by a high degree of autonomy": Free private cities/charter cities movement Próspera—a charter city on the island of Roatán, Honduras (wikipedia; official site; Próspera's e-Governance Portal; Prospera legal code; Próspera ZEDE; Official ZEDE Statute, Unofficial English Translation, and Commentary) Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)—a special economic zone in Dubai adopting common law—wikipedia; Laws and Regulations in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC); The DIFC’s Affirmation of English Common Law into its Statutory Framework Principality of Seborga—village in Italy claiming micronation status cruise ship nations, now seasteading (Blueseed); Oceania—The Atlantis Project Same people: Project Lifeboat: “From the people who brought you the Oceania project so many years ago comes the Lifeboat project. An attempt to create a spaceship for the purposes of saving the human race from the singularity predicted by Vernor Vinge.” crazy guys homesteading abandoned oil rigs and declaring sovereignty; private justice, arbitration, and common law groups: The “Creative Common Law” project (Jamin Hubner), an anarcho-capitalist project in which I was enlisted as an advisor, only for it to later turn from “Creative Common Law 1.0: Anarcho-Capitalism” to “Creative Common Law 2.0: Anarcho-Socialism/Syndicalism” Always be wary of “Waystation libertarians” Tom Bell’s “Ulex,” or “Open Source Legal Operating System”; LiberLand, which I helped draft an early constitution for see “The Voluntaryist Constitution” Galt’s Gulch Chile, a scam that ended in disaster; the Honduras special economic zones; General Governance (David Johnston), the idea of leveraging Indian tribes’ special status to extend their federal tax-free enclaves or zones; even the Free State Project National Constitution Center’s “The Libertarian Constitution” Roderick Long’s “Imagineering Freedom: A Constitution of Liberty Part I: Between Anarchy and Limited Government” and Michael Darby’s “Draft Constitution for a Reviving or New Nation,” both at http://freenation.org/a/ Dennis Pratt https://www.quora.com/What-would-a-libertarian-bill-of-rights-look-like/answer/Dennis-Pratt-3 Bernard H. Siegen, Drafting a Constitution for a Nation or Republic Emerging into Freedom. 2d ed. (Fairfax, Virginia: George Mason University Press, 1994) See also "A draft constitution for the state in the third millennium," by Prince Hans-Adam of Liechtenstein [Update: See also these older links from my old LibertarianGuide Wiki and Links (archived), under New Libertarian Nations: The Free State Project Seasteading Institute (Patri Friedman) Limón REAL Project (current) "Sealand" and Prince Roy Principality of "New Utopia" "Oceana" Libertarian Nation Foundation's links to other free-nation projects and related endeavors and one that may actually work, Setting Sail on a Giant, Floating City] I’ve been dragooned into helping some of these as consultant or advisor— General Governance, we met with Indian tribe north of Texas; now you get a 404, as David Johnston moved on to bitcoin, after assuring me that within 6 months we’ll have a libertarian nation. Joel Bomgar, a libertarian-leaning conservative Christian businessman and Mississippi legislator. LiberLand (swam with Wit Jedlicka, the president, in Turkey) Mediterranean sea. Others I’ve forgotten. Update, June 2025: I need to update this to include others like Liberland, (( “The Voluntaryist Constitution” )) Live and Let Live, (( KOL358 | Peace Radicals Ep. 40, with Marc Victor of Live and Let LiveKOL063 | “Live and Let Live” radio show with Gary Johnson discussing IP (Nov. 14, 2010); Kinsella on “Live and Let Live” Radio: Sunday, Nov. 14. )) Creative Common Law, (( Creative Common Law Project, R.I.P. and Waystation Libertarians. )) Nations of Sanity, (( KOL450 | Together Strong IP Discussion (Matthew Sands of Nations of Sanity feat Econ Bro); KOL442 | Together Strong Debate vs. Walter Block on Voluntary Slavery (Matthew Sands of Nations of Sanity); KOL426 | Discussing Immigration and Homesteading Donuts with Matthew Sands of Nations of Sanity; KOL372 | Discussing Contract Theory, Restitution, Punishment, with Matthew Sands of Nations of Sanity; KOL362 | California Gold #6, with Matt Sands: Defining Libertarianism, Anarchism and Voluntaryism. )) and a new I'm working on (still secret) Often these projects involve the drafting of a new “Constitution” or some similar code or legal document. Why do we even use the word “Constitution”? The modern libertarian movement originated in the US in the 1950s with the work of Ayn Rand, and others—Milton Friedman, Leonard Read, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and we’ve always viewed the American Founding and related documents—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Statue of Liberty, The Liberty Bell—as quasi-libertarian. Consider the scene near the end of Atlas Shrugged, where wise judge Narragansett “sat at a table, and the light of his lamp fell on the copy of an ancient document. He had marked and crossed out the contradictions in its statements that had once been the cause of its destruction. He was now adding a new clause to its pages: ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade . . .’” Or “The Libertarian Constitution” by Ilya Shapiro, Tim Sandefur, and Christina Mulligan: “This was probably an easier project for us than for our conservative and progressive counterparts because the current United States Constitution is fundamentally a libertarian or, more precisely, classical liberal document. So much so that, at the outset, we joked that all we needed to do was to add “and we mean it” at the end of every clause. Others have proposed various amendments to the Constitution that would “fix” or improve it. I’ve done so myself: Reviving the Kentucky Resolution of Jefferson and give states the power to nullify unconstitutional acts of the feds. Allow States to overturn Supreme Court decisions: