The Voluntarism Peoples Council Meeting - Part 1
A Short Story About Real Democracy, Community Protection, The Freedom Credit & The Lore Of Morality
Fiona and Gerald lived in an inner city suburbia called Frocksville.
They were new to the idea of voluntarism but were curious to hear more about how it worked and to see what it was all about.
Fiona was a project manager for a big company in the city.
Gerald had worked as a construction engineer for 20 years across the country.
They decided to go to the town hall meeting on Sunday at 6.00pm.
When they arrived, they saw that the car park was overflowing onto the side streets.
It looked like half the town was also interested in this new and alternative way of managing the community.
They weren't sure what it really meant to have their society operate without rulers.
When they went inside, the town hall was packed. Those who had got in early had seats but the rest were standing. They saw an elderly couple enter the hall and a young man and his girlfriend stood up to offer the old man and his wife the seats.
At the front was a stage where people could speak and address the community.
A woman walked onto the stage holding a mic and began speaking.
Introducing Rebecca
“Good evening to you all, my name is Rebecca, I’m an organiser of these voluntary society meetings.
We have a lot to discuss and a busy night ahead of us.
I will be the moderator for tonight's meeting to introduce you all to this new concept of managing our community.
All are welcome to join these meetings.
Even those who believe they may not be.
Even those who may have only come tonight to figure out a way to deliberately undermine us.
There is a saying, ‘what power does a handful of darkness have in a room full of light compared to a handful of light in a room full of darkness?’
She smiled at the whole room, taking time to make eye contact with as many people as she could.
“All are welcome.
We have a list of speakers to talk to us about a variety of topics.
First up is Charlie speaking about the idea of an alternative currency he calls The Freedom Credit.
Then we have Alex to discuss The Lore Of Morality.
Followed by Theresa and what real democracy is.
Lastly will be Larry discussing community protection.
Each of the 4 speakers have been allocated 30 minutes.
After the speakers have shared their piece, at hopefully 8.pm, we will have a break where you can find refreshments at the back of the room.
At 8.30pm we will recommence and then have time for questions and discussions.
If you would like to take the stage to share something, you can state what you would like to speak about to the crowd and we will get a show of hands if they believe you should take the stage and elaborate on your topic.
If yes, then you can take the stage and mic.
If not, then we can save your idea for another day.
There’s a lot of people here and we need a strategy to hear the voices that we want to hear the most, so that’s the best plan we have at the moment.
If you have a better idea, you are more than welcome to present it.
At the end of the open discussion, which we hope to conclude by 9.30pm, we’ll then decide if you would like me to continue being the moderator or if you would prefer someone else to take my place.
I sure do hope I do a good enough job to stay for more than one night!
The crowd laughed as Rebecca shared that.
“Ok, first up is Charlie to speak about his new innovative idea of an alternative currency.”
Introducing Charlie
“Hi everyone, I'm Charlie and I've been working on an alternative currency for quite a while now.
I realised that the central banks and governments have been screwing with us for far too long and robbing us through taxes and GST and leaving us with hardly any left over to survive.
So what I've developed is a digital currency that we could use to replace our national currency. We could start using it in Frocksville, prove it works, then it would spread like wildfire.
It’s very simple to use.
All you need to do to open an account is read and agree to abide by Objective Morality, which Alex will be discussing in the next speech.
Everyone who opens an account will receive an instant 5,000 credit bonus.
This is to encourage you to start using the currency straight away so we can transition away from the government and central bank controlled national currency.
Can I please have a show of hands of who here owns their own business?”
Gerald looked around the room and saw that approx 30% of people there raised their hands.
“Excellent”, said Charlie.
“And out of the business owners here, who would consider accepting a different type of currency in exchange for your goods and services?”
Most of the same hands went up again.
“Good, good” Charlie said.
“So let me go over a few of the key highlights.”
Charlie opened up a powerpoint presentation on the projector screen so he could more easily explain his idea.
“The freedom credit is currently a purely digital currency.
