As I have
observed life with its myriad of different lifestyles, people, religions, and
cultures, I have come to some conclusions that might remedy much of the social
and political ills and problems in this country and perhaps the world. One of the biggest problems in the country is
the needy and the greedy and both have their hands out wanting more. Class warfare has always been a problem
throughout the history of the world but has come to the forefront in recent
years in the United States. There are the haves and the have-nots. The middle class which is bearing much of the
tax burden of the country has become the new poor. As I have let my mind muse on solutions to
the problems, I have come up with an idea for what utopia might be. I have wondered if the world were to be in a
perfect balanced state, what it would look like. Since the world is so large and complex, and
because I live in the United States, I have simplified my utopia to this
country to begin with. If the utopist
society worked, maybe it would spread to other countries and parts of the
world.
The most
important elements in this utopist society would be personal and social
responsibility. In my utopist society everything is voted on but because the
consciousness of the people is so high, the vote for the good of all would be
considered in every case. There wouldn’t need to be much debate but
after some discussion, the vote would usually be unanimous. There would be
balance which would eliminate the needy and the greedy. The wealth would be distributed equally among
everyone. Everyone would have a high
standard of living and enjoy wealth. The
society at large would receive say a figure of $150,000 a year which would be
enough for everyone to enjoy a high standard of living. The only stipulation to receiving this money
would be that a person needed to be making a positive contribution to society
in some way. If you could not make some
kind of a contribution because of illness, disability or being elderly and
unable to work, a person would still be guaranteed $75,000
a year to take care of their needs.
The stock
market would not exist because the stock market system is unstable and too many
people in the system are dishonest.
Businesses would turn all profits into the state banks to help support
all the citizens. There wouldn’t be any
super rich or poor. This is how all the citizens could enjoy such wealth. Rather than debt, the state coffers would
begin to have money which would build into secure accounts to help the citizens
and the country. It would be against
the law to spend more than what was in each state’s savings account. In fact
each state would need to maintain an emergency no touch fund of 10 billion
dollars. The banks would keep the money
for national or state emergencies and to help those that are disabled or at the
age of 62, retired. These monies would
be controlled by each state bank not the federal government. After
retirement, people would still receive $75,000 a year but would not have to pay
for a housing allowance because they had been paying into that account since
they were eighteen.
Inflation
would not exist because products, and operating costs would stay at a fixed
price. Every town would be somewhat self-sufficient with most of the things
they need within ten miles. Energy and energy costs would be way down because
solar and nuclear power would be so efficient that rising energy costs would
not happen which is a big cause of inflation.
People would
be issued one credit card. To prevent people being wasteful or not showing
good economic responsibility, the amount allowable to withdraw would be divided
over the twelve month period. The $150,000 would be after taxes of ten
percent from every household to support community things and health care
everyone uses. No one in the country would make more than $150,000 including
the president of the country or a CEO. This would prevent people from being
greedy and power hungry. If a person wanted to earn a little more than the
$150,000 which wouldn’t really be necessary because the allotted amount would
be enough to live well, a person could apply for an additional $25,000. The only way a person could receive more than
the allotted amount would be if they had a new idea that would benefit
society. There would be a cap of $25,000
for any project idea so as not to encourage greed. A panel would discuss and vote whether the idea
was worthy of development and funding to help society. This would give people incentive to come up
with new ideas for the good of all. There would be a limit of no more than one
idea per year that would be funded per individual.
Everyone
would have a certain amount of discretionary income. Twenty thousand would go
towards housing, twenty thousand towards food, and twenty thousand would go to
utilities, energy use, and a car. The
rest of the income would be discretionary and could be used for travel,
hobbies, clothes, shopping, vacations and whatever else was a productive use of
the money. Gambling would not exist
because that plays on chance and greed and could create poverty. If the $150,000 is misused, there is no extra
compensation. This would help to make
people frugal and make wise choices with their income. Only one credit card would be allowed and that
credit card balance would need to be paid off each month.
There would
not be any homeless people. Everyone
would be provided with a nice middle class home or condo. People could chose the style of the home and
builders would build it with individual tastes in mind. It could not exceed a certain cost and would
be automatically paid from each person’s bank account with the allotted housing
allowance. In order to have a home,
however, strict cleanliness and upkeep would be required and friendly
inspections of homes would be made quarterly to help people care for and
respect their homes and yards. Maintenance and Improvements to the home would
need to be taken out of discretionary funds.
