Would you buy an island, and form your own country?

[Reaper195]

If I had the money to buy my own then-uncharted island, I wouldn't become a country. It would simply be an island under no ones rule but mine, but with no...country...ness. And there would only be me and hookers on it. I shall call it Whore Island, and it will finally exist!

 

[RJ Dalton]

Too much damn paperwork.

 

[teqrevisited]

Funny, I was just thinking about this concept. I don't think it could work though. With no big deposits of natural resources or production facilities you'd just end up being the world's ***** country that would get slapped about by the bigger economic powers.

If I did buy an island I wouldn't turn it into a country, at least.

 

[ElPatron]

If I have enough money to start building a industrial country and start building military hardware like crazy, and earn more money selling it.

I could then forge "evidence" that allowed me to start wars and conquer countries I don't like.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

I would buy a Pacific Island and name it Ryley.

After forming a military junta, I would then conduct piracy against the United States shipping and the very first moment the military showed up I would surrender and apply for foreign aid.

 

[Captain Pirate]

Yeah, that would be awesome.
It would be somewhere relatively hot, and it would be a very peaceful place, hopefully quite small too.

We would be small and self-sustaining, running on vast farms for food, along with huge solar panel arrays and hydroelectric plants for power. The country would get it's money from selling the farm produce en masse.

Peaceful, friendly coexistence and tolerance of other people would be taught as part of the curriculum in schools.

Everyone who enters would have to go through a lot of screening to make sure they were peaceful/nice enough to be given an opportunity to buy a place to live.
No arseholes in my land, *****.

 

[TheIronRuler]

I want to buy an uncharted island, and form my own country with my own rule. I'll name it Culixia, or maybe invite TGWTG and name it Kickassia.

Why? because if you've seen all the stupid stuff that countries are doing, a ban on claiming water prevents dehydration in Belgium, etc. and seen my reaction, you can guess i want to get away from any government that believes itself to be legitimate and pull this shit.

so, Would you buy an island, and form your own country?

EDIT: damn, the poll vanished. erased poll from the title.

.
I already have, "Welcome to your Island, El Presidente!"
All hail Tropico.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Meh, I don't know how to run a country, but that wouldn't mean I wouldn't buy my own island if I had the chance. Maybe I';d turn it into a resort or something...

 

[enzilewulf]

Hell yeah. It'd be a small Island and our cities would be underground. We would work only on space exploration and come out only at night to observe the stars. Then once we eventually have a powerful rocket we will take said rocket to a far away planet that can sustain life. There we will build a sophisticated civilization since we are all untied under one government. Also we will sell the old island to Canada. Then give them weapons to take over Earth. Then we will be the best of friends.

 

[craftomega]

Hell yeah. It'd be a small Island and our cities would be underground. We would work only on space exploration and come out only at night to observe the stars. Then once we eventually have a powerful rocket we will take said rocket to a far away planet that can sustain life. There we will build a sophisticated civilization since we are all untied under one government. Also we will sell the old island to Canada. Then give them weapons to take over Earth. Then we will be the best of friends.

Ya this.... I was gona post but this pretty much hit the nail on the head for me.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I would buy an island but I wouldn't make a country out of it. I would buy an island on a lake or something and just live there. I don't want to be responsible for people.

 

[annilator666]

i would id invite my friends there and build a nice mansion a 100' by 200' shop and garage airstrip of sorts docks and an indoor outdoor amphitheater and hold concerts like metal festivals also for fun and to be nice id hold them free for anyone you just got to get there and some other plans that shall not be known by anyone but me and my slave labor crew MUHAHAHA

 

[babinro]

Sure. I'd love to run all my social experiments and see how bad I destroy my country.

For example, anyone in any major position of power is paid minimum wage with no side benefits, sponsors, pensions ect. The idea being that if you want to govern the country and enforce laws, you better be doing the job because you want what's best for the people, not to make yourself richer.

