If I were elected Emperor of the Earth (from a Quora question)

My first act as Emperor would be to have every living person in the current and past administrations, congress’, and bureaucracies of the Americas, EU, NATO, Middle East, Asia, etc, arrested for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Their phone calls, emails, letters, recorded conversations, etc, would be released to the public at large as part of the trial; nothing would be held back. Once the true nature of these crimes of these people became apparent, they will be imprisoned until they can be loaded onto a spacecraft and sent to Mars to scratch out an existence.

Then I would do the same to the people that profited from the 2008 collapse and bailout on the banking and corporate side. Corporations would be stripped of ‘personhood’ and legal immunity. C-levels and Board members would be again liable for any criminal or unethical acts by the company. From then on, corporations must compete openly in the market without State protection. Naturally, the trials would be fair and aboveboard, so anyone that had spoken out consistently against the immoral actions of these governments and corporations would be found not guilty.

Next on my docket would be to lay out a basic constitution of rights and law to serve as societal foundation. The human rights of Life, Liberty, Knowledge/Intellect, Peace and Defense, Property, Faith, and Association would be the basis of the Empire. Criminals would be sent to Mars to join the poles and banksters.

Then I would absorb the governments of the world into a single Imperial State. Each person would be rigorously tested for intelligence and morality. Sociopaths would be dismissed to work outside of State affairs. Folks above 55 years of age would be retired with a lump sum severance, but no continuing benefits. Gradually, state bureaucracy personnel would be reduced to zero.

How then, would I govern? As Emperor, I would serve as final arbiter of any court case, contract, or other dispute. For any concern that came to transcend the globe, my word would be law. For day to day administration of the world, I would allow for cities above 100,000 in population to become the equivalent of “free city/states”, and those city governments would also serve as governments of the surrounding rural areas. They would, of course, be monitored for corruption via information and social media services. The crime for corruption and human rights violations remains exile to Mars.

There would be a hierarchy set up beneath me:

Emperor
7 continental viceroys
7 regional generals per viceroy,
to each general would report the governors of the free cities.

The allocations of governors to general to viceroy would be determined by a population census and optimally compact districting. Elections within a free city would determine the governor, governors of a district would appoint a general, generals of a region would appoint a viceroy, and the viceroys would report to me. In cases of corruption, I would have them immediately relieved of duty, tried, and exiled.

Now you may ask, since all of these people have been sent to Mars, haven’t I really just killed them? The answer is no. Those guilty of high crimes weren’t just strapped to a rocket and shot into vacuum. Once the prisons had been emptied of non-violent offenders and previous political prisoners, we had a lot of free space. Violent inmates were all moved to the supermax prisons of the world, and the political and corporate criminals found guilty in my trials were put into the lesser prisons.

Once I had set up my Imperial hierarchy, my constitution, and given some guidance about what I expected; the governors of various territories handle the mundane day to day work. Meanwhile, I began to meet with various groups. All of the brightest technology creators, scientists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, and others were brought to me, and we discussed how we might push human progress forward.

Sustainable energy would become the norm. Nuclear power would be micro-sized, and used only for specific operations. Solar, wind and water power generation would be used where each is appropriate. Gradually fossil fuels would be phased out entirely.

Dovetailing with energy is transportation. The old corporations that fed the military industrial complex, freed of the influence of warmongers and greed, would be redirected to first making practical continental transportation, probably with some variants of maglev and hyperloop. Then transcontinental transport would be improved, likely through some form of hovercraft for shipping, and super fast suborbital flight for passengers. As all of these things were achieved, then attention will turn to trans-world migration.

With all of the improvements to energy and transportation, naturally we need new technology under-girding it all. My scientific researchers will be investigating anti-gravity and repulsor type technology, along with more potent forms of energy to handle projected increases in power needs. Nikola Tesla’s papers, having been recovered at last, would unlock true wireless power transmission. All of this would make off-world migration possible.

I’ve also spearheaded advances in medical technology. Some of the things that were only science fiction before had become science fact. We can replace limbs and organs from from stem cells created from the patients’ tissue. We can use CRISPR and other gene editing techniques to cure hereditary and mutagenic illnesses, as well as most cancers. In time, we might make humans functionally immortal.

The internet is ubiquitous now. My infrastructure plan has fiber optics in every road, tube, and railway in the world. Space initiative has both cleared the orbit around earth of trash and debris, as well as installed a new series of micro-satellites to bolster global communication. But that’s just for now. I feel confident that we’ll be able to roll out star trek style comms within 10 years.

Under my rule, I’ve also begun cleaning up the earth. Since my constitution guarantees property rights, corporate abuse of land, air, and water is a matter of contract. If a mining company dumps waste in a waterway, they are liable to any damage and severely punished. Those at the top of the company are liable. My word on this is that any company must leave the world better than they found it in order to lawfully do business. Cleaner air, cleaner water, cleaner land.

Perhaps the most important things of all are education and employment. I took all of the old unions and turned them into voluntary global cooperatives. Teaching co-ops have chapters all around the globe, offering service contracts in the free cities and rural communities, both online and off. The free cities maintain some of the old schools, but homeschooling is the norm; and since most families can now afford to live with just one parent working, literacy is trending upward.

Employees of all companies are free to band together to negotiate for better pay and working conditions. Since they’re only taxed at the level of the free city, there are fewer nonsense regulations to deal with, and no central banking infrastructure to interfere with the market, overall prices have fallen as well. And since there are no countries waging war or imposing sanctions or tariffs, the market is extremely stable around the globe.

Since I abolished the old intellectual property and copyright laws, we’ve also see an avalanche of new entertainment, surprisingly high quality. Now that contracts are the driving force in the Empire, there is more incentive for mutual cooperation than ever. It isn’t unusual to see businesses working together to create new things, and the content on TV and the internet is voted on by the wallet.

Speaking of wallets, I mentioned that there was no central bank. Basically, I legalized competing currency. Gold, silver, other metals. Barter and trade. Crypto-coins have also begun to stabilize and mature. Much of the infrastructure that was in place before is still there, but without any central bank to cause inflation or investment panics, and no there is no legal protection for wall street beyond that of contracts, there has been a ton of improvement here as well.

My general lifestyle is modest compared to what you might expect. A cabin in the mountains to retreat to, a small apartment in a handful of free cities for when I’m travelling to meet with members of my initiative teams. My home and security is paid for by the free cities as a portion of the the taxes they are allowed to levy (most have just implemented a flat sales tax, but some have experimented with a ‘go fund me’ style operation.) My security forces are privately contracted, and well paid, but the individuals are still tested for morality, intelligence, and loyalty.

If medical technology doesn’t advance enough for me to live forever, how will my legacy survive? I’m thinking of two different approaches. First is to progress technology to the point where my consciousness can be uploaded to the internet. Second is to create an artificial intelligence that I can groom to eventually take over the rule of the Empire. Teams are currently working on each. If those fail, then I will choose a successor. If I die suddenly, then I have it down in my last will and testimony that the seven viceroys will govern the Empire as an executive council for terms of 10 years. With no re-election possible.