I know people who have wanted to start their own country. So pissed off at the politics of America, or Canada, or England, they talk about a libertarian nation. Elsewhere. Start from scratch.

Well, why not put their money where their mouths are?

For sale: World's smallest country with sea view
By Paul Majendie Tue Jan 9, 8:14 AM ET
LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters Life!) - For sale: the world's smallest country with its own flag, stamps, currency and passports.

Apply to Prince Michael of Sealand if you want to run your own nation, even if it is just a wartime fort perched on two concrete towers in the North Sea.

Built in World War Two as an anti-aircraft base to repel German bombers, the derelict platform was taken over 40 years ago by retired army major Paddy Roy Bates who went to live there with his family.

He declared the platform, perched seven miles off the east coast of England and just outside Britain's territorial waters, to be the principality of Sealand.

The self-styled Prince Roy adopted a flag, chose a national anthem and minted silver and gold coins.

The family saw off an attempt by Britain's Royal Navy to evict them and also an attempt in 1978 by a group of German and Dutch businessmen to seize Sealand by force.

Roy, 85, now lives in Spain and his son Michael told BBC Radio on Monday his family had been approached by estate agents with clients "who wanted a bit more than a bit of real estate, they wanted autonomy."

He suggested Sealand, which has eight rooms in each tower, could be a base for online gambling or offshore banking.

Asked to describe the delights of living on what he described as a cross between a house and a ship, the 54-year-old said: "The neighbors are very quiet. There is a good sea view."

It sounds kinda small, to me, though. Can it be built up?

The game of political representation is geared to increasing government. So, unless there are powerful cultural and electoral forces to countervail that power, there's not much hope reducing government by electing the right people.

Sure, the Jeff Flakes and Barack Obamas do come out against, say, porkbarrel politics, but hey: we haven't seen much success yet. The current reaction against pork may easily dissolve in a few months.

I say: forget party politics, for the moment. But increase activism. Why not take a hint from the Left? Protest.

Every time a major porkmeister speaks in his or her home state or district, mount a protest. Sport signs with pithy messages, and, during breaks in the speech, oink.

Oink, oink, oink, oink. That's all the protesters need to say, other than what they say with the signs, which might include:

FUND OUR PROJECTS AT HOME:
FEDERAL MONEY IS FOR PORKERS!

Patty Murray Thinks We're Pigs:
See How She Fills the Trough?

STEVENS, ALASKA'S FRIEND,
AMERICA'S ENEMY

PORK AIN'T PRETTY - JUST LOOK AT OUR SENATOR

Then, when the cameras interview the protesters, make sure there's at least one ready with soundbites and a reasoned statement.

It's time for a new flag, too. Think of something against pork. Maybe a cartoon pig, cut into pieces, with the slogan: Cut out the pork - or die!

Or, maybe something better.

Americans can be galvanized on this issue, and on many others. The politicians just have to see that they can be disrespected on such issues, scorned. And the opposition should be cool (alas — I'm not cool). It should be fun to join in. It should bring people together, and make the porkmeistering politicians uncomfortable.

My take on the libertarian movement: it's too nice.

The LP has pretended to act like the big boys, though our system of democracy doesn't really allow for (indeed, by the numbers, discourages) minor party politics.

So forget the LP. Pick up Saul D. Alinsky's books.

And for all our sake, do it with style and have fun!

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If I were an anarchist, I would be none to pleased with the traditional heraldry. Black flags and black cats and fists and all? Nope. Not for me.

Besides, the only kind of anarchism I'm tempted by is the oddly named anarchocapitalism, and there's no accepted heraldry for that. Still, one anarchocapitalist has even invented a flag to go along with this ideology!

Way too complicated for my tastes. And the crown? The Austrian Empire?

So I designed a flag for this kind of anarchist:

It's black, but bisected with a stripe. The stripe is white and rainbow. This should symbolize diversity well enough. Symbolizing money in some altered dollar bill sign (a common image used by Rand-reading anarchists) strikes me as silly. But then, to each his own.

Which suggests to me a better flag idea: a quilt.

That is, every anarchist is allowed to make a flag-shaped quilt, out of squares, with half the squares black, and half the squares the colors of the rainbow. Alternate the black squares. Leave everything else up to the individual.

This would be a good flag for panarchism, an interesting twist on competitive governments and non-monopolistic territory. That is, anarchocapitalism packaged for those not exactly moved by the idea of markets.