Many of us here despise the modern, Leviatan-grade State and it's absolute power. And we crave for a smaller state that holds less control and regulation in our lives.
Nevertheless, I think for anyone beyond age 5 it comes as obvious that community life needs some degree of rules and organization. And if that is not going to come from the state, it will have to come from somewhere. Property rights, conflict arbitration, etc.
I'm currently looking for reads on any kind of private organizations, be it current or historical, where people joined voluntarily and shared some part of their lives and activities together. I'm specially interested in localized associations that simply sought to join improve its members lives without much proselytism or massive growth ambitions. Just people getting together, voluntarily accepting a set of rules or values and joining forces with the aim of living in a more prosperous way that they would do individually. Some examples that are more or less in line of what I'm thinking of (I know not every group I'm listing here fits perfectly with what I'm describing) would be:
- Jewish Kibuttzs
- Medieval European Guilds for merchants and craftsmen
- Freemasons
- Different branches of the Italian Mafia
I'm interested in all of this because I'm wondering how Bitcoiners could come together to form their own communities. I want to learn from the successes and mistakes from the past. Meetups are nice, but I'm thinking we will need to take thinks one step further sooner than later.