What if you owned your own country...?

[suncrafter]

Lets say that a large tropical island (about the size of Cuba) formed overnight in the middle of international waters. You were the first person there and you claimed it as your own. Your claim is uncontested, so now you have your very own country that is completely independent from any government. At this time you are the only person who lives on the island, but many people want to move there because it is a tropical paradise. You now have the opportunity to establish your own set of laws prior to anyone immigrating to your new country. Assuming you WANT people to EVENTUALLY move to your island nation - what laws would you establish and why? For example:

1 - What would you make the legal drinking age?
2 - Driving age?
3 - Age of sexual consent?
4 - Voting age?
5 - At what age would someone become an adult (free from parental control)?

6 - What types of recreational drugs (if any) would be legal?
- Pot
- Tobacco
- Cocaine
- Alcohol
- LSD
- Caffeine
- Heroin
- Other?

7 - Can people have guns? (if so - who and what kind?)

8 - What would be the name of your country?

9 - Would you have the death penalty?

10 - What would be the speed limit?

11 - What types of religions would be permitted or restricted?

Which of the following would be legal:
12 - Porn?
13 - Prostitution?
14 - Polygamy?
15 - Homosexuality?
16 - Stem cell resurch?
17 - Human Cloning?
18 - Cock Fighting?
19 - Slavery?
20 - Hunting?
21 - Fishing?
22 - Eating meat?
23 - Littering?
24 - Unisex bathrooms?
25 - Suicide?
26 - Gay marriage?
27 - Abortion?

28 - What types of sexual activity (if any) would be illegal?
29 - Would your county be clothing optional or clothing mandatory?
30 - Would you have obscenity laws? If so - how would you define "obscene".

31 - What system would you set up for collecting taxes?
- Income tax? (how much?)
- Sales tax? (how much?)
- Import/Export tax? (how much?)

32 - What criteria would someone need to pass to become a citizen?
33 - What types of people would you allow (or not allow) into your country?

34 - What type of government would you establish?

35 - To what degree would your government be allowed to censor or restrict the media?

36 - Aside from laws - what sort of unofficial (and unenforced) cultural rules and traditions would you like to establish? For example - taking shoes off before entering someone's home. Or not eating with the left hand.

[glatt]

That reminds me. I should check on glattistan. What did I do with that bookmark?

Edit: You leave for a couple of months, and the bastards delete your nation.

Sorry to hijack your thread. I'd follow the US constitution pretty closely as a model but have a bunch of liberal social laws. And strong environmental regulations. I'd shoot for a tourism based economy and little industry.

[Sperlock]

glatt, I'm assuming you are talking about http://www.nationstates.net. It's been ages since I've been there.

I'd probably follow glatt's idea for the most part. I'd also go along with the idea if it doesn't hurt anybody else, is between two consenting adults, etc. then it's none of the government's business.

[richlevy]

I would like to have universal health care.

Funding would be an issue, assuming there were no natural resources, I might have to go with tourism or develop a large expat community like Dubai.

What I'd really like to do is build a large retirement community for 30+ lingerie and swimsuit models.:p

BTW, I was bummed out when I found that someone had already grabbed my intended country name of Croutonia. I was going to start with a right wing government fighting a civil war with the leftist Croutonistas.

The government motto? - "Let them eat stale bread"

[Sheldonrs]

1 - What would you make the legal drinking age?
2 - Driving age?
3 - Age of sexual consent?
4 - Voting age?
5 - At what age would someone become an adult (free from parental control)?

I would put together some sort of basic knowledge and skills tests to see if the applicant for these activities was ready.

6 - What types of recreational drugs (if any) would be legal?
- Pot
- Tobacco

- Alcohol
- LSD
- Caffeine
- Other? Mushrooms.

7 - Can people have guns?NO!!!

8 - What would be the name of your country? Xrqhltv ( I think a lot of places catagorize you if they can pronounce your name)

9 - Would you have the death penalty? Isolation, not death. They would be treated like the criminals in Escape From NY. All lumped together, separate from us to fend for themselves. Only major, violent offenders. Minor offences would result in fines, community service and the wearing of some type of symbol like a scarlet "A" so others would know not to speak or associate with them until the sentence was complete.

10 - What would be the speed limit? Only electric cars and 30 mph unless for an emergency.

11 - What types of religions would be permitted or restricted? Each to their own and they could NOT in any way influence how the country was run.

Which of the following would be legal:
12 - Porn?
13 - Prostitution?
14 - Polygamy?
15 - Homosexuality?
16 - Stem cell resurch?
17 - Human Cloning?



21 - Fishing?
22 - Eating meat?

