Voluntary Governments

[kkirksey@world.std.com (Ken Kirksey)]

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>The specific point about "imagine if they tied decision making power to
>how much you pay in taxes" was tried a while back: only tax-payers could
>vote. I'm all in favor of this, but I doubt many of my fellow citizens are.
>
>(And to some extent we have this, through bribes and influence-buying.
>Campaign contributions, etc.)
>
>Would anyone choose to pay more in taxes for an increased voting share?
>Hardly. Do the math on how influential any one vote is in an election. For
>specific cases, maybe. Again, that's how influence-peddling arises. Not a
>very healthy development, even for a cynic like me.
 
Heinlein suggested something similar (along with a few other "alternative"
forms of government) in the afterword to "Who Are The Heirs of Patrick
Henry" in _Expanded Universe_. Heinlein suggests:
 
    "A State where anyone can buy for cash (or lay-away installment plan)
    one or more franchises, and this is the government's sole source of
    income other than services sold competitively  and non-monopolistically.
    This would produce a new type of government with several rabbits tucked
    away in the hat.  Rich people would take over the government?  Would
    the, now?  Is a wealthy man going to impoverish himself for the privilege
    of casting a couple of hundred votes?  Buying an election today, under
    the warm body (and tombstone) system is much cheaper than buying a
    controlling number of franchises would be.  The arithmetic on this
    one becomes unsolvable...but I suspect that paying a stiff price (call
    it 20,000 swiss francs) for a franchise would be even less popular
    than serving for two years."
 
Personally, I favor his government that requires an intelligence/knowledge
test before a person can vote.  I especially like his "Improving the Breed"
variation on this one. :-)
 
BTW, he also suggests the government in Twain's _The Curious Republic
of Gondor_, but I've never read this book.  Can anyone describe the
goverment posited in this book?
 
Ken
 
=============================================================================
Ken Kirksey            kkirksey@world.std.com            Mac Guru & Developer
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And the Clinton administration launched an attak on people in Texas because
those people were religious nuts with guns.  Hell, this country was
FOUNDED by religious nuts with guns.                         - P.J. O'Rourke
 
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