Jersey, Guernsey, and I.o.Man are part of the United Kingdom and yet they have political independence. 

Oasis Cities could follow this precedent and be established as “Free Cities” – inland “virtual island” mini-states.  

Dismantling the Dole 

Winding down Welfarism

The British Welfare state (b.1948) began as a humanitarian and compassionate ideal, but it is becoming an increasingly unaffordable strain on the economy. It is now under final assault from both an ageing population and its mesmerising attraction to millions of 3rd world “colonisers” – those already here (who, when adjusted for age, extract more benefits and health care per capita than indigenous Brits) and the hordes trying their luck boarding unsuspecting trucks or small rubber dinghies just over the 20-mile wide channel.

Many people seem to believe that the state has an unlimited supply of money to dole out – perhaps a giant money tree in the back garden of 10 Downing St..? Or that “expendable” govt depts – in practice usually the defence budget – should have its funding re-directed to the sacrosanct trio of Health (NHS), Education, and Social benefits.

Britain’s leftist “Conservative” govt, in afrantic but doomed attempt to seduce the stupid vote away from the far-leftist Labour and Lib-Dems, has “ring-fenced” (ie, protected) the £120 billion a year NHS budget whilst – under the guise of austerity “cuts” (scratches?) – reducing general welfare payouts by a trivial degree.  Also “ring-fenced” is the £12 billion (0.7% of GNP) foreign aid budget, making nonsense of the “austerity” claim and giving an idea of their priorities – but that is another story.

As politically-devolved entities with their own economic systems and much lower living costs, OA-cities would need to be exempted from minimum wage legislation, not to mention the UK’s taxation and benefits regime.   This is not as fanciful an idea as it sounds if one considers that 3 island parts of the UK – Man, Jersey, and Guernsey are already politically independent entities – as are, in effect if not in name, N. Ireland and Scotland 

FREE CITIES

The UK has many virtually independent small islands and statelets under its protective wing. This being so, there is no logical reason why it cannot also have some “free cities – in effect “virtual islands” – on its mainland.

The only barrier to this occurring is that the UK govt needs to collect as much “rent” as possible and from as many people as possible in order to fund its bloated and hugely costly benefits system. This brings us back to the ultimate weakness with the OMOV sham “democracy” – as the welfare/benefits net is spread ever wider, it becomes increasingly impossible to reform a system in which a large minority – if not a majority – are net beneficiaries of government handouts.

Just as turkeys would never vote for Christmas, the majority of benefits recipients voters would never vote for a party which advocated even a modest pruning of the money tree welfare state. Even most of those who contribute more than they withdraw would probably baulk at the idea of scrapping such an iconic part of Britain.  But, all things must come to an end, and the welfare state may come to end in a totally unexpected way.

Like any other welfare state, the UK needs to rake in as much money as possible in order to keep the welfare taps running. But, faced with the choice of a Oasis City being built in the UK or a much cheaper and more accommodating country with rapidly declining populations like Bulgaria, Bosnia or even Ukraine – a future govt might be prepared to allow politically autonomous units within its land borders.

This would enable the welfare state to be gradually run down as more and more people opted-out by semi-grating to Oasis Cities.   

In the long run everyone would benefit (no pun!).

Instead of paying UK taxes and social contributions, OA-Citizens could simply pay a poll tax and give up their rights to welfare benefits. (The UK’s existing “dependent” territories –  CI, IOM and GIB – pay nothing to the UK exchequer despite being provided with defence).   They would still be eligible for any pensions they had contributed to, just as Britons who have moved abroad are eligible, although the benefit would be reduced if they stopped paying-in.  Whether OA-citizens would be able to use the NHS would depend, but I assume OA-cities would have their own health systems – and these would surely be far more efficient than the NHS.