The Harmless Libertarian Socialist Party
An it harm none, do what ye will
Three facets, freedom, libertarianism and social. Freedom to do as you will, as long as it harms nobody. A few rules and as little rule as possible. And a mandate to make sure everyone is looked after. Libertarianism with a soul.
You can’t look after everyone without tax (unless the whole planet receives an epiphany). So everything will rotate around how this tax is raised.
The available Tax choices are:
- GST / VAT – when you buy something
- Income – when you earn something
- Payroll – when you hire someone
- Resource – when you use resources that (should) belong to everyone
- Corporations – to limit their success, tax them more
In all cases the model is the same – the more you do, the more you pay. This promotes moderation.
Medicine
Deconstruct the system, use technology. If I know I have gastro, I can stay at home, self-test, and come back to work/society when I feel better. No need to go out there and spread my germs.
Home treatments reduce the risk of hospital-acquired disease. If the patient is in control, they can demand cleanliness.
Social Welfare
What we need is a mix of giving useful employment to those that will benefit from it (most people need a purpose/station in life, and won’t think too deeply about what it really is), and allowing the artists, mystics, intellectuals and the genuinely useless to sponge off the state.
Military
One of the main reasons for countries forming (in ancient times) was that a national force could protect individual communities much better than they could on their own. Lefties and greenies are typically anti-military, because individually they tend to be pacifists. When running a country, pacifism has its limits – even Switzerland has an army. In fact the Swiss model is one that could be adapted – it has only 5% career soldiers and does not participate in foreign conflicts (with the exception of peace-keeping roles). Australia has two key differences to Switzerland which need to be addressed:
Geography – as a massive country with a low population, there is a strong need for local militia.
USA – being a close military ally with the USA has numerous benefits, and the relationship should be maintained to some degree. With very few career soldiers, the Swiss model could be modified so that there is some foreign conflict participation, but only by commandos fulfilling elite roles.
Education
This is probably the trickiest to get right.
A national system works best, because otherwise we’ll have people shifting states to get an advantage for their kids – and that isn’t efficient.
I propose a system similar to the pole vault in the Olympic Games – if you pass a standard level, you get to try the next level. No more scores. Just passed / didn’t pass. With quite a few levels. They could even break down the tests by category.
Drugs and Marriage
Freedom to do as you will as long as it harms none. If drugged drivers becomes a problem, the solution is punishment for those actually impaired – not someone who had a puff on a joint 2 weeks ago.
Any human marriage should be legitimate – it is the second most primal purpose after making kids. Why make such a fundamental aspect of life exclusive to a self-righteous majority?
Refugees
Assess at the source – their actual country of citizenship. Much easier than when they have arrived here without papers…
Provide guaranteed work. Most likely better than where they came from. Base the refugee system on the rest of Australian society… if you are fit and able to work, you should. If you are hopeless, we’ll look after you. If you want to learn, you can.