President Morber’s Address at MicroCon 2025

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PRESIDENT MORBER: Alright. Thank you. Thank you. And as you've already heard, it feels a bit redundant to say, but I am Clark Morber and am going to be presenting "Crafting a Micronation that Serves”.

It will be on how to create a nation-state that works for its citizens, and why it matters. For those that don’t know, I am the President of the Republic of Soundland. Located near Seattle, we focus on promoting and fostering democracy and human rights. I have led Soundland since declaring independence in 2020 due to concerns over the rule of law. Since then, I have built Soundland with the focus of making it the most democratic and citizen oriented tiny nation I can. This August will mark 5 years of self rule, which honestly is crazy to think about.

This presentation will be made up of four sections: Building Purpose & Identity, Building Your State, Building Your Nation, and Why this all matters.

First some basics - deciding what your micronation is. Every micronation has its own unique national identity or mission - something that gives it purpose. There are an amazing range of reasons for founding a micronation, and being able to define your own core identity or purpose is critical. You want your nation to be more than just you. Think - What do you provide to your citizens? What makes you different? For Soundland, that's creating a space for democracy and human rights to flourish. For the last two hosts of Microcon, you can find their missions at the very top of their websites. What’s yours?

Now, the work of building a country can be split into two parts: the nation, which is a group of people united under some common identity, and the state, which is the authority that governs over the people. These combine to make a nation-state. I’m going to talk about the state first.

The most important thing to remember when you’re building a government that truly works for its people is the Rule of Law. That’s where power in a country is exercised within a framework of established legal norms, not arbitrarily. People need to feel like they are members of a nation, not just subjects to an erratic ruler. Otherwise, what's in it for them?

To serve your citizens, you need clear, stable institutions and legal processes. Under a constitution, set out the structures and workings of your government.

Now, micronations vary greatly. But regardless if you rule by parliamentary coalition or if you hold absolute power over your domain, you can still create a state that is stable and serves your people. If you have a legislature, empower it to operate independently. If much of the power rests with you, appoint trusted officials or form something like a council of ministers to balance out responsibility. Make use of tradition and legal instruments like decrees to exercise your power in an orderly manner.

What power you have doesn't matter as much as the structures you build around it.

The key is this: build institutions that don’t depend on you. Your state should be able to function and serve its citizens no matter who holds office. That’s how you create stability, and stability is what earns trust.

But holding your citizens’ confidence doesn't just mean creating strong institutions. It’s about maintaining the rule of law in how you go about governance day to day. And to do that, you only need to remember three things:

Transparency, Bureaucracy, and Accountability.

Firstly, transparency means making the information and records of your government easily accessible. Make sure that your nation's key documents and info can be readily found, ideally online: government structure, your constitution, laws, what's happening right now. Try to have as much information about your nation as you can be publicly accessible. Be clear in your communications with citizens.

Next, bureaucracy. We’ve already covered it somewhat with respect to creating these government structures as well as transparency.

Day-to-day, If transparency is about the publishing of documents, bureaucracy is the making of those documents. Now, it can be easy to hate, but bureaucracy is critical for the rule of law. I’ve talked a lot about institutions, but the following of formal rules and procedures by those institutions and officials ensures that people can trust their governance. Paperwork is your friend.

Now, Accountability in this context really just means making sure to always engage with your citizens though your administration. Try to develop a relationship with them that is inclusive, honest and consultative. You don’t have to face election to keep yourself accountable to the people you lead.

Now that we’ve talked about building your state - let’s turn to your nation itself: your people.

A state can exist on paper, but without engaged citizens who feel connected, invested, and involved, everything you’ve built doesn’t matter. No amount of structure or law can substitute for citizens who care about their nation.

Now, there are a variety of make sure people stay engaged, but they mostly fall under two categories:

1, Give them real representation in your government; and

2, Build a sense of community that connects them to one another.

To make sure that your citizens are engaged, it's important to make them feel like they have a voice in your government and can contribute to your state. You can do this by holding frequent elections, but also by simply taking people into your government. Seek out citizens who are interested and give them responsibilities where they can contribute based on their skills. This is great both for engagement and your institutions.

And remember: always serve the needs of your citizens. Establishing government services and utilizing tools like online portals that make it easy for citizens to access resources is great for this. By doing these things, you’re directly providing value to being a citizen.

Next, engage your citizens through building community. A nation is a group of people united by something common, and you want to foster a sense of shared national identity and connection.

Creating a national culture is a big part of that - there’s a reason so many focus their efforts on this aspect of nation-building. Holidays, national symbols, traditions, even your own language - these all give your nation its own identity.

But secondly and most importantly: hold events. Whether its elections, citizen meet-ups, or independence celebrations, events build and cement that shared identity. And whenever possible, make them happen in person. Nothing is better than real-life interaction.

As you grow your community, make sure to embrace diversity. You want a range of people with different backgrounds and interests. The more diverse your citizenry, the stronger your social fabric becomes. A broad, connected community makes your nation more adaptable, resilient, and able to sustain itself.

And with that, you’ve now built a nation-state designed to serve its citizens — one grounded in purpose, institutions, and community.

But that leads to a bigger question: why does any of this matter?

Why do we build micronations? Why is any of this important beyond ourselves?

Well, ask a dozen different micronationalists and you’ll get a dozen different answers. But are all here because of one underlying truth:

We wanted more. More than what our own nations were willing to offer us. We wanted something different.

Despite our amazing diversity as an international community, we are all here today because we were not satisfied with the status quo - and we took it upon ourselves to fix that.

Today, people often feel like they have no power over their lives. Look around and you’ll see anger, disillusionment and a growing feeling of helplessness with our current situation. People feel like they have no control over how their lives are dictated. But that’s not true. We do have power. At its core, the power that governments have to make decisions comes from us - the people.

Micronations can seem strange to those first coming across us. To many, we appear as outliers, as anomalies in society and international relations. At the last MicroCon conference, someone lept out of the crowd to ask us all point-blank - “Why?” Yet, the fact is Micronationalism represents a natural consequence of popular sovereignty.

The power of a government is derived from the people in order to serve us. In many cases, they fail in that. There's a reason so many people across the world lack faith in their elected officials. But here’s the thing: When our Governments fail to serve our best interests, we can take that power back by establishing our own.

According to international law, all people have the right to decide their own destiny, and to have control over their own affairs. That is called self determination. This is why.

I can not think of a purer expression of self determination than micronationalism. Right now, in this room, we have representatives from roughly 40 nations - each with their own cultures, values, and ambitions.

My friends: we are the manifestation of self determination!

It is easy for those outside this community to be blinded by the current international system of nation-states, to feel like the concepts of nations and sovereignty are set in stone.

But that's not true. Like all human concepts, they have never been clear cut. The dominance of the modern nation-state is, in truth, a recent thing. The world is constantly evolving. What makes a nation real and sovereign isn't written in stone. It’s not decided by any one person. It’s fluid. And it's ours to shape.

Micronationalism shows us there is another way. We don't have to accept the status quo. We can forge our own.

Micronations Are Freedom.

Thank You!

(Clapping)