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Cities on a Hill
Ron Paul won't be moving to Paulville, reports Politico:
The founders of Paulville recently announced the purchase of the first 50 acres in West Texas on which they plan to build one of their "gated communities containing 100 percent Ron Paul supporters and or people that live by the ideals of freedom and liberty."
One man who won't be moving there anytime soon: Ron Paul....
[D]ropping out and creating an isolated community isn't the answer, says Paul, a congressman from Texas. "You don't want the ideas to be centered in one place," he says. "But it shows how desperate people are for freedom."
Consistent with his beliefs in liberty, however, he doesn't outright oppose Paulville. "I don't see that as a solution, but it can't hurt anything either," he says.
My position on Paulville is the same as my position on every libertarian intentional community: I don't want to live in a town filled with ideologues, even (or especially) if they're ideologues I agree with. That said, better a thousand Paulvilles than a single McCain Nation.
It's not clear, incidentally, that Paulville will appear at all. From the same article:
On Monday, just days after the announcement of the land purchase, the Web site Paulville.org went out of existence. No contact information had been on the site when it was live; phone calls and e-mails to the site administrator over the last several days have gone unreturned.
Has the dream died already? Or, like Brigadoon flashing briefly in the mist, have they already gone off the grid?
Bonus exercise: Imagine life in Edwardsville, Bidentown, the Dodd District, Port Romney, Huckabee County, Tancredo Township, or any other community devoted to the principles espoused by a failed presidential candidate. (Except Giuliani City. We already know what that one looked like.)
[Hat tip: Dan Clore.]
|5.14.08 @ 9:24AM|#
Ron Paul's followers has officially lapsed Lyndon LaRouche followers when it comes to cult-like behavior, right?
|5.14.08 @ 9:27AM|#
All I can picture is a bunch of people running around trying to make their houses uglier than each others and doing whatever they can to piss each other off so they can turn right back around and be like "HA! Isn't this great?! We're so mad at each other!"
|5.14.08 @ 9:28AM|#
I don't think I'd mind living in a building full of libertarians. At least you'd know where to go for computer help.
|5.14.08 @ 9:30AM|#
I don't think I'd mind living in a building full of
libertarians. At least you'd know where to go for computer
help.
and homebrew
Episiarch|5.14.08 @ 9:30AM|#
No, what you'll get is an endless Life of Brian
"splitters!" squabbling match, with the property being redefined
into smaller and smaller chunks that adhere to more and more
specific ideologies.
That's assuming they are all that rabid. It could turn out to be a
pretty pleasant place to live but over time that'll change.
|5.14.08 @ 9:34AM|#
I don't think I'd mind living in a building full of
libertarians. At least you'd know where to go for computer
help.
and homebrew
...but not dating advice
Fluffy|5.14.08 @ 9:37AM|#
Hohensee -
Well, I think you're seeing more an array of spontaneous silliness
from various little cells of Paul supporters, and not cult behavior
per se.
Considering the fact that Paul does virtually nothing to direct any
of this stuff, and sometimes appears to be merely polite in a
grandfatherly way about the most inane stuff, it's really hard to
line that up with, say, Jonestown. What kind of cult has a leader
who's not trying to lead?
T|5.14.08 @ 9:38AM|#
Why am I reminded of the snide comment that there are slightly more versions of libertarianism then there are libertarians? I can just imagine the HOA meetings.
|5.14.08 @ 9:44AM|#
What kind of cult has a leader who's not trying to
lead?
Brian: I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the
Messiah, do you understand? Honestly!
Girl: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.
Brian: What? Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All
right! I am the Messiah!
Followers: He is! He is the Messiah!
Brian: Now, fuck off!
[silence]
Arthur: How shall we fuck off, O Lord?
|5.14.08 @ 9:48AM|#
"That said, better a thousand Paulvilles than a single McCain
Nation."
Jesus Christ. Jesse are you totally incapable of posting an article
without pimping your book?
Standard libertarian disclosure re: free markets, etc...
|5.14.08 @ 9:50AM|#
So, will it be pedestrian oriented? You know, can you go from the shooting range to the fallout shelter on foot?
Abdul|5.14.08 @ 9:52AM|#
If the Ron Paul campaign taught us anything, then any item in
Paulville that stood still for at least three seconds would have a
reEVOLution poster haning from it.
In tancredo township, there'd be no one to do the landscaping.
