What Exactly is a Sovereign Individual?

The term was first popularly coined by William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson - in their path-breaking book The Sovereign Individual - originally published in 1997. The following is quoted from the book description section at Amazon.com:

In The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries -- the shift from an industrial to an information-based society. This transition, which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society," will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government. This outstanding book will replace false hopes and fictions with new understanding and clarified values.

The essence of their analysis is that there is a significant power-shift going on - a shift from the historic power of nation states, to a new breed of people they term sovereign individuals.

Since the publication of that book, the term "sovereign individual" has become a defining word for a particular type of person and lifestyle.

Some of those defining characteristics include: a belief in the concept of self-ownership; a strong commitment to individual rights; a distrust of political democracy; a market-anarchist or natural order mindset; a belief in the right to financial and personal privacy; a willingness to think and act outside the square - as regards being beholden to existing nation states; an active strategy of banking offshore and using various structures to protect one's assets.

The term "Sovereign Individual" could also be applied to another less known word - PT (meaning Perpetual Traveler). The term "PT" was first coined by WG Hill in his underground classic of the same name. In many ways the ideas suggested in PT are very similar to the concept of life as a sovereign individual.

A PT is someone who lives a private life, and spends his time "visiting" countries - as a tourist, not being a resident. The thinking behind this idea is that as a tourist you are afforded a much more hospitable welcome and general treatment, than if you were a citizen or resident.

Another related word is "internationist" - meaning someone who thinks globally and has broken formal and emotional ties with any particular nation state.

So, the term sovereign individual is a confluence of many different ideas - all linked with the basic concept of self-ownership.

Now, it's quite possible to BE a sovereign individual without really using or even understanding the term. And there have always been people who live and think like that - albeit giving themselves different labels. However, the essence of the concept is a shift in how you see the world, and your own place in it. It's a rising above the idea of being owned, or of being subject to arbitrary external authorities - to the idea of being fully autonomous.

Becoming a sovereign individual is thus more than just doing certain things in a certain way - for example, opening an offshore bank account and forming an offshore company. It is much more about a way of thinking - and then acting accordingly.

The "journey" of life has many possible roads. The sovereign individual chooses the one less traveled.

Which road will you take? Click Here to find out.

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