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- Ecotopia was a small nation where mostly environmentalists and
- anti-nuclear activists lived. No one in international politics
- ever really paid much attention to Ecotopia until the Ecotopian
- Grand Council declared that Ecotopia had a three hundred mile
- territorial claim to the Ocean surrounding this obscure island
- nation and that 'No foreign vessels from nations which currently
- maintain a nuclear arsenal or have operating nuclear power plants
- within their borders, shall be allowed access to enter or pass
- through Ecotopian territorial seas.' This immediately blocked
- all U.S. vessels bound for Alaska, because they had to pass within
- three hundred miles of Ecotopia. The United States meanwhile did
- not take note of the Ecotopian proclamation, so no effort was made
- by the United States to stop shipping to Alaska. Thus when the
- American ships continued to invade Ecotopian territory, The Grand
- Council promptly declared war on the United States and seized a
- garbage barge bound for Fairbanks. This of course caught the
- attention of American comedians, but didn't stop shipping. So
- the Ecotopian Naval Guard blockaded the Puget Sound. This got
- the United States' attention. The U.S. Coast Guard, assisted by several
- fishing boats, captured the entire Ecotopian Naval Force in two
- hours, and an invasionary force of twenty five marines took control
- of Ecotopia's capitol city the next day. The Grand Council
- surrendered Ecotopia to the United States with the agreement that
- the citizens would be allowed to vote on the fate of Ecotopia.
- Reconstruction funds from the United States have resulted in the
- construction of a library in every Ecotopian city and the paving of
- several streets. After two weeks as a conquered nation the people
- of Ecotopia voted overwhelmingly to be admitted as the fifty-first
- state.
- Ecotopia has historically been governed by an acquiesced council.
- The citizens would each year elect by general acclamation several
- new members to the Grand Council. The total number of members, and
- the length of terms has never been defined. Everyone just went along
- with whatever seemed good at the time. No head of state, or
- of the council was ever elected. Each member saw it as their duty
- to maintain an orderly council and to carry out the laws passed.
- Being a non-aggressive nation, Ecotopia's first and only military
- force was the Ecotopian Naval Guard, consisting of five volunteered
- fishing boats, one cargo ship, and a captured American garbage
- barge, created to enforce Ecotopia's territorial water rights.
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