Secession has been on my mind ever since I moved to the Free State Project. I’ve noticed a distinct lack of talk about it here, though. I’ve heard of a small movement to create an independent district of northern New England and southern Quebec that would be called Arcadia, but it seems like it would be just that – another political district.

Where can a peaceful person go to live in peace (i.e. sans politics)?

I’ve heard that there are still uninhabited islands for sale out there (though who the seller is, I don’t know). And the North Pole seems to be distinctly void of a police state. Or, as the anarchist is constantly reminded, there’s always Somalia (though anyone who considers Somalia to be some kind of market anarchy is sorely misinformed).

But as I’ve not (yet) made my fortune, buying an island is not feasible. The North Pole would put New Hampshire winters to shame. And I read that the inevitable blowback of statism in which Somalia now rots may not end soon.

What’s a secessionist to do?

I checked in on the progress of the Seasteading Institute (there is none). I learned about some secessionists who literally constructed their own island in 1972 by dumping sand on top of a shallow reef area. They called it the Republic of Minerva, and it was swiftly stolen from them by armed, uniformed men from Tonga.

Then came a possible bright spot.

On my radar entered a small island called Dominica. This Caribbean island stands out brightly as the lucky destination of 2015’s Let the Bit Drop party. This celebration, scheduled for March 14 of next year (Pi Day), will mark the kickoff of a large effort to give Bitcoin to each of Dominica’s 70,000 residents via text message.

The project’s spearheading organizations (Coinapult, Bitcoin Beauties and Aspen Assurance) hope that this will create the world’s most concentrated Bitcoin economy. Let the Bit Drop even has the blessing of the island’s (self-proclaimed) government, and cryptocurrency educational material will be aired over government media channels to support the effort.

As anyone who knows anything about fiat money understands, if there’s one thing that limits the power of long-entrenched gangs, it’s sound money. Bitcoin may seem slightly less exciting when you see bureaucrats giving it a warm welcome, but in the long-run, uninflatable money can only be their downfall.

But while Dominica has (potentially) taken up residence in my heart, there remains another option, one which has no bureaucrats or arbitrary borders at all: Mars.

That’s right, Mars.

In a frenzied search for a living option that had not yet been ruined by human slavery, I typed “live on another planet” into my search engine. On the first page there was something I’d never heard of before – an organization called Mars One. I clicked immediately and was dazzled by what I saw.

It is their goal (and they seem to have the fundraising and organization to do it) to send an unmanned craft to Mars in 2018. This vessel will set up habitable living quarters on the red planet. Then in 2024, Mars One will send four volunteer astronauts on a one-way trip, every two years, to “colonize” Mars.

I sat in awe thinking of the possibilities. A chance to start over. To live somewhere that has literally never once been host to the footprint of a slave or master. Of course I immediately checked to see if they were taking applications for astronaut. Applications are closed for now, but will re-open again in the future. You can guess who signed up for the Mars One mailing list to stay on top of that.

I’ve been reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat Pray Love, and the author talks extensively about the Yogic tradition of finding peace – the kind of peace that can only come from within. And perhaps that is the case – that if I were to strike it rich and buy an island, or be selected as an astronaut to Mars – I would not, in fact, find the peace that I crave, but find only the human condition as I had known it before. Maybe peace really can only come from within.

But living in a stateless somewhere certainly can’t hurt.

Tags: Free State Project, Let the Bit Drop, Mars One, Secession