24 - Unisex bathrooms?
25 - Suicide?
26 - Gay marriage?
27 - Abortion?

28 - What types of sexual activity (if any) would be illegal? None beteween consenting people who have passed the test mentioned above.

29 - Would your county be clothing optional or clothing mandatory? Optional.

30 - Would you have obscenity laws? No.
31 - What system would you set up for collecting taxes? Barter system

- Income tax? Barter with the "government. Trade a certain portion of your time each year to the betterment of the country.

- Sales tax? none
- Import/Export tax? None

32 - What criteria would someone need to pass to become a citizen? Obey the rules as stated here.

33 - What types of people would you allow (or not allow) into your country? All are welcome if they follow the rules.

34 - What type of government would you establish? See all of the above. No formal government. Just people hired to run the country like a business with the population as the board of directors, able to hire and fire the ones in charge.

35 - To what degree would your government be allowed to censor or restrict the media? None.

36 - Aside from laws - what sort of unofficial (and unenforced) cultural rules and traditions would you like to establish? For example - taking shoes off before entering someone's home. Or not eating with the left hand. If it feels right and doesn't hurt anyone, do it.
__________________

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by glatt

I'd follow the US constitution pretty closely as a model but have a bunch of liberal social laws. And strong environmental regulations. I'd shoot for a tourism based economy and little industry.

Sounds like you want to be Australia glatt. Cept for the environmental bit. We're still pretty fucked there.

[bluecuracao]

After some consideration, I've decided that my island would be invitation-only, and guests would have to leave when I say. My industry would be banking.

[suncrafter]

Here are mine:





1 - What would you make the legal drinking age?
16

2 - Driving age?
16

3 - Age of sexual consent?
16 (with reasonable exceptions for people of near ages. For example I don't think a 17 year old should go to jail because she had sex with a 15 year old.)

4 - Voting age?
16 (Hell, if you can drive a car - you can vote!)

5 - At what age would someone become an adult (free from parental control)?
16

6 - What types of recreational drugs (if any) would be legal?
- Pot
- Tobacco
- Cocaine
- Alcohol
- LSD
- caffeine
- Heroin
- Other?
All will be legal, but they will be regulated by the government and only be permitted for use by adults.

7 - Can people have guns? (if so - who and what kind?)
Only the military will be permitted to have lethal projectile weapons. People may have guns that stun, but NOT kill.

8 - What would be the name of your country?
"Cowabunga" (Or a variation that still has an available domain name.)

9 - Would you have the death penalty?
No.

10 - What would be the speed limit?
That all depends - different roads require different speed limits.

11 - What types of religions would be permitted or restricted?
Freedom of religion would be protected within the confines of the law and common sense. As would the separation of church and state.

Which of the following would be legal:
12 - Porn? - yes
13 - Prostitution? - yes (but regulated)
14 - Polygamy? - yes (for both men and women)
15 - Homosexuality? - yes
16 - Stem cell resurch? - yes
17 - Human Cloning? - yes (as long as the clone's rights are protected)
18 - Cock Fighting? - no
19 - Slavery? - no
20 - Hunting? - yes (but you must eat what you kill)
21 - Fishing? - yes (but you must eat what you kill)
22 - Eating meat? - yes
23 - Littering? - no
24 - unisex bathrooms? - yes
25 - suicide? - yes (but only if doctor assisted and reasonable criteria are met to insure that the person's reason for wanting death is reasonable and NOT temporary.)
26 - gay marriage? - yes
27 - abortion? - yes

28 - What types of sexual activity (if any) would be illegal?
Anything between consenting adult humans is permitted.

29 - Would your county be clothing optional or clothing mandatory?
Clothing optional. (Exceptions might include places like courtrooms.)

30 - Would you have obscenity laws? If so - how would you define "obscene".
Few obscenity laws, but SOME might be necessary for dealing with extreme circumstances.

31 - What system would you set up for collecting taxes?
- Income tax? (None)
- Sales tax? (20%)
- Import/Export tax? (None)

32 - What criteria would someone need to pass to become a citizen?
- Adults must be able to speak two languages fluently - one of them must be English.
- Adults must pay a $10,000 entrance fee.
- Criminal history check.

33 - What types of people would you allow (or not allow) into your country?
(See Above Answer)

34 - What type of government would you establish?
Multi party democratic parliamentary system. I would be "Emperor" but, like the Queen of England, my position would have no direct power. For the first 50 years 0.5% of all tax revenue will become the "Emperor's" privet property that will be used to build a palace, fund charities, etc... After 50 years, the Emperor's treasury should be large enough that I and my descendance, should be able to live off the interest forever.

35 - To what degree would your government be allowed to censor or restrict the media?
Almost none.

