Your own country, what would you do?

[mrhnau]

I've been tossing around the idea of starting this thread for a while. The basic concept is to detail how you would run certain aspects of your own government. I'm going to try and keep the conversation a bit focused, introducing a new specific topic about once a week. I'll present one thread posing a question. If I chose to respond, I'll do that in a different post.

Try to keep flamage to a minimum. I'm just curious to see how people would run things if given absolute control.

I'm going to give a few guidelines to keep it somewhat focused.
1) The country you "own" is a 50 square mile island.
2) population of your country is 10k.
3) You have no direct borders w/ other countries.
4) you have a working economy, but the type of economy is your choice

ok, time for the first question!

 

[mrhnau]

What form of government would you create? Monarchy? Total democracy (people vote on EVERYTHING)? Theocracy? Democratic Republic?

What forms of government exist? Would you seperate powers? Keep lawmakers and law "translators/enforcers" (courts) seperate?

 

[Infinite]

What is the social culture geographically? Is this tropical / temprate? Asia Pacific, Atlantic?

Will we contend with local religious or can we define the countries religion for the thought experament?

--Infy

 

[Drac]

What forms of government exist? Would you seperate powers? Keep lawmakers and law "translators/enforcers" (courts) seperate?

NO LAWYERS..let the scumbags represent themselves..
Child molesters caught in the act get the chair...The same with those who prey on the elderly..

I gotta stop...

 

[morph4me]

Mine would be a total autocracy, if you don't like the way I run it, get the hell out.

Drac, I have an opening for the Minister of Justice

 

[Drac]

Drac, I have an opening for the Minister of Justice

I'll TAKE IT!!!!!

 

[morph4me]

You're hired!!

But no chair, it's too fast, they have to suffer

 

[Drac]

You're hired!!

But no chair, it's too fast, they have to suffer

No problem-o..I'm sure we can come up with ways to achieve that...

 

[bushidomartialarts]

i'd find an island at the same approximate latitude as southern oregon/northern californa.

i'd set up a modified meritocracy. democratically elected leaders, but your vote carries more weight for more education, public service, contribution to the society. (example: a college graduate who volunteers 10 hours a week votes with more weight than a high school graduate who doesn't volunteer, who himself votes with more weight than a high school drop out).

all lawyers would be public servants on salary, not the sharks working essentially on commission we have now. law enforcement would ignore 'victimless' crimes and focus on the true bad guys.

i'd let religion happen. no sense in opening that particular can of worms.

 

[Infinite]

i'd find an island at the same approximate latitude as southern oregon/northern californa.

i'd set up a modified meritocracy. democratically elected leaders, but your vote carries more weight for more education, public service, contribution to the society. (example: a college graduate who volunteers 10 hours a week votes with more weight than a high school graduate who doesn't volunteer, who himself votes with more weight than a high school drop out).

all lawyers would be public servants on salary, not the sharks working essentially on commission we have now. law enforcement would ignore 'victimless' crimes and focus on the true bad guys.

i'd let religion happen. no sense in opening that particular can of worms.

FYI I'm a highschool dropout that is better educated than most college grads you meet.

A persons motivation is what defines them not the path they walk for the destination is always the same (death).

--Infy

 

[Drac]

FYI I'm a highschool dropout that is better educated than most college grads you meet

You and I are members of the same club...

 

[Cryozombie]

I would have sorta a corporate controlled free-zone.

Meaning there would be some basic saftey/property laws... i.e. no stealing, no killing, which would be enforced by private police hired by my Corporation, which would basically run a series of casinos, beach resorts, etc... to make money off tourism... but thats about where rule of law ends. Amsterdam like freedoms... in a tacky vegas-esque envrionment.

No Taxes, the total income of the island would be supported by its Vegas-esque tourism, the live in population would work for the casinos, beaches, etc... in all aspects of the day to day operations... from Entertainment, to labor, to hosts, to croupies... etc.


​

 

[theletch1]

Mine would be a total autocracy, if you don't like the way I run it, get the hell out.

Drac, I have an opening for the Minister of Justice

Same here. After all it is MY island, right? Doesn't that infer ownership? I prefer to think of myself as more of the benevolent dictator though.:uhyeah:

Oh, and if you believe I'm just being flippant or making a joke, I assure you I'm not.

 

[Andrew Green]

Invade the US to liberate it from its opressive gov't!



just joking

Anyways, I dunno, I guess there is a part of me that doubts a country of 10,000 could function as a independent econonomically country. In the modern world, that's just not big enough to cover things, it would have to be largely dependant on a larger entity.

That amount of landmass wouldn't have the natural resources necessary to keep a country going in the current structure, which again would lead to economic dependence if not isolated.

