If you've heard about or mean to see the recent film about Ayn Rand, you might appreciate Fred Foldvary's piece entitled Progress and Poverty -- The Movie, Part I.
It begins,
Following the showings of the movie Atlas Shrugged in 2011, based on the novel by Ayn Rand, a project was started to make a movie based on the book Progress and Poverty. Since it will not be completed for many years, I’m giving away the plot of the movie.
In the year 2020, several huge volcanoes erupted in the Atlantic Ocean 300 miles south of Bermuda. A large new island was formed, and pioneers came from all over the world to settle the new land. They called the island Teronova.
The United States, Great Britain, Brazil, China, Iran, Venezuela, and Monaco all declared sovereignty over Teronova because their citizens had stepped foot on the island and claimed it for their country, but the Teronovans declared themselves an independent country. One of the pioneers had brought in giant laser zapper weapons, so there was no threat of invasion. Because of settlers that were streaming in from around the world making communication difficult, the government of Teronova adopted Esperanto as its official language.
The first settlers moved to the locations with the greatest agricultural productivity, and grew the genetically modified corn variety they called maizego. They used it for food, feed for animals, and the source material for plastics and electricity generation. The government enacted a land tenure rule: a new settler could claim untitled land with allodial ownership if they cultivated it.
Somebody in the island then put up signs throughout the realm asking “Who is Henry George?”
read the rest at http://www.progress.org/2011/fold714.htm
You might also appreciate Dan Sullivan's essay, "Are you a Real Libertarian, or a Royal Libertarian?"
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