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  • United States, now.

    I would release everyone convicted for non-violent drug offenses, allow felons to vote, make it illegal to pay prisoners less than minimum wage, and remove the line in the 13th amendment that allows prison slavery. Then I'd nationalize all existing prisons, close or reorganize them to consolidate, and ban private prisons.

    I'd direct money from speeding tickets and other minor fines to the federal government, removing the incentive to pull people over when they're not driving dangerously. I would reduce the penalty for illegal drug use to a fine and direct law enforcement to focus on apprehending the traffickers rather than the users. I'd obviously make pot federally legal. I would also build a nationwide network of addiction recovery centers that are legally blocked from reporting to or interacting with law enforcement.

    I'd cut the military budget in half and reduce the number of active duty soldiers similarly, with a focus on retaining the most skilled and physically fit. I would sell excess equipment and weapons to allies and put the money back into developing more reliable and advanced equipment for the remaining forces.

    With the money saved from the cuts to the military, I'd implement universal healthcare. Abortion would be federally legal, and some funds would be set aside for grants to local organizations that provide women's healthcare. I would also start a project to create long-term, non-hormonal, male birth control, and make it free for boys between the ages of 5 and 10.

    I'd simplify and combine most forms of identification into one card. This card would also include information like whether you've had the birth control procedure, have a security clearance, or are a non-citizen. This card, and replacements for it, would be freely available at government offices in every city, but could also be ordered online or through a hotline.

    And about ten million other changes.

    After everything else, I'd get rid of the electoral college and implement ranked choice voting, then retire.

  • I'm tempted to go medieval England but I don't speak the language so I'll give that a pass. I reckon over queen Victoria's time, I speak the language, hygiene wasn't too bad and there were interesting things happening. Plus the clothes are cool.

  • Well, get to technically eliminates me from the question because I wouldn't want that kind of life at all.

    However, it's still a fun game to play, so I'm going to pretend I want it.

    I want somewhere fairly mild in climate, but not totally without some variation. The question suggests that it shouldn't be a current nation, and I think it's a more enjoyable thing if I'm not taking over a country that's not a monarchy.

    So, I'm thinking Siam towards the end of its existence under that name. Since it's me, not a copy of me that doesn't know what I know, I could probably keep a similar balance between the surrounding interests as already happened, assuming that whatever method of transfer wouldn't be negated by the fact that I'm a foreigner, and that the people would give me at least the same level of support at the beginning as existing kings had.

    Ideally, I would get total support in the beginning and only have to worry about messing up, rather than just inheriting the usual mixed opinions about monarchies in general.

    It's always amazed me how Siam, and eventually Thailand, managed to keep as stable as they did on average. Somehow, even during early European colonization/imperialism, they kept afloat as their own nation.

    So, if I'm gonna be king somewhere in the past, the combination of having at least a partial idea of how things happened and the benefits of the position there makes it the best choice I can think of.

26 comments