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May 4, 2003
Johnny’s Perfect World
“We live in paradise if we have the eyes to see it. We live in hell, if we don’t.” - Johnny Peaceseed
In my last commentary I used the old saw, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck,” to help determine whether we live in a repressive country. And I asked, “What does the duck look like that we want our duck to look like"” What constitutes a perfect, unblemished nation" I ask this, not as some wishful speculation, but as the opening salvo in an examination of what a free country really is, and following that, what it would take for us to get from here to there.
I begin with a list of requirements my perfect world would include. If you wish, you may send me a your list of what would comprise your Perfect World. I will then publish the best of these in the weeks ahead. Email me with your suggestions to Perfect World Mailbox
Johnny’s Perfect World is a place where:
- The size of one's heart matters more than the size of one's wallet.
- The depth of one’s character matter more than your race, color, nationality, religion, sex or sexual orientation (Thanks MLK)
- The rewards of society go to those who give the most, not those who take the most.
- Peace is seen as something to promulgate with the same vigor as war and violence are now.
- The “Commons” is seen to mean the whole planet.
- People are well educated and understand the history and implications of the solutions proposed to address issues they vote upon.
- Voting is a requirement, not an option.
- The percentage of people voting for a candidate or issue are represented by an equal number votes in the legislature, council or other deliberative body.
- All elections are publicly funded.
- Politicians tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
- The media is free, unfettered and is aggressive in seeking the truth.
- The Department of Homeland Security is abolished and in its place is the Department of Accountability whose job it is to hold politicians accountable to their promises. The buck stops here.
- The Department of Defense is abolished, and in its place is the Department of Peace.
- The Department of Justice means just that.
- Respect for the environment and its non-human inhabitants is given a higher value than any developer’s dreams.
- What consenting adults do in the privacy of their homes is not abridged or regulated.
- Individuals limit their childbearing to what is sustainable for the planet and all children are treated with love and respect.
- Corporations are not considered citizens and the term “corporate citizenship” is not an oxymoron.
- There are limits to wealth such that no one can acquire wealth if one child goes hungry-anywhere.
- That the airwaves are free for all to use and access.
- That our largess, without strings, is spread to the rest of the world such that no one sees us as the “enemy.”
- Free trade means fair wages, healthy working conditions and environmentally sound practices free of exploitation, child labor, prison labor and the destruction of native cultures.
- Thou shall not kill means thou shall not kill
Greed is, once again, considered a sin.
- Do unto others as you would have done unto you applies to all Foreign and Domestic Policies.
My list for a Perfect World is far from complete, but it is something I use when I make my daily choices about which products I buy, which candidate I endorse, what policies I support and how I treat my fellow beings in this life. I’m sure the list will change with time. I’m also sure that my yearning for a just, equitable and peaceful world will not.
Johnny Peaceseed