Libertopia Index

Posted by BigZ85020 on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 11:40 in

I would like to see our organization put together a global index of Libertarian Nations. The purpose of this index would be to compare all the sovereign nations of the world and rank the way they run their government according to their overall adherence to the principles layed out in the Constitution and preached by Ron Paul. I would call this report a Libertopia Index, similar to the global press freedom index done by Reporters Without Borders, or the index of economic freedom done by the (neocon) Heritage Foundation. Ron Paul himself has said that even countries like Switzerland which largely live up to his ideals don't have completely perfect Libertarian governments. Meanwhile, even the most authoritarian Regimes, don't have perfect control over the people and there's always an underground economy. Therefore, we can create an infinitely divisible spectrum of governance ranging from Totalitarian, Strongly Authoritarian, Leans Authoritarian, Centrist, Leans Libertarian, Strongly Libertarian, and Anarchist. In this way, any given country's adherence to Ron Paul's platform can to a large extent be measured. The message of freedom can be brought not only the The United States but around the world and there is no reason why Break The Matrix can't considder itself a global company if it becomes a successful business.

Nations around the world would be judged by:

1. Stability and Backing of Currency and Fiscal Restraint. (Sound Money)
2. Preservation of National Sovereignty. (Peace and Commerce with all nations, Entangling Alliances with none)
3. Strong but Non-Agressive National Defense.
4. Low Taxes
3. Defence of Civil Liberties. (Bill of Rights)
4. Lack of Police State Presence. (No Big Brother)
5. Economic Liberty. (Laissez-Faire, Capitalism, Privatization)
6. Strict Definition and Enforcement of Private Property Rights. (Especially for protecting the Environment)
7. Individualism over Collectivism
8. Personal Freedom. (No Victimless Crimes, Legal Code based on Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property)
9. Separation of powers (Checks and Balances, Decentralization)
10. Fair and Impartial judicial system.

Notice some things that nations would not be judged by.

1. Countries will not be judged by how democratic they are. If a dictator rules over a country that follows the ideals list above isn't that still a free country. Besides, the founders actually hated the term democracy and associated it with mob rule where any coalition of a voting majority can strip away the rights of the minority.
2. Countries will not be judged by how peaceful they are. Sometimes, Defending a free country against foreign agressors can create devastating war. Sometimes a lack of a police state can create violence in the presence of complete anarchy while an overwhelming police state can create a peaceful, subservient citizenry too afraid to commit any type of violence.
3. Countries will not be judged by the quality of Education, Healthcare, Infrastructure or other public services available in the country. Sometimes countries transitioning towards more freedom don't yet have Capital to build these services at quality levels through free market methods while big governments can often artificially prop up these services and create disproportionately advanced systems compared to what the free market would produce at the cost of wealth in other aspects of society

Massive amounts of research on this would have to be done, but wikipedia makes things a lot easier. The research would then have to be compiled together into a ranking system where the justification for each country's rank would be stated. I believe creating this Index would be a worthy goal for an organization associated with the Ron Paul Revolution. I might do it myself but that would take much time and labor. If I were to create this report I would considder it my intellectual property and I would demand some form of payment before I would publish it. If BTM were to create this report on the other hand, it could serve as valuable intellectual property for you. I hope someone who reads this post likes the idea and gets the ball rolling on this project.