|
Edited on Sat Apr-10-04 03:04 PM by Touchdown
Welcome to the Atlantean Board of Tourism, Ministry of Immigration, and Chamber of Commerce's "introduction to Atlantis" page. Below are a few facts about our great 100 year old nation.
History: a violent ground swell.
In 1655 AD, a series of violent earthquakes on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, that lasted for 25 years, resulted in a series of 166 large and small islands to re-surface from underneath the depths. The largest of these, Timarea, is roughly the size of Texas in the United States. The other three large islands, Critias, Atlas, and Solonia are the sizes of California, Missouri, and West Virginia, respectively. Closely compacted within them are 162 smaller islands that make up an archipelago in a rather shallow gulf. Plato said that the lands were once a massive continent roughly the size of Europe. We know now that he was probably off by a few thousand square kilometers, as the entire country can fit into the Western United States, including the gulf and straits. About 55% of the continent's original lands (once said to be on the surface 8000 years ago) are still lying under water.
After the volcanic and seismic activity calmed down, the islands were colonized, mostly by Europeans in the 18th century. Spanish, French, Nordic, Dutch, English, German and Danish explorers all staked claim to the various islands throughout the 1700s. Many brough their slaves from Africa, the West Indies and their vassals from Ireland. They also brought their livestock, and plant life to the barren lands that once sat beneath the sea. Slavery was abolished in 1828 as did much of the colonies around the world. Territorial battles ensued in the colonies throughout the 1800s until a wave of nationalism swept over the archipelago, and with the collapse of the British Empire's hold over much of their world colonies, Atlantis declared itself an independant nation, and claimed all islands in the archipelago as part of it. As the US was reconstructing itself after a bloody war over slavery, Atlantis was being born a new nation. In 1904, Atlantis ratified it's Constitution.
Although too young a nation to be of much help in World War I, Atlantis played an active part in The League of Nations and became part of the Western Alliance in WWII. Recent interventions in Atlantis' history was the peaceful investment in Haiti's infrastructure in the late 80s, and setting them on a path of prosperity (to date, no coup attempts have been made on their leadership), The intervention of the Rwandan genocide in the 90s, and the liberation of Afghanistan from the Taliban with the US led forces, and the rebuilding of that war torn country.
Our Government
Atlantis' laws and parliamentary rules are much like the United States, with a few differences. Federal justice candidates are selected from municipal courts, based on merit, and length of service. Candidates are submitted by lottery, and held to a popular vote. They are term limited to 15 years. The Supreme Court is also term limited to 15 years. The ASC (Atlantean Supreme Court) candidates are selected the same way, except the SC candidates come from the lower federal benches.
Presidents serve up to two terms of 5 years a piece. They are elected by popular vote. Senators are elected every 6 years, and are term limited to 24 years. Commons has no term limit, and they serve 3 years a term. All qualified election candidates use public funds, and private contributions are illegal. For example, if enough signatures are gathered a Presidential candidate has $10 Million in public funds for his campaign, he better spend it wisely. To help the TV Networks are required to give each candidate equal time for free.
Other tidbits about our system of laws, culture, and commerce...
Corporations are not people. The stock exchange differs from most, as it uses the concept of "stakeholder value" as opposed to ownership value wich most other exchanges run. It is part of a concept called Economic Democracy.
The press is subsidized by individual taxes that go into a fund set aside specifically for the 4th column. They are forbidden from corporatizing, and encouraged to share information with each other.
Our thriving film industry is fiercely independent. A few Japanese and American investors tried, and failed to purchase our entertainment industry in the late 80s and early 90s.
By 1980, Atlantis has surpassed the United States as the nation with the largest percentage of middle class, and there's no sign of slowing down.
We are the world leader in vaccines and anti-biotics. AIDS was cured in 1995 and eradicated world-wide by the year 2001, by a massive vaccination program in conjunction with the UN. Soon we will be able to alleviate kidney disease without the use of dyalisis.
Our health care system is a combination of public and private funded universal system for all.
There are no sales taxes in Atlantis
Alcohol, tobacco, Marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines are legal, but are heavily regulated for safety.
In order to save our rather small rain forest on Timarea, while still providing for trasport needs, we built a small footprint, double decker viaduct on our autobahns, to stem the blockage of natural water flow.
As of 1990, there are no power plants on any of our islands that use fossil fuels. We also have a 20% saturation of hybrid ownership in this country. Our 3 Automakers (Tucker, Auburn Cord Deusenberg group, and Trabant) have many models available.
The average work day is 6 1/2 hours. Vacations are an average of 4 weeks. Unemployment is at a steady 5%.
In 1996, we started on an ambitious project. The Mag-Lev highway system. By 2010, 85% of our cities will be served by this ultra smooth, 500kph mass transit system. We are also developing a Mag-Lev launching system for our manned spacecraft to the International Space station.
It's a law, that when a city reaches 200,000 people, that a fixed public railway system be in place to curb traffic problems. All village, township, and city planning must have 1 kilometer of bike paths, and open fields for an eventual public rail system, for every 10 kilometers of roadway.
Half of the people live in apartment, condo, townhouse buildings as to minimize the sprawl that is plaguing other countries. Marketplaces, with singular parking structures are preferred to the strip malls of America.
Wal-Mart built 5 stores here in the 1990s. They refused to pay our standard for wages, or allow union organizing, which is also Atlantian law. They made scant profits here, and eventually abandoned the stores. They still refused to sell the properties unless we paid 10% higher the market value. So, we nationalized the land, and tore down the stores anyhow, and Wal-Mart got nothing. The American State Dept. is still negotiating a truce between the Atlantian Government and Wal-Mart. The American Libertarian Party is boycotting Atlantis..it hasn't hurt tourism here.
There are 5 active political parties in Atlantis. Curiously, none are theocratic. Since we saw the problems of the theocratic push of the US in the late 1800s, we decided to make our separation of church and state ironclad, with no room for doubt. Our religious activity in this country is thriving.
Homelessness, and poverty are always problems in any modern society, but we are always vigilant to make sure that suffering because of lack of money and opportunities can be minimized. Everybody in this country has a bed available should they need it, for example.
Marriage was extended to same sex couples in 1998. Gays were allowed in the armed forces in 1983. Hate crimes is lower than all countries, aside from The Netherlands.
We have had a large influx of Eastern European, Chinese, Vietnamese, African, and South American immigrants in the last 30 years. Our culture is getting more diverse by the year! Although english is our official language, we require our children to learn at least 2 other languages by the time they hit middle school.
So, as you can see, Atlantis offers a wealth of opportunities for anyone willing to take the plunge. Applications are available.
...and we promise. This time, Poseidon's sons don't rule our lands any more, so their corruption won't cause us to sink back into the ocean again!
The above was a bit of mental masturbation as I am at work and bored to tears on a slwo news Saturday. I'm truly sorry if you found my ramblings to be sophomoric.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