D.A. Ridgely|5.14.08 @ 9:54AM|#
Bonus exercise: Imagine life in Edwardsville, Bidentown, the
Dodd District, Port Romney, Huckabee County, Tancredo Township, or
any other community devoted to the principles espoused by a failed
presidential candidate. (Except Giuliani City. We already know that
that one looked like.)
Now Entering The Two Edwardsvilles
(Try Our Famous Torts!)
Now Entering The Two Edwardsvilles Bidentowns
(Try Our Famous Torts!, Oh, Never Mind.)
Now Entering God's Huckabee Country
(Please Turn Off Your Cell Phones)
Now Entering The Private Estate
of Mr & Mrs God Mitt Romney
(Formerly Utahchussets)
Now Entering Tancredo Township
(Proof Of Citizenship Required -- ¡No Habla Español!)
|5.14.08 @ 9:58AM|#
Jesse are you totally incapable of posting an article
without pimping your book?
What?
|5.14.08 @ 10:00AM|#
Jesus Christ. Jesse are you totally incapable of posting an
article without pimping your book?
What McCain book did Jesse right again?
Edward|5.14.08 @ 10:01AM|#
"That said, better a thousand Paulvilles than a single McCain
Nation."
What a choice!
Tancredo Township wouldn't accept birthright citizenship, and
neither would Paulville, by the way. Both would probably have
creationist theme parks.
|5.14.08 @ 10:02AM|#
*write, dammit! W-R-I-T-E...it's pre-coffee here in the
Ohizzle.
Hey joe, does joe's law apply only when making pedantical grammar
corrections, or does it apply to correcting errors of substance as
well?
|5.14.08 @ 10:03AM|#
Tancredo Township wouldn't accept birthright citizenship,
and neither would Paulville, by the way. Both would probably have
creationist theme parks.
So they're like a surreal version of Orlando, FL.
Jesse Walker|5.14.08 @ 10:05AM|#
I'd like to announce my plans to reprint Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America under a new title: McCain: The Myth of a Maverick. Bookstores will file it under my pen name, "Matt Welch."
|5.14.08 @ 10:06AM|#
Matt Welch is the author of the McCain book. Perhaps he forced
Jesse to mention it, but I somehow doubt it.
I hesitate to join the abuse about a libertarian-themed
community--would a liberal or conservative community have even one
fewer wackjob in their respective ranks? I think not.
|5.14.08 @ 10:07AM|#
joez Law of Teh Internetz:
When writing a comment insulting someone's intelligence, you will
make a spelling error that makes you look like an idiot.
e.g., "Get a brain, Morans!"
D.A. Ridgely|5.14.08 @ 10:12AM|#
e.g., "Get a brain, Morans!"
Actually, that would work just fine in the 8th Congressional
District of Virginia.
robc|5.14.08 @ 10:12AM|#
I don't think I'd mind living in a building full of
libertarians. At least you'd know where to go for computer
help.
and homebrew
...but not dating advice
Dammit, thats 3 comments that hit me exactly. I hate being that
predictable.
robc|5.14.08 @ 10:15AM|#
joe,
So, will it be pedestrian oriented? You know, can you go from
the shooting range to the fallout shelter on foot?
Depends if the owner of the land between the range and the shelter
builds a footpath or not. BTW, as a (former?) planner you should
know this, whats the typical toll on a footpath?
Edward|5.14.08 @ 10:16AM|#
Maybe Paulville would serve some quick-extit Kool-Aid if it looked like universal health care was on the horizon. Give me a failed but private health care system or give me death! Wait, I can have both!
robc|5.14.08 @ 10:18AM|#
Both would probably have creationist theme parks.
While listening to the Reds game while driving home last night, I
heard a Cincy tourism commercial. After pimping the big attractions
- Reds games, Newport Aquarium, King's Island - at the end of the
commercial they listed other attractions like museums and etc. In
the list they mentioned the creation museum.
Colin|5.14.08 @ 10:19AM|#
"On Monday, just days after the announcement of the land
purchase, the Web site Paulville.org went out of existence. No
contact information had been on the site when it was live; phone
calls and e-mails to the site administrator over the last several
days have gone unreturned."
I wonder how many people got fleeced.
robc|5.14.08 @ 10:20AM|#
Get a brain, Morans!
Having spent too much time on fark, that doesnt even look wrong to
me.
|5.14.08 @ 10:20AM|#
robc,
As a (former) planner, I recommend we hold a public visioning
session to determine the toll on the footpath.
You flyer the neighborhood, I'll set up a wildly-optimistic number
of folding chairs.
