Paulville

One view of the local Guadalupe Mountains.

Paulville, Texas, is an American cooperative organization as well as the site and planned community under its development in the salt flats of north Hudspeth County, intended to consist exclusively of Ron Paul supporters.^[1][2] The Paulville community idea was named after U.S. Congressman and 2012 presidential candidate Ron Paul,^[3] and the cooperative is modeled on his often libertarian ideas.^[4][5] The New York Times says, "For now, the town is little more than an idea and a title deed," but considers it to be evidence that Paul's "campaign appears to be growing into something beyond a conventional protest campaign,"^[4] also echoing the concept expressed by others that "the Ron Paul revolution has increasingly less to do with Ron Paul".^[6]

Location

Location of nearby Dell City, Texas.

The Paulville site is located in the undeveloped salt flats outside of city limits, located south-southwest of rural Dell City, Texas (population 413 in 2000), north of U.S. Route 180, and an hour east of El Paso.^[1] It is also 770 miles (1,240 km) from Paul's East Texas office of Lake Jackson.^[7] The organizers say 50 acres (20 ha) have been purchased to date.^[7][8][9] Photos reveal the range of the Guadalupe Mountains 15 miles (24 km) east, and the local area has occasional deer^[1] and tumbleweeds.^[10] The mountain area is also noted for elk, coyotes, jack rabbits, desert cottontails, ring-tailed ground squirrels, and gray foxes.^[11] Another mountain range looms just west.^[10]

The site is located within Texas's 23rd Congressional district and is represented by Republican Will Hurd.

Organization

The property became available to the community when offered for sale on eBay by its original owner.^[12] It is now held by a cooperative of shareholders, who held a first organizational meeting in April 2008^[3] and who vote on essentials such as utilities.^[6] The cooperative is also called "Paulville.org", after its website,^[13] established January 27, 2008, by Ron Paul meetup organizer Jason Ebacher of Farwell, Minnesota.^[14][15] Ebacher appears in a one-hour conceptual video, created for Ron Paul Television prior to the purchase; captioned "Television for the revolution", it was carried by The New York Times, which meanwhile chided the website for a libertarian "view of the laws of grammar, spelling and punctuation"^[12][16] and noted its lack of contact information.^[4] On May 12, 2008, web content formerly at Paulville.org became unavailable for several days,^[17] which Politico considered as possibly suggesting "a perilous time for the infant community."^[18]

Development

Planners have (at least metaphorically) raised the Paulville town sign^[13] and are establishing septic^[3] and electrical systems on an opt-out basis reflective of principles of individualism:^[1] citizens are not required to use the cooperative's water and energy supplies^[18] and may choose to live off-grid.^[6] Members say they chose the West Texas plot for its high amount of sunshine, favoring off-grid solar panels.^[18] Buying in and homesteading the land from scratch^[19] is expected to take significant work, which the organizers warn is "not for the faint of heart".^[6] In his conceptual video, Ebacher has described the ease of raising sheep and chickens, and the relative merits of energy from solar power, wind, water, and biodiesel fuels.^[12] Members also discuss alternatives for conveniences like cell phones and internet connections.

A gated community unhindered by planning regulations is eventually intended, followed by additional communities^[3] in sites like New Hampshire, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska,^[9] or Montana;.^[6][10] Members' beliefs that ideologically like-minded individuals can form a detached, thriving community have been echoed by experiments such as the Free State Project in New Hampshire,^[18][20] New Australia in Paraguay, the Findhorn Foundation community in Scotland,^[3] and Celebration and Ave Maria in Florida. Ideology-based communities have ranged from communism to environmentalism.^[5] Jonathan Dawson, an educator based at Findhorn, questions the point of inward-facing micro-communities, but talks about "providing an example" to others: "It's not useful to retreat just for the sake of it."^[3]

Reaction

The site was chosen by and for the large market of "100% Ron Paul supporters and or people that live by the ideals of freedom and liberty";^[13] motivated followers of Paul have been estimated to number several hundred thousand,^[21] have had fundraising history that suggests "seemingly bottomless bank accounts",^[10] and appear not to be giving up in pursuing his campaign goals.^[6][22] Paulville has attracted mixed reviews.^[6] The alternative Seattle Stranger found it suitable for those who have "the covenant of freedom espoused by Ron Paul guiding their every decision".^[23] The Houston-based Lone Star Times referred to founding members as "Paulvillains" and as creating "an insane asylum", and presented diverse posts from forum members,^[1] while Philly.com and Reason anticipated other "dusty exurbs" named after presidential candidates, both citing "Bidentown" as an imaginary example.^[10][17] The Guardian expects shareholders to be interested in libertarian views like "the right to wield semi-automatic weapons and the abolition of income tax",^[3] and the Economist wonders whether the new town constitutes "a framework for utopia, or just a hilarious catastrophe".^[24]

Paul himself has been ambivalent about Paulville: "You want to spread out and be as pervasive as possible .... I don’t see [Paulville] as a solution, but it can't hurt anything either." He believes that "it shows how desperate people are for freedom."^[18][25] He finds the prospects for additional communities entertaining, but says, "I don't know how much [Paulvilles] would do."^[26] Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic said, "Who wants to live around people who agree with you on everything? Not my kind of libertarian";^[27] he was echoed by Jesse Walker of Reason.^[17] The Libertarian Party of Texas believes Paulville has potential for demonstrating practical libertarianism in action.^[5]

See also

• Free State Project
• Meadeau View Institute

References

External links

• "Paulville.org". Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-17.