There is a 5,00 bonus for when you sign up, a 500 credit bonus when you refer someone to sign up, when you create a new business page on the app it’s a 1,000 credit bonus and at the end of every month its a 10% bonus added onto the total of what you’ve spent and earned in that month.
There are no fees or taxes imposed to use The Freedom Credit.
You can very easily send and receive credits using the mobile app just like you do now with your mobile banking apps.
So why would you want to transition to this currency away from your national currency?
Normally governments make you add 10% GST on top of all your transactions, which means you have to charge more for what you sell and the buyer has to pay more.
This means you can lower your prices and become more competitive on the market, while maintaining the same amount of profit.
It also means buyers have 10% more in their accounts to do with as they please, whether that be to continue supporting local business’s or to donate to town projects.
There are no transaction fees, holding fees or any kind of fees, which makes it more attractive for you and your customers than traditional banks and national currency.
The value never fluctuates as it is tethered to the value of the USD on the 9th of may 2023.
So the value always stays the same.
This means your currency does not depreciate in value like your national currency.
Which means you have more spending power and can have more of the things you want.
You also get rewarded for using the currency, a 10% bonus.
Compare this to taxes where you can have between 10-50% deducted from your total earnings, well it makes a big difference to your lifestyle.”
“You can say that again!’ Yelled out a middle aged man in the crowd.
The crowd laughed and cheered at his brashness.
Charlie chuckled and continued.
“You cannot buy The Freedom Credit with national currencies or even crypto, you get more of it by earning it.
This is huge.
Normally with national currencies, stock markets, or crypto currencies, the people who have access to the printing press, or computers of today, have the power to crash and spike other currencies and markets however and whenever they please.
If you can buy an alternative digital currency with any other type of currency, you can be certain that it can and will be manipulated by billionaires, bankers and any other greedy bugger who want’s to get richer and see you poorer.
It’s a game they have rigged and we have no chance of winning.
That’s why we need to play a totally different game, one where they are not invited and have zero ability to influence our currency.
Please raise your hands if you would be interested in using this alternative currency or at the very least, learning more?
Everyone in the room, thousands of people raised their hands. There wasn't a single person who didn't.
“I’m glad” said charlie, this will make transitioning to a utopia much much easier”.
A man in the crowd stood up and yelled out “But what about cash, if they wanted to stop us from doing business they would just turn off the internet, we still need cash”.
“You are free to continue using national currency cash alongside The Freedom Credit.
It’s a huge endeavour to make a cash version to exist along side the digital version.
If you have a plan on how we can implement a cash version too, I’d be happy to hear it, do you have any ideas how we could implement this?” Charlie asked the man.
“Well, no, but I know we still need cash”.
“I have a basic idea that we could use home based 3d printers that somehow make a physical cash version that uses a unique identifier code, but I haven’t had time to fully flesh that idea out.
If anyone else has any plans or ideas about how we can easily and efficiently make a cash system of The Freedom Credit, please approach me after the meeting and we can organise a catch up to discuss.”
A few more points I would like to touch on, starting with loans.
Something that makes national currency appealing is the ability to get a large sum of money in advance, that can be used to start up a business, buy a new car or a house.
This makes standard banks very attractive.
If it wasn’t for the interest fee’s, I’d agree.
For example, let’s say you want to buy a new house for $500,000 in Australia and you want it on a 30 year term repayment.
Do you know how much you would actually be paying back with interest included, on average?
A 6.04% interest rate would mean that you would be paying more interest than the amount you borrowed.
A mind boggling $583,000 worth of interest.
That is absolutely mad.
They literally made the money out of thin air and they want you to pay them more than double in return?
That’s if you are even eligible for the loan in the first place!
If you wanted a 500,000 Freedom credit loan, do you know how much you would repay?
The amount you borrowed of course!
500,000!
Why would you pay back anymore?
It’s just numbers in a computer, that’s all.
You only pay back what you borrowed, no more and no less.
Now you may ask, why pay back anything at all?
Well, if you were to borrow 500,000 credits and not have to pay it back, would you keep working and contributing to the town?
Maybe, maybe not.