Any business that operates in my country must do so with the highest operating standards among the countries that it operates. For example if you operate in the U.S and choose to outsource to Philippine's you can do so. But those in the Philippine's must have the same level benefits, work environment and comparable wages to that of the U.S. operation. I won't have people running businesses in my country just so they can treat people as lesser individuals and save a few bucks.

No budget can be spent on military until all other satisfactory needs are met. Issues like Education, Infrastructure, Health Care and Environment all take top priority for funding before anything is spent on defense.

 

[GoldenFish]

Sure, why not.

Dictator Brown, from Brownlandia at your service.
Population; 1.

Why have a dictatorship? The populace would always vote in your favour.

OT: I guess I would with enough money. I would have few laws and let companies conduct research privately, for a small fee of course. Military would be small and only be present for the safety of government officials and state owned property however for a fee the military can be hired to protect private property. Taxes would be high but only apply to land not income or any purchases.

 

[Caffiene]

I love the idea of micro-nations. I would definitely want to do it if it were possible. Unfortunately its generally pretty impractical because nearly every part of the earth's surface is covered by some sort of national boundary or international treaty, and countries dont like to have other countries within their borders because they can subvert the laws (eg, be tax havens, or harbour terrorists).

But if I could I would. Id set it up to be really pro-civil rights, and spend my time making things as efficiently organised as possible so that people can spend their time having fun instead of sitting in traffic.

Btw... That water dehydration thing isnt as silly as it sounds. It doesnt matter how much water you drink today, any excess you drink youre going to pee out. So drinking water today wont prevent you getting dehydrated tomorrow.

 

[BlackEagle95]

I'd do it and populate it with people only with teenagers.

*Raises Flame Shield*

I realize my generation is pretty f'ed up, but I have seen little glimmers of hope that I sometimes fear will be drowned out in a sea of stupidity. My country would take them and give them a place to build up as they see fit. I honestly don't think I'm one of them, nor do I think a bunch of teenagers will somehow solve all the world's problems by magic. I just think it would be interesting, or hilarious to see.


Or I could just build a massive castle and surrounding village for me and my peoples(Friends, Family, people who pay.)

 

[MammothBlade]

Oh yes... maybe somewhere roughly the size of Jersey, with Cornish weather. Might as well make myself Baron.

In which case, I would live in and rule from this mighty keep:

Spoiler

I would be smart about the infrastructure. Security, self-sufficiency, and survival are #1 concerns, which have to be balanced with the objective of keeping a reasonably small, stable population to ensure an island community.

Residence and access would first be allowed only to "friends", family, labourers, and business associates, but it would also be a haven for secretive high-tech industries. People would be closely vetted before being permitted to live on the island.

The laws for legal residents would be rather libertarian. I don't agree with petty legislation micromanaging peoples' lives. Drugs laws would be reasonably relaxed, with softer drugs legal. Gun laws would be relatively slack too, provided the existence of loyal, well-armed bodyguards. However, punishments for willful disobedience of the generous law would be most "cruel and unusual".

 

[game-lover]

Nope.

It calls for leadership and I don't have the skills. Too much pressure and all of that.

 

[Goldeneye103X2]

I would, actually. What would I do with it? Well, you know Island by Aldous Huxley?

Yeah, that.

 

[Right Hook]

I would totally buy an island and form a community if I could afford it and find the backing. I would probably keep it under 1000 people and only people who could contribute something useful and their families. I'd personally bring whatever family and friends wanted to join. I'd only accept educated, responsibly people to be civilians on the island and I'd make it completely sustained off of hydro, solar and wind power. I'd try to keep it somewhere just off the coast of a country so we could build a cell phone tower and get a WiFi signal for the residents of the island. I'd create a vacation resort for wealthy people, so we'd have money flowing into our community. Every resident would be required to own a firearm and be properly trained in its use, in case people came to our island and tried to prey on the community. I'd build a college on the island for residents and obviously other various shops. We would attempt to create a completely self sustaining system on the island and in all areas become an example of how its possible to live peacefully and prosper when you aren't concerned with dominating the world and becoming rich.