My idea for a new form of government

[Darf Spud]

This a form of government that I have thought of:

• It will be a combination of Communism and Democracy.
• Everyone will be equal and free.
• There will be no discrimination on grounds of gender, race, religion, sexuality, etc.
• There will be no capital punishment.
• The government will consist of representitives from every administrative region, the amount of representitives depending on the population of that region.
• Anyone over the age of 16 will be able to run for a position in government.
• Anyone over the age of 16 will be able to vote in elections.
• Elections will be held every two years, with 50% of the vote needed to stay in power.
• You can run for a position in government as an idependent or in a party.
• Once in power, a person or party can propose to change any law. The law will be changed if 90% of the population vote to change it in a referendum.
• The country will only have a reserve army, air force and navy. It can only use it in self-defence.
• Health Care will be free and everyone will have access to equal care.
• Higher Education will be free.
• Criminals will do unpaid work in prison (such as making clothes), but rehibilitation will be the ultimate goal.

So what do you think? Ask me any questions you have on things I've missed out.

 

[warpus]

[*]Once in power, a person or party can propose to change any law. The law will be changed if 97% of the population vote to change it in a referendum.

So basically no laws will ever change..

 

[Darf Spud]

So basically no laws will ever change..

How about 90%?

 

[Theige]

I think you need to learn a whole lot more about governments before you try to design your own.

 

[GhostWriter16]

[*]Everyone will be equal and free.

I agree.

[*]There will be no discrimination on grounds of gender, race, religion, sexuality, etc.

Would exceptions be made for religious institutions though? Like, a church wouldn't have to hire a gay pastor if they believed that homosexuality was wrong, or to hire a woman pastor if they believed that wasn't their place right?

[*]There will be no capital punishment.

Darn! Its the best punishment for the worst criminals.

[*]The government will consist of representitives from every administrative region, the amount of representitives depending on the population of that region.

I see no issue with this.

[*]Anyone over the age of 16 will be able to run for a position in government.
[*]Anyone over the age of 16 will be able to vote in elections.

16 is too young. 18 to vote, and at LEAST 18 to run (Probably higher.)

[*]Elections will be held every two years, with 50% of the vote needed to stay in power.

How about 50% + 1. However, there needs to be room for 3rd parties as well.

[*]You can run for a position in government as an idependent or in a party.

[*]Once in power, a person or party can propose to change any law. The law will be changed if 90% of the population vote to change it in a referendum.

Two-thirds. However, for the Bill of Rights, 101%.

[*]The country will only have a reserve army, air force and navy. It can only use it in self-defence.

Once we get to this point, the entire world would have to be mostly free anyway so sure.

[*]Health Care will be free and everyone will have access to equal care.

Darn no! Free market capitalism is the way.

[*]Higher Education will be free.

Darn no! Free market capitalism is the way.

[*]Criminals will do unpaid work in prison (such as making clothes), but rehibilitation will be the ultimate goal.

In most cases I agree.

So what do you think? Ask me any questions you have on things I've missed out.[/QUOTE]

 

[Virote_Considon]

I was all enthralled when I read you'd combined Communism, Anarchy and Democracy.

Then I realized, that there is actually no Anarchy. Or, by the looks of things, Communism. Basically, you've invented Representative Democracy with Welfare. Well done, kid. Welcome to the Nineteenth Century.

 

[Darf Spud]

I think you need to learn a whole lot more about governments before you try to design your own.

I am going to learn a lot more about governments. I'm only in school now, but I'm going to do Politics and Philosophy at university.

I just think of governments for fun.

 

[Miles Teg]

[*]There will be no discrimination on grounds of gender, race, religion, sexuality, etc.

No discrimination by whom? Is the government the only one compelled to be non-discriminatory, or will private bodies be held to the same standards? If so, what would enforcement look like?

[*]The government will consist of representitives from every administrative region, the amount of representitives depending on the population of that region.

How will you draw up the districts in a way that represents people fairly while making sense and keeping up with shifting populations?

[*]Elections will be held every two years, with 50% of the vote needed to stay in power.

What happens if none of the candidates get 50% of the vote?

[*]Once in power, a person or party can propose to change any law. The law will be changed if 97% of the population vote to change it in a referendum.

Wait, national referendums for everything? Why have an assembly then? Incidentally, who's running the national level programs?

Also, protip: No proposal in the history of the world has been approved by 97% of the population.

[*]The country will only have a reserve army, air force and navy. It can only use it in self-defence.

What constitutes self-defense? In this day and age, a missile launched from China can kill people in Los Angeles.

[*]Health Care will be free and everyone will have access to equal care.
[*]Higher Education will be free.

How would the government pay for all of this?

[*]Criminals will do unpaid work in prison (such as making clothes), but rehibilitation will be the ultimate goal.

What rehabilitation programs would you use? The devil is in the details.

So what do you think?

D-
C for effort.

 

[Darf Spud]

I was all enthralled when I read you'd combined Communism, Anarchy and Democracy.

Then I realized, that there is actually no Anarchy. Or, by the looks of things, Communism. Basically, you've invented Representative Democracy with Welfare. Well done, kid. Welcome to the Nineteenth Century.

