<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span style="background:none">Von Ormy, Texas.</span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span class="gmail-q-inline" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline"><a class="gmail-q-box gmail-qu-cursor--pointer gmail-qu-hover--textDecoration--underline gmail-Link___StyledBox-t2xg9c-0 gmail-roKEj" title="www.esquire.com" href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a56856/von-ormy-texas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background:none;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(25,95,170);box-sizing:border-box;border-radius:inherit;font-weight:bold">This Texas Town Went Full Libertarian and Hilarity Ensued</a><span class="gmail-q-inlineBlock gmail-qu-verticalAlign--text-bottom" width="16px" name="ExternalLink" style="vertical-align:text-bottom;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;width:16px;height:16px;line-height:0;margin-left:2px"><span class="gmail-CssComponent__CssInlineComponent-sc-1oskqb9-1 gmail-Icon___StyledCssInlineComponent-sc-11tmcw7-0 gmail-bxnMMA" style="display:inline-flex;width:16px;height:16px"></span></span></span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span class="gmail-q-inline" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline"><a class="gmail-q-box gmail-qu-cursor--pointer gmail-qu-hover--textDecoration--underline gmail-Link___StyledBox-t2xg9c-0 gmail-roKEj" title="www.texasobserver.org" href="https://www.texasobserver.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-freest-little-city-in-texas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background:none;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(25,95,170);box-sizing:border-box;border-radius:inherit;font-weight:bold">The Rise and Fall of the “Freest Little City in Texas”</a><span class="gmail-q-inlineBlock gmail-qu-verticalAlign--text-bottom" width="16px" name="ExternalLink" style="vertical-align:text-bottom;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;width:16px;height:16px;line-height:0;margin-left:2px"><span class="gmail-CssComponent__CssInlineComponent-sc-1oskqb9-1 gmail-Icon___StyledCssInlineComponent-sc-11tmcw7-0 gmail-bxnMMA" style="display:inline-flex;width:16px;height:16px"></span></span></span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span style="background:none">Von Ormy was supposed to be a Libertarian paradise. No taxes and no government regulation meant that businesses would flock to the city bringing jobs and money, right?</span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span style="background:none">Ha ha ha ha ha no.</span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span style="background:none">The town’s government is essentially nonfunctional. It’s run from a double-wide trailer (they don’t have enough money to pay the rent on City Hall).</span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span style="background:none">You’ll find no Socialism here, no siree. The town’s Socialist fire department was disbanded because there’s not enough money to pay firefighters. The town’s Socialist police force was disbanded; law enforcement is now done by county sheriffs. The town decided to finance a sewer system by voluntary donations—taxation is theft at the barrel of a gun, if you give people the freedom to choose what to pay for economies run so much more efficiently, right? BWAH ha ha ha ha! No, there’s no sewer system, no water treatment, none of that Socialist nonsense.</span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span style="background:none">Dysfunctional government, no jobs, no business, no industry, no fire department, no infrastructure, no police…it is </span><span style="font-style:italic;background:none">precisely</span><span style="background:none"> what you get when you put Libertarian ideology into practice.</span></p><p class="gmail-q-text gmail-qu-display--block" style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,41);font-family:-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:15px;box-sizing:border-box;word-break:break-word;direction:ltr"><span style="background:none">You’ll love it there.</span></p>bill w</div></div>