Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads
Why Tortuga Members Should Consider Modern Minuteman’s Next Cohort
The following is a guest post from an esteemed friend of the Tortuga Society, , containing a vital invitation to our members and allies.
At 20 years old, I took a vow. Like any good libertarian, I made a reference to roads in the vow. The line read: “Where we’re going, we won’t need roads.”
Cringe.
The kind of naïve humor that makes you want to travel back in time and slap yourself.
The problem is: I see that same strain of cringe everywhere now. Guys who have never hosted a dinner party declare confidently: “I should start a network state.” Guys who can’t organize a group chat cry out: “We need parallel institutions.”
There is a skill tree to traverse before one gets to lead their tribe. Most people with ambition skip every level on it.
I know this because I did too.
The Path From Ambition To Reality
I dropped out of university twice.
The first time, while studying philosophy and economics, I found Nassim Taleb; I realised I was on the path to becoming an intellectual-yet-idiot. I saw a world around me of experts-on-paper who drove my country into financial disaster without a hint of self-reflection, just as I was coming of age – and how I was becoming one of them.
The second time, in an effort to make a real difference in the world, I dropped out to join an alternative education community on the Chilean coast called Exosphere.
I was so inspired by Skinner Lane’s (the founder’s) earnest attempt to create an alternative university experience that, after finishing his boot camp, against my normal instincts, I followed him across the world to join his staff.
Who among us hasn’t felt the call to follow what he believes to be a better man than him into the middle of battle? (And who among us still has enough faith to do such things?)
During that time, I was always on the edge of financial ruin, riding a fine line between building up future potential and feeling like a fraud. Ultimately, after two years in the arena, I chose to bail and returned home to a family who thought I had gone crazy. What can I say? My risk-averse German genetics still run a huge part of the show.
After collecting myself and finding a job at a blockchain startup in Berlin, I emceed the first Propertarian conference in NYC in 2017, which hosted some of the most famous right-wing voices to this day: Ricardo Duchesne, Kevin MacDonald, and Tomislav Sunic.
At last, I had begun to make progress on the underlying meta-problem that motivated my entire life thus far: “How do you coordinate people who share interests but have wildly different worldviews?”
I learned that you can’t convince them to take your views. However, if you need to cooperate – and you probably do – you need a different approach.
The solution to this meta-problem of cooperation is what I’ve been building with my colleagues at the Natural Law Institute for the past decade. These tools include:
Scientific frameworks for understanding human behavior, explained through value-neutral language;
Ways for people with very different perspectives to act together in the service of shared interests;
And, crucially, the foundations that the success of our peoples and civilizations rests upon: the European Group Evolutionary Strategy.
How do you coordinate people who share interests but have wildly different worldviews?
Everyone knows that our side keeps losing in modern times, and has been for a while. We fragment along ideological lines, while our enemies coordinate effortlessly across far deeper disagreements.
As Vice President for NLI, my mission has become to fix that, so that we once again win in the global political and technological arena.
Why Statecraft Matters Now
Statecraft is the art of organizing diverse groups toward shared interests without requiring ideological conformity.
This science is what our ancestors excelled at. The European legal tradition is so miraculous and innovative that it allowed Catholics and Protestants to eventually stop killing each other and start building nations together of such a superior quality that they have yet to be matched.
This great tradition of ours has been memory-holed. Modern democratic liberalism has reduced every aspect of life into a contest of “the state versus the individual”, eliminating all the intermediary institutions that once gave us collective power.
The time has come for us to create new intermediary bodies that make us stronger together, based on the powerful information networks and capabilities bequeathed to us in the 21st Century.
Statecraft is the art of organizing diverse groups toward shared interests without requiring ideological conformity.
What makes me qualified to teach statecraft?
Well, what I can say is that I founded Statecraft Systems to explore these questions in a rigorous way, convene people with the right experience, and figure out how to transmit fundamental and timeless skills of this nature.
10+ years at NLI, studying, developing, and perfecting cutting-edge frameworks for distributed sovereignty, has allowed me to help countless diverse groups find win-win paths forward.
Most recently, I’ve been directly advising the El Salvadorian government through my friends at Palestra Society – and have even met President Nayib Bukele’s brother Yusef twice in person at their conferences – on how to better structure a medical freedom law drafted by Dr. Jack Kruse. I returned this year to speak at the Palestra Society’s Forum in San Salvador on the topic of leaving behind a legacy.
I understand within my bones that you don’t need to force:
the atheist to believe in God;
the monarchist to believe in republicanism;
the creationist to believe in evolution.
