I remember speaking to you once or twice, but never got to really know you. Good luck and may Concordia also be successful!
Mmmmm... Classically liberal (with a dash of christian conservatism) democratic secularist non-world federalist.
Then you're just a liberal democratic secularist. Not a world federalist. 1. Not necessarily. I find that in truly democratic societies, people vote and participate to promote their interests, and would be careful about voting on appearances. People need to understand that politics serves them, though, and we can do that with robust public services to ensure an excellent quality of life for everyone. Once the quality of life is good enough, people will see politics serves them, and participate appropriately. 2. Northern Ireland functions as a country (somehow) so why can't the world? In all seriousness, we can address racism and religious discrimination through strong enforcement of the rule of law, and a good quality of life. Most of the angst which fuels hatred comes from inequality. For example, after World War I, Germany was heavily impoverished and experienced hyperinflation, a perfect scenario for the Nazi Party to rise to power. 3. Speaking from an economic standpoint, it'd be easier to integrate North Koreans into a global society through world federalism than it would be to integrate them into South Korean society through Korean reunification. If Korean unification were ever to occur, a situation would arise where North Korea would be heavily dependent on South Korea for a welfare state and infrastructure, and it would take decades for North Korea to reach a state of development on par with the South. Even today, East Germany (excluding Berlin) is hugely underdeveloped in comparison to West Germany, even though they've been unified for over 20 years. By comparison, however, a global welfare state would easily accommodate an extra 20 million people (out of 7 billion people). I can do the math to verify it. The GDP per capita in North Korea is around $2,000. A basic living income is $32,000. For each person, $30,000 must be made available for welfare (that excludes healthcare, education, and other stuff needed for a good quality of life) meaning $600 billion must be made available per year. At $10,000 per child and 5.5 million people aged under 16, their education will cost $55 billion per year, healthcare will be $64 billion ($3200 per person based on UK figures of health spending per capita multiplied by 20 million people) and at least $20 billion per year for infrastructure (based on Taiwan, the closest developed country I could find to NK in terms of population and size). That's a total of $739 billion. It might sound big, but on the scale of a global economy which produces $75 trillion each year, this budget for North Korea is worth 0.01% of the global economy. I believe we could fund that easily through a tax model I've invented, called the Voltian tax. An exponential curve based on your 'richest x%' bracket, plotted along 5 main points, capped at 90% for the richest person Everyone in the poorest 50% of the population pays no tax. Between being the richest 50% and the richest 25%, you pay between 0% and 11.25% tax. Between being the richest 25% and the richest 12.5%, you pay between 11.25% and 22.5% tax. Between being the richest 12.5% and the richest 6.25%, you pay between 22.5% and 45% tax. Between being the richest 6.25% and the richest 0% (i.e. the richest person), you pay between 45% and 90% tax. That's the easiest way I can explain it. Under this system, my calculations show that, under a world federation, from tax revenue from household income alone, assuming the whole world has household income statistics like the United States (a pretty big assumption, but I have no other data), $20.2 trillion in tax revenues would be collected, more than enough to kickstart North Korea (and all the other underdeveloped places in the world as well, let's not forget). By comparison, South Korea's current tax revenues are $296 billion. For comparison, that's 25% of its $1.2 trillion GDP. If expenditure in a given region is proportional to that region's population, this means North Korea will receive $82 billion each year; add $10 billion in revenues from North Korea itself (a relatively pitiful amount), and North Korea will only receive $92 billion in government money each year, only 12% of what it needs. The tax level in South Korea would need to be raised to nearly 100% of its GDP in order to redevelop North Korea. Under a world federalist model, the South Korean economy would not crash attempting to develop the North in the event of reunification. Instead of a $1.2 trillion economy carrying a $730 billion liability on its back, a $75 trillion economy would do it instead, which is much more feasible. Wow, that was a lot of maths. To wrap this up, North Korea and South Korea can be united, although it is unfeasible for South Korea to redevelop the North on its own; under a world federalist model, it is much more feasible. As for the unification of the US and the Middle East, all we really need to do is kill the arms trade, make use of economic and diplomatic sanctions to bring down anti-democratic states, and all else should probably follow (but that's for another post, probably).
Wouldnt it be simpler to just farm the land and live free? Yes... gimme some dirt, and mah tools... Lance will be happy. Love the analysis though. Gives me loads to think of. I do agree with much of the analysis. Law can never erase discrimination nor racism. (Social engineering can though.) Law only has the weight of thugs with jack boots and guns behind it. This is why these days everything is illegal (at least in the US of A). Now I am for punishing people who actually do harm to others, however now we are in a position where punishing innocents for potential harm, or perceived harm is not only accepted but encouraged. I would also say that more than being impoverished, oppression breeds hate and contempt. Most in germany could have farmed, however the 'farm' owners would never integrate the masses into their land...backed up by force. This planet is so fruitful, however there is much waste and evil upon us all. The wicked and cruel wish to see pain and suffering. The greedy wish to rise to the top regardless of cost. The good wish to be kind and help each another, want us ALL to have better lives and work towards this. We should all share and be kind to one another. Life is way too short to focus on the wrong things. Key, is to live, and live well, and to live happy. Rest falls into place.
I am leaving, I just need to finalise the handover of Concordia, and I will no longer be pursuing any more projects in Minecraft on EMC. My activity will be reduced to occasional lurking on the forums and Mumble.
Bye Scott Didn't Know You To Well But Have Heard A Lot About Ur Famous Lava Walls. Good Luck On Future Adventures Life Brings You. -Michael
Volt, I rarely discuss politics on EMC as I don't like to debate/argue it much, but I will admit to you, we share a lot of the same views and opinions I can understand the need for something "New", but I hope you can at least still stick around as part of the community and keep up with your engaging discussions that everyone has grown to love here on the forums Doesn't have to be a full farewell
Wow, what a way so say farewell. Best of luck Scott on whatever you choose to do, and I hope that you will return some day. Many of us may of not spoken to you but your presence was still there. I thought I would also state that this is a great quote, remember this with you.
