Private Cities & Public Morality: Are Non-State Founded Communities Wrong?

Can Immoral Official State Governments Be Replaced by Private Communities of Conscience?

 In Honduras, a novel undertaking has been constructed—private cities whose purpose is to maximize safety and happiness (Also referred to as “Free Cities”, “Charter Cities”, “Model Cities”, or in Spanish, “RED—Regiones Especiales de Desarollo”, and “Ciudades Modelo”.). This idea is a capitalist’s dream, but a liberal’s nightmare. And in a most fascinating manner, the idea of a privately owned commons has brought to the surface the multifarious contradictions of the modern age—with our continual demand for “liberty” while the deified state grows into a malignant colossus.

While the charter for building three private cities in Honduras has been ruled unconstitutional, the idea is not yet dead as the full 18-member Honduran Supreme Court must still rule on President Lorbo’s agreement. But even if the idea does die in Honduras, private cities—like those modeled in early colonial America, Singapore and India’s old British empire, are still an option for virtuous, libertarian minded souls. In fact, Paul Johnson, in the Forward to The Voluntary City, gives a rich history of the development of government growth slowly taking over self-governance in the West.
The real questions raised by the rise of private cities is what is the nature of the city, man, law and moral authority. Specifically, what is the meaning of law and the state? Further, what gives a country moral authority in which to erect statutes, establish courts, prisons and pass and enforce sentences? And how do the powers of the state intersect with religious ideals of justice and higher law? All these questions interested America’s Founders, and in a day of increasingly arbitrary leadership—we are still struggling to answer them.

I. Hope for Honduras via Private Cities

A. Honduras, Failed State

Honduras is the murder capital of the world. For a populace living in deep fear, and global business people disinterested in committing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), a new notion was proposed. Given the failure of government to address the most basic needs of a society—safety for the populace created by a rule of law regime, and civil rights, someone proposed solution, explained here:

Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the entire world, according to the United Nations. In fact, in Jan. 2012, the Peace Corps suspended its programs in Honduras because of the threat of safety and security. Visitors to Honduras are encouraged to take extreme caution when visiting because of their implied wealth. All too often, North American and European visitors become the victims of rape, kidnapping, homicide, robbery, and assault in Honduras. As a result, the Honduran president, Porfirio Lobo, has suggested the creation of three so-called “model cities” to combat Honduras’s extreme crime rates, poverty, and corruption. As a result of Honduras’s extreme instability, building “model cities” seems like a good solution to combat crime and poverty.

B. Model Cities—Answer to Collapse & Chaos?

The idea—a city built by private funds, with rules not derived from a state legislature, but the settlement’s founders. Add to that a private security force and strong walls. And so a libertarian entrepreneur answered the call for action:

Last Tuesday, the government signed an agreement with private investors led by Michael Strong—a libertarian entrepreneur and close associate of Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey—to construct a city-from-scratch in one of at least three special development regions (“las Regiones Especiales de Desarrollo” or “REDs”) scattered around the country. REDs possess the legal right to establish—or outsource to foreign governments and companies as necessary—their own hospitals, schools, judges, and even police, all independent of Honduran law. The first is for profit, and if its founders have their way, it will look and feel a little like the Mosquito Coast’s answer to Austin.
REDs possess the legal right to establish their own hospitals, schools, judges, and even police. The REDs are the brainchild of Paul Romer, the New York University economist who has proposed building “charter cities” as a solution to endemic poverty. Romer believes that importing sound laws and policies into small corners of badly run countries will help leaders reform their governments from the inside-out. Honduras certainly qualifies—the original banana republic is still grappling with the political fallout of a 2009 coup while cocaine traffickers have pushed its murder rate to the highest in the world.
In early 2011, aides to Honduran president Porfirio Lobo invited Romer to the capital of Tegucigalpa to make his case to Congress. Within weeks, Congress passed a constitutional amendment granting Lobo’s government the power to create and administer the REDs.