Jedlička reminded his audience that the Lycians broke with the principle of equal voices and instead weighted votes according to the size of their cities. The system was flawed — this type of inequality eroded unity and left the federation vulnerable — but its conceptual leap endured. As historians have noted, the Lycians’ greatest legacy was not a monument of stone, but an idea that outlived them. That idea resurfaced in 1787, when James Madison, speaking at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, invoked Lycia as a model for proportional representation. The U.S. House of Representatives, with 435 seats apportioned by population, still reflects that principle today.
From this vantage, Jedlička situated Liberland’s own experiment. He noted that past systems failed because they were tied to size or wealth — measures that divide rather than unite. By contrast, Liberland’s governance model introduces a new basis for weighted votes: merit. In his words, “every citizen has a voice, and that voice grows stronger with contribution to the community — through service, innovation, and responsibility.” Where corporations once rewarded profit and Lycians favored power by scale, Liberland seeks to reward participation and civic contribution.
For ZuKas, a gathering dedicated to the intersections of governance, culture, and history, the speech resonated as more than ceremonial. It underscored the continuity between ancient experiments in representation and contemporary efforts to reinvent governance for the digital age. By standing in Patara — where the Lycian League first convened — Jedlička drew a symbolic line through time: from the ruins of Lycia to Madison’s Philadelphia, and onward to Liberland on the Danube.
Closing his address, he emphasized that Liberland is not only learning from history but actively writing its next chapter: “We are not only heirs to history — we are builders of its next chapter. May the lessons of the past guide us, and may the spirit of Patara inspire Liberland to prove that freedom, merit, and responsibility can prevail.”
The ZuKas event thus became more than a conference: it was a stage where history, philosophy, and innovation met. In linking the oldest federal parliament to the newest microstate, Jedlička positioned Liberland as both a student of the past and an architect of the future.