Maknig an imaginary country

[BabylonHoruv]

OK, just as a thought experiment I'm designing an imaginary country in my head,  let me know what you think, or design your own.

Health care for treatment and prevention provided free of charge to all.  Doctors paid enough to make a living, but not a killing.

Education provided to all through high school, college for core professions (Doctor, Teacher, Engineer I am sure there are more, those are the three that spring to mind) provided for free with a vanishing loan, so as long as a graduate is employed in the field which he or she has a degree in no payment will be due and the loan amount will decrease significantly each year.  Degrees in nonessential areas, such as Philosophy, Business Management, or what have you could be supported with government backed loans, but repayment would be required and interest would be charged.  Admission to reverse loan programs based on the need for people in those professions within the country.

All drugs legalized but heavily taxed.

serious investment in public transportation at the expense of automobile centric transportation with a high tax on gasoline to compliment this.

direct democracy on as many government issues as possible with the remaining burden of legislation handled by legislators picked by lottery.

support the government through drug taxes, tourism, and by being a haven for research of all sorts, also perhaps a data haven for companies like pirate bay.

Just something that was rattling around in my brain for some reason.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

OK, just as a thought experiment I'm designing an imaginary country in my head,  let me know what you think, or design your own.

Health care for treatment and prevention provided free of charge to all.  Doctors paid enough to make a living, but not a killing.

Education provided to all through high school, college for core professions (Doctor, Teacher, Engineer I am sure there are more, those are the three that spring to mind) provided for free with a vanishing loan, so as long as a graduate is employed in the field which he or she has a degree in no payment will be due and the loan amount will decrease significantly each year.  Degrees in nonessential areas, such as Philosophy, Business Management, or what have you could be supported with government backed loans, but repayment would be required and interest would be charged.  Admission to reverse loan programs based on the need for people in those professions within the country.

All drugs legalized but heavily taxed.

serious investment in public transportation at the expense of automobile centric transportation with a high tax on gasoline to compliment this.

direct democracy on as many government issues as possible with the remaining burden of legislation handled by legislators picked by lottery.

support the government through drug taxes, tourism, and by being a haven for research of all sorts, also perhaps a data haven for companies like pirate bay.

Just something that was rattling around in my brain for some reason.

Do not like the bolded. Direct democracy gives decision making to a handful of irresponsible, ill informed voters. Legislators picked through lottery creates a situation where the same are given more selective power. Does not take executive or judicial power into consideration.

[Jasper]

How about instead, a country run by randomly promoting people to various offices, regardless of qualification?

http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.0455

[Nephew Twiddleton]

How about instead, a country run by randomly promoting people to various offices, regardless of qualification?

http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.0455

Maybe. I'm kind of inclined, in my imaginary country, to make political office a fairly unappealing job, and go through the usual channels of hiring someone. For example, instead of campaigning, have them submit a resume and a few references, and have people vote for them based on that, rather than have them put their faces out there. Maybe have a couple of televised interviews with a panel of people giving the interview. Also take into consideration whether the candidates sent in thank you cards for the interview.

[BabylonHoruv]

Maybe. I'm kind of inclined, in my imaginary country, to make political office a fairly unappealing job, and go through the usual channels of hiring someone. For example, instead of campaigning, have them submit a resume and a few references, and have people vote for them based on that, rather than have them put their faces out there. Maybe have a couple of televised interviews with a panel of people giving the interview. Also take into consideration whether the candidates sent in thank you cards for the interview.

ooh, I like that approach.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

my imaginary country is run by an monarch who holds the sole power to create laws, but whose decisions are subject to the veto power of a body of legislators -- who are elected, but who only qualify to campaign for the position when selected by lottery, and can only serve once. the absolute monarch is also elected, and can be anybody (anyone is free to campaign for the position), but he is always executed at the end of his term.

all laws enacted by the monarch have a mandatory two-year delay before they can go into effect (during which time they are subject to public scrutiny and appeal).

[Remington]

My ideal country would create laws by inputting random sections of the US tax code into this.

These laws would be interpreted by a Supreme Court made up of various stand-up comedians.

[Kai]

My ideal country would make all of you kids get the fuck offa my lawn.