Jeez guys, get back on your meds. I think secession is, at least, a worthy thought experiment. FastPat feels he has, to some degree, minimized his dependency on the established government and become somewhat self-sufficient. We can argue over the degree to which he has succeeded. But the premise is not unsound. As DD74 pointed out, there are examples of people like the Amish who have essentially seceeded and thrived. The Amish are probably a bit of an extreme example since they seceeded from the whole century - not just the government.
I think it is possible to live reasonably well "off the grid". If you can find some property in a region with no property taxes, generate your own energy and pump your own water, then you are on the way to living without an income and therefore without paying income taxes. If you could grow your own food, you'd be more than half way free.
Of course, living inside a society that uses Uncle Sam's green papers as currency can be a problem - unless you can find someone who will barter for guns and ammo.
In general, since the gov likes to tax economic activity, you'd have to stay away from the green papers as much as possible.
But even then you're still being protected by the gov's satellites and bombers and CIA agents. IIRC, there was a group that took over a WWII radar platform off the coast of Britain and won the right in British court to claim ownership and declared themselves a sovereign nation. Unfortunately, when a bunch of other people attacked with guns to sieze the rig, the Brits offered no help.
An almost trivial example can be found in condo associations. I own a condo in a complex where we all agree to pay a monthly fee. And in return, our roads, garbage, landscaping, snow removel etc is taken care of privately - and they are done BETTER than the same services offered by the town. Now, I have to say there are problems - mainly in the "Little Hitlers" who get on the condo board and then wield power for the first time in their sad little lives and go nuts. So one has to decide if one prefers the "little" Hilters or the bg ones.
Personally, I rather like Uncle Sam. I guess I am still under his spell
. But becoming less dependent on him is almost never a bad idea.
So let's be serious for a sec. Fastpat, how are you handling the crummy things like garbage, roads, etc? Do you guys have any sort of formalized structire like my condo board and have any of your locals gotten out of control or caused problems by drinking too much of the "facism flavored" coolaide?