Until the time comes when we’re able to fully transition into a moneyless society, which will take time, we need to build structured bridges like The Freedom Credit to get us to the Utopian moneyless society that is the true goal.
So what about eligibility?
Who can borrow how much and what are the terms?
Simple.
Once you've earned a minimum 10,000 credits, you're eligible to borrow up to 5 times that amount.
For example, 50,000 credits.
This is to help launch new start up business's with easy access to a quick line of credits.
If you'd like to borrow more, you need to be generating a minimum of 0.1% per week of the asking amount.
Example:
Henry wants 100,000 credits to buy a boat.
In the last two months, Henry needs to have been making a minimum 100 credits per week and provide one friends account to act as guarantor.
If he wants a 200,000 loan, then 200 per week, 300,000 loan then 300 per week etc..
It’s also an easy way to always know how much you are eligible to borrow, as the eligibility requirements stay the same.
The guarantors are just there to act as an incentive for you to keep earning Freedom Credits.
It’s a much more friendly system than needing to put your house or other assets up as collateral, as many people don’t have expensive assets to leverage loans against.
Again, this way more people can have the things they want and need and everyone benefits, except the banks!
The crowd clapped and cheers in appreciation of Charlie’s fantastic ideas.
“Now the boring part, paying the loan back.”
Charlie let out a sigh.
“Alright, well, the way you pay it back is so easy you don’t even need to think about it.
10% of all your incoming transactions are automatically deducted and come off your balance.
If you earn 10,000 credits in a week, then 1,000 automatically goes towards repaying your loan.
If you only earn 300 credits in a week, then only 30 credits is paid off the loan.
It’s a fair system based upon the amount you earn.
So it takes you as long as it takes to pay it back.
If you want to pay it back sooner, of course you can.
Once you start experiencing the amazing benefits of using Freedom Credits, you’ll start to rely less and less on national currency and only use it when you have to.
Of course, there may be loopholes which some lazy bugger decides to exploit.
That’s Ok.
Because they can only spend credits supporting our business’s anyway.
And the goal isn’t to keep using The Freedom Credit forever.
This is merely a bridging tool that hopefully, I’m not sad to say this at all, isn't around for long.
My last point is that I am the master mind behind the The Freedom Credit.
Unfortunately, for me, this does not mean I will have unlimited access to funds.
I thought about it, but it just seems to be asking for more trouble than it’s worth.
It’s best that everyone have exactly the same playing field, even the creator.
We don’t want another Rothschild central banker issue now do we?”
“Here here” someone yelled in the crowd, along with many others who said some pretty vile and foul things they would like to do to the richest family in the world.
Charlie laughed.
“Those poor buggers. They don’t realise it yet, but all their money is going to be worth less than the paper it’s printed on.
Once The Freedom Credit is up and running, I may simply ask for donations or maybe I’ll have to get off my lazy ass for once and do something.
The crowd laughed and whooped in support of Charlies style.
“I’m happy to give you half of my 5,000 bonus if we get this thing working!” shouted a young lad in the second row.
“Yeah me too” echoed many people in the audience.
Charlie bowed his head in respect and gratitude.
“Thank you very much, only what is needed and no more. Large amounts of money can change a man and I quite like the man I am.
If you would like to learn more about The Freedom Credit, please go to this website.
“If you are able to help create this idea and make it happen, as it’s still in the concept stage, again, please come speak to me in the break or after the meeting.
Thank you all for listening, I’ll hand you back to our wonderful host for the night, Rebecca.”
The crowd clapped and cheered as Charlie walked off to the side of the stage and took a seat.
Rebecca took the stage once again.
“I hope you all enjoyed that wonderful explanation of an alternative currency and are as excited to make it happen as I am.
Please, if you are a software developer or have any other great ideas to add to the concept, help Charlie bring this idea into reality.
Next up I introduce Alex to discuss The Lore of Morality!”
Introducing Alex
A white haired man in his early 50’s walked onto the stage and addressed the crowd.
“Heaven high there fellow spirits, I’m Alex and I’m here to share the idea of morality and lore, not l-a-w but l-o-r-e.
