Liberstein

The Free States of Liberstein is a sovereign micronation located within the United States. Founded on July 9, 2018, Liberstein is a Unitary Republic with a Council of 7 Ministers. The first President of Liberstein is called a Foreman, and all after are just Presidents. The Council elects a President of their 7 members, however, the President is just a figurehead and has equal power to his/her fellow Council Members. Each Minister is given 2-4 Ministries to run. Thus, the Council creates a cabinet for their President.

History

Founded on July 9, 2018, the First Council of Liberstein was inspired by jokes of staging a revolution in the Principality of Liechtenstein (of which inspired the current Flag of Liberstein) while visiting its capital of Vaduz. They made remarks on how "easy it would be" to install a democracy in the nation of Liechtenstein. Thus they started that morning the Free Liechtenstein Movement (AKA The Liectenstein Revolution). What started as a political experiment spiraled into a full blown micro nation in which a democratic process was attempted to be created.

The First Council

The First Council of Liberstein lasted from July 9–11, 2018. It quickly fell due to threats from one rogue Councilman T. Tuvalsky. They met once over dinner in Heidelberg, Germany. There most important decision was a declaration of Independence signed on July 9, 2018 in Luzern, Switzerland where they ultimately decided to create Liberstein. The name was created by Isaac Osborn, as well as the original flag, chosen through a vote after each Council member submitted a flag design. Osborn's was the most popular.

The Second Council

The Second Council of Liberstein was the most effective Council to date, lasting from Jully 11th, to October 22, 2018. Laying out the template of a 7 member council, the This council was unique as it had realized that they ran a government (at the time) whose members out numbered citizens. In response to the realization, they crafted the word Magnumocracy. This offered a classification for the Council to fall under, as well as describe their current state. The Second Council ended up being one of the most successful of the nations history. It crafted the First Liberstein Constitution and ratified it on August 5, 2018. They certified over 45 citizens for dual citizenship, crafted the party system, the immigration system, citizenship tests, political party registration, and laid the dates of elections/length of terms. However, on October 22, one Couniclman, R. Long, declared war on Gottia against constitutional law. (Long convened a minority group of the Council and passed executive legislation illegally. He created the War Hawk Party and with two other Council members, created havoc in the nation. This occured during the height of the International Micronation Treaty created by three Councilmen including President Von. The IMT was a diplomatic agreement by roughly 10 micronations to ally with each other and engage in diplomatic missions and trade deals. During the coup, President Von and the Council voted on the Shutdown Act of 2018, and shutdown both the IMT and the Government of Liberstein.

The Third Council

The Third Council lasted from December 1, 2018 to May 20, 2019. It was the longest running council yet. It's most important legislation came in the form of the introduction of a bill by Von to create a bicameral legislative congress to create a check and balance to the Council to prevent another takeover, or breach in executive power. While the Third Council started with only 5 members, it finally fulfilled it's 7 positions with some new faces. Other important legislation came in the form of economic reform from both Von, and Foreberger who worked together to establish a set budget for the Councils operations.

The Fourth Council

The Fourth Council of Liberstein was created on May 20, 2019 as one member retired from their position, which was then filled by Curtis Haschak. The Fourth Councils most important legislation so far was the Green Bill passed by Haschak and the Council to push Liberstein at the forefront of micronational environmental protection. The bicameral system legislation is still under review by the council. The Council also saw the Referendum Presidential Election.

**Fifth Council of Liberstein**
Name	Party	Ministries	Term
Joseph Von	Progressive	Social Media, Foreign Policy	5
Isaac Osborn	Developmental	Scientific Development, Media	4
Tanner Gaunt	Progressive	War and Defense, Security	3
Chase Foreberger	Libertarian	Health, Housing and Development	3
Ohm Vyas	Green	Environmental Protection, Committee on Space and Aeronautics	3
John Soyka	Green	Internal Affairs, Social Works	3
Curtis Haschak	Progressive	Immigration-Citizenship-Transportation (ITC), Environmental Protection	2

The Fifth Council

Beginning on June 2, 2019, the 5th Council has ended the rule of the longest running Council in national history. The 5th Council's saw the 1 year anniversary of Liberstein which was celebrated by founders, John Soyka, President Von, and Isaac Osborn at Camp Prima in North Hartford on July 9, 2019. It also produced the Beautification and Preservation Act which will set aside lands for parks and historical preservation, and also has continued work on The Green Bill. More recently, the Fifth Council established Mossy Shore National Park and erected the National Flagpole monument there on September 8, 2019.

