You're Doing What?

On Wednesday, September 27th, I ran across this article on cnn.com about how to start your own country. This lead to amusing discussions between co-workers and myself. However, unlike what the article claims, I think terrain is important. Since the idea was just for fun anyway and completely unattainable, the chatter were short lived.

A couple days ago, on November 7th, the talk of starting my own country was reignited between my co-worker and I, though today neither of us remember why. (I think it was related to the stuff about starting a religion we had discussed the day before.) During the country conversation I said that it can't be one of these virtual things, it has to be real. Which means having land. That lead our discussion to Richard Branson, who had bought his own island from a foreign country. But being more local to my current life would mean having to set up near the U.S. At which point Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway, was brought into the conversation because he owns an island off the coast of Connecticut, and my co-worker knew all this because years ago he had refused to move to work for Mr. Kamen.

Once the idea of owning my own island was in my head, a quick internet search on Google discovered that buying a private island isn't as momentous a task as one would think. In 2002 Forbes.com listed the World's Best Private Islands, an article which says that private islands can be bought for as little as $20,000! Well that sparked enthusiastic talk and more searching online. There are at least two land brokers that deal only with private islands. Prices range from tens of thousands to tens of millions, depending on size and amenities already in place. And best of all, there are islands for sale right here in the state of Michigan! The decision was made: Since I don't have any dreams to aspire to, and that's sad, this was going to be my dream. I'm going to work towards starting my own country!

It's a simple plan really. The key is to first buy an island, and once the land is owned then the country can be started. This blog is where I shall be chronicling my progress.