The foundations of your ideal government

[reflaxion.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! You have just been granted sovereignty. As the interim leader of your people, the masses look to you for guidance on how to proceed with the rigorous process of building your government. The parchment and quill pen are in your hand - what will you do?

A building should have a strong foundation, and a government should have strong founding principles. If you had to draft a constitution for your own nation today, what would be the core values that you would base it on? What rights would you guarantee your citizens, and what would you restrict? What would be the role of your government - its rights and responsibilities? What parts of your constitution would be adaptable, and what would be consistent?

Blah blah health care socialism town hall astroturfing birth certificate. Now none of you can say this post didn't get through your search filters, so let's see some ideas.

Comments

[caernarvon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd include all the rights that people wanted, except that they would be labelled privileges instead of rights.
Also, each right would have a corresponding duty; if the duty is not performed, then you do not have access to that right. You get what you pay for.

I'm just curious as to what would that look like...for example, what sort of duty would you have for the privilege of the Free Exercise of Religion? or the privilege against Unreasonable Search and Seizure?