If you could start your own town...

[Abd_Yesua_alMasih]

Ron Paul would be president to start. Or someone like him.

Anyone could run for president. If you don't want an 18 year old president, don't vote for him. I would probably keep the four year term limit but allow more than two terms, though there'd have to be a break between two and three. I don't want some smarmy kim jong il brainwashing us.

The gov't would exist to protect life and property.
The gov't would not have any major part in our day-to-day life.

Church would take care of the sick, the widows and orphans.

There would be no income tax.
No property tax.
If you earn money, it becomes yours to do with as you please. If you buy a house, you don't have to pay rent for it (taxes).

If you don't work, let your church feed you. There you will be accountable to someone.
If you don't have a church, find one or find someone who will help you.

I would want to recruit one income families for the start up of the town, but obviously women would be allowed to work. I just hope they would choose not to. I would like to live in a town where 40+K a year is enough to own a house.
Doctors would not accept health insurance, though there'd be no law to prevent them from doing so. However, with no laws forcing business to offer this, perhaps most wouldn't. We'd pay, barter, etc. for medicine, and we'd let the doctors compete for our money!
School will be the responsibility of parents. If they want to form together and create a school where THEY pay professionals to teach, they can do so. Or they can simply teach their kids at home, or at church, etc. The gov't would make no laws about schooling. If you don't teach your children at all, shame on you, but that is your prerogative as a parent. Just hope that your next door neighbor happens to be a kindhearted homeschooler.

Why no medical insurance? or did I read that wrong.

 

[he beholds]

Why no medical insurance? or did I read that wrong.[/QUOTE]

I think the health insurance industry has taken away the competition component. However, I wouldn't care if there were people who did want to take out insurance on their health.
I just think prices would be lower if individuals were paying for everything out of pocket.

 

[steven-nemes]

An entirely free market. Perhaps no government at all; just local crime-fighting groups or whatever.

 

[Abd_Yesua_alMasih]

Why no medical insurance? or did I read that wrong.

I think the health insurance industry has taken away the competition component. However, I wouldn't care if there were people who did want to take out insurance on their health.
I just think prices would be lower if individuals were paying for everything out of pocket.[/QUOTE]Yes there are a numerous studies that talk about the inflationary effects of insurance on the medical system. However not everyone can just pay for a major operation out of pocket. Anyway this is a digression...

 

[Zenas]

There is no "if" here, there is only "when"...

When I become super rich I will buy an island and name it New Geneva. New Geneva will have rules similar to the PB, where one must adhere to a confession in order to be a resident and citizen of New Geneva.

New Geneva will be governed by a civil magistrate who actually does actively restrain evil. Things like blasphemy, adultery, and doing work on Sunday will be punishable by fine or imprisonment (in some cases).

New Geneva will be split into two sides: Presbyterians and hereti...Baptists, with each side having its own inhabitants and churches.

Everyone will be required to work and perform some sort of trade or they will starve. All children will attend public school taught from a Christian worldview.

Feel free to add to my ideas regarding New Geneva.

-----Added 2/25/2009 at 02:22:17 EST-----

Oh yeah, we will have one, giant pub in the middle of the island. Budweiser, Miller, and Coors will not be served and possession of said products will be a misdemeanor.

I can't tell if some of these are jokes.

Gov't feeding troughs, Gov't being way too much in my business...
Are you being serious, Andrew? (Not a rhetorical question!)
How will adultery be fined? I mean, how is the magistrate going to see into my heart to know when I'm committing adultery?

I guess if you buy the island and own it, you'll be free to live as you please on that island--if you make sure it's in my country. And if it is like the PB, and people agree to adhere to the confessions, then they knew what was coming and didn't have to choose to live there.

Forcing mothers to work...that one sounds Russian to me.

Government feeding troughs? Mothers to work?

I'm confused, I didn't say that.

 

[rgray]

On big rock candy mountain...

 

[Scott1]

Well, for starters, I would probably look to John Calvin's Geneva for a pattern.

 

[Theognome]

Start a town? It might be better to go the other way with it. Cain did the whole start a town thing, and it hasn't gone so well ever since.

Theognome

kinda didgy logic here surely?

1)A bad person once started a town
2)Starting a town is bad

reads a bit like

1 A man was walking his dog and his dog bit a passer by.
2 Walking dogs is not good because they bite passers by

It may read that way, but was it meant that way? Obviously, if Revelation speaks of a city of God, they can't be all bad.

Theognome

 

[VictorBravo]

Start a town? It might be better to go the other way with it. Cain did the whole start a town thing, and it hasn't gone so well ever since.

Theognome

kinda didgy logic here surely?

1)A bad person once started a town
2)Starting a town is bad

reads a bit like

1 A man was walking his dog and his dog bit a passer by.
2 Walking dogs is not good because they bite passers by

It may read that way, but was it meant that way? Obviously, if Revelation speaks of a city of God, they can't be all bad.

Theognome

Don't forget Nimrod starting up Babel.

