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Romulus Quirinus

(524 posts)
25. 1. I think it can be done peacefully, and must be done peacefully, because
Wed Jul 3, 2013, 01:26 PM
Jul 2013

there is no way to stand against the current order on the battlefield. No number of people with rifles can stand down a modern military formation outfitted and trained using modern Western methods and have anything left to celebrate afterwards.

2. I think this is a good starting point:

http://books.google.com/books?id=kz_k9FIcBGcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

See the chapters on The Constitution of Mars (incomplete in preview mode) and the chapter of commentary (complete). I highly recommend the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson for anyone who enjoys hard scifi and wants to see an interesting vision of how to build a better world.

The Constitution in KSR's novels is a modified version of the Swiss Constitution which aims to extend current ideas regarding the prevention of concentration of power. The executive branch is made up of an executive council rather than a singular, unitary executive. Like our system, it also contains a bicameral parliament. One house of parliament is elected and is analogous to our Senate, and the other is chosen via sortition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition) from the general public. This ensures that at least one house of parliament reflects the diversity of the people and makes it harder to buy politicians and keep them bought.

There are two bodies that do the job of our Supreme Court. One handles purely legal disputes, while the other is explicitly an environmental court (important due to the high fragility of the artificially constructed biosphere). Further, it guarantees the right to food and shelter, provides for no standing army, limits weapon ownership (lots of cities still under domes, after all), and contains measures to limit the growth of corporations by enforcing rules that permit them to exist only as Mondragon-style co-ops, in addition to the civil rights we commonly attribute to the Bill of RIghts.

Certainly not perfect, but it is a great improvement on what we've got, IMHO.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

There are a lot of unhappy people in the world. randome Jul 2013 #1
As I've read over the past few days, that yawning abyss that Skidmore Jul 2013 #3
Does the Egyptian movement have leaders? At least ones we can see from outside? randome Jul 2013 #7
I'm thinking back to the original Egyptian Spring in which Skidmore Jul 2013 #9
Sorry, we are all a little too busy The Straight Story Jul 2013 #2
How about putting snark aside and Skidmore Jul 2013 #4
Hmm, what does it look like to me? The Straight Story Jul 2013 #5
You should take that advice usGovOwesUs3Trillion Jul 2013 #8
Do you have anything to contribute? Skidmore Jul 2013 #10
Do you? snark doesn't count usGovOwesUs3Trillion Jul 2013 #11
I'm asking if you wish to contribute something of substance. Skidmore Jul 2013 #12
See post #6 and I'm asking you to STOP usGovOwesUs3Trillion Jul 2013 #17
Request noted but I will continue to Skidmore Jul 2013 #18
Stop the snark and conspiracy theories usGovOwesUs3Trillion Jul 2013 #19
I fear this is heading to eventual Balkanization SQUEE Jul 2013 #15
You need to get out more usGovOwesUs3Trillion Jul 2013 #6
... what ... are you TALKING about? sibelian Jul 2013 #13
For everything that is displaced, something takes its placeo-- Skidmore Jul 2013 #14
Who are you addressing and what are you talking about? Bluenorthwest Jul 2013 #16
It will be ugly mick063 Jul 2013 #20
I think your last comment assumes much and Skidmore Jul 2013 #21
Yes. It is unfair. mick063 Jul 2013 #23
If this NSA thing has the effect claimed by Skidmore Jul 2013 #24
It's an excellent question. OilemFirchen Jul 2013 #22
+1000 Recursion Jul 2013 #27
1. I think it can be done peacefully, and must be done peacefully, because Romulus Quirinus Jul 2013 #25
Thanks for your thoughtful comments and for the Skidmore Jul 2013 #26
Highly recommended! :) It's one of those rare speculative fiction books that has good science Romulus Quirinus Jul 2013 #29
The first step is to create a new world government that gets along perfectly from day one. tridim Jul 2013 #28
We need a constitutional amendment to severely limit campaign contributions. dawg Jul 2013 #30
We don't need to blow it up. ZombieHorde Jul 2013 #31
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»So you blow up the world ...»Reply #25