The Free States of America

So, I have this brilliant idea. We take Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nevada, Arizona and Utah - states that most of you don't give a shit about anyway, but are filled with gun-toting, tax hating, ant-Fed rednecks like me, and we just secede from the Union. Since there's no natural raw materials here, it's not like the rest of the country would get all up in arms. We adopt the US Constitution, with a couple of changes to some of the amendments.

• 2nd Amendment reads that "All adults who have not been found mentally incompetent by a court of law, must carry a firearm at all times"
• 16th, 17th, 18th and 21st amendments disappear altogether. (If you don't know why, go read the fucking things.)
• New amendment states that only property owners are allowed to vote, as they actually have something to lose
• Another new amendment states that citizenship is not by birth or parentage, but, at age 18, you must take an exam on the Constitution and "Atlas Shrugged", swear allegiance to the Constitution, and recite, from memory, the 9th and 10th Amendments. (Or, alternately, John Galt's 2-hour speech.)
• One more amendment stating that the Federal tax will be a 10% consumption tax. This tax may not be raised, loopholes may not be introduced. The tax will not be levied on dwellings or vehicles. The Federal government may lay no other taxes. Any elected official attempting to raise any other Federal tax will be stripped of citizenship, deported, and have their property seized and distributed to the opponent they beat out for the seat.
• Of course, there will be a balanced budget amendment. It will also state that any budget surplus will have 1% distributed directly to the congresspeople who shaved that cost out of the budget, and the other 99% will be refunded to the taxpayers. After all, appealing to congresscritter's greed is a GREAT way to get them to think our way.
• Line-item veto in case a socialist manages to make it into congress and add a rider to a bill before being found in a shallow grave in our copious desert.

Small changes with a big effect.

For three years, we let any US Citizen who wants to move from the USA to the FSA (Free States of America) who wants to, providing that they can pass the citizenship exam, and renounce their US citizenship, since America has pretty much voted itself into a welfare-state hell anyway. Furthermore, anyone who doesn't like the FSA is welcome and encouraged to emigrate from the FSA. (Gun-fearing wussies in New Mexico, for example, would be escorted to the border, handed a pair of pink panties to wear, and kicked the fuck out.) Each state would be allowed to levy taxes in their own way, but two of the states listed already don't have a state income tax, and get along just fine. The government will strip away all the services offered by our current, FDR-inspired welfare trough; instead, we (yes, we, for I will stand outside the Alamo (FSA's new White House) and sing into a megaphone at President Paul until he puts me on the Supreme Court to make the horrible caterwauling stop) will stick to what the Constitution says that the government owes us: a military to protect us from threats to our life, liberty and property from outside of our borders, a national guard to protect us from domestic threats, and a common currency with which to trade.

Business, of course, would flock to the FSA. Something to do with little regulation and no income taxes. Stockholders would find themselves willing to move here, too. Of course, at first, the people of the USSA (that's not a typo) would be happy to be rid of the "evil rich" who come and exploit the masses and steal their money. Big, polluting corporations, manufacturers who like our "no unions" laws, banks, pharmaceutical companies - all of the bogeymen of the liberal mindset - they'd move to the FSA in droves. And the commies in the other 44 states would cheer. "Hooray!", they'll shout. "No CEO's earning 400 times what the janitors make! Nobody exploiting the poor!" It would give the companies just enough time, before the USSA's economy completely collapsed, for all of the producers in the country to move to the FSA, and enjoy total economic freedom (as long as they do not deprive anyone else the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.)

We will, of course, continue to buy our raw materials from the USSA. That'll keep 'em going for a while. But as more and more unemployment abounds, and larger percentages are on welfare with nobody to support the government, it'll collapse under it's own weight. The FSA will be a Galt's Gulch - a place where the productive and imaginative can be free, and exchange goods at a "fair" rate - fair, of course, meaning decided by the seller and the buyer by mutual consent.

As the USSA collapses, some states will beg to join the FSA. They will be forced, in that case, to hold a plebescite, and have the voters determine whether they could live under the rules of our government. New states would have to wait 20 years before sending their first representatives to congress, so that they become fully integrated into free society before they come and try and fuck it up. Naturally, anyone who was a registered Democrat in those states will be denied citizenship in the FSA, but they can be legal resident aliens, if they file the right paperwork. If they have children under the age of 7, the kids, at age 18, will be permitted to take the citizenship test, anyone over 7, raised in a Democrat household, is already lost, and will not be allowed to take the exam.

There will be no Affirmative Action. You succeed on merit, or you go home and work/study harder and try again. There will be no minority/victim status. The FSA will never have slaves, the FSA will never disallow certain groups suffrage, so no group in the FSA will have any right to bitch. Buy some property, pass the citizenship test, and then you can have your vote.

There will be a mandatory 2 year military service. Basic Training gives people discipline and insight into themselves that is invaluable; not to mention, since all adults are required to be armed, it'd be nice if they'd all qualified as marksmen. Good luck invading a country where everyone is armed and trained, too. Ask Switzerland how invasions of their territory have gone.

There will be no political correctness. The First Amendment will mean exactly what it says. If you don't like what someone is saying, if it hurts your wittle feewings, man the fuck up and either don't listen, or speak your own piece. If you don't like being called a particular racial/religious/etc epithet, hurl an insult back at the speaker, but the courtroom is closed to you. There will be no censorship. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean someone else doesn't. Even Marxists will be allowed to say what they want. That doesn't mean that it will be without consequences - if what you have to say offends someone enough, they will beat the shit out of you. And, of course, as they impinge on your life, liberty or property (and your body is your property), they will be duly punished, but you were warned.

The one exception will be anyone who uses the phrase, in any manner other than as humor, "Speaking truth to power." Those people will be staked out under the desert sun, naked, covered in honey, next to an ant nest.

In the FSA, there will be no government safety net. There will be charities, don't get me wrong. But if you fail at life, you don't get to keep popping out generations of losers behind you, all sucking off the government tit. You work, or you invest right, or you die of starvation. (Or, if you resort to a life of crime, you get drilled with lead since the people you're trying to rob are all armed all the time.)

Anything between consenting adults is legal. Drug sales, prostitution, gambling; these things waste money on enforcement, don't deprive anyone of their life, liberty or property, and are usually pretty fun. Those are legal. Conversely, anyone who manages to get themselves addicted to the stuff aren't going to find any government-run methcathadone clinics, either. You dry out on your own, or you OD, or, if you're still employed and have health insurance, you go to rehab. (Starting to see the whole "self-reliant" thread here?)

Marriage. In the FSA, you can marry whomever you want. Wanna marry your toaster? Go right ahead. Polygamy? Fine. Why? 'cuz it's not a fuckin' government issue, that's why. There's no tax status associated with marriage, there's no special privileges for anyone regardless of their status. Individual states and cities may have a justice of the peace or not - it's up to them. (That whole Federal thing again.)

From a Federal standpoint, the government will exist solely to protect you from invasion by sovereign nations, prosecute survivors of attempts to deprive you of life, liberty, or property, and the judicial system will probably have to adjudicate contract disputes, but, beyond that, the main function of government will be to get the fuck out of your way and let you go about the business of growing your business.

A capitalist utopia, an oasis in a desert of Marxism - it's my dream. And November 5th, I get to wake up to my worst nightmare.