[extropy-chat] Stephenson's Franchulate enclavism beginning...

[Mike Lorrey]

In a move that may herald the beginning of panarchical franchise
enclaves predicted by Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash and The Diamond
Age, the Vermont town of Killington, VT is considering the possibility
of seceding from Vermont to join NH.

Located 25 miles inside Vermont, Killington is the home of the largest
tourist destination in the state, Killington Ski Resort, the largest
ski area in North America. The locals have had their development hopes
dashed for the past decade by environmental fascists via the states Act
250 environmental courts, which allows anyone to sue to stop you from
developing your land.

Additionally, the Act 60 property tax law treats Killington as a 'gold
town', from which the state loots $10 million in local property taxes
per year to redistribute to 'receiver' school districts around the
state. Killington only gets back $1 million. Combined with a refusal by
the state to build sufficient roads to Killington to deal with its
traffic, the people of Killington feel like a colony that the royalty
in Montpelier leeches off of.

"It kind of reminds us of colonial days," Town Manager David Lewis said
Thursday. "The colonies were being faced with the Stamp Act, the Tea
Act, the Sugar Act. England wasn't giving them any rights. They were
treating the colonies as just a revenue source."

Killington's Select Board wants to let voters consider secession on
Town Meeting Day in March. Lewis says, "New Hampshire would never abuse
a town like ours as Vermont has."

As a result, the Free State Project is ramping up a 'shadow
advertising' campaign across Vermont. "If the people of Killington are
so fed up with the state government, there must be a lot more people
elsewhere in the state who feel similarly," says FSP VP Doug Hillman,
"We are going to promote the FSP and NH to liberty lovers in Vermont
and ultimately in all northeastern states."

Other FSP members want to promote the concept of secession to towns in
other high tax states. "We may wind up with NH towns spread across the
US," one FSP member said. Originally termed Panarchy in the 19th
century, the concept was rekindled in the last decade by popular SF
writer Neal Stephenson, who predicted a future where gated communities
and townships spread like franchises across the world would form
synthetic nations, or 'phyles'. Also called 'clades' and 'franchulates'
(for franchise-consulate), such communities would allow weary citizens
of such phyles to find a safe harbor to stay that recognised their
'citizenship'.



=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
"Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
                                       - Mike Lorrey
Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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