Obama Invited to Recognise "Alternative Governments"

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Care of UMMOA News

President Obama should legalise micronations
November 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The following letter was sent to the Honorables Carolyn McCarthy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, and Barack Obama:

Dear Decision Maker,

We, the leaders, citizens, or friends of micronations, urge you and President Barack Obama to adopt a policy that encourages the legalisation of micronations as nonprofit legal socio-economic entities, which are owed at least the same real autonomy, and the same fiscal status by governments as churches.

We urge you and President Barack Obama to encourage the development of a new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code that will grant true micronations, which find approval with a special new agency in the U.S. Department of State, the status of international missions independent of any particular state, which have at least a US-recognised right to exist as alternative governments, and which do exist not for the purpose of profit, but for the nonprofit purpose of fostering community, positive societal change, progress, and freedom.

We ask you and President Barack Obama to grant true micronations the status of legitimate, but not fully recognised missions of autonomous small nations or states.

We do not ask you and President Barack Obama to recognise any micronational territorial claims, or allow for an extension of the letter and spirit of the Vienna Conventions of 1961 and 1963. We simply ask you to enable fiscal and diplomatic policy that would allow genuine micronational missions “to be considered sovereign, until proven dependent”, respecting the full spirit of the Montevideo Convention. We ask you and President Barack Obama to allow genuine micronational missions to exist legally as nonprofit organisations; that they be treated like separate-from-the-state churches; and that they be treated as nonprofits for fiscal purposes.

We ask you and President Barack Obama to fully embrace the Montevideo Convention and its premises not just with words, but in its spirit, so as to foster the dignity of even small unrecognised nations or states, and so as to enable the fulfilment of this prophecy:

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6)

This could be the daftest thing I've read outside of Elwynn in a while.

[Malliki Tosha]

This proves that adolescent secessionism hasn't died yet. And what's up with the totally unrelated bible quote?

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Not a clue - they probably have some fundamentalist Christian in their wee little cabal whose ravings they have to humour. Also, if they are going to claim that "alternative governments" promote the "fostering [of] community, positive societal change, progress, and freedom" they should at least have the decency to elaborate on how that would come to pass, rather than just rattling off a series of fatuous buzzwords in the vain hope that the doors to legitimacy, recognition and tax-exemption will be magically flung open.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

I'm starting to wonder if we should lose the word "micronation". It's become really clear lately that us and the secessionists aren't the same type of entity. They're never going to give up "micronation", and honestly they had it first. Lose the word, and we could avoid ever having to come into contact with George or Tallini again. We could call ourselves simunations or something.

Otherwise we're just going to be perpetually confused with these people.

[Leo Fenrir]

"alternative governments" promote the "fostering [of] community, positive societal change, progress, and freedom" they should at least have the decency to elaborate on how that would come to pass.

Giant Spiders, Sheeplets, Elfinshi, Flying Islands, Giant death rays, Hobgoblins, Laser beam shooting ***k you statues, the list goes on. We obviously promote positive societal change.

[Chrimigules]

I'm starting to wonder if we should lose the word "micronation". It's become really clear lately that us and the secessionists aren't the same type of entity. They're never going to give up "micronation", and honestly they had it first. Lose the word, and we could avoid ever having to come into contact with George or Tallini again. We could call ourselves simunations or something.

Otherwise we're just going to be perpetually confused with these people.

[Andreas the Wise]

I'm starting to wonder if we should lose the word "micronation". It's become really clear lately that us and the secessionists aren't the same type of entity. They're never going to give up "micronation", and honestly they had it first. Lose the word, and we could avoid ever having to come into contact with George or Tallini again. We could call ourselves simunations or something.

Otherwise we're just going to be perpetually confused with these people.

Sounds like a really good idea. We don't even have to change the acronyms - MCS can just be the Micras Cartographical Society.

I think it says a lot about their petition that their 'goal' is 100 signatures; when that same site happily advertises petitions with 30 000+ signatures. But at least they're being realistic.

[dr-spangle]

I like it when we're also micronations, it's awesome

for one, why should we change for them?
for two, it means when someone searches micronations it shows that it's a hobby, not something to be taken seriously :P

just look at the wiktionary definition of micronation: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/micronation
An entity that resembles a nation or a state, but which for the most part exists only on paper, on the Internet, or in the mind of its creator.


They should move term because it's obviously more pointing at us

[Harvey Steffke]

The letter, while it's obviously not going to happen, isn't nearly as far out in left field as basically everything I've heard about the secessionists ever since I joined the hobby. "Nonprofit legal socio-economic entities" sounds a lot less stupid and a lot more reasonable than planting a flag in your front lawn.

I don't support the letter on the general principle of not wanting that sort of thing out of this hobby, but I don't see any major reason to mock or oppose people that do. At least they're trying to go about things in a productive, albeit hopeless, way.

And to hell with those shmucks - we're keeping micronationalism. We stole it fair and square.

[Ryan]

I agree with Spangle. Micronationalism is as much ours as anyone else. I remember, ten years ago, Peter Ravn from Corvinia calling the Apollo Sector "a bunch of bugs". Yet in the end, Ravn and Corvinia both died. We persevered.


We may be insects, but they are dinosaurs. And it's pretty obvious which one is going to become extinct first.

[dr-spangle]

as much ours if not more ours.

and hell, if they don't want to be associated with us, they can change their term.

I couldn't care less if they're associated with us...

[Chrimigules]

They always have that BS term "The Fifth World."

[Harvey Steffke]

I couldn't care less if they're associated with us...

And that pretty much sums up the difference. Secessionists care what everyone thinks and must defend themselves at all times. Simulationists care what nobody thinks other than our peers and find the rantings of the secessionists at times interesting and amusing but never important in the slightest.

I should write an editorial about all this.

[Erik Mortis]

to hell with those shmucks - we're keeping micronationalism. We stole it fair and square.

How very Shirerothian/YAC of you...

[Maksym Hadjimehmetov]

This is pathetic. I totally stand by my statement I made about Seccessionists on the MCS forum and feel if he has any sense Obama will put these imbeciles in their places. If anything, simulationist micronations are more 'communities' than seccessionist ones due to the vastly larger volume of people who can actually do something in our micronations due to their being entirely cybernetic.

However, if this petition were to result in the Balkanisation of the USA, that'd just be lol.

[Erik Mortis]

What a strange notion.

[Gman Russell]

It pretty much just splits North America along social lines...

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Good plan. New England would be small enough for Old England to reabsorb, ditto the "Maritime Provinces" and Newfoundland. EU Membership here you come.