My Utopia

Salvete.

Last Sunday I watched the latest FOX show Utopia. The characters on the reality show quickly sorted themselves out into the "if you're right of center, you'll hate my guts" type and the "if you're left of center, you'll hate my guts" type, and there were quite a few more of the former than the latter. The goal of the show is to determine if (and how) a perfect society can be made. The answer became clear on the first episode of the show: clearly you can't make a perfect society with these people. The society fell into a dystopia almost instantaneously, and I didn't need to watch the Tuesday episode. The End.

It got me thinking about my utopia, my theoretical perfect world. What would the government be like? What would my culture be like? How would the economy run? I thought that I would start with the economy, since economy and government are often more important to a society than the culture. Look at Switzerland, New Zealand, and Singapore- they rarely highlight their cultures, but their economies and governments make them among the most powerful minor nations in the world. Thus, let's start with the government.

For the purposes of this experiment, I will assume that I have control of a small nation, about the size of Kosovo or Luxembourg. The reason is obvious; the mechanics of a small government are far different than the mechanics of a large government. While Russia can focus on imperialism, Estonia would have to focus on nationalist isolationism. While America works better as a republic, Serbia can focus on a more democratic government. Thus, I would have different recommendations for the United States.

The government of my utopia would be republican, and there would be no single individual in charge of an entire branch of government. The military would have complete control over itself, but the legislators would have control of the military's budget, the military's objectives, and a small but elite national army, thus hindering the main army's capabilities. The staff of generals would similarly be heavily scrutinized, so as to prevent a military coup. The judges would be selected from the set of legislators by the set of legislators. Citizens would have all the rights entitled by the United States constitution.

The economy would be slightly isolationist. My utopia would have an independently-controlled currency that is linked to the value of precious metal (gold is cliche, so perhaps a lesser-known element like molybdenum?). There would be low tariffs, low income taxes, and low corporate taxes. This would encourage corporations and businesses to find shelter in my country. My nation would focus on a specific product or commodity and create high quality [insert said product or commodity]. That way, my nation can be put on the map as having moderate economic value. Once the economy kicks off and my nation has sizable control of the market, I would raise tariffs to continue to encourage businesses to manufacture on our soil. Because of low, flat income taxes, my country would have a low minimum wage, if any, and welfare would be little to none. Our nation would try to be as free from debt as possible, and completely self-sufficient.

Perhaps the defining aspect of a utopia is the culture. My culture would be one of religious freedom but a strong Christian overtone. Being a Christian, I am biased, but I believe that Christian doctrine is better soil for productivity, education, and general goodwill for mankind than any other religion, including atheism. This would be crucial for my society to grow and prosper. Independence and ownership would be key defining virtues of my culture, and political parties would be small and strongly anti-corruption. Racism, sexism, and other prejudices would be frowned upon but not banned or limited. Freedom would mix with honor and integrity in a strong, absolute blend of morals and values. Citizens would be encouraged to expand their knowledge by any means possible; contracted private schools and universities would be abundant and well-supplied.

That's a general layout of my utopia. It may change over the years, but I think it's a good start.