Ideology

I'd also add:

Culture: You Keep Using That Word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Oi, I'm Iñigo Montoya. In fact, I can use the eñe with out copypasting, therefore, I'm clearly Iñigo. :P

How do you do that?

Being from Colombia works wonders in that department.

His name doesn't have the y sound, so it's not accurate. We had to bring in Fast Eddie himself to change that back.

I'm using a specific definition of culture: the valuing of hobbies and entertainment as something of utilitarian importance and holding Uniqueness Value to be true.

Yeah, that always brings me a little down.

I believe that even if you somehow manage a way to eliminate culture, you're just creating another culture. the culture of no culture, which is just another culture, creating a paradox. And unless your society is built with paradox-absorbing crumple zones, I don't see it working in any fashion.

If you have people, you'll have culture, because a culture is just the sum total of the values, beliefs, and prevalent ideas among a group of people. This is usually expressed by their art, literature, philosophy, law, music, language, science, and technology. If you forcibly suck out art, literature and music (which is ridiculously difficult), you'll still have spoken language, philosophy, law, science, and technology. Yes, I believe science is part of culture, because what scientific questions you decide to ask is determined by your beliefs and values, which are part of your culture. Technology is also culture, because technology is designed to improve human life, and we can look at a particular group's technology to determine what they believe will improve human life, which is a part of their values/beliefs.

edited 9th Jun '11 10:25:11 PM by OnTheOtherHandle

Pretty much what I meant. Except that mine just tried to make someone go cross eyed. :P

If you're going to use an extremely broad definition of culture, I don't see the point in arguing.

The removal of art is less necessary than it's relegation to a hobby and not something of importance, which will drastically improve the world.

It's not an excessively broad definition, it is the definition. Your definition is exceedingly narrow.

Well, art is a hobby for the most part. Most artists do what they do for fun. It's just that many people take this particular hobby very seriously, and you can't stop them with anything short of mind-policing. And if someone offers to pay you to do what you already do as a hobby, what are you going to do, refuse?

edited 9th Jun '11 10:38:05 PM by OnTheOtherHandle

Sure there's a perfectly good way. End all support of art work. No support for museums, no mandated classes in schools, and no scholarships/unemployment for anyone who majors in art.

If you can get somebody to pay you for your hobby, you might actually deserve the money.

Good luck getting the votes to stop that funding.

Hey, I'm not likely to be able to stop sports stadiums or corn subsidies either, that doesn't mean it's not a good idea.

Thank you for defining "culture" as you use the term; I'm a lot less confused now.

I don't think your proposal would actually work, though. It wouldn't eliminate the art world, it would just make it predominantly the domain of the very wealthy.

edited 11th Jun '11 7:41:24 AM by BobbyG

We'd proabbly once again have private individuals and companies and religious institutions gaining status as great patrons of the arts.

Independence: In the long-term run of things, and for the purposes of this thread, yes. I’ll have to wait and see before deciding if this is the time or not, though.

Monarchy: Maintain in a constitutional role. The Head of State should be assigned a government wage to cover personal costs while members of the Royal Family should be expected to find employment. State affairs, of course, should be paid for by the State.

Government: Representative democracy with the focus on protecting the health, rights, security and wellbeing of the citizenry.

Healthcare: Maintain the NHS and abolish any talk of adopting a US-style system.

Economy: Regulated Free Market economy with cross-EU cooperation. No subsidies for private corporations. Fight private monopolies.

Welfare Rights: Raise the minimum daily wage to ensure that employment is more beneficial than living in benefits. Do not cut benefits of those in need e.g. Disability Living Allowance.

Taxing: Progressive taxing based on income.

Foreign Policy: Cooperation with other nations to prevent atrocities abroad. Decrease cooperation with nations who do not respect human rights.

Faslane: Remove nuclear subs from the site.

Europe: EU must share responsibilities regarding immigration. Cut away the bureaucracy of the EU. EU Parliament should be concerned only with pan-European economic issues.

Law and Order: More funding for Police. More patrols in areas of higher crime rates. Focus on rehabilitation and prevention.

Immigration: Pro-Immigration, those who do not pose a security risk should not be denied entry. The EU must equally share the responsibility of taking on immigrants from outside the Union.