ALowe|5.14.08 @ 10:21AM|#
So, will it be pedestrian oriented? You know, can you go
from the shooting range to the fallout shelter on foot?
Sure, as long as you remember to bring change for the toll
sidewalks.
Untermensch|5.14.08 @ 10:22AM|#
OK Edward, I'll bite:
"Give me a Cuban-style health-care system or give me death! Wait,
they're synonymous (despite what Michael Moore told me)."
BakedPenguin|5.14.08 @ 10:23AM|#
Give me a failed but private health care system or give me death! Wait, I can have both!
Here's to hope, Edward...
|5.14.08 @ 10:26AM|#
joe | May 14, 2008, 10:07am | #
joez Law of Teh Internetz:
When writing a comment insulting someone's intelligence, you will
make a spelling error that makes you look like an idiot.
e.g., "Get a brain, Morans!"
Corollaries exist as well. For example, it has been established
that joe's law applies to mathematic pedants as well. Perhaps
somebody with a flair for scholarly work could dope out all of the
implications of joe's law and post their treatise here.
|5.14.08 @ 10:35AM|#
Due to the overwhelming benefit of his fluency in 15-126 languages, I nominate the dunderooo as gatekeeper/sheriff/town cryer.
|5.14.08 @ 10:37AM|#
I suspect I would move to this community all psyched up for a
wild time. Then on the first day I would discover that the
community was 80% male, and the women weren't much to look
at.
On the second day I'd invite my neighbors over for a wild party;
they'd turn me down and insist that I join their Bible Study
group.
And on the third day I would move...
Fluffy|5.14.08 @ 10:54AM|#
I'm moving to Spitzerville.
You can pick up a foreclosed property cheap in Vegas these
days.
|5.14.08 @ 10:56AM|#
"I'm moving to Spitzerville."
Who wants to travel out of state just to have sex?
|5.14.08 @ 11:02AM|#
The real question is "How difficult would it be to deal smack in
Paulville?"
On one hand, profits would be theoretically low...OTOH, I'd bet
it's a bunch of uptight white dudes just itching for some
excitement.
|5.14.08 @ 11:02AM|#
Spitzerville. Home of Eliot Spitzer, his family, and 10,000 high-end prostitutes. Excellent fodder for his new gig as Whore Critic for The New York Times. Hmmm, I think he needs to write another article soon.
|5.14.08 @ 11:22AM|#
Corollaries exist as well.
RC'z Law (typos are likely to be funnier than the corrected post)
is definitely a corollary of joe'z Law.
|5.14.08 @ 11:22AM|#
In Edwardsville, everyone would constantly be on strike against themselves.
The easy punchline there would be something about top-rate hair
salons.
Tutu Tutu|5.14.08 @ 11:26AM|#
Will Paulville mandate listening to Coast-to-Coast A.M. with
George Noory? And attending weekly lectures on " FED up. Why the
banking cabal profits while you lose money, liberty, and
property"?
I can deal, so long as they have marijuana vending machines . .
.
Can I get a what-what?
|5.14.08 @ 11:28AM|#
Gravel-ville would just feature one old man wondering around aimlessly in an abandoned village, occasionally spending hours at a time staring at pieces of technology that confuses and intimidates him. Then turning around, sporting a perplexed yet wounded look when he spots a group of raucous teenagers pointing and laughing at him.
|5.14.08 @ 11:28AM|#
"We should all be making more money than we currently are!" said 100% of the residents of Edwardsville, a closed economy located somewhere in Indiana. They are all on strike until they all agree to pay themselves what they collectively deserve.
Drooples the Retarded Kitten|5.14.08 @ 11:34AM|#
In Drooplesville, everybody eats ham every day, has pudding for dessert, and votes for God every four years. It's happy here.
D.A. Ridgely|5.14.08 @ 11:35AM|#
Spitzerville. Home of Eliot Spitzer, his family, and 10,000
high-end prostitutes. Excellent fodder for his new gig as Whore
Critic for The New York Times. Hmmm, I think he needs to write
another article soon.
So, does this mean that Spitzer will be covering the opening of all
new Andrew Lloyd Webber shows for the Times?
|5.14.08 @ 11:38AM|#
Pickles: I don't want any more ham, drooples, I'm sick of
ham!
Drooples: But ham is so yummy!
