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[–] 6314095? 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

I had to look it up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orania,_Northern_Cape#History

It sounds like it could work, but Orania was a pre-existing town that was purchased as a whole, so it already had roads, power, water, etc. With modern technology, as long as there was a good aquifer (not contaminated by fracking or brackish water or being sucked dry by a nearby municipality) you could pump your own water, and use solar and wind for electricity, so you could be pretty independent.

It would be important not to attract attention like Waco or any other independent enclave that generates suspicion.

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[–] CervicalStrike [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

It would be important not to attract attention like Waco or any other independent enclave that generates suspicion.

Yeah for as long as possible, I would want it to appear as simply a community of off-gridders. People who aren't into that would not be keen on living that sort of lifestyle unless they are serious about it. I think this stage could be maintained for decades possibly.

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[–] 6314165? 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

You would need to have some export of goods or services from the community, so either a group of programmers making income, or growing "crops" and selling, or mining, or something. A community that doesn't readily allow for the population to grow and prosper will have members leave the enclave for better opportunities. In a religious commune, the poverty is considered a part of their religious ritual, so many of them may not mind living a simple life, but for that same reason, communities like the Amish do have a lot of youth leaving for greener pastures.

Simply excluding non-whites doesn't mean that a community will flourish, and if you start with a small number of people, each one of those people must be strong contributors to the community - anyone not pulling their weight would jeopardize the whole thing, not just from the economic burden, but because of the human fairness struggle thing where you will have the community divided over how to manage resources when there's a parasite in the community. Then again, someone extremely productive may later on become an alcoholic, or develop a medical problem, for which the community may not have the resources to manage independently (health insurance?).

Not trying to be a nay-sayer - it can work, but it needs to be resilient and be able to weather the kinds of obstacles that can predictably be anticipated, not that all of the "what if" scenarios will happen, but some of them surely will.