| I wrote this a while ago. I wanted to reference it on my website. I realize it went out as as an email but never a blog post. I do believe a lot of it still holds true. I also cut a large intro that went in the email version to get right to the heart of the post. If I don’t like how society treats people, I can create a better one by writing a book. Even though my ideas might be impossible to achieve, I think it’s worth writing them down because maybe someone else with more political savvy than me can put them into practice or at least use the principles behind them to improve the lives of people everywhere. So here’s my big idea to make the world a better place. Now, I know that I risk oversimplifying, and I’m probably not thinking of everything. But that’s why I’m releasing this out into the universe. Maybe someone will read it, improve it, and make it a better system. I don’t know if a system will ever achieve a utopia on Earth, and there will always be room for improvement. However, I do believe it’s better than what we have now. Lucky for me, as a science fiction writer, I get to just think of the big idea and not the logistics of making it happen. Anyway, here is the big idea, mix capitalism and socialism together. I know there are places already doing that, like Denmark and Sweden, but what I’m suggesting here is a radical, sweeping change that will take the best capitalism has to offer and blend it with socialism’s greatest hits. I want to make a system that will ensure every human has a minimum standard of living but the incentive to work their butts off for any slices bigger than the minimum. It all starts with housing, and the science backs me up on this one. Drug addiction, crime recidivism, and even just finding a job are really tough without stable housing. So in my new world, housing is a human right. Everyone shall be provided housing. In the Robin Hood of Couches, I envision this via the “blocks” part of town. Basically, every human gets a ten-foot cube. Families may connect their cubes for a larger unit. Still, each person in the family is allocated a ten-foot cube. In my sci-fi near-future world, the cubes are 3D printed and moveable, so a birth in the family just requires a little rearranging to add that ten feet. The second human right is food. All people will have access to food instead of dealing with messy programs like EBT. I just used Star Trek like replicators where people can print the food their family and are allocated a certain amount of raw material per day. In reality, I can see just creating a free food store. Any person can go in, get what they need (to a limit, like they can only take 3 boxes of macaroni each week per person or something like that), and bring it home. For people who need more than the minimums the store can charge overage at check out. The third human right is transportation. If people can’t get to places, then society can’t function. A free subway or bus system seems an easy solution. I’m sure we can use some of the money saved by cutting EBT and replacing it with the free food store. Then, of course, there is medical care, communication, and education. Yes, I’m one of those radical hippies who thinks college education should be free and subsidized by the government. It’s an investment that pays for itself in the long run in addition to access to college education and health care (Another way to save money. American health care is expensive and also not that great. The industry has peddled a lot of misinformation about socialized healthcare systems, which I don’t have time for in this post). However, let me make a case for communication being a right because I think education and health care are already well documented by people making it their lives mission to bring about such change in our society. Communication is important to maintain a minimum standard of living. The internet is so critical to our daily lives that imagine how challenging it would be to live without it. It’s right up there with utilities (like electricity, water, and in my fictional future: access to the pipeline that makes sure the replicators have the raw material to make their clothes, food, even their couch). By now, you might be thinking, that all sounds lovely, Aaron, but isn’t that socialism? What’s that capitalism, socialism marriage you promised? That’s where the free market can play an important role. Do you want a big-screen TV for your cube? Find a job. Need some cash for a trip to Disneyland? Go work! Want more space than one cube? A luxury apartment, a yacht, a mansion? Go for it! Take that bull market by the horns and ride your way to wealth. Just don’t threaten other people’s minimum standard of living on your way. What about all the freeloaders? The ones who won’t work? Let them! Some people are not cut out for the rat race, whether it’s injury, disability, mental health, or just plain they don’t want to do it. That’s fine. Just let them find fulfillment in life in their own way. Many people who are willing to work for a larger slice of the pie will do all the jobs we need to keep society going. Those people will be rewarded with cool cars, non-government issued clothing, trips to Disneyland, or whatever the heck they want to spend their money on. The biggest thing about American culture, and maybe this is even a global thing, is that we emphasize work to fulfill ourselves. Yet, most people are working less to satisfy themselves and more just to make sure they aren’t homeless or don’t starve. What if it didn’t have to be that way? Employers couldn’t be assholes. They would have to treat their workers with respect, pay wages that encourage people to go to the job, and actually do the right thing over the choice that makes them more money. In a society where work is optional, there will still be people who work because there will always be people not satisfied by the minimum. However, if we decouple people’s ability to survive with work, I’d think we are all the better for it. We would at least not be staying in a shit job because we need to pay the rent. In summary, if I were creating a new Bill of Rights. One that ensured everyone would have a minimum standard of living. Here is what I’d add: 1. Every person shall have access to housing and utilities to make it livable. 2. Every person shall have access to food to ensure a healthy lifestyle. 3. Every person shall have access to public transportation. 4. Every person shall have access to health care, education, and internet. 5. Every person shall have the right to work if they want more than the minimum. I know my bill of rights is missing protections against racism, unlawful search and seizure, and so forth. Still, we already got amendments for some of those, and good people working on what it’s lacking. Think of my section of the Bill of Rights as the economy section. As if someone asked me, “Hey Aaron, how should we run our economy?” The five points above are my answer. If you want to see a world where this system is the backdrop to a murder mystery, check out my novel The Robin Hood of Couches. Not only do I create a near-future world that I feel is better than the current one, but I also have a heap to say about subscription services taking over our lives and what happens when they go awry. And it starts with a dead body that our hero, Reese, a financial crimes investigator, finds in a ditch. |
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