What are your thoughts on Republic Of Molossia?

“Republic”.

I don’t think he would appreciate having to go through customs and immigration every time he wants to go to the grocery store. And, with Molassia not being a member of the Universal Postal Union, he can’t get or send mail.

Without recognition by any other country, it is nothing more than a guy with some property making a declaration of independence. However, if he does not abide by the laws of, and pay taxes to, the country surrounding him, he will soon learn how quickly that country will assume ownership of his property. LOL. This is nothing more than one man’s PR campaign, a protest.

In 1982, the United States Border Patrol set up a roadblock and inspection point on US 1,
in front of the Last Chance Saloon just south of Florida City, the only road leading to the Florida Keys. Vehicles were stopped and searched for narcotics and illegal immigrants. The Key West City Council complained repeatedly about the inconvenience for travelers to and from Key West, claiming that it hurt the Keys’ important tourism industry.

When the City Council’s complaints went unanswered by the U.S. federal government and attempts to get an injunction against the roadblock failed in court, as a form of protest Mayor Dennis Wardlow and the Council declared Key West’s independence on April 23, 1982. In the eyes of the Council, since the U.S. federal government had set up the equivalent of a border station as if they were a foreign nation, they might as well become one. So, they seceded from the United States. As many of the local citizens were referred to as Conchs, the nation took the name of the Conch Republic.

As part of the protest, the mayor was proclaimed Prime Minister of the Republic, which immediately declared war against the U.S. (symbolically breaking a loaf of stale Cuban bread over the head of a man dressed in a naval uniform), quickly surrendered after one minute (to the man in the uniform), and applied for one billion dollars in foreign aid.

They didn’t get the foreign aid, but they got a lot of national publicity and, under enormous public pressure, the roads to Key West were opened once again.

The Conch Republic today celebrates Independence Day every April 23 as part of a week-long festival of activities. The organization — a “Sovereign State of Mind”, seeking only to bring more “Humor, Warmth and Respect” to a world in sore need of all three according to its Secretary General — is a key tourism booster for the area.