Creating A Country

Let's suppose you had access to a large area of land.

Imagine if you wanted to create a country from scratch. You get the chance to build a society from scratch and then attract like-minded people to become residents of your new country.

How do you make the best country in the world?

You have to first consider what makes a country "the best." If you're from a particularly patriotic country, it's likely that the people from your country believe that it's the best country. For many Americans, for instance, the United States is "the greatest country in the world."

But does this mean that your new country should emulate your current country?

One of the problems with the current nation-state model is that everyone is led to believe that their country, culture, and way of life is "the best." As a result, people are shamed if they leave their country. Their governments and even their fellow citizens will insist that greener pastures do not exist.

See, the fact is that there isn't a "best country."

Rather, humans are diverse and come from a diverse set of cultures and values. "Best" is where you feel free to pursue your cultural interests. For a young wall street trader who fancies himself to be the next Patrick Bateman (minus the murders), a city without regular access to booze, cocaine, and high-end prostitutes is Hell on Earth.

For a conservative Amish person, the widespread nature, pleasant climate, and lack of access to modern-day technology is Heaven on Earth.

There isn't one right way to live and this attitude of "spreading our values" is what leads to the colonialism, globalism, and imperialism that is the source of much of the conflict and unhappiness in our world today.

The future is to create intentional communities with a fixed way of life.

This doesn't mean that everyone must conform to one way of thinking. But what many of us seek today is to live with like-minded people. Too much diversity leads to conflict. It leads to culture wars over the way of life, values, morals, goals, tradeoffs, and the overall vision.

In the democratic societies, the way of life is always threatened with the next election.

Today, you might love where you live because the taxes are low and you value your personal economic growth. 4 years from now, your fellow citizens can elect a socialist politician who'll raise your taxes.

Likewise, if you live in a place where everyone has agreed to pay high taxes to finance a public healthcare system, you might not feel secure if a politician comes in an abolishes the system — even if this saves you money!

So what's the solution?

Rather than societies where people of different values battle it out using political parties to push their cause, it's best for people to self-organize among like-minded people. Rather than having a state govern them, there could be a small council that ensures that the fixed rules are followed.

Throughout history, people have migrated to other villages, towns, cities, and countries that have better suited their values. This trend continues to this day, of course.

But one major fear is that the place you arrive to will become as bad or even worse than the place you left!

The main issue is how to ensure a stable continuation of a set of values and a way of life that the residents desire.

The rules have to be set before anyone moves into the new country. This ensures that you can weed out any potential residents who won't be a good fit. You've also got to ensure that it's easy for residents to opt-out if they no longer wish to live in the new country. This ensures that the ruling council doesn't try to bend the rules or alter the way of life.

Because most people don't leave their country and are brainwashed to think that greener pastures don't exist they accept the decline of their society. They accept any form of tyranny from their government and any form of degradation from their society.

For example, taxes will be on the rise in one country but the average citizen will think that everywhere else also has absurd taxes. Likewise, culture might be on the decline and the average citizen will think everywhere else is also a cesspool.

Rather than creating the "best" country, our aim should be to create communities that cater to different values and visions. To survive they must have the following:

• Preferably created on land not already occupied
• A process to vet potential residents who don't align with the community's values
• A council to ensure the rules are followed as opposed to competing political parties
• A simple method to opt-out. A culture that shames or brainwashes residents to think that greener pastures don't exist will cause the community to fail

May such communities grow and prosper!

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