Utopian States: Striving for Perfection

Democracy is allegorically like a society where the sheep vote for the obedience school that trains the sheep dogs that heard the sheep.  In the USA, the two main obedience schools are called the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.    The sheep dogs are allegoric to the police, the judges and the teachers in that democratic society. 

Webster defines democracy as a government by the people; rule by the majority.   An alternate definition is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

Seriously, the definition given by Webster is too flattering and too idealistic.  The people of world democracies are being domesticated just like farm animals.  The brains of domesticated animals are significantly smaller than their wild cousins.  Likewise, the brains of the modern domesticated man are smaller than their predecessors.  Yes, the brain of the Neanderthal was significantly bigger.

From page 56 of the September 2010 Discover magazine:  “Over the past 20,000 years, the average volume of the human male brain has decreased from 1500 cubic centimeters to 1350 cc losing a chunk the size of a tennis ball.  The female brain as shrunk by the same proportion.”  Later on the same page: “Still others believe that the reduction in brain size is proof that we have tamed ourselves, just as we domesticated sheep, pigs and cattle, all of which are smaller –brained than their wild ancestors.”

The Utopian States is all about decreasing the domestication of man by creating governments that are nearly invisible, but more effective so that man will have more freedom and more opportunity.  Opportunity is what gives individuals their security.  With more jobs available for each individual, people don’t need government assistance.  Ownership of a small business will replace social security, unemployment and other government assistance programs.  It has been shown that an abundance of jobs virtually stops crime.

If the lack of a dominant and domesticating government causes an increase in brain size, then citizens of the Utopian States will have the largest brains in the world.

The only concept that justifies free trade is that currency exchange rates are also supposed to automatically adjust so that every nation has an equal opportunity to manufacture and sell their products.

China pegs their currency to the US dollar, thus defeating free trade.  They peg the currency by spending the money from the free trade of automobiles and electronics on TBills and other American securities.  You can verify this by looking at the exchange rates over the years; they haven’t changed by even 1%.

Plausibly, their communistic nation can control and suppress the wages of their workers.  That, coupled with the control of the exchange rates, effectively controls the wages of Americans engaged in manufacturing.

Plausibly it is the fact that this country is faltering is because the wealthiest 20% own more than 80% of the wealth of this nation while the poorest 80% own less than 20% of the wealth.  Historically when the poorest 80% own less than 20% of the wealth, we have a recession.

Why?  Obviously that if one person had all the wealth, there would be no trade and little flow of money as nobody would have anything to give the person with all the wealth.  While this is a deliberate exaggeration, it shows a probable reason for wanting the poorest 80% to have more wealth.  Calculus would show that the optimum amount of trade would happen if everybody had the same wealth.

It seems that China’s suppression of free trade, prices and exchange rates has disrupted the balance of wealth and has pushed the world economy into recession.  What do you think?

The USA (and other Earth nations) could be Utopias when:

 All the laws are entirely destroyed and replaced.

The correctional systems are entirely destroyed and replaced.

The two party system is entirely destroyed and replaced.

The system of voting is entirely destroyed and replaced.

The system of representation is entirely destroyed and replaced.

The system of taxation is be entirely destroyed and replaced.

The school systems is entirely destroyed and replaced.

The economic system is entirely destroyed and replaced.

The constitution is entirely destroyed and replaced.

The concept that there is one “winner”, one top dog is re-taught.

Sporting contests allow ties and cannot determined by officials.

My ancestors arrived on the shores of America before state government and long before the federal government.   My ancestors flourished and did better without government, the police or law libraries.  The majority concept that this nation is great because of government is not founded in fact.

Also not factual is the majority notion that this government has been virtuous or under the direction of any God.

This country was founded at a time when the largest city was Boston with a population of 7000.  In other words, a few thousand home schooled people of the 1776 era have more say than the hundreds of millions of people of our era.  Why are the decisions of the ancients valued more greatly then those of the people of this era?

