A Little Theory
In his time, the article by Savva Shanaev “Mathematics in Defense of Libertarianism” made a strong impression on me. It presented various models of agent behavior, exploring how they seek to minimize personal costs through democratic reforms, migration, or secession. The modeling results indicated that public costs decreased most rapidly when individuals exercised “vote with feet,” and that democratic mechanisms played only a supplementary role. Regarding secession – the formation of a new jurisdiction – it functioned effectively only with significant local self-sufficiency.
Naturally, this model’s effectiveness depends on minimizing the cost of status changes; therefore, the article framed it as an argument for extraterritorial contractual jurisdictions. However, analyzing how these three jurisdictional change options function in reality reveals that secession or a state transition via democratic means is incredibly expensive, lengthy, and requires coordinating numerous individuals. Migration, conversely, remains cheaper and effective even when it’s a purely individual undertaking.
Applying Theory to Real Immigration
When considering relocating to another country, people often focus solely on the relationship between an individual and the state. Consequently, they select countries where the state is perceived as benevolent and offering superior conditions. This severely restricts their choices, often to nothing, leaving them in their current location. Some substitute the state with a corporation for which they intend to work, assuming it will provide immigrants with all necessary support. This is valid until a job offer arrives from a reputable company. However, according to Shanaev’s model, any local community with its own rules – including those pertaining to collaborative problem-solving – can function as a jurisdiction. Such communities provide far greater opportunities for actively voting with your feet in pursuit of a better life. A corporation might hire you today and lay you off tomorrow; the state may welcome you today and deport you tomorrow. Individuals whose values aligned with yours at the time of joining the community will only begin to irritate you if those values change within the community, or if your own evolve.
In principle, the community is completely unnecessary to relocate to a new country if it can instead geographically isolate itself and remain in an old one. But specifically in РФ, this would be a dubious decision. Firstly, the cost of relocating to another part of the country may not be lower than the price of moving to another state, simply due to the immense scale of Russian Russia. And secondly, the Russian state is extremely suspicious of organized communities and will pursue any cohesive group for the mere fact of cohesion, regardless of loyalty to the current course of the state.
Some Observations and Recommendations
I, of course, assume that the target audience for this article is libertarians. However, libertarianism may not be your primary identity. For example, you might primarily consider yourself a streamer. Or a chemist. Or a vegan. Basically, your wishes regarding the surrounding order can be quite specific, but whether they are sufficiently libertarian remains secondary to you compared to the width of the internet channel, the frequency of tournaments, or the availability of tofu.
Therefore, before deciding to go to a certain place, you can always first familiarize yourself with local public chats and similar resources to try to feel the vibe of that place. Of course, all legal restrictions are important, as even if there are ways to circumvent them, this still means additional hassle and risks. And of course, it’s best when there is an opportunity to first come for reconnaissance, sniff the air, get to know the local community, understand how they live, and how comfortable it would be to join them.
Of course, there are those whose activity is almost entirely focused on the network. Their income – online. Their friends and like-minded people – online. The entire context of their communication is also online. They require only an inexpensive, comfortable environment and fleeting acquaintances from the offline world. This approach greatly expands the choice of countries, and if income and temperament allow, you can freely roam the world based on the weather at the window, discounts on tickets, and fleeting whims.
It’s the most difficult thing for those with strong offline attachments. Usually this is elderly parents and various pets. Exactly for such people the choice between their interests and the interests of loved ones is usually unambiguous: of course, you have to sacrifice your own. If you are one of these, it will be difficult to convince you; I suspect that you are only hiding the interests of loved ones, while actually just fearing any changes. And therefore, changes will catch up with you right on the spot. Practice shows that people move in families and with pets; there would be a desire to.
And there’s another category you should say something about. It’s enthusiastic idealists. They have a clear idea of how things *should* be. They get infected with the idea of moving to a community of like-minded people, they throw everything away and go. And at the new place it turns out that everyone around is just down-to-earth, no circles are formed around them, no hymns are sung in the mornings. Disappointed, they return just as quickly, spending a huge amount of resources on their wanderings and harboring bitter resentment towards those they were so recently charmed by. If you recognize one of these on online resources of your community, ban him immediately, without waiting for him to arrive. It will be much easier for everyone. If you recognized yourself in this description (which is unlikely), then accept my sympathy: I don’t know how to help you. Try to practice stuffing your head with ideas, without putting everything on the line all at once.
Brief Conclusions
Emigration is a quite radical step that allows you to build a life in a new place, with new people, according to new principles. The more readily people are willing to emigrate, the better the world around them begins to conform to their values.
When emigrating “to the state,” a libertarian chooses from kinds of shit. It’s much more logical to emigrate “to a community,” presenting only minimal demands for the state so it doesn’t stink too much, while studying potential future friends and neighbors with much greater care.
The latter applies to those who have already formed an emigration community: don’t call everyone in indiscriminately. The person who is obviously not going to fit in can usually be recognized even at the stage of preliminary acquaintance. Even a totalitarian sect cannot cut out each neophyte, and libertarians all the more so.
