Making Political Philosophy a Science

Ok, so I have an idea, which, though technically possible, is not feasible or plausible. But what the hell, why don't I just throw it out there?
People disagree widely on political philosophies. And I'm talking about the broad picture here, not just republicans and democrats. We've got communists, socialists, fascists, capitalists, anarchists, and many subsets of each of these. Now, despite what you may self-righteously believe, I think there are essentially high quality intelligent arguments for each of these philosophies. I believe, though I'm not certain, that these philosophies ultimately rest on different views of human nature. To take one striking example, capitalists believe humans achieve the most in a competitive society, whereas communists believe humans achieve most when contributing to the greater good. Now that is just one example, of many fundamentally different worldviews. And to my mind, there doesn't seem to be any way to test 'human nature'. But I do have this idea to solve, or at least provide a great amount of evidence for certain political philosophies.
So here is the plan:
We get a bunch of philanthropists and angel investors to give us a TON of money. Billions and billions of dollars. Plus a TON of land. I suppose we could buy northern Canada, where very few people live. Then we get about 100,000 volunteers. Now in my mind, this part would be easy (I'll explain why in a moment). So we divide up the volunteers by their political philosophies, and create like 30 sovereign 'countries' up there in northern Canada. They all start out with the same amount of money; everything else is left up to them. Then we stand back and watch. Give them 50-75 years, and see which societies end up prosperous and which ones fail. Barring any huge oil or other resource find in one of the societies, it seems like a fair deal. Now the volunteer thing would be easy. For the communist country we'd find communists, for the libertarian country we'd throw all the Ron Paul supporters in there, etc.
Again, not feasible. But what better way can you think of to put some science behind our political views? Put real people in a real culture with those policies, and see what happens. Makes enough sense to me.

two random notes

First of all, I just wanted to respond to those on the Christian Right who claim that the United States is a country which emphasizes the ideals of Judeo-Christian religion. This may have been true at the beginning, but it is most certainly not true today. What is my argument for this? Go read the Tenth Commandment. It is in direct opposition to our country's economic well-being. That is all I will say, as I have posted on this topic before.

Secondly, the revolutionary communists are on campus today! They are cute. Its funny because they are protesting the war...which I find humorous, if not ironic, because they advocate regime change at home, yet for some reason are opposed to it when it comes to another country which was probably more oppressive to communism than we are. Shouldn't they be for the war, but on different grounds? I don't know...I'm just saying...

Why Libertarianism Doesn't Work

In high school and early college, I was a libertarian. You know, the government needs to stay out of our business and let the market work, etc. I think this is a common thing for rebellious political men...like I am sure Aaron Walker is a libertarian if you really pressed him.
Anyway, after a while I began to lose faith in human beings, at least politically, and now I am some kind of Green/Democrat/Independent. And I finally realized why. Because generally I do have faith in human kind, so it seemed inconsistent to have faith in them most of the time, except when it came to boycotting evil companies and what-not.
So here is my theory on why libertarianism can't work: In democracy, candidates are basically competing over who can solve the most problems. So in order to beat one another, candidates begin, over time, to step outside of the traditional government role, and start offering to step into areas like education (Department of Education), food safety (USDA), natural disasters (FEMA), workers rights, and health care (which we are seeing now). Basically, if there is any tragedy going on, governmental or not, candidates in the fierceness of competition decide to propose the government step in. So over time, the government becomes larger.
Once politicians began solving these problems, people became dependent. For example, instead of boycotting Wal-Mart, people just demanded that the government raise minimum wage. In the Earthquake in San Francisco in the early 1900s, the relief effort was completely led by private organizations. Yet in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the government was expected to help everyone out. And its not because people didn't want to help--it is just implied to people that nowadays the government is in charge of making sure people aren't starving, etc. Which is caused by the competition of democracy.
The only way to create a libertarian society would be to start over again with the premise that everyone thought about what they were supporting with there actions. This would be tough, and I am not sure if it would even be desired. What a hassle it would be to research everything you bought.
So, in sum, democracy naturally leads to more and more government control, or socialism. Wow...I am a Marxist.

