[dreadgeek]

I have often wished that we had another planet upon which we could run the libertarian experiment American conservatives have said they think would lead to the best of all societies.

One group could stay here, the other group would go to the other planet.

On one planet there would be public schools where children would learn history and science. There would be public libraries, public museums, civic symphonies and theatre. There would be a social safety net so that there was a minimum level below which no one would fall. There would be investment in public transportation and clean or renewable energy sources. Infrastructure would be maintained for the good of all. Taxes would be higher than they are now, but corporations would pay their share and the rich would pay their share. People would still be religious, of course, but there would be church, there would be state and the two would not meet.

On the other planet it would be a libertarian paradise. The ONLY regulations would be in favor of corporations restraining the actions of citizens--for example, it would be illegal to sue a company for damages due to a faulty product. It would be impossible to sue your physician. There would be no public schools, the churches would provide all educational and charitable services. There would be a flat-tax so the person making $10,000 a year would pay the same percentage in tax as the person making $10,000,000 a year. There would be no labor laws, no civil rights laws.

In schools children would learn that the Earth was 6,000 years old and that dinosaurs walked the planet at the same time. All scientific discoveries would be filtered through a religious authority to ensure that they were doctrinally correct. If they weren't then those discoveries would be suppressed.

There would be police, of course, who were mostly concerned with the protecting of corporate property. Guns would be easy to get and everyone would walk around with *at least* two. There would be no traffic laws to speak of however if you caused property damage you could be sued for that. If you caused the loss of life a citizen could sue another citizen.

Assuming that there were ethnic, religious, racial or sexual orientation minorities on this planet businesses would be free to discriminate against them in any way they chose that did not involve taking their property.

There would be no environmental regulations and labor unions would be outlawed.

Every generation (say 25 years) we could do a survey of the two planets and see which one had the happier, healthier, more long-lived population and we could see which one was more technologically advanced.

Cheers
Aj