The government was developed during a time when the telegraph and pony express would be considered high tech.  Now we have the cell phone, television and jet travel.  Why should we just assume that government reached the pinnacle hundreds of years ago?  In fact, for many, government immediately worsened things.  Many, my family included, were better off in the pre government era of the USA.

I have elaborated on the systems that need to be changed.  I will elaborate further.

The Utopian States embraces all of these quotes about individual rights

All mankind… being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.
John Locke

Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself.
John Locke

Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.
John Locke

The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.
John Locke

Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
Thomas Jefferson

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.
Thomas Jefferson

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson

Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.
Thomas Jefferson

Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.
Ronald Reagan

Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.
Kahlil Gibran

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
Ayn Rand

Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.
Ayn Rand

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).
Ayn Rand

Just as man can’t exist without his body, so no rights can exist without the right to translate one’s rights into reality, to think, to work and keep the results, which means: the right of property.
Ayn Rand

Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law.
Ayn Rand

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.
Will Rogers

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.
Bob Marley

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
Frederick Douglass

Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
James Madison

The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.
James Madison

All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.
Andrew Jackson

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending.
Andrew Jackson

Ultimately property rights and personal rights are the same thing.
Calvin Coolidge

All initiation of force is a violation of someone else’s rights, whether initiated by an individual or the state, for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals, even if it’s supposed to be for the benefit of another individual or group of individuals.
Ron Paul

The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence.
Ron Paul

Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.
Samuel Adams

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.
Jimmy Carter

Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.
Jimmy Carter

At the Carter Center we work with victims of oppression, and we give support to human rights heroes.
Jimmy Carter

If we must die, we die defending our rights.
Sitting Bull

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.
Desmond Tutu

When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties.
Marquis de Lafayette

We don’t need a weakened government but a strong government that would take responsibility for the rights of the individual and care for the society as a whole.
Vladimir Putin

Nobody and nothing will stop Russia on the road to strengthening democracy and ensuring human rights and freedoms.
Vladimir Putin

No references to the need to fight terror can be an argument for restricting human rights.
Vladimir Putin

I don’t believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.
Clarence Thomas

Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.
Maximilien Robespierre

One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights.
James K. Polk

Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn’t even get out of committee.
F. Lee Bailey

If government can give you rights, government can take them away from you.
Roy Moore

Communities don’t have rights. Only individuals in the community have rights.
Michael Badnarik

But as population became denser, the natural chemical and biological recycling processes became overloaded, calling for a redefinition of property rights.
Garrett Hardin

And government’s only role is to secure our rights for us.
Roy Moore

Material goods consist of useful material things, and of all rights to hold, or use, or derive benefits from material things, or to receive them at a future time.
Alfred Marshall

You don’t have to love them. You just have to respect their rights.
Edward Koch

Majority rule only works if you’re also considering individual rights. Because you can’t have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper.
Larry Flynt

 Sea City from The Venus Project:  http://thevenusproject.com/

The Venus Project has some worthwhile ideas about one possible version of a utopian settlement.   I, however, think it is too costly and too socialistic in that it does away with money.   I feel that capitalism is like an auction that allows others to pay only what something is worth.  The Part of capitalism that I object to is having capital play such an important role.  I object to the stock market and large banks.  The structure of small businesses that America had during the 1800’s were more ideal.  People of that era loved the independence that owning their own farm or small business gave them.  The owners of small businesses were a very respected group in the 1800’s.CEO?  What CEO (who is a non-founder) is respected?  Buffet, Gates and Perot founded their own companies.

Prerequisites for a utopian government:

 1)      The constitution would have a bill of rights that would enumerate all the rights of the people.  Every right necessary for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness would be listed.

2)      The constitution would specify that the ONLY right of government is to protect the rights of every citizen.

3)      The representatives would be selected randomly from a pool of literate and educated people thus guaranteeing that every profession, race, color and creed is proportionately represented.

4)      The judicial system would not punish.  The judicial system would cause fair restitution.  Minimal prophylaxis would be used, when necessary, to minimize harm to citizens.

