So, I just won powerball (no not really)

[Precision]

The wife and I bought a small island off the pacific coast of Panama.

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/isl ... aco-island

We also bought self determination rights from the country of Panama, effectively we are a separate federal district with the ability to make our own laws (with some few exceptions). We pay a small annual tithe to the Panama feds for coast guard / military assistance - sort of like an insurance policy. Otherwise they leave us to manage our own "state".

Clean slate for a Constitution

What to do with the land and freedom?

How to make sure it stays that way?

Other thoughts?

[Dub_James]

Write a Constitution that has built in criminal and civil penalties for violations of the document, with automatic repeal of said attempts, as well as fallback provisions in case the mechanism is perverted (What I call an "Open Season" provision). Sections dealing with rights that cannot be repealed under threat of criminal and civil penalty.

Write one that can accommodate the failings of humans, and simply and easily reverses any changes caused by them. Don't attempt to write a Constitution requiring "a moral and religious people". We don't have that. We likely never had that. And that fucked us up the first time. Build one that fully accepts and understand human imperfections, and is capable of undoing damage caused by them, even when operated by those same flawed humans.

We write Constitutions thinking they'll last a long time. We don't write them *to* last a long time, mainly because of Scope Creep and Code Bloat problems. Deal with those, and you'll have a decent system. You'll probably also have the first of its kind in human history.

There are days when I think only an AI can run a durable system...

[Jered]

Make it hard to pass laws and easy to repeal laws.

Add an automatic sunset provision so that any law passed automatically expires after five years.

Require that all bills be read into the record of the legislator orally, understandably, and in a time of not more than one hour.

Add a third house to the legislature with the exclusive function of repealing laws and allow them to do so with a 1/3 vote for repeal.

Service in the legislature is chosen by lottery of all adult inhabitants that pay property tax.

[BDK]

It's your domain. As such, think CEO of a company, not Father of a Nation.

The key is to find the mechanism to keep the idiot heir from being able to destroy it - I would look to the DuPont trusts etc as an example.

Perhaps leave voting rights via shares to your heirs - let them be sold/allocated differently etc.

Use a board for oversight, etc

Honestly, I think such a model could prove to be quite capable.

The key would be pairing governmental funding with a profit motive.

Essentially, it's a larger scale mixed use development.

Rents would be a valid means of funding but people can get defensive if it gets too high.

It would be hard to have an open market for utilities is such a situation, and those are areas which lend themselves to long-term planning.

[Yogimus]

Good intentions get you Liberia.

[Kommander]

Start a nuclear weapons program and then demand free stuff to pause it every few years.

[Precision]

Start a nuclear weapons program and then demand free stuff to pause it every few years.

good thinking. Perhaps I will get a degree in nukie physics.

[Precision]

So lets say I have a Constitution written and it is pretty damn good, based on the US Constitution with failsafes added.

I am tempted to just have it as a private domain for the wife and I and our guests. But that will likely get boring, and why have such a great Constitution.

How do I deal with immigration to my new "proto-nation"?

What do I gear my industry /industries towards?

What do I do for "national" self defense etc

[Windy Wilson]

Connie Du Toit had proposed Commerce Clause language that is intended to curtail the incredible expandable commerce clause we have now.
Also, re the nuclear physics degree, check out this guy. He was the subject of an article IIRC in Esquire in 1976 or 1977, "How I built an atomic bomb in my Senior year". He might save you some money getting a degree you won't really need.

And +1 on Yogi's Liberia comment.

[Dub_James]

Start a nuclear weapons program and then demand free stuff to pause it every few years.

good thinking. Perhaps I will get a degree in nukie physics.

Aren't you afraid that you might get, you know...