The current system is just plain mad, they’ve gone and created millions of laws and it’s just become totally ridiculous.
If you cant break Lore down to a few simple ideas, you’re doing it wrong.
The Lore is as follows
1. Create no loss
2. Create no harm
3. Be honest and ethical in your dealings
4. Maintain the peace
Now, you are free to do as you please, whether you choose live by these Lores or not.
Just remember, there may be consequences.
Now I want to ask you a question, can you think of a situation that isn't covered by those Lores?
A middle aged man with a scruffy beard raised his hand.
“Yes mate, if I want to go into the national park where no one is living and I want to build a home there, will anyone try and stop me?”
‘Ok, so basically you’re asking if you are allowed to own, or have access to land you can call home in a geographical location that is normally off limits for people to live in. Is that right?”
“Yes mate”
“What’s your name please?”
“Henry” The bearded man said.
“Henry, what I think we should do in that situation is take it to a vote.
Great question by the way.
This is the perfect example of what we should do as a community for when we come across situations that need resolving.
We allow each side, the for and the against any particular issue, to present their reasoning, then we discuss, then we vote.
That’s the process I recommend for solving any problems, challenges or disputes that come our way, whether on an individual or group level.
Presentation, discussion, vote.
The 3 step strategy for avoiding conflict and creating resolutions.
Raise your hand if that sounds like a decent idea, or enough of an idea to at least build upon?”
Close to the whole room raised their hands.
“Would you be willing to build a small presentation of your reasoning why you believe you should be able to freely live in the national park Henry?”
Henry stood up and looked around the room. “Yes I would.”
“Anyone else who is in favour of supporting Henry is welcome to assist him in his presentation, if you would like assistance that is Henry?”
“Sure wouldn't mind it at all mate, the more heads we can put together to present our case, the better”. Henry sat down with a satisfied look on his face.
“Of course, if there is anyone that believes Henry or anyone else should not live in the national park, for whatever reason, please gather some time over the following weeks and formulate your own counter presentation.
Now, I want to add this part to clear any confusion. Let's say for instance we go through that process and the majority decide that we we actually want to preserve national parks as they are.
Henry still has the right to go and live in the national park, even though we have voted against it. We wouldn't have the right to use violent force to stop him from peacefully living on vacant bushland.
Even though Henry broke a newly formed town 'rule', he didn't violate any of the Lores. If someone used violence to stop him, they would be breaking the Lore.
Obviously it would be preferable for Henry and everyone that he and anyone else who wants to live in the national park has the blessing of the peoples council, which is the voice of the community majority.
If anyone did go live in the national park against the decision of the peoples council, you have the right to do so. In accordance with the Lore I mean. If you wanted to refuse Henry entry into your business because he violated a town rule, you could. As it's your right to choose who to interact with at your business.
Although, would that be the best way to build a peaceful and respectful society, denying someone entry to your business, just because they wanted to live on a spot of land you didn't approve of?
That's up for you to decide.
If we decided no, we don't want people living in the national park, hopefully Henry would respect our wishes.
If he still really wanted to live in a national park, he could always go to another town and persuade a different community to give their blessing for people to live in the park.
Hope I haven't put you too much on the spot Henry, I'm just trying to be thorough.
"No mate that was great, I can see it from both sides. Time will show what the outcome will be."
"That it will."
A woman stood up.
“Hi Alex, hi everyone, I’m Fiona and this is my husband Gerald.”
Gerald smiled and waved.
“We are happily married, but what if we decide to get divorced? Who decides on who keeps what and who owns what?
Gerald, pulled an animated look of surprise onto his face.
A few people scattered around the room chuckled at her ability to cut straight to the point.
“No offence of course honey, but these things do need to be discussed. What if we have children, how do we determine custody?”
Alex smiled.
“Well, I would hope as grown and responsible adults you would be able to solve such issues between yourselves.
But we know sometimes feelings are running super hot in times like divorce and outside assistance is required.
So here is what I suggest.
We build our own independent arbitration systems.
Basically a court, but not a court.
A system run by qualified and competent volunteers which cannot be influenced by money or politics.
It would be a very similar system