If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?

I would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.

[caption id="attachment_1321" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Natural beauty"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1321" title="road1" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="219" /></a>[/caption]

I don't want to focus too much on the material part of it, although it's a pretty good bet that Ethiopia would be screwed no matter what the political system was. If you can't feed your people, that's a big handicap.

The economic system matters. We've seen in the last 30 years in this country that an unrestricted,<em> laissez-faire</em> free market system can create an amazing amount of wealth, but when there is no government involvement at all, that wealth seems to gravitate toward the top.

That's where a progressive tax system seems to work the best. The greatest period of egalitarianism -- our strongest middle class -- came in the 1950s, when the top tax rate was 90 percent. We don't judge the success of a country by how rich its richest people are, but by how many of its people are able to raise happy, healthy families and hope for a better future for their children.

That doesn't mean you have to have a Socialist system, but it does mean the government can use tax revenues from a progressive system to make sure that most of its citizens at least have a fair shot at success.

Conservatives love to talk about not wanting to take away people's initiative, but the fact is, there are children in this country who did nothing any more wrong than being born into the wrong family who have almost no chance to succeed.

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