You simply need to help each of them recognize their shared interests and coordinate action by enforcing the proper customs for accountability and trust.
I’m tired of watching good men waste energy on purity spirals while continuing to lose ground in the world.
The tools for victory exist. They’re battle-tested. They work.
I’m here to make them known.
What Actually Works?
One a year ago, I decided to create something of value and see whether the market would take it up: The Modern Minuteman Course.
The market responded. 15 paying participants, and 10 that I admitted for free from our intellectual network, completed the first cohort.
The format was as follows: after articulating a personal vision, each student attended sessions with a guest instructor teaching a particular skill set to actualize it.
Testimony with Noah Revoy – how to speak truthfully and be precise.
Decidability with Brandon Hayes – taking stock of your actual interests and making decisions in light of them.
Cooperation with Luke Weinhagen – if you cannot say “No”, you are merely complying.
Statecraft with Yours Truly – organizing your life in service of your convictions.
After learning, each student then applied the lessons to a real project.
Now, I’m offering a second cohort (MM02: Campaign) of even higher quality. The instructors I’ve recruited for the second cohort share our original ethos and expand on it in key ways.
None of these men are idle theorists. They’re all formidable builders who happen to teach.
Partnering With The Tortuga Society
What the Tortuga Society has accomplished in less than two years – with
, , and at its helm – is impressive.When I learned the details of your organization – 150+ members and growing, a solid fraternal organizing model, a one-time entry fee to ensure skin in the game – I recognized the pattern immediately.
Most “alternative institutions” are just Discord servers with delusions of grandeur. You guys are much more.
What impresses me most is that you’re putting serious energy into this with very little in the way of resources. You’re doing it for the love of the game and for long-term success. That’s rare.
Organizations like Tortuga are rebuilding the interstitial scaffolding that was one of the greatest sources of American strength before such efforts were systematically dismantled over the latter half of the 20th century.
These organizations allow groups to put pressure on elected representatives, to express collective will, and to serve needs that the state cannot.
The Future We’re Building
The following is my vision as a Modern Minuteman aiming at becoming what I’ve come to call a Network Statesman.
Fraternal groups, like Tortuga, networked with other serious crews over the next several years, will form a parallel power structure that can actually project force in the world.
This will not be a “political movement”, nor a “party rally.” It will be a distributed network of competent groups that share interests and can coordinate action.
When Tortuga demonstrates what a well-organized crew can accomplish, other groups inevitably take notice. When those groups adopt similar frameworks and start coordinating with each other, we stop playing defense and start building the nations and livelihoods we actually want to live under.
This is how our ancestors did it – networks of guilds, fraternal orders, religious communities, and local militias who could cooperate across differences because they had functional systems for resolving conflicts.
We are no different. It is our birthright.
We’re building the successor regimes, adapted to our reality. Small groups of competent people, organized around real objectives, networked with other groups, accumulating power by delivering value.
My Modern Minuteman course exists to accelerate that process. For me, success looks like a world where the frameworks I teach are distributed widely enough that groups can apply them without needing my input.
My mission succeeds in direct proportion to the degree you don’t need me to thrive.
For you guys, success looks like having the capabilities to execute on what you’re trying to do, plus the access to connections that amplify Tortuga’s impact beyond what you, as a solitary group, could achieve alone.
My Personal Offer
Modern Minuteman’s second cohort runs from November 3rd - December 2nd, 2025. I’ve architected the course into a flipped classroom format: pre-recorded content plus live Q&A sessions where we apply frameworks to your actual projects.
The base price is $300. Tortuga members will be provided a discount code (in the Tortuga Telegram Chat) for $50 when they sign up.
Here’s what I’d love to see: Tortuga members forming a crew unit within this cohort. Bring whatever you’re actually working on and use the program to pressure-test your approach and build missing capabilities. It would be incredible to see a Tortuga crew demonstrate its strength and have other people join as a consequence.
I’m so passionate about the group ethic that I’m willing to offer special crew pricing at a steep discount. For every crew member who signs up together using Tortuga’s code, I’ll take an additional $50 off per person (down to a floor of $100 per person).
For those serious about building something that outlasts the current moment and who want structure and inspiration from people in the field, this campaign is designed for you.
I’m coming to share insights. I’m also coming to learn from your direct experience. If you’re already doing the work, this gives you the push to do it better. If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to start, this is it.
Register at modernminuteman.net
—Moritz Bierling
 | A guest post by
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Oh wow, the IYI!
A term I wish had caught on, but didn't.