Quote Originally Posted by Solanine View Post
TLDR. I joke. So while this is a good plan I'm not sure all citizens having a fire arm is a good thing. To prevent civil unrest escalating into civil war it may be better to award guns only to those charged with the defence of the colony. Possibly Men and women should be allowed a handgun/ something small with which to defend their property while a communal gun store is created for everything from shotguns to light machine guns and kept under lock and key. A set number of trustees should be given keys and keep radios on their person at all times so that in the case that the colony needs defending the citizens may be armed. A record of all guns should be kept to avid them being stolen during times of unrest. As far as your idea of a democratic leadership goes I'm not opposed in principle but it seems like an awfully complicated. Systems like this have a habit of collapsing under strain. Although its brilliant you've got planning for so far in the future. What you don't have is any laws on contact with "outsiders", the ability of the state to go to war etc, thoughts?
thats it for now although I will come back for more when I have more time.
the problem is that everyone is responsible for defense, there are no designated guards who's only job is to pull duty, everyone rotates out. besides, we here in america have lots of guns and, aside from major differences on civil rights which led to the civil war, we haven't had anything major here. also, there's some truth to the old adage "an armed society is a polite society," the only places here in the US that we've had major rioting and civil unrest is in cities where guns have been heavily regulated. plus, are you going to try and rob your fellow survivors if you know for a fact they all have guns?

the reason for doing a system like that is to try to keep small communities where people know each other and care about each other. they would get lots of practice running things as a community from the lowest levels of government and then, no matter hw high things go, they will still operate as a small community. what's going to be a harder place to break open: the place with 120 people milling around who don't know each other too well, or the place made up of 6 tight knit communities working in concert together, where the people are invested in each other and willing to stand up and fight for one another?

regarding war, there should be no real need to go to war. if the colony reaches the point where it would be feasible to raise an army to wage war, there won't likely be any people with the strength to take them on. in pretty much every other situation the colonies prime focus should be self defense. if, at some point, it should become necessary to go to war, i imagine it would just be volunteers going off to remove a threat to the colony.