I would like to discuss a concept. Please, civil discussion only -- no partisan bickering or snarky comments. Here's the concept: Imagine that a state -- it could be any, but let's say Wyoming just for the sake of discussion -- was allowed to legally secede from the Union. So now it's the independent Republic of Wyoming. Now let's suppose it establishes its government and legal system as such: - Zero government entitlements. No welfare, Social Security, Medicare, universal healthcare, food subsidies, etc. Each citizen is responsible for his/her own welfare. - The country is run by a legislature of strictly volunteers. Legislators receive no compensation for their service. Their membership in the legislature would be much like membership on an HOA board. Thus they would have to keep their day job (unless, that is, they were independently wealthy). - There is no President or chief executive. The government is run by the all-volunteer legislature. For foreign affairs the legislature appoints a Foreign Minister and a Defense Minister. Either can be replaced by the legislature at any time. - The legislature votes via an online Internet forum fully open to the public. No closed-door voting sessions. - No government-run schools. All schools are privatized. Thus, anyone can open a school. To educate the populace, the government issues vouchers that parents can spend at any school of their choice. That way, if a parent wants their children to go to a Catholic school, fine. Muslim school? That's OK, too. Atheist school? Also fine. Military school? Fine as well. It's the parents' choice. - Taxes are levied to provide services that directly benefit all members of society -- roads, parks, defense, libraries, etc. No earmarks for special interests. - Government would not at all intervene in the economy or business except to prevent obvious criminal activity like false advertising, fraud, insider trading, blackmail, etc. - The powers of the government would be strictly and explicitly enumerated in the constitution. The government would not be able to do anything that's not clearly enumerated in the constitution. Thus there would be no need for a Bill of Rights or anything equivalent. - There would be no income tax. All taxes would be raised via a flat sales tax. - Because there would be no welfare or other entitlement programs and because the government's powers would be extremely limited, taxes would stay low and workers would take home much bigger paychecks. Workers would then have more money to save, invest, or squander however they choose. It's a free society! Thoughts?
Wyoming cannot legally secede from the Union. It CAN garner enough Wyoming citizen votes, to do whatever it pleases, following your guidelines above that don't conflict with already prescribed Federal requirements. Your DOABLE "majority state testbed experiment", if successful for Wyoming, would then become a model for other state's to emulate. In reality, there is nothing stopping you from your concept implementation, except your understanding of the method, and the scope (size of population) and understanding of your following to gather in one location (State) to further it's goal.
And what would happen if millions of "illegal" immigrants came over the borders of the states that surround it? Will those people be helped with hospitals, schools or whatever for free as well? Then what if a war broke out betewwn other states around it to try and take it over, will it have an army, air force or what is needed to provide for everyone there? :shrug:
We're speakingly hypothetically. Let's not get wrapped around the axle over whether State XYZ has the legal right to secede from the Union, as that's really not the issue here. The concept is to have a large land mass completely unfettered by the Federal government or any other authority to pursue its own model.
Well, now, that's the point -- you don't get anything for free. There are no free entitlements. Yes, you get a school voucher for your kids, but you pay for that by paying sales taxes. So if "illegals" come to the state, they couldn't escape paying their fair share of the taxes. That's the beauty of a sales tax system.
But most illegals have no money and require assistance in order to survive. They buy little, only what is essential for life and have children as well that need to be taken care of. How do you give these people money and help if they are broke? :shrug:
Well, now, when I speak of "illegals" I'm talking about immigrants from other surrounding states, not Mexico. Further, because there are no entitlement programs, poorer "illegals" would not be drawn to the Republic of Wyoming. Even so, presumably, there would be border security to prevent illegal immigration.
That's just it we won't give them any money. That's the point. Individual citizens may give them money if they choose either directly or via a charity, but the government will not.
You would let people DIE if they didn't have an income?? How about funding that army, air force and marine military you'll need in case you are attacked. Seems like allot of taxes are going to be needed, can you tell us how your going to afford all of that?
When presented with a choice between starving and work, 99.9% of people will choose work. That's what the sales tax system I described would be for!
Then what happens, like now , when there is no work for over 17 million people? how do you care for them??
Again, you don't. No social welfare entitlements. Since there are no social welfare programs -- unemployment benefits included -- workers can keep more of their paychecks. It's then incumbent on them to save more since they'll be taking home more. If they fail to save because they squander their money away on things they can't afford, then they suffer the consequences.
It also sounds like the state would be run by the wealthy (presumably for the wealthy), as they are the only ones that could really dedicate any time to office. A constitution, that’s a novel idea. The other main thing I don’t think you’ve picked up on, is that as the only tax is a sales tax this tax would be presumably higher than the sales taxes in other states / countries. So, what if the citizens of your new state decided to live there but buy all their goods out of state /country (online for example). They would avoid paying tax in their state all together. And this new Wyoming would have no money at all.
There would be no "office," per se. Voting would occur from the legislator's own home. No need for a congressional hall or any of that. And it would be a part-time responsibility, not a fulltime career like it is now. So anyone would be able to do it. Taxes would be assessed on import.
They would have to save for their own retirement. And if they come up short in retirement savings, they could do a reverse mortgage on their home.
75 percent of "seniors" do not earn enough to retire upon and require assistance, what would they do then?
1. I'd have to see where you get the 75% figure, but for the sake of the discussion, I'll let it slide. 2. Because taxes would be so much dramatically lower, you'll have more money in your paycheck to put away for your own retirement. 3. Reverse mortgages.
Many seniors do not own their own homes. They live in apartments whos fees rise annually. How can they keep up?