(This doesn't mean that civil liberties have to go away though. That is separate from free-market business liberalism)

Capitalism and Christianity

At some point in my life, I would like to study this more in depth, but alas, I know little about the bible. I only have one class by Jay Holstein under my belt. And who knows what to trust with a post-modern interpreter like Holstein?
But I will say this...I do not understand how true Christians can support capitalism. Or at least free market economics. I have heard many Republicans say things like "America is a country based off of Christian ideals" --listen, I understand that to Christians every man was created equal, but I'm just not sure how far the Christian influence extends beyond that. I know our founders were Christian, but if Fred Phelps is right about one thing, it might be that the U.S.A. is not a Christian state (God, please don't let Fred Phelps be right about anything else).
Ok, I can see it coming from a mile away. "What?! Are you saying Jesus was a Communist? Communists are a Godless people. They are a violent people. They hate individual rights. Jesus wasn't like that at all!"
You may cite two pieces of evidence.
#1 - Marx called religion the 'opiate of the masses', and pretty much wanted to abolish religion, because it took away power from the state.
#2 - Luke 20:25 "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." --Jesus Christ

First I shall address these criticisms, and then I will show you my positive evidence for my case.
#1 - Ok, so Marx hated religion. And so does Castro. But people are so quick to make a giant logical leap from communism to capitalism. Alright, obviously Jesus wouldn't like throwing away religion. But does this really mean he would throw the baby out with the bathwater and reject communism? I mean, communist theory has been revised quite a bit...but it is still communism. Or, maybe its called socialism. But the point is, to me it seems like Jesus would love some kind of reformed communist state in which the government ensured citizens weren't starving, homeless, or jobless. Don't call it communism, but don't tell me that its libertarian, laissez-faire capitalism.

#2 - Read the context! Jesus can be interpreted here as either a) Keeping good with the Romans (he is talking to spies), or b) Giving the lesson that even Christians need to pay taxes and follow laws according to their political leaders. Alright, so Jesus would not like the idea of a revolution against the government. Obviously! He hates violence. He promotes love above all, 'love thy enemies'. Sidepoint--Marx was not for armed rebellion. He theorized that communism would gradually take over as a natural result from capitalism's flaws....oh wait...social security...medicare...public utilities...FEMA...Oh my God, Marx was right? Its hard to believe how brilliant Marx was, considering how much hatred people have for him. Maybe they saw Rocky IV too many times? Read the Communist Manifesto if you don't believe me. Everything Marx predicted has begun to come true, though not at the pace he predicted.
The only thing Marx got wrong (that I can think of now, it having been a couple years since I read the Manifesto) was his failure to predict labor unions.

So, I have shown two objections to be mostly unfounded. What is my evidence for Jesus as communist?


Book of Acts
32 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"). ³⁷He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Have you ever read any stronger red propaganda than this paragraph in your life? The U.S.S.R must have something to do with this!

Ok, so maybe a system like the one above wouldn't work. I don't know...maybe it would. I am a socialist, so I think a system sort of like this would work. I have an idea in my head. But I am not saying this system would work. I am saying that if you truly are a Christian, than shouldn't this begin to shape your political views on the economy? Can you really be more than a Fairweather Christian if you vote Republican? I am not sure...I guess socially the republicans are closer in line with Christian ideals, so its sort of a toss up. But my point is that I don't understand Christians. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christianity or Christians. But I don't know why so many people call themselves Christians, but only believe the parts of the bible that fit in with how they want to live. What makes people be able to pick and choose what holy scripture is really holy?
I just don't understand how we can be 85% Christian in the U.S., with all these greedy filthy rich business people running around trying to figure out how they can get more money, when things like "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25) are in the bible.

I know its easy to rip a religion apart when you are agnostic, but feel free to respond and terrorize my cloudy reasoning process.