36 - Aside from laws - what sort of unofficial (and unenforced) cultural rules and traditions would you like to establish? For example - taking shoes off before entering someone's home. Or not eating with the left had.
---- A watch, wrist band or bracelet worn on the right wrist is an indication that a person is in a monogamous relationship, is not interested in a sexual relationship or is not yet an adult. On the other hand, a watch, wrist band or bracelet worn on the left wrist is an indication that a person is both an adult AND seaking a sexual relationship.

[Elspode]

1 - What would you make the legal drinking age? - 19
2 - Driving age? - 17
3 - Age of sexual consent? - 16
4 - Voting age? - 18
5 - At what age would someone become an adult (free from parental control)? - 18

6 - What types of recreational drugs (if any) would be legal?
- Pot yes
- Tobacco yes
- Cocaine no
- Alcohol yes
- LSD yes
- Caffeine yes
- Heroin no
- Other? no, not really.
*Codicil* - being caught driving under the influence of any of the above would result in immediate revocation of driving privileges for 18 months. Being in an accident while under the influence would be a mandatory ten years.

7 - Can people have guns? (if so - who and what kind?) - yes, anyone not convicted of a gun related crimed, and any firearms that can be carried by one person, not above a certain caliber...something less than 125mm, I think.

8 - What would be the name of your country? - USA?

9 - Would you have the death penalty? - yes

10 - What would be the speed limit? - Roughly the same as it is in the US now. I'd have to have a better highway system before I'd consider increasing interstate speeds outside of urban areas.

11 - What types of religions would be permitted or restricted? - All religions allowed, no restrictions, no religion in government, religious persecution is a criminal offense, polilticking by religious entites results in immediate revocation of tax exempt status.

Which of the following would be legal:
12 - Porn? - yes
13 - Prostitution? - yes
14 - Polygamy? - yes
15 - Homosexuality? - yes
16 - Stem cell resurch? - yes
17 - Human Cloning? - no
18 - Cock Fighting? - no
19 - Slavery? - no
20 - Hunting? - yes
21 - Fishing? - yes
22 - Eating meat? - yes
23 - Littering? - no
24 - Unisex bathrooms? - legal, but not mandatory
25 - Suicide? - yes
26 - Gay marriage? - yes
27 - Abortion? - yes

28 - What types of sexual activity (if any) would be illegal? - no screwing children or animals.

29 - Would your county be clothing optional or clothing mandatory? - optional within prescribed areas.

30 - Would you have obscenity laws? If so - how would you define "obscene". - I think public sex is probably unnecessary, but again, prescribed areas could be designated where it was legal.

31 - What system would you set up for collecting taxes? - flat tax with some combination of use tax.
- Income tax? (how much?) - 10%
- Sales tax? (how much?) - varies by commodity
- Import/Export tax? (how much?) - too complex to answer here.

32 - What criteria would someone need to pass to become a citizen? - Register, get a job, pay taxes, don't be on welfare, study history and language of new country.

33 - What types of people would you allow (or not allow) into your country? - convicted capital criminals, possibly violent felons

34 - What type of government would you establish? - I like democracy in lieu of a dictatorship with me at the helm.

35 - To what degree would your government be allowed to censor or restrict the media? - Zero

36 - Aside from laws - what sort of unofficial (and unenforced) cultural rules and traditions would you like to establish? For example - taking shoes off before entering someone's home. Or not eating with the left hand. - Too complex to address here.

[Stefania]

Thanks this is a really nice thread

[9th Engineer]

1 - What would you make the legal drinking age?
None specified, it's your own responsibility

2 - Driving age?
As soon as you pass all medical examinations, reflex testings, memory gauges, and other screens. Might be 13, might be 30 if you're a real dumbass

3 - Age of sexual consent?
Personal choice, but ample warnings not to fuck it up

4 - Voting age?
Senior year of highschool would include mandatory a mandatory history class, at the end of which is a comprehensive exam for all relevant material. You pass this, you vote. You don't, you don't have the ability to make the decisions necessary, so no way. Exams can be retaken up to 4 times per year for as long as it takes to pass.

5 - At what age would someone become an adult (free from parental control)?
After highschool graduation, whatever age that might be.

6 - What types of recreational drugs (if any) would be legal?

- Caffeine
- Adderall
-Only drugs which have a net boosting effect on a persons abilities and performance, exceptions for drugs with severe damaging side effects.

7 - Can people have guns? (if so - who and what kind?)
Certain classes of weapons will be available to all citizens who complete training. Weapon licenses will be rescinded in the case of criminal record or any illness or affliction which may affect a persons judgement or capacity to wield their weapon.