Freedoms and Human Rights: All people have the right to freedom of speech and expression, however they do not have the right to encourage or incite violence. Everyone has the right to worship as they choose, hold political beliefs and take part in the political process, to freedom of movement and to protest. Being allowed to live in safety and allowed access to essentials like food, water, housing and healthcare is a right.

Education: Same mix of State and private schools. State-funded Catholic schools should not be abolished. Uniforms in State schools. 7 years of Primary school and four years of secondary school continue to be mandatory. After four years of secondary schools, students can either do 2 more years or leave. Upon leaving school, students should be required either to have a full-time job, go to College or University or earn an Apprenticeship. Government subsidies should ensure that enough places are available for all students.

Health: Health classes and PE to be large parts of the school curriculum from P1 to S4.

Voting/Consent Age: Lower voting age to 16. If 16 year olds can get married, have children, leave home and join the army they can vote. 16 remains the age of consent.

Gay Issues: Legalise and recognise gay marriage. Religious institutions can refuse to conduct gay marital ceremonies. Maintain the existence of civil partnerships. The Kirk should allow for Gay ministers. Non-religious/government-funded organisations cannot discriminate against homosexuals, including over adoption.

Drugs: Decriminalise and heavily regulate. Ensure that aid and support is available to users at all times.

Prostitution: As above.

Euthanasia: Legalize with strict regulations.

I concur. I would add to Economy, make corporations responsible for its actions, either environmental or social. Give tax breaks for companies, who, after a thoughough investigation, conform to most of the guidelines of protection for workers, citizens, environment, etc.

Create more stringent public-private partnerships. If Generic City and Metropolitan Borough Council cannot provide enough community refuse workers, the private sector can help provide funding or workers, where both Concil and Example Inc. can work closely to avoid each other pooh-poohing the contract.

Europe. Become more heavily integrated into the Union, and finally get round to metrication. We teach the stuff in schools since nursery through to A-levels. We might as well make sure that it's a useful idea in modern life, and not just shopping at ASDA. Although, 400g of butter for 30p isn't a bad deal.

The UK should formalise the many conflicting contitution elements, e.g. combine the Magna Carta and certain court resolutions (e.g. Abolishment of death penalty) into one single cohesive British Citizenry Rights.

I would add, lower tuition fees for uni's to £5000 or £6000. £9000 would cripple many of those in the middle and lower tax bands.

I think this combines the best of thinking, the left-wingy/Socialist inclinations of many Brits, with the capitalist/consumerist leanings of most Brits and politicians.

As a Englishmen (that sounds weird. I prefer calling myself British), I think that if Scotland wants it, Scotland can have independence. If Holyrood allow it, non-Scots can vote too, although that may be counter-intuitive.

edited 11th Jun '11 10:21:30 AM by Inhopelessguy

That won't do anything. If there is demand for it, it will be fulfilled. What you're suggesting is probably illegal anyways if it were to be implemented from the Government down, at least in the United States.

But I digress. This is an ideology thread, not a "how should the government work" thread.

edited 11th Jun '11 2:29:32 PM by victorinox243

If there's demand for it, there's no need to subsidize. That's the point. Any form of art that needs help to stay afloat should not get it.

I'm not against ideology, though I avoid getting involved in it wherever possible.

In the United States, the government's patronage increases public access to the arts as part of its Constitutional mission to create "A more Perfect Union" and to insure the "pursuit of happiness" whether that be to discover the cure for cancer, to design automobiles, or to illustrate children's books. It does not discriminate between pursuits. It's an expensive operation, sure, but that's what you get for investing in people's potential rather than how more conservative models would only invest in things that are guaranteed to make comfortable profit margins.

I don't know about where you are from, but that's the ideology of my country's forefathers.

edited 12th Jun '11 11:38:55 PM by victorinox243

It has the power to grant patents and what not. That's it. I think that's more than enough.

Let's not derail this. If you want to continue the discussion, please create a new thread.

Then the "ideology" you posted on page 1 of this thread does not accurately reflect what you actually believe in.

But do not fret; a lot of people are like that. Most of them don't even know it. Such is the seeming comprehension of "ideology".

edited 13th Jun '11 12:22:00 PM by victorinox243

Like I said, I mostly copied and pasted. I also assumed this was from a "what would you do as a supreme dictators position" thingy.