I have a car in Utah, the last state in which I resided before moving overseas, and where I am still a tax-resident. Having a car is almost essential for life in the United States outside of NYC or some parts of San Francisco. The idea of obtaining honorary consul plates came to me when I was renewing my registration and considering other cool plates, like the Ham Radio License plates, which I eventually settled on (because I’m a nerd, ok?)
I had this wild idea that maybe having such plates would make the police less likely to pull me over, as I really hate interactions with authority. So, I started exploring which countries might be interested in having an honorary consul in Utah. There are many countries that don’t have one, and my focus was on smaller island nations, like Antigua and Barbuda. I thought about launching a digital transformation initiative for their nation.
I spent weeks brainstorming and talking with various people about my idea. One thing led to another. Eventually, a professor at Oxford suggested that I take over a project being proposed by one of his students, whose father was one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. A digital transformation project for the Supreme Court of Pakistan seemed like a cool, self-aggrandizing accomplishment. Also, hey, Utah doesn’t have an honorary consul for Afghanistan, and the license plates don’t actually look different.
However, as I studied the situation, I realized that the current inefficiencies in their Supreme Court were probably intentional, allowing those who can bribe their way around to get things done. I didn’t want to put myself in a potentially dangerous situation, so I said no. Do not get between a man and his bribes. I like to think that this decision is why I am alive today and not in a prison in Pakistan or dead.
During my research, I had conversations with people from WeGO, the World eGovernment Organization, which is weirdly based down the road from my apartment in Korea. Through these discussions, I gathered plenty of ideas on how to actually enact digital transformation projects for small island nations. It’s a thing I want to do.
Eventually, I decided to email (the foreign minister of) Antigua and Barbuda directly to start a conversation about my ideas. After all, casually emailing a nation of 89,000 people is something people do, right? In any case, the quest for honorary consul plates has led me on quite the adventure, and who knows where it will take me next.