8 - What would be the name of your country?
Ithxtal

9 - Would you have the death penalty?
For violent crimes resulting in either the death of another citizen or those involving torture or sadistic abuse. All convictions must be the result of certain classes of empirical evidence presented to a panel of professional criminalists, psychiatrists, and scientists in order for the death penalty to be enforced.

10 - What would be the speed limit?
You won't need to manually drive the cars anyway...

11 - What types of religions would be permitted or restricted?
No restrictions, but public activity will be limited, and all private activity will be monitored under laws pertaining to private businesses and corporations

Which of the following would be legal:
12 - Porn?
Yes

13 - Prostitution?
Yes

14 - Polygamy?
Yes

15 - Homosexuality?
Yes

16 - Stem cell resurch?
Yes

17 - Human Cloning?
Yes

18 - Cock Fighting?
Participants may find themselves subject to psychiatric evaluation

19 - Slavery?
No form of intelligent life capable of self awareness may be held against its will

20 - Hunting?
Yes

21 - Fishing?
Yes

22 - Eating meat?
Yes

23 - Littering?
Punishable via fine

24 - Unisex bathrooms?
Yes

25 - Suicide?
Must be cleared by medical personnel as mentally capable

26 - Gay marriage?
No unions of any form are recognized in any official capacity

27 - Abortion?
Unwanted fetuses will be surgically removed and brought to term in vitro. Parents will be identified through genetics and will be required to maintain a certain level of contact with the child

28 - What types of sexual activity (if any) would be illegal?
None that do not involve unwilling participants (no public sex)

29 - Would your county be clothing optional or clothing mandatory?
Mandatory, as most cases of public nudity are disturbing for reasons other then sexual ones (face it, 'natural' is not beautiful)

30 - Would you have obscenity laws? If so - how would you define "obscene".
No overt public displays, public areas are not your personal romping ground. Be as disgusting and perverse as you want in the company of those who have explicitly chosen to hear, view, or partake in whatever it is, but others have the right to not be involved.


31 - What system would you set up for collecting taxes?
- Income tax? (how much?)
None

- Sales tax? (how much?)
30%, no variability (I have no idea how much it takes to run a government)

- Import/Export tax? (how much?)
None

32 - What criteria would someone need to pass to become a citizen?
Must have the equivalent of a highschool education. To this end, all education is standardized and funded by the government. Classes are offered to all who register, and night classes are available.
Must be gainfully employed

33 - What types of people would you allow (or not allow) into your country?
People suffering from severe disease or maladies must be under the care of current citizenship holders at all times they reside within the country. No one carrying communicable diseases will be allowed to enter the general population if they have reasonable chance to infect others.

34 - What type of government would you establish?
Branches of government would consist of representatives elected from the branches of academia. Pure science, History, Law, Art, Business, Engineering, Language, Anthropology(sociology included) will have an equal number of representatives in a tier system. The highest level of government is a counsel of the most esteemed member of each branch, offices below this will consist of panels with members from appropriate branches depending on the responsibility.

35 - To what degree would your government be allowed to censor or restrict the media?
None, in fact there will be mandatory public databases of all activities of all organizations and all individuals outside the personal residence (don't even think about bathroom quips here)

36 - Aside from laws - what sort of unofficial (and unenforced) cultural rules and traditions would you like to establish? For example - taking shoes off before entering someone's home. Or not eating with the left hand.
Logic and reason above all else, our mind is our humanity, not our emotions.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

3 - Age of sexual consent?
Personal choice, but ample warnings not to fuck it up

Just to be clear, this means if a 30-year-old talked a 9-year-old into having sex, it would be okay as long as the 9-year-old consented?

[9th Engineer]

No, I would probably have a two year buffer in place for those who haven't graduated to full legal representation yet (~18 for most). Four years is a bit much.
I'm also toying with the idea of a mandatory screening process for all parents modeled after what we make couples go through for adoption. Why do that if some dumbass can get drunk, knocked up, and then neglect her kid? You have to prove yourself capable of handling responsibilities in other areas on par with parenthood before being allowed to take control of the life of another member of society. This would probably be done via deferens staple (pinches off the vas deferens but can be removed later, no operation non invasive)

[glatt]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

I'm also toying with the idea of a mandatory screening process for all parents modeled after what we make couples go through for adoption. Why do that if some dumbass can get drunk, knocked up, and then neglect her kid? You have to prove yourself capable of handling responsibilities in other areas on par with parenthood before being allowed to take control of the life of another member of society. This would probably be done via deferens staple (pinches off the vas deferens but can be removed later, no operation non invasive)

wow.

[zippyt]

That makes Some sence ,
I meen have you seen some of the Wounderful folks that have kids just for the welfare check ??