5)      The majority of the people or representatives could NOT vote to spend money on anything that did not benefit all equally.

Additional prerequisites for some utopian city-states:

1)      No company could have more than five employees or make more than fifty times the average wage.

2)      No products made by any large company outside of the city-state could be brought into the city state.

3)      Companies can work together to complete large projects.

4)      All the people must be taught to recognize truth and accurate logic.

5)      All the people must make the effort to achieve and maintain high levels of mental and physical health.

Most democracies will never create a utopia.

Government is what the majority wants it to be.  There is only ONE government for all of us.  Only one set of laws, one tax code, one court system, one police system, one president, two senators, etc.  If the majority voted for a car that their government would make, it might be a black 1968 VW.  Would you buy a black 1968 VW if you had an alternative?

I’m convinced that any truly Utopian government would have options, or at least, a few Utopian states that were totally different from each other.

When you think about government in terms of the blandness/sameness created by a majority vote, then the expression “United we stand, divided we fall” becomes false.  Truly the strongest government may be the government that nurtures differences.

There is NO part of government created by the majority that I desire;  my passion is for a utopia where we can all have the government we want.

Isn’t capitalism a democratic idea?  In a capitalistic economy we vote with our dollars – until a monopoly gains control and gives us only one product.  The optimal society would have many small businesses and many small governments.  Furthermore, any imported products would be only from small businesses that adhere to the principles adhered to by the Utopian businesses.

It’s plausible that a democracy of some type could maintain a Utopian civilization, but could NEVER create one.

Fact: People have the right to life and the necessities thereof.
Fact: People have the right to own property.
Fact: People have the right to a government that doesn’t discriminate.

Corollary: We need as many jobs as there are people that wish to work.
Corollary: If a government program – like free trade – diminishes jobs, they need to be replaced by government programs. {Unfortunately, a tiny majority of economists and politicians still think that free trade (trade without tariffs) does NOT cause job shrinkage. Protectionism has become a bad work as Americans have been lead to believe we are so superior that we can out produce those willing to work for less than a dollar an hour.}

Government should propose a few pie charts of the way they are going to spend OUR money and WE should vote on the chart we favor. Personally, spending money on home security and police is my least favorite way of creating jobs. To be fair, manufacturing and farming need more government money (or tariffs).

Should the USA spend a dime on manufacturing to return a quarter worth of taxes or do we spend a dollar on government jobs to return a quarter worth of taxes? It seems like a no-brainer. Money spent on manufacturing and farming produces a positive return.

1. Are the various Utopian States like those described by Thomas Mores’ Utopia?

No. Thomas More’s Utopia was based on an even distribution of property as revealed by the following quotes from his novel.

{…} “Though to speak plainly my real sentiments, I must freely own that as long as there is any property, and while money is the standard of all other things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily: not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided among a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), {…}

{…} that till property is taken away there can be no equitable or just distribution of things, nor can the world be happily governed: for as long as that is maintained, the greatest and the far best part of mankind will be still oppressed with a load of cares and anxieties. not excepting the very persons of his subjects: and that no man has any other property, but that which the King out of his goodness thinks fit to leave him. And they think it is the prince’s interest, that there be as little of this left as may be, as if it were his advantage that his people should have neither riches nor liberty; {…}

{…} they might seem better, as certainly they are, yet they are so different from our establishment, which is founded on property, there being no such thing among them, that I could not expect that it would have any effect on them; but such discourses as mine, which only call past evils to mind and “Though to speak plainly my real sentiments, I must freely own that as long as there is any property, and while money is the standard of all other things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily: {…}

{…} From whence I am persuaded, that till property is taken away there can be no equitable or just distribution of things, nor can the world be happily governed: for as long as that is maintained, the greatest and the far best part of mankind will be still oppressed with a load of cares and anxieties. {…}

{…} again to a good habit, as long as property remains; and it will fall out as in a complication of diseases, that by applying a remedy to one sore, you will provoke another; and that which removes the one ill symptom produces {…}

The constitution of the various Utopian States grants the right to own property. Ownership is one of the natural rights. The constitution further makes it the duty of government to protect and optimize the natural rights of man. Consequently, the Utopian States is Not the Utopia described by Thomas More with the exception that both endeavor to be perfect societies.