If I had to start a town, it would be just like Lennep, Montana. Last time I was there was about 20 years ago, it may have changed, but I doubt it. There was a church, always open, with an old harmonium in it and a number of pew bibles. There was a house about 100 yards away. Other than that, it was surrounded by bunch grass, sagebrush, and mountains in the distance.

A visiting preacher would stop by once a month. Each Sunday the ranch people would come to worship, sing, and have a feast. Then they'd all go home and it would be quiet for the rest of the week.

I just found a photo of the church. Lennep hasn't changed a bit:

 

[Brother John]

Thanks to everybody who has posted so far. I actually enjoy mulling this idea over in my head. There is so much to try and figure out it really is a great mind exercise. First it seems there is no ungoverned land that is empty for a group to settle ( if you know of somewhere speak up), so at this time it seems the best application would be to master plan a neighborhood or plant a town. The only problem is that in real life if your in America your probably going to get sued... I digress. I have to put my little ones to bed and spend time with my wife so I will add my ideas later on.

 

[TheocraticMonarchist]

( if you know of somewhere speak up)

Antarctica… we could force the penguins to live on reservations and steal their natural resources

 

[Richard King]

I have long suspected you guys are reading my thoughts through some sort of Jedi/700 Club gift of prophesy manuever. That is the only way you could have known I am constantly planning RichardKingVille.
Keep it on the downlow and I may make you a deal on some choice lots.

 

[Theognome]

( if you know of somewhere speak up)

Antarctica… we could force the penguins to live on reservations and steal their natural resources

That's very cold of you.

Theognome

 

[he beholds]

There is no "if" here, there is only "when"...

When I become super rich I will buy an island and name it New Geneva. New Geneva will have rules similar to the PB, where one must adhere to a confession in order to be a resident and citizen of New Geneva.

New Geneva will be governed by a civil magistrate who actually does actively restrain evil. Things like blasphemy, adultery, and doing work on Sunday will be punishable by fine or imprisonment (in some cases).

New Geneva will be split into two sides: Presbyterians and hereti...Baptists, with each side having its own inhabitants and churches.

Everyone will be required to work and perform some sort of trade or they will starve. All children will attend public school taught from a Christian worldview.

Feel free to add to my ideas regarding New Geneva.

-----Added 2/25/2009 at 02:22:17 EST-----

Oh yeah, we will have one, giant pub in the middle of the island. Budweiser, Miller, and Coors will not be served and possession of said products will be a misdemeanor.

I can't tell if some of these are jokes.

Gov't feeding troughs, Gov't being way too much in my business...
Are you being serious, Andrew? (Not a rhetorical question!)
How will adultery be fined? I mean, how is the magistrate going to see into my heart to know when I'm committing adultery?

I guess if you buy the island and own it, you'll be free to live as you please on that island--if you make sure it's in my country. And if it is like the PB, and people agree to adhere to the confessions, then they knew what was coming and didn't have to choose to live there.

Forcing mothers to work...that one sounds Russian to me.

Government feeding troughs? Mothers to work?

I'm confused, I didn't say that.

No, the dome city wanted the gov't feeding troughs. Yours was, "Everyone will be required to work and perform some sort of trade or they will starve. " That was the very Russian-forcing-mothers-to-work bit.

 

[LadyFlynt]

It would be very easy create if one of those sovereign Native American nations converted to Reformed Christianity.

We're working on it! And some of us ARE Reformed...just not entirely as a Nation.

Watch the movie "the Village" and imagine that town

I liked that they had an eldership.

Ron Paul would be president to start. Or someone like him.

Anyone could run for president. If you don't want an 18 year old president, don't vote for him. I would probably keep the four year term limit but allow more than two terms, though there'd have to be a break between two and three. I don't want some smarmy kim jong il brainwashing us.

The gov't would exist to protect life and property.
The gov't would not have any major part in our day-to-day life.

Church would take care of the sick, the widows and orphans.

There would be no income tax.
No property tax.
If you earn money, it becomes yours to do with as you please. If you buy a house, you don't have to pay rent for it (taxes).

If you don't work, let your church feed you. There you will be accountable to someone.
If you don't have a church, find one or find someone who will help you.

I would want to recruit one income families for the start up of the town, but obviously women would be allowed to work. I just hope they would choose not to. I would like to live in a town where 40+K a year is enough to own a house.
Doctors would not accept health insurance, though there'd be no law to prevent them from doing so. However, with no laws forcing business to offer this, perhaps most wouldn't. We'd pay, barter, etc. for medicine, and we'd let the doctors compete for our money!
School will be the responsibility of parents. If they want to form together and create a school where THEY pay professionals to teach, they can do so. Or they can simply teach their kids at home, or at church, etc. The gov't would make no laws about schooling. If you don't teach your children at all, shame on you, but that is your prerogative as a parent. Just hope that your next door neighbor happens to be a kindhearted homeschooler.

How about those that make less than 40K? There are a lot of hard working men that bust their rears for less than that. And no insurance...agreed with the bartering though.

