We’ve mentioned government and politics here before, and I had an idea this weekend. Conservative, moderate, and liberal readers visit this site, all differing in position yet all very well reasoned, intelligent individuals.
So I was thinking: what if we redesigned a goverment from scratch? Just in theory? Built the thing up from plank one to the entire thing? Could we find something that we all could agree on?
I think it would be very interesting, to say the least. I’d like to start with some basic philosophical tenets and then build the government branches and services. I wonder how far we’d get.
If it gathers enough steam, I’ll buy a domain name and host it as a subdomain to keep things separate. I’ll also turn on the forums on this site so things can flow more freely.
Maybe in a year we’ll have an interesting government scheme.
I’d like to start off with the beginnings of a philosophical base, as simple as we can make (and keep) it. Somewhat lifted from one of my favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein, it goes like this:
1) All citizens have the right of any free act, unless that act hinders the freedom of another person. Government must support this without growing beyond what is absolutely necessary to enforce this tenet of freedom.
2) Government support for children should be paramount; that is to say, assistance should be ready for those who are not old enough to support themselves. Welfare, for instance, would be substantially provided as child care while able adults seek and gain employment.
The first is more of a constitutional argument, while the second is more of a services viewpoint, but it’s a start. Over the next week I’d like to frame out the services goverment should provide (roads, police, armies, public aid, foreign aid, etc.), from a federal standpoint.
Comments?