I was thinking it's like Communism because everyone is equal and they'd be no class structure.

I see there isn't much anarchy in it. Thanks for pointing that out, I'll change it.

 

[Darf Spud]

No discrimination by whom? Is the government the only one compelled to be non-discriminatory, or will private bodies be held to the same standards? If so, what would enforcement look like?

How will you draw up the districts in a way that represents people fairly while making sense and keeping up with shifting populations?

What happens if none of the candidates get 50% of the vote?

Wait, national referendums for everything? Why have an assembly then? Incidentally, who's running the national level programs?

Also, protip: No proposal in the history of the world has been approved by 97% of the population.

What constitutes self-defense? In this day and age, a missile launched from China can kill people in Los Angeles.

How would the government pay for all of this?

What rehabilitation programs would you use? The devil is in the details.



D-
C for effort.

The districts would already be drawn up (states in America, counties in Britain, etc).

If no-one gets 50% of the vote, the top two voted parties/people would go into another round of elections. Kind of like how they worked out the Labour Leadership a few weeks ago.

The money saved on military could be invested in health care and education.

 

[Theige]

I was thinking it's like Communism because everyone is equal and they'd be no class structure.

That is fine as an ideal.

But how are you going to actually accomplish this?

That is what government is all about; taking ideals and actually putting them into practice.

 

[Darf Spud]

That is fine as an ideal.

But how are you going to actually accomplish this?

That is what government is all about; taking ideals and actually putting them into practice.

Look, this is just an idea I came up with today, I'm not going to start a revolution or anything. This is mainly why there are a few faults with it, I haven't really thought it through that much, I just wanted to hear people's opinions of the basic idea.

 

[Virote_Considon]

I was thinking it's like Communism because everyone is equal and they'd be no class structure.

Equality isn't inherent to only Communism. And you haven't even specified in what way people will be equal... Will they be equal in opportunity, or equal in outcome? If the latter, how would you envision this possible within the rest of the confines of your system? If the former; is it really related to Communism? It would appear to have more in line with modern Third-Way Capitalism a lá New Labour than say Marx or Engels

Also, the lack of class structure isn't inherent to only Communism, either. In fact, in many modern states, we're witnessing a huge expanse of the Middle Class, at the expense of the upper and working classes. Suffice to say, it could possibly one day lead to a sufficient break down of class structure much different to that of the society that Communism envisioned.

 

[Darf Spud]

Equality isn't inherent to only Communism. And you haven't even specified in what way people will be equal... Will they be equal in opportunity, or equal in outcome? If the latter, how would you envision this possible within the rest of the confines of your system? If the former; is it really related to Communism? It would appear to have more in line with modern Third-Way Capitalism a lá New Labour than say Marx or Engels

Also, the lack of class structure isn't inherent to only Communism, either. In fact, in many modern states, we're witnessing a huge expanse of the Middle Class, at the expense of the upper and working classes. Suffice to say, it could possibly one day lead to a sufficient break down of class structure much different to that of the society that Communism envisioned.

Everyone would get equal opportunity in education. Inevitably, some will be more intelligent than others, and get better jobs. But the point is that if you are intelligent or talented you will have the chance to enhance that, no matter what your background is (for example, say that there is a genius who lives in a poor area of Sheffield, who wants to study at Oxford University. In the current form of government, the person wouldn't have the chance to, but in my form of government, they would).

 

[Quackers]

If the genius went to college got 3 As + wrote a good personal statement plus had a good interview he can easily get in. What makes you so sure he can't?

 

[civver_764]

So basically a welfare state with very liberal laws and a weird way of passing legislation?

Wouldn't really call it a new form of government.

 

[Ajidica]

Basicaly what Civver said, with the possibilty to become a slightly nightmarish nanny-state.

You state everyone is equal, but what sort of equality?

 

[Miles Teg]

Look, this is just an idea I came up with today, I'm not going to start a revolution or anything. This is mainly why there are a few faults with it, I haven't really thought it through that much, I just wanted to hear people's opinions of the basic idea.

The Problem (with a capital letter) is that you haven't really suggested anything useful, just furbished a list of stuff you think would be pretty cool. If you want to use your time productively and be worth other people's time, you have to get into specifics.

As is, I could just as well come up with a list that says

• I want everyone to be happy all the time

That's (slightly) less realistic than your's, but it's about as useful, and not much less interesting to read. If I wanted that list to be more helpful, I'd have to get into the weeds of how to get the boxes strapped to everyone's arms and where all the heroin would come from.

 

[Darf Spud]

If the genius went to college got 3 As + wrote a good personal statement plus had a good interview he can easily get in. What makes you so sure he can't?

Money. Universities like Oxford and Cambridge cost thousands of pounds a year (and they'll cost waaaay more in a few years, with the cap on fees being lifted), and if you come from a poor family, you won't have the money to study there.

 

[amadeus]

This a form of government that I have thought of:

• It will be a combination of Communism and Democracy.
• Everyone will be equal and free.

You can't have equality and freedom. Freedom is inherently unequal and equality is inherently unfree.