I would definately create a giant domed city, allowing no view of the outside. It would contain bunches of levels, so the buildings would not have to get too high, each level being perhaps 200-300 metres. It would be designed in such a way that clusters of resedential buildings would surround commercial/business districts, so that one could easily walk to and from all the necessities. When farther distances are required, an extensive, automated train system would be freely available.
It would be a technologically-centered civilization, and would have a strong social class system. Citizens would have 'ranks', which they would by no means be stuck in, but could move up or down through via education and profession.
Food and housing would be supplied by the government. Food would be distributed in 'mess halls', as it were, and housing would consist entirely of flats (quality of food and housing would vary by class). Also: communal washrooms.
Jobs would still pay, and all other aspects of one's life must be provided for by the individual (or family, or whatever).

That would be either the Hutterites (very Russian minded) or the great spaceship city of Atlantis

( if you know of somewhere speak up)

Antarctica… we could force the penguins to live on reservations and steal their natural resources

Bad...baaaaaddd....

 

[Hawaiian Puritan]

This is a great topic. I actually have a recurrent dream about my ideal town, so I can describe it.

Not clear where it is in my dreams, it's sort of a mishmash of New England and the Old South. I actually think it's in Virginia somewhere, but it's never really clear.

It's basically a New England village in layout, arranged around a large rectangular common with a white New England style church at the East end.

The town hall is on the North side. It's a red brick thing. There is a civil war monument in front with small American flags stuck in the ground in front of it, with two old black cannon in front and surrounded by a white painted chain.

On the South side is the courthouse, also red brick. The judge lives in a New England colonial style house near the court house, on the southeast side of the common towards the church. The judge is an elderly woman who looks like a Victorian librarian. A very nice lady.

My law offices (I am a lawyer in real life) are on the South side of the common towards the western end. In my dreams I share my office with two other attorneys, both of whom work with me in my firm in real life. It's a two story red brick house with a conservatory on the back side, which looks out onto a garden with a flowing stream and a lot of flowers.

There are no cars in this town. There are gravel paths that go around the common and across it, and we walk to court and to meetings and settlement conferences with the judge at her house. At meetings with lawyers, she first serves tea and a sort of flat curled pastry my father used to make when I was a kid. She opens the settlement conferences with prayer.

The weather is always nice, sometime in Spring with some sort of fragrant flowers on the trees. Don't know much about what's outside of the common, because the events in my dreams mainly focus on the common.

I'm sure a psychologist would have a field day, but I really like the dream when I have it. It's basically like walking into a Thomas Kincade painting. I figure it's some sort of reaction to the stress of my actual life.

If any of you live in this town, let me know. I would love to move there!

 

[he beholds]

How about those that make less than 40K? There are a lot of hard working men that bust their rears for less than that. And no insurance...agreed with the bartering though.

Sorry! I wasn't saying that 40 K was the lowest I'd like to go! I was really just making a comment on how sad it is that a teacher cannot afford to buy a house anywhere in the county he teaches in.

This is a great topic. I actually have a recurrent dream about my ideal town, so I can describe it.

Not clear where it is in my dreams, it's sort of a mishmash of New England and the Old South. I actually think it's in Virginia somewhere, but it's never really clear.

It's basically a New England village in layout, arranged around a large rectangular common with a white New England style church at the East end.

The town hall is on the North side. It's a red brick thing. There is a civil war monument in front with small American flags stuck in the ground in front of it, with two old black cannon in front and surrounded by a white painted chain.

On the South side is the courthouse, also red brick. The judge lives in a New England colonial style house near the court house, on the southeast side of the common towards the church. The judge is an elderly woman who looks like a Victorian librarian. A very nice lady.

My law offices (I am a lawyer in real life) are on the South side of the common towards the western end. In my dreams I share my office with two other attorneys, both of whom work with me in my firm in real life. It's a two story red brick house with a conservatory on the back side, which looks out onto a garden with a flowing stream and a lot of flowers.

There are no cars in this town. There are gravel paths that go around the common and across it, and we walk to court and to meetings and settlement conferences with the judge at her house. At meetings with lawyers, she first serves tea and a sort of flat curled pastry my father used to make when I was a kid. She opens the settlement conferences with prayer.

The weather is always nice, sometime in Spring with some sort of fragrant flowers on the trees. Don't know much about what's outside of the common, because the events in my dreams mainly focus on the common.

I'm sure a psychologist would have a field day, but I really like the dream when I have it. It's basically like walking into a Thomas Kincade painting. I figure it's some sort of reaction to the stress of my actual life.

If any of you live in this town, let me know. I would love to move there!

I have been there--it is called Williamsburg, VA. People do still live there.

 

[Tripel]

I can't tell if some of these are jokes.

Neither can I. I'll take Jessi's town any day over some of the other things being described here.

 

[Hawaiian Puritan]

I have been there--it is called Williamsburg, VA. People do still live there.

I love Williamsburg. I seriously thought about going to law school at William & Mary just for that reason. But I ended up going to Berkeley. Talk about culture shock. Beautiful area, but the people are on another planet. First Pres Berkeley was an excellent church, however, and it stood out from the craziness that surrounded it. (Earl Palmer was senior pastor when I was there.)