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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (9538)	2/14/2010 8:20:20 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15994

Switzerland has a system that slightly resembles this. If a person want to become a citizen of Switzerland they must have a job and assets in the country. It is not as sophisticate or as simple as your idea of a tradable citizenship. The other side of the tradable citizenship is that government should not set the value. Set the quota and let the market set the value. If as you say you want to allow 10,000 new citizens per year then let a market mechanism set the value. Another interesting question. Does citizenship come free to those born of citizens? Or do parents have to save for a citizenship dowery? Presumably citizens would receive a discount for their offspring. Perhaps half price? What would happen to children who lacked any nations citizenship? If birth costs to society were recognised then it might reduce the birth rate to a sustainable one. Shortfalls in necessary population could be offset by increasing immigration quotas. Of course this would reduce the value of citizenship. If a new country started with this it might start small on a small island and since the people who moved their would be predominantly motivated it would likely prosper. As a prosperous nation it might have the resources necessary to purchase additional territories. Or what happens if another nation petitions to become part of such a nation? Then instead of a payout for acquisition of territories there would be a valuation of the assets the territories have and then an offset payment to adjust for the difference. When would a citizen earn the right to vote? What mechanism do we need to have to prevent the typical life cycle of a democracy?