2. Are the Utopian States socialistic?

No. The various Utopian States are not socialistic. The natural right to own property is enumerated by the constitution and protected by the government. Senior to the right to own property is the right to life and access to the necessities of life. The constitution of the various Utopian City States makes it the duty of government to ensure that all have access to the necessities of life. This right to the necessities of life does not preclude the right to own property, hence the various Utopian States are NOT socialistic.

Furthermore, the various Utopian States are all different. The constitutions are all basically similar in that government is required to protect the natural rights of the citizens. Each bill of rights may be different as the interpretation of the natural rights may be different. The constitutional methods of enforcing those natural rights may also be different. Some of the Utopian States may protect the rights of the poor more than the rights of the middle class and vice versa.

3) When will the first Utopian City State be built?

We are waiting for a billionaire philanthropist to help. Although only tens of millions are required, the philanthropist must have sufficient capital to help without hurting himself in the event the return on his investment takes years.

PETITION FOR INDEPENDENCE and AFFILIATION

In order to form a government that protects and enhances the free rights of all their citizens to all things natural and fun, we petition independence from the governments of the United States of America for all people willing to respect the just, free and natural rights of others. We also petition, for just exchange, the protection of the United States of America from outside invasion. As further petition, we ask that the United States of America respect our preamble for constitution.

PREAMBLE FOR CONSTITUTION
1.) The government shall protect all the rights that humanity would have in a world without criminals, government, the insane, the deceitful and the greedy.
2.) The government shall be democratically governed by people selected from a pool of those with above average Intelligence, literacy and education.
3.) Duly chosen representatives shall decide what is needed by the people in order to maintain their rights.
4.) The people shall democratically vote to decide what they want above and beyond what is needed to secure and maintain their free and natural rights. Any such vote shall not reduce the rights of the minority of voters.
5.) Securing and maintaining these rights will require taxes or tariffs, investments and contributions.

FREE AND NATURAL RIGHTS
1.) All people have the right to sufficient food, water, clothing, shelter and health care to sustain life without suffering.
2.) All people have the right to a job with sufficient income to afford the entirety of their first right.
3.) All people have the right to vote.
4.) All people have the right to better themselves so that they may advance.
5.) All people have the right to fun.
6.) All people have the right to consensual sex.
7.) All people have the right to express their opinions and religious ideas.
8.) All people have the right to chose whether or not they should hear the opinions of others.
9.) All people have the right to freedom from forced punishment other than ostracism, house arrest, prophylactic restraint (to protect others from certain harm) and restitution.
10.) All people have the right to justice and just representation.
11.) All people have the right to compensation for injury, harm or loss rendered by unjust legal complaints whether caused by government or citizens.
12.) All people have the right to a warrant or subpoena issued with probable cause issued sufficiently before any searches, seizures or arrests so as to allow time to obtain and communicate with knowledgeable representation.
13.) People have the right to restitution for any loss, harm or injury caused by unjust and unwarranted searches, seizures and arrests.

DUTIES OF THE PEOPLE
1.) All people, once a year, are required to take and pass a course in fallacies, logic, and fact in order to be allowed to vote or be selected as representative. The test should allow fifty to one hundred percent of the people to pass.
2.) No person can cause another or others loss, injury or harm.
3.) All people must keep their agreements and contracts to the extent that they are fair, just and normal.
4.) All people are expected to justly and fairly pay for any harm, loss or injury that they cause another under penalty of ostracism and restitution.
5.) All people are expected to vote.
6.) All people are expected to serve as representative if selected.

We ask not to be subjects of the governments of the USA. We ask only to be affiliated with the governments of the USA.