Somalia; Libertarian Paradise

Somalia is a country on the horn of Africa slightly smaller than Texas. It is controlled by a very weak Federal Government which is ostensibly Democratic. It is divided into eighteen administrative districts, each of which is further divided into five or six smaller districts. The Federal Government mainly concerns itself with Defense and the people pay little or no Federal Tax. There is no Federal Reserve, there is no Medicaid, Medicare, or welfare to suck up the people's hard earned taxes because there is little taxation except to pay for the military and the corruption of those in power in every part of the country.

There is no gun control as automatic weapons are prevalent and necessary for basic survival. If you don't have one, someone who does will regularly relieve you of anything else you do have. All real power resides at the local level and is usually utilized through the barrel of the aforementioned automatic weapons.

Somalia is one of the closest approximations to pure Libertarianism on the face of the planet. It is also one of the most corrupt and dangerous places on the face of the planet. It is a pure free market economy with little or no government welfare.

As a matter of fact, there are little or no regulations on anything. No FDA, no EPA, and no FCC to monitor the financial markets. According to Libertarian theory it should be the epitome of efficiency but we actually find that Somalia's national debt is $386 per capita. This sounds pretty good until one realizes that per capita income is about $333 per capita. In other words, Somalia manages to provide essentially no government services yet still have a large national debt. Of course there are a lot of political leaders both locally and nationally that manage to have large bank accounts. Interestingly, these are roughly the same people who have lots of automatic weapons and people to use them at their disposal.

Perhaps those in this country who wish to see government reduced to the size that it can be "drowned in a bathtub" could be enticed into moving somewhere where this situation exists in reality. Maybe we could set up a Tea Party exchange system wherein lucky participants who pine for such a system could be given a temporary visa to experience Libertarian nirvana firsthand.