Guess I am over thinking the details

Gov't 10000 people I doubt could really support a republic, and a "true democracy" would be very inefficient, mobs rarely know what is good for them anyways. Which means it would likely have to go to some sort of dictatorship or a form of communal living.

Technology I think would drop off a fair bit, simply becasue that is not enough to maintain the level of specialization to keep too many things running, let alone make progress.

Eventually I imagine the country would end up looking like a town from 19th century North America, or end up dependant on foriegn countries.

 

[Nomad]

Mine would be a democratic dictatorship. Every 10 years, the country elects an absolute dictator with the power to do just about anything he wants (except change the nature of the contract). At the end of the term, there is a simple question on the next ballot... did he do a good job or a bad one. If the people think he did a bad job, he is immediately executed. If they think he did a good job, he is given 50 million dollars (inflation adjusted) and exiled so that he can't continue to meddle after he's been "retired".

Simple incentives.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Why I would be the power mad dictator of the dictatorship of Xue and rule with an iron fist build up my military and try and take over the world

But it is likely I would eventually be overthrown in a revolution so why bother I will just go out and shovel snow and forget it.

 

[terryl965]

Just be there by myself with my family and friends can come visit on the weekends, no-one else around live like hermits and be happy.

 

[Don Roley]

I would enact a basic rule of law that says that no one can do anything to anyone or interfere with what they do unless the actions of the other have a direct impact on anyone else. This goes for all adults- and only them. If two men want to have sex, no one else is allowed by the constitution to pass any law against it. But unless you are an adult, you can't make that choice to have sex and so a man caught molesting a child is shark bait.:jaws:

I would set up a system of goverment where people would have to pass a test and do some sort of service to vote. The rights would apply to everyone. The homosexual couple I mentioned do not have to do any service to be left to themselves. But unless someone shows some brains and a willingness to put in some time in the military and the like you can't have a voice in who gets to run the country.

No one would be considered responsible for anyone else. Anyone can help anyone they want. But no one would be forced to shell out money to help someone else and the government would be banned from doing so. People would be quite free to ride motorcycles without helmets. But if they get into accidents and can't pay for emergency care- they would be allowed to die. As a private citizen I would probably ship some of the local kids to the crash site and have them watch a person die by the side of the road in agony to teach them why they should use helmets.

I do not expect that many people would be interested in living in my country. But those that did would probably be the best neighbors you can find.

 

[mrhnau]

Don, I like alot of your ideas

Personally, I kind of like the setup we have in the US. Unless there is a divided country (ie states), I see no real need for two legislative bodies. I'd go with just one, with members elected from cities/counties equally divided by population. I'd have short terms for this body (ie less than 4 years). Limited number of terms.

I'm torn about electing president... popular vote is nice, but it might be nice to have someone elected by from the legislative and judicial body. I'd have a bit longer term for president (ie more than 4 years), and limited number of terms.

Judges would not have a life long term. Might increase the duration as they get higher up, but I'd limit the number of levels of judges... perhaps just 2. Local and a form of Supreme Court, and thats it. No limited terms, but a competancy test so that the election does not become simply a popularity test. Also, I'd have severly limited number of appeals and penalties for people submitting frivilous lawsuits.

Don, one idea I like of yours is a test of who can vote. I think you need to pass a minimal test in order to vote. Includes basic civics, and I'd think about military service. I don't think economics, religion, or anything else like that should influence of course. You know, it might be nice to let everyone have one vote just for breathing and reaching a certain age, but let people who meet certain criteria have more votes. For instance, if you served in the military, you vote counts as two votes. If you passed a basics civics test, your vote value increases again.. Perform some civil service, you get another vote value increase. Gee, I kind of like that Maybe there should be things to decrease your vote too. If you went to prison for something serious, maybe no vote or a decrease of one vote. So, if you were a crook, you could "redeem" yourself by civil service or military service.

I'd try to enforce some method to limit spending on elections, though I'm not sure how that would work... I don't want people to win simply because they have more access to cash, but that access might be from people supporting that person, so on the other hand, that might be good... but, do you want a lobby dominating votes?

Cryo, I like some of your comments about state run industries. I've thought about that for a while. While it reeks of socialism, having an isolated industry would allow minimal taxation if run properly.

 

[mrhnau]

What is the social culture geographically? Is this tropical / temprate? Asia Pacific, Atlantic?

Will we contend with local religious or can we define the countries religion for the thought experament?

--Infy

Location is up to you. If you choose to deal with local religions or even force a religion or lack of religion on the group, its up to you your country. Though with certain things I'd expect a mass exodus LOL