Taking good care of the home and
yard would be a prerequisite of having a home, and would prevent unhealthy or
unsanitary conditions. If a person
wanted a nicer home, they could put some of their allotted money into a nicer
home but it could not exceed 35% of their annual income. There would be no such thing as a
foreclosure.
The federal
government would be totally revamped and simplified. There would be a flat 10% income tax for
everyone and there would be no deductions on income tax. The federal government would be simplified
down to very basic areas. There would be
an environmental department, an educational department, a health department, a
foreign relations department, an energy department and a state’s department. The states department would coordinate the federal and
state laws so they were not in conflict with each other. If there was a conflict, state law would
override federal law. Most of the
government would be handled at the state level for each state. Laws would be consistent in each state so
there wouldn’t be confusion and conflict. The laws would protect the people not the
criminals.
People in the society would all have jobs
doing things they enjoyed. There would
be a wide variety of different choices
for occupations depending on interest and aptitude from community gardens, health consultants,
construction, technology, engineering, education, and a number of specialty occupations that the
society could choose from and also be trained in. Motherhood would be
considered one of the most important jobs and would be compensated the same as
any other occupation. Unemployment would not exist because everyone
would be trained in jobs that are needed and a job would be waiting when their
training was completed. Citizens of the
country would receive their $150,000 when they turn eighteen. They are also placed in a job of their choice
at eighteen. If people want to get more
specialized training or go to college they still get the $150,000. They pay some of that in college tuition in
the amount of $20,000 a year. A job is
waiting for them after they finish their college or training.
The society
would be self sufficient and everyone would have their own garden plot to raise
healthy, organic food. Each family would
be provided with one to two cars as needed but not more unless it was used out
of their discretionary funds. These cars would be electric, solar, or hydrogen
powered cars and would not pollute the air in anyway.
Banks would
not exist to try to rip off the public and make themselves rich, but as a
service to the community. They would
keep track of everyone’s accounts. They
would give loans which would not have an interest rate of more than 7%. If a loan was made the payment on that loan
would come out of the account of that person automatically each month until the
loan was paid off. People would be
rewarded for saving so that they wouldn’t need to take out loans. Banks would pay 7% to people who kept their
money in a savings account.
Couples would have to apply to become
parents. Children would have a father and a mother. A group of very good parents would be chosen
as the panel to screen those applying for parenthood. The people on the panel would be chosen
because of how well their children have contributed to society and because they
have very good moral character. They
have contributed positively to society and have no criminal records.
Society
would be educated about the life force and the importance of being responsible
with it. Everyone would be educated on birth control by the age of ten and
before they have the ability to pro-create.
Unplanned pregnancies would be highly discouraged. There would be few
unplanned pregnancies because everyone would be educated about how important it
is to show responsibility with procreation.
Children would be planned for and loved by parents that have taken
classes in good parenting skills. If there was an unplanned pregnancy with
someone under the age of 18, the baby would be placed with responsible and
caring people who have applied and want a child. These people have been
screened and trained to be good parents and are mature enough to raise a
child. The size of the family would be
voluntarily controlled but people would usually not choose to have any more
than four children because they realize it is not fair to each child for there
to be too many to care for. A couple
would need to be approved to have more than four children. Most would choose to have one to three
children.
There would
be a federation of all the religions in the world. The heads of these religions would meet to
develop a moral code that all laws would support and abide by. The moral code would show personal and social
responsibility and protect the society.
It would be based on the precepts that show love of self and love of
others and concern for the welfare of all in society. A group would be voted on that is non-
denominational but has a good moral code to represent and oversee that the
moral code is followed across the country.
Crime would
be greatly reduced because everyone’s needs are met and families are healthy
and raising healthy children with a good moral code and personal responsibility
to themselves and the community. Those that have committed crimes would be
around healthy people not unhealthy people in order to be rehabilitated. Rehabilitation would have great success
because people wouldn’t be rewarded for being criminals. They would be locked in work centers where
they had to earn their keep by doing responsible things like typing on
computers or even heavy labor if that is what they were best suited to do. They would have to earn their freedom by
being productive and showing a good work ethic and moral code. If they didn’t
have any skills, they would be trained in prison in a job that is needed in
society. Interviews would take place
regularly and if they were ready, they would be placed in a half-way house as
soon as possible. They would be closely
supervised to see if they were ready to be positive members of society. They
would have counseling and support and be placed in jobs as soon as they had
earned their freedom. Attorneys that
were trying to get criminals off that they new committed a crime, would not be
allowed to practice. People would pay
for their criminal acts and there would be stiff consequences. The most important being the loss of their
freedom.