Colonization Efforts

June 23, 2019, citizens proposed the claiming of an island named Filfla south of Malta as a territory. The Council rejected this idea and passed a law that made colonization or claiming of land legal if the land was within reasonable access to the people of Liberstein, and unowned, public land, or land of no use to any outside governments.

On October 22, 2019, a group of Liberstein citizens hiked out to a wooded corner of the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River, just south of Everett, Pennsylvania. The citizens offered the territory to the government, however, the Council turned it down on October 23, after finding that the land had already been owned.

Foreign Policy

Liberstein has been a leader in diplomacy on the micronational level. They created the IMT (International Micronation Treaty) and after abandoning it the first time due to severe infighting, started it once more with good intentions. The second go around for the IMT was much better, but ultimately led to more political infighting in which President Von was cursed out heavily by the leader of another micronation. While Liberstein's attempts at crafting an international group failed, they still found ways of being a diplomatically charged nation. They were members of the AUM for some time in which they created a climate treaty for, crafted by Councilman John Soyka. After leaving the AUM because it "wasn't working for Liberstein", they joined, and are currently members of the United Sovereignties. As of October 20, 2019, President Von has been elected to a Triumvirate of Directors to lead USov. The United Sovereignties had gone through a series of Member States leaving after an online "troll" called the Kingdom of Lilliput spread false rumors and stories of USov being a "terrorist" organization. This, having been going on for 3 months, affected the mental health of the Administrator, Dan Morris, who announced he was stepping down and ran an election for a Triumvirate of Directors. Three administrators would be elected to run USov, and fix the damage Lilliput had done. President Von now served as a Director with Archie from the Kingdom of Misberia, and Chloe of the Republic of Gaia. USov has since disbanded.

Political Parties

Liberstein currently has 6 unique political parties. 4 are left leaning, 1 is moderate, and 1 is conservative. Each party has a party chair, called a Chairman, some of whom are in the Council, and others are not. There are two "Fringe Parties" in Liberstein. Fringe Parties are political parties that are far right or left. In this case, those parties are the Socialst, and Royalist Parties.

Party	Chairman	Voter Percentage	Political Leaning
Progressive	Joseph Von	34.8%	Left
Development	Isaac Osborn	21.7%	Right
Libertarian	Chase Foreberger	13.1%	Centrist
Green Party	John Soyka	15.5%	Left
Royalist	Matthew Gillan	7.3%	Right/Authoritarian
Socialist	Jostin Solnosky	7.8%	Far Left

Liberstein's most radical party is the Royalist Party of Liberstein. It is an authoritarian movement to create a monarchy in Liberstein. The overall goal of the party is to establish a single leader state in which a monarch would rule, and at some point marry and birth an heir to the throne. This plan is the brain child of former Councilman Matthew Gillan who was removed due to constant threats of a coup. The Royalist party controls a startling 7.3% of the vote among the citizens of Liberstein. Once, Gillan had spoke to the Council saying, "There will either be a revolution here, or a peaceful coup d'etat" There is much speculation that Gillan, who had admitted to having an obsession with the Foreman, that the Royalist Party wants Von to continue leading the nation, but as a monarch.

Liberstein started with only three political parties in July, 2018. The Progressive Party, the Developmental Party, and the Green Party. Minister Long was the original Chairman of the Progressives, Minister Soyka founded the Green Party, became it's chairman, and retains his position to this day. The Developmental party was established by both Ministers Osborn, and Minor, Minor became the Chairman for sometime before passing that position to Osborn. The next party to emerge was the Socialist party in early 2019 when Minister Solnosky was elected to the Council. Next came the Libertarian with Minister Foreberger at it's head, and finally the Royalist party, with former Minister Gillan founding it.