Pickles: You, Drooples, once again are the master of the persuasive
argument. I shall give ham a second chance.
thoreau|5.14.08 @ 11:39AM|#
I can only imagine what the community newsletter for Paulville will be like.
jimmy|5.14.08 @ 11:43AM|#
good thing it will be a gated community. i'd hate to see the consternation in the paulites' faces if a mexican lesbian showed up in town trying to get an abortion.
Drooples the Retarded Kitten|5.14.08 @ 11:59AM|#
Thanx Pickles! Ham all time makes everyone, and sisters too, happy as a spider monkey.
Kolohe|5.14.08 @ 12:03PM|#
Actually, if you've ever lived on a Navy base -or any other military base for that matter - you have seen life in a 'McCain Towne'
Drooples the Retarded Kitten|5.14.08 @ 12:10PM|#
Will McCain give Drooples and friends ham every day? Maybe he can be the He . . . the God of every four years.
|5.14.08 @ 12:20PM|#
Jesse said:
"I don't want to live in a town filled with ideologues, even (or
especially) if they're ideologues I agree with."
I realize this is just a throw away line, but there is no way that
(if forced to choose between two evils) you would prefer the town
consisting totally of ideologues with whom you disagree to a town
housing 100% ideologues with whom you agree.
consider a true Stalingrad?
or a real Ho Chi Mihn City?
.... Pol Pottsdam
David Dukeville?
I'll take a town filled with fans of Milton F. or T. Jefferson over
any of the above, even if all my neighbors were nerdz.
Jesse Walker|5.14.08 @ 12:30PM|#
Let me put it this way: There are unique drawbacks to living in a community where you agree with everyone. That said: You're right, I'd certainly pick a town full of Paulites over New Stalingrad.
|5.14.08 @ 1:00PM|#
I think I should have liked to live in Brownesville ("Our government doesn't work and we admit it!")
Pottsy|5.14.08 @ 1:12PM|#
There are unique drawbacks to living in a community where
you agree with everyone.
It'd be an echo chamber. I'd shoot myself if I was never forced to
consider someone else's political perspective. How the hell would
you evolve?
|5.14.08 @ 1:23PM|#
Is "idealogue" a bad word? Is an idealogue different than
someone who has firmly-held opinions, consistent with his/her
worldview?
Does it represent something more sinister?
If you're not an idealogue, don't you just vote for the candidate
who has the best TV spots?
If the main thing my neighbors and I agreed on was that we should
all be free to pursue our own lives, I don't think I would mind
that one bit.
|5.14.08 @ 1:29PM|#
I'd prefer some libertarian echoes, as to opposed to the echoes of socialistic oppression that we hear today.
|5.14.08 @ 1:30PM|#
I see the liar is back. Color me shocked.
Edward | May 13, 2008, 12:36pm | #
Holy mother of god are you people stupid. Just keep preaching to
the converted and pretend anyone else gives a flying fuck.
I can't deal with this black hole of stupidity any longer. I'm
done. I won't be back. Stupid fucking fools.
robc|5.14.08 @ 1:54PM|#
How the hell would you evolve?
Genetic mutation and generations of breeding?
Like everyone else.
leTerrassier|5.14.08 @ 2:15PM|#
I have to say I would prefer a community of Environmentalists better- the woman are prettier and the sex is great. The smell would probably be about equal, too.
Rick|5.14.08 @ 2:48PM|#
Instead of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "The Wall", would
"Loose Change" be the midnight movie at Paulville Cinema?
What is the over/under on how quick CPS would remove all
children?
Jesse Walker|5.14.08 @ 3:05PM|#
If the main thing my neighbors and I agreed on was that we
should all be free to pursue our own lives, I don't think I would
mind that one bit.
Me either. But a neighborhood where politics is really important to
everyone's lives -- so important that it's the reason they live
there -- would get to be a grind, even if the political views
themselves are a-OK. One reason I'm a libertarian is because I
think there's a lot of things that are more important than
politics.
|5.14.08 @ 5:41PM|#
"There are unique drawbacks to living in a community where you
agree with everyone."
Word. But I would like to live next door to the lass who sings the
rockin' "Ron Paul" song. Aimee Allen? I still hear that in my head
sometimes.
|5.14.08 @ 6:20PM|#
e either. But a neighborhood where politics is really important
to everyone's lives -- so important that it's the reason they live
there -- would get to be a grind, even if the political views
themselves are a-OK. One reason I'm a libertarian is because I
think there's a lot of things that are more important than
politics.
Personally, I have found that there is no one more depraved or
pathetic than the people who have the same politics as me.
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