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Ok, we all know no country is perfect. But I've been thinking, which country would you consider closest to being perfect? You can take perfect in any way you want. I, myself, honestly don't know. I just think it'd be interesting and I welcome your views.  

Please, don't say you can't define perfect or that no nation is perfect, because I know that. I'm asking for an opinion on this matter, not for a philosophical debate on the characteristics of perfection.

That said, if you make a response, please give a reason for you thinking that, and don't use "because everywhere else sucks" as that reason.

PS: I've posted this in the intellectual forum in the hopes that the responses I get will actually be intelligent. If you don't have an intellectual certificate and would still like to contribute, just PM me with your view and (assuming it fits the guidelines I specified above) I will copy and paste it into here.

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I find the R&P forum works decently for getting more intelligent responses too.

That said...

To answer this, you need a scale on which to say whether a country is closer to perfection.

If you say stability, then there are plenty of relatively stable monarchies to look at, but few would argue a monarchy is the best format for a country.

If you mean freedom, then using that reasoning anarchy is best, which doesn't make much sense, because surely stability should be important.

Combining the two, you could say social contract. But then there are plenty of people who think you need something more definite and concrete, and in any case, for something the size of a country, government is pretty much required. The government can be based on the social contract, but it still must exist in some form or other, however small or large it might be.

So now you have the problem of what forms of government are best.

Obviously, a country isn't likely to be made up of a majority of people who are both intelligent enough to make good decisions AND have the time and desire to do all the work and research needed to make those decisions, so a true democracy doesn't work.

A monarchy risks corruption, and nothing says hereditary will mean a good king/queen each time, among other problems.

etc.

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Religion: Atheistic agnostic, political independent
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it is one of the most densly populated countries in the world and yet holds one of the lowest crime rates- probably due to their amaazing police force and the set cultural code for repect and honor.
it almost seems like the people there are oo busy wit THEIR OWN lives to be bothered by ruining others, and they prioritize with family and ethics first and crime and self benefit last.
i went there this summer and i was extremely impressd, the united states can learn alot from them

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Switzerland...

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X10


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            ...life is good...
...mai ho oni i ka wai lana malie...

The Kingdom of God is a pinnacle of perfection, but all we can do is struggle for it - and in the same way, countries can only strive for perfection, but can never acheive it. Even at that, I would never choose a country for "closest to perfect", mainly because I'm not up for saying one country is better than another. "Closest to perfect" is an ambiguous definition that in my opinion, means very little.  

Life is an English essay (or whatever your vernacular is), not a maths exam - I don't rate a country based on which is the most efficient, etc., I allow every country to stand alone on it's own merits. Humans everywhere are very similar - hard-working, compassionate, purposeful, and flawed, among other traits. The difference between countries are merely cultural, environmental and developemental. I would say that it's only the way things go if one country is more advanced than another, and I wouldn't call one country closer to perfection than another based on progress, because I feel that it never reflects accurately on the humans that make them.

Post edited at 2:43 pm on Jan. 2, 2008 by Faoiseamh

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Is minic a bhris béal an duine a shrón.
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