Referendum Election

In March 2019, Liberstein had it's 2nd Presidential Election. The 2nd Liberstein Presidential Election was a crucial moment that cemented Joseph Von's legacy as an important, and popular leader. Starting as a Private election in The Council, it was eventually brought to a public election in which Von, running against two other candidates, won a landslide 94% victory, retaining his position as President. What made this so crucial was Von's strategy in the short campaign. He never once staged a rally or held a speech, he spent most of his time working with The Council on legislative issues, as well as making sure a smooth transition was possible if he lost as not to jeopardize the nation.

Culture

Liberstein is a diverse nation and celebrates the fact that it such. It prides itself in its ability to accept people of all kinds no matter who they are, what they identify as, what religion, political beliefs, size, or sexual orientation.

Not only that, but Liberstein has a few unique holidays it celebrates throughout the year. This list displays what the holiday is, when it is, and it's purpose in chronological order.

Holidays in Liberstein
Name	Date	Purpose
New Year	January 1	Celebrate the New Year
Spring Day	March 19	Celebrate the coming of Spring
Council Day	April 10	Recognition of the Council of Liberstein
Families Day	May 31	Celebrate Families of Liberstein.
President's Day	June 1	In honor of the Presidents of Liberstein
National Clean-up Day	June 11	A day to clean up nature, and preserve the environment.
Independence Day	July 9	Celebrate the nations independence from Liechtenstein and the United States
Earth Day	August 19	Celebrate the Earth and Environment
Service Day	September 7	Honor the Laborers, and workers of Liberstein
National Student Week	October 1-7th	Honoring the Students of the Nation
Remembrance Day	October 31	Remembering citizens who have passed away
Fall Break	November 23-30th	Have time to relax before winter.
Christmas	December 24-25th	Celebrate the season
Years End	December 31	Remember the year.

Food

Food in Liberstein is a large mixture of German, American, as well as some Turkish influence. The National Dish is the Doner Box. It has a few unique dishes, one being called Rasala which is cooked with Chicken, sliced grapes, butter, and sugar to make a sweet chicken dish that is both sweet, and savory. The chicken is often quite tender, and easy to eat. Another is called Shribacolini which is Pasta cooked with Alfredo sauce, mixed in with shrimp, bacon, cheddar cheese, Parmesan and other seasonings.

Media

Liberstein has a variety of Media outlets.

The Liberstein Times is an online Newspaper publication that reports on major news within Liberstein, and sometimes publishes Opinion pieces.
Scriber is another online student publication that publishes essays and opinion pieces on a variety of topics.
Liberstein also has an official website that informs citizens and readers of its history, government, politics and more. It has an online archive of legislation and important documents, as well as a gallery of maps, flags, and images. There is also a travel section.

Audio Media:

Microcast is a podcast run out of Liberstein where President Von talks to other micronationalists in casual conversation. It can be found on Spotify
Days of Yore: A History Podcast is also distributed out of Liberstein. It is a show about history, and can also be heard on Spotify.

State Sponsored Media:

Erika 2020 is a podcast ran by Dan Morris of the Republic of New Westphalia.

Awards

The Government of Liberstein has only a few awards that it has given out. Only one was publicly given.

The Liberstein Award of Environmental Protection
- Councilman John Soyka received this award for his work in drafting the Environmental Protection plan for Liberstein, and other organisations.
The Presidential Award for Diplomacy
- President of New Westphalia was awarded this honor by President Von for his actions in the foundation of United Sovereignties.
The Council Award for Good Citizenry
The Presidential Award for Outstanding Actions
The Liberstein National Art Award
- Von awarded President Zar Antonov of Obscurium this honor for his work in Vexilology and National Seal Design.

Capital	Liberstein City
Official Language	None
Denonyms	Libersteiner
Government	Unitarty Republic
President	Joseph Von
Legislative Body	Council of Liberstein
Independence Declared	July 9, 2018
Declared From	United States and Liechtenstein
Population	59
Currency	Libercoin
Number of Political Parties	6
Website	https://sites.google.com/view/liberstein-gov/home?authuser=0
National Dish	Doner Box