28749: ClayKilgore (comment) 28737: lyall (comment) the dual citizenship question (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Clay kilgore <clay@kilgore.com>

Seems to me that citizenship is an area that could be viewed from what future 
comes from people's contribution.

Now I don't know where I'm going with this... but "countries" do seem to like 
to illustrate their people's allegiance by putting down "borders" on their 
ability to contribute to "government." I guess infiltration would be awful if 
it made a future possible that nobody wants, but who's going to allow that? 
Oops, seems that might have ALREADY HAPPENED and without any help from keeping 
everything "constitutional."

Much of the Haitian constitution (that I read, once) wasn't being followed or 
fulfilled upon yet anyway, so I guess one could say that it is "still in 
review." Countries, constitutions, corporations, organizations - all design 
projects. Just because something has "been designed" doesn't have to mean "it's 
DONE!"

One of the nice benefits we enjoy in the US from our citizen's contributions to 
"the country" (which is really a contribution to the entire planet) is what is 
made available through our paying taxes, and our option to contribute as public 
servants.

If I were designing MY country (the new one, not the one I was born into), I 
would invite as many people to join as wanted to, as long as they were willing 
to play by the rules of membership (Laws), INCLUDING paying the membership 
dues!

Now, people who were born there, that's pretty obvious... no dues needed unless 
they are producing income! To help regulate this, there would be programs in 
place, provided as a public service, to educate people about how to become a 
contributing member of society (school), and the education would be largely 
based on what might work in the future, rather that what didn't work in the 
past...

While designing this country, I would put in place a REASONABLE, payable 
membership fee (tax structure) that would be attractive to someone like me... 
because my values about making a strong community DEMAND that contribute a 
percentage of what money I earn toward making my communities stronger. These 
are MY values, but I do believe that, if "pitched" in a way that is based in a 
reality that inspires, people would get that prosperity doesn't come from a few 
people having a fat pockets while others wait in danger.

IN the US we MUST pay taxes (some of us regular folk a VERY HIGH rate), and as 
a result, some of us MIGHT consider shopping for a better deal! If countries 
operated more like organizations to be contributed to (or companies to be 
invested in) because of the communities they were committed to creating (or the 
products and services they were committed to providing), and the idea of 
citizenship lived in more of a "membership" (or investor) atmosphere, with an 
opportunity to contribute included as part of joining... Who wants to join MY 
country?

Heart, Clay