My friend Michelle teaches a 4th grade public school class of 30 students. She recently started applying my ideal government to her class...
1. voting is replaced with spending (coasianism)
2. kids can choose where their taxes go (pragmatarianism)
Michelle had recently given all the spare coins around her house to some kid to go on a trip. So I looked around my house, found 700 pennies and gave them to Michelle. She gave each of her students 20 pennies and they used the pennies to decide which book to read. Here's the process...
Step 1 - Each student writes down on a valuation form their…
1. name
2. preferred option
3. willingness to pay (WTP)
Step 2 - Once all the forms have been turned in Michelle writes all 30 valuations on the board.
Step 3 - While she's writing the valuations on the board... the students add them up in order to determine the subtotals and total.
Step 4 - Michelle goes through the forms and reads off the names of the winners and their valuation. One by one the winners go up and make their payment.
Step 5 - While the winners are making their payments, the "losers" calculate their compensation…
c = compensation
a = WTP
w = total spent on winning option
l = total spent on losing option
c/w = a/l
c = w(a/l)
Step 6 - When the "losers" figure out their compensation, Michelle checks their work. If their work is correct then she gives them their compensation.
Step 7 - The students share their feedback on the outcome.
All the students who are compensated will eventually pay taxes on their compensation. But they will be able to choose which departments they give their taxes to. Each department will be run by one or more students. Possible departments include...
1. Gardening Department
2. Animal Department
3. Book Department
4. Food Department
5. Athletic Department
6. Computer Department
7. Art Department
So far the only department is the IRS. Aiden, who was chosen, via coasianism, to be in charge of the class IRS, won't collect taxes like the original IRS does. Instead, he will simply ensure that the students are paying their fair share. Of course, Aiden's "paycheck" depends entirely on how happy the taxpayers are with how well he does his job.
Let's say that Brianna is in charge of the gardening department. Sergio gives her some tax money. She'll give him a receipt and he'll keep his receipts to verify that he has been paying his fair share. Brianna will be able to decide how much of her department's revenue is used to purchase plants, seeds, pots, shovels, and to pay herself and the students who garden during recess.
I'm pretty sure that, for most of you, this isn't how your ideal government would work. How would your ideal government work? Are you certain that your ideal government would work better than my ideal government? If so, then find a teacher and pitch your plan to her. If she implements your plan then we can compare the results.
For more information...
4th Grade Nation State
Paul Samuelson: Worst Economic Theorist
See also: Group Decisions: Voting VS Spending
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