The military would be scaled way
down. There would be an attitude more
like Switzerland that we do not get involved in world political problems. The military would only be stationed in our
own country. We would have an attitude that we take care of
our own country and protect and defend it. One of the main responsibilities would be
protecting and guarding our borders from negative influences or criminal
activity. The military would serve to
help in natural disasters and other events that occurred. They would be doing
service to make the country safer and better.
The world would have evolved enough as a whole to know how dangerous and
self destructive nuclear bombs would be to everyone and that would never be a
threat. The world would not be into war or rumors of war because they would
realize how self-defeating that is to everyone in the long run. Violence would be greatly decreased
everywhere.
Media would
be controlled and negative and false information would not be allowed to air. Positive
programming would show things that lifted, educated, or inspired the human
spirit. Propaganda would not be allowed.
The people that ran media would create things that would encourage viewers to
be better human beings instead of glamorizing crime and victimization. Criminal acts would not be reported on the
news. Criminal behavior would not
receive the spotlight or be the top news story.
Top news stories would be about good things people were doing out in
their communities to make their communities better. Shows that exposed criminal or violent behavior
would not be allowed to air. Pornography would be eliminated from television
and computers. It would be against the
law.
As a moral
responsibility, everyone would receive health care. It would be good health care and all would be
taken good care of until they passed on.
The focus in health would be on preventive medicine and healthcare. People would be counseled in how to handle
stress in healthy ways so people would be healthier and not need anti-depressants
and so many operations or other medical help because of diabetes and other
preventable diseases. If people needed
operations they would get them. Those
working in the health fields would be compensated the same way as any other
field. Health and medical care costs
would be taken care of out of taxes.
There would be free health care centers in every neighborhood where
people could have exercise as well as classes teaching people about how to be
healthy in body, mind and spirit.
Classes would be taught to help society develop important life skills to
work with others and a have a good moral code.
Spirituality would be important and non-denominational lessons would be
taught to the community on Sunday. Most
organized religions would not exist or be needed because the moral and ethical
responsibilities would be covered in these Sunday meetings. Thus corruption and
manipulating people and trying to get their money through organized religions
would not exist. This would result in
religions stopping their dogma that their religion is the only true one and
stop aggression and war over religious beliefs. Different religions could still exist as long
as they didn’t teach anything that would harm others. They would pay the same
tax as every other business and it would be 10% of their income.
Everyone
would be into having a healthy lifestyle.
This would include eating right and exercise for everyone. People would not have obesity or anorexia
problems because they would be taught and monitored about healthy lifestyle
from a very young age. Parents and
schools would not allow their children to have unhealthy eating habits. They would not give them unhealthy foods but
a good healthy and well balanced diet.
There would not be alcohol or drug abuse either because families would
be strong and have healthy role models as parents. They would be educated and taught how harmful
these can be and they would make the intelligent choice to eliminate them from
their lifestyle. Excessive use of anything would be discouraged and
monitored. It would be against the law
for stores to sell things that were harmful to humans including tobacco and
unhealthy foods that contain a lot of chemicals and artificial colorings or
hormones.
In order for
these ideas to take place some systems would have to be totally eliminated and
a new system begun. It would be hard to
get rid of the systems but the citizens would vote for this to occur because it
would really be needed as it is today. This
would be a free will system and not forced on anyone but society would realize
that this would be a better way for all to have a better quality of life and
would be behind it and want to see it take place. It may seem unrealistic and idealistic but I
do think if a person believes and sees a solution and gets the idea out to
others, that idea can be achieved. It would take time, commitment, and a true
vision of a better way for things to be accomplished by the masses. Corruption in government, greed, and
entitlements without earning them would have to be stopped. Manipulation of the masses through propaganda
would have to be stopped as well. Truth
would have to be the banner of America and justice and freedom to create a
better society would have to be its main goal. A moral society with high ideals
would have to be a part of the consciousness of the people for it to take place.
