Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com
Small governments are the most effective political bodies in the world. You often hear or see the phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally" most often in reference to climate change, however, if we applied this concept to governance, the world would be a much better place.
People often talk about competition making businesses better, but how can competition make governments more accountable, more useful and more responsive to the needs of their people? The answer: create more of them! Governments by definition cannot survive without their citizens, therefore, it would seem to benefit us if we force them to compete over our tax dollars.
While there is of course a finite amount of land and little likelihood that the 188+ nations already established will part with theirs, there are efforts to create special economics zones if not radical open ocean platforms. These are the ideas espoused by organizations like FreeCities.org and Seasteading.org.
Imagine a world in which governments had to compete for citizens from 1000 nations? While central banks, politicians and technocrats more and more attempt to consolidate the world under one government, the ultimate goal of megalomaniacs over the millennia, the rights, liberties and needs of the many will factor less and less into the decision making of the few.
Ever since the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the US Constitution what were essentially several large spheres of influence operated by German, English, Russian, Spanish, French, etc. empires gave rise to a wave of independent nation states embracing democracy under popular sovreignity.
Since that time these formerly independent nation states have been slowly consolidated once again under the European Union, the Meditterenean Union, the African Union and ultimately the United Nations under the auspices of peace and prosperity. If our current economic crisis and perpetual warfare has shown, this system which has operated over the past 50 years has not resulted in what was promised.
These systems have been called "The Most Progressive Movement on the Planet" while libertarians refer to it as the most important step toward securing prosperity, personal liberty and peace.
PurpleSerf.com
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| Pictures of Dubai before and after becoming a special economic zone (SEZ) and undergoing substantial legal reform. See also pictures of Schenzhen, China - amazing! Image Source: AThousandNations.com |
People often talk about competition making businesses better, but how can competition make governments more accountable, more useful and more responsive to the needs of their people? The answer: create more of them! Governments by definition cannot survive without their citizens, therefore, it would seem to benefit us if we force them to compete over our tax dollars.
While there is of course a finite amount of land and little likelihood that the 188+ nations already established will part with theirs, there are efforts to create special economics zones if not radical open ocean platforms. These are the ideas espoused by organizations like FreeCities.org and Seasteading.org.
Imagine a world in which governments had to compete for citizens from 1000 nations? While central banks, politicians and technocrats more and more attempt to consolidate the world under one government, the ultimate goal of megalomaniacs over the millennia, the rights, liberties and needs of the many will factor less and less into the decision making of the few.
Ever since the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the US Constitution what were essentially several large spheres of influence operated by German, English, Russian, Spanish, French, etc. empires gave rise to a wave of independent nation states embracing democracy under popular sovreignity.
Since that time these formerly independent nation states have been slowly consolidated once again under the European Union, the Meditterenean Union, the African Union and ultimately the United Nations under the auspices of peace and prosperity. If our current economic crisis and perpetual warfare has shown, this system which has operated over the past 50 years has not resulted in what was promised.
These systems have been called "The Most Progressive Movement on the Planet" while libertarians refer to it as the most important step toward securing prosperity, personal liberty and peace.
I'm going to give you a couple flip-sides to consider:
ReplyDelete1. The little independent city-state may be just as likely to commit overreach, but then there's no one overseeing them to protect the little guy:
http://gardenserf.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/framing-the-color-of-law/
2. America was once 500 nations. Those nations were first pushed into the interior by relatively tiny armies from a handful of overseas nations, then a single new army born on this soil removed the remnants of the first nations entirely from power.
1. You are correct, overreach is a risk in any government, however, their leaders are most likely to be very close, neighbors even, living in their community very unlike our current structure where our main leadership is based in Washington DC insulated by thousands of miles, lobbyists, bureaucracy and marble facades. My local legislator lives down the road, only thing - he's for all intents and purposes inconsequential.
ReplyDelete2. America was never 500 nations, they were simply that 500 native nations living is relative peace punctuated by war, shortage, famine, etc. in other words "life on earth." Truth is we now very little about them other than the fact freedom to vote with their feet was always an option. Your ex-military and you'd understand there is a world of difference between 500 nations with sticks, stones and arrows vs. modern militias. The facts of life now offer us powerful weaponry, mass media and economic interdependence. Andorra is no more threatened by France than it is by Spain. Switzerland is no more threatened by Germany than it is by Austria. The 13 colonies with a weak central government threw off the strongest military in the world, Great Britain. The list goes on.
Splitting Earth up into more countries just encourages people in said new countries to build up an "us vs. other countries" mentality, which would lead to destabilisation of Earth
ReplyDelete