If you could create a country from scratch

[Ace Otana]

http://www.nationstates.net/estene

You watch your taxes go sky high. I'm having difficulty keeping mine down.

[Zen Badger]

Lots of windy roads and NO speed limit

[Shinylight]

Here's my awesome country

http://www.nationstates.net/lucidan

100% income tax

Socialist awesomeness

[Godhead]

Ok, to get the ball rolling, if I could create a country from scratch, including its culture, here's what I'd create :

How it would be run :

No political parties
No politicians
No elections
No government
Citizens would propose and vote on laws
They would not vote simply on a system of yes or no, they would be able to vote in terms of degrees of preference
The final outcome on laws wouldbe a fair and practical compromise wherever possible
There would be a constitution based on basic values, the main one being freedom
When judging on whether a law is within the constitution or not, it would be assessed on the basis that it doesn't violate those values. Wherever there's conflict, one value may have priority over another
It would be a confederation of confederations. Each region of the country would be free to leave the country and become an separate state. Within each region, you could have subregions, which would be states in themselves, and within that region too.
The constitution would apply to all states in the country, however each state could have different laws or variations of it, as long as they're within the constitution.
Anyone would be able to form their own currency
There would be no national curriculum for schools
Prisons would merely be places of detention for people who pose a danger to the public, not places of punishment. Those who aren't a danger to the public would not go to jail. Jail sentences would be avoided as much as possible, and kept as short as possible.
There would be no land ownership. It would be called land custody, in recognition of the fact that no one actually owns land.
There would be no compulsory tax.
The state would create money from scratch and would never run out.

The culture :

Society would be a mixture of people living in permanent addresses, people with no fixed address, travellers, and tribes. There would be no stigma about being homeless, in fact it would be an admired lifestyle choice, which a lot of people would experience at some point in their lives. Community spirit would be strong, and most people would generally know their neighbours very well, and many people in their community. And they'd help each other a lot, and stand up for each other when necessary. The level of self esteem of the people would generally be extremely high. The focus of life for most people would be : experience life, learn, evolve, be happy. Financial wealth would not get as much attention, and would not be as much of a goal or a focus, as it is in the present current system. There would be a huge amount of diversity in the people, their houses, lifestyles, how they dress, their personalities.

[Minimalist]

Citizens would propose and vote on laws

Your country is completely and totally fucked right at that point.

Have you ever LISTENED to your fellow citizens?

[Godhead]

Minimalist -

Yes.

[Ace Otana]

@ Godhead.

I'm pretty sure your country would be totally out of control. No government to lead the people and make critical decisions. No one higher up to insure schools, prisons, health care, ect ect....work the way they should.
Having the people do the law making. Many would vote for laws that hold no reason. Laws made with no sense in them. Laws only make sense when made through reason.

I could go on but can't be fucked really.

[Godhead]

Ace -

Governments are no more qualified to make decisions than the people who those decisions affect. Besides, the main concern for politicians is their career, so that immediately compromises their position as decision makers. Also, the people themselves know what is best. It wouldn't be out of control, quite the contrary, it would work better.

[Ace Otana]

Ace -

Governments are no more qualified to make decisions than the people who those decisions affect. Besides, the main concern for politicians is their career, so that immediately compromises their position as decision makers. Also, the people themselves know what is best. It wouldn't be out of control, quite the contrary, it would work better.

Try it on nationstates. Not exactly accurate but close enough.

There may be many corrupt politicians and there is no real way of telling from the corrupt to the honest. However, a working government is needed. Your going to need a strong stance on crime or it will get out of hand as criminals will no longer fear the consequenses.
The people don't always know what's best. I mean, this country has had the fucking labour party in for years and we are flooded with immigrants, the country is in debt, the former MP couldn't manage his own home let alone a nation. The people voted that party in time and time again. You sure they know best?

[Godhead]

Ace -

When I said no government, I didn't mean no state "infrastructure" or system at all, or no constitution. What I meant was that the people would be "governed" by their constitution, and the laws which they propose, which would be "governed" by the constitution.The people would be free to propose a law or a change to the law whereby murder is allowed, but it would never pass as that would be unconstitutional. So when I say no government, I mean that there would not be a class of people who make decisions for everyone else. There would be guidance, yes, but the people would have a lot of power. And I disagree about people not knowing what's best. With a decent constitutionto ensure that things don't get out of hand, people are generally much more qualified and able to decide for themselves how they want to live. Besides, there is no vetting system for politicians, wheas the people are already qualified by virtue of being the people. They know what they want and don't want. In the current system (and I say current because within 10 years or most likely much less it will end, that means worldwide) people vote within the choices that they're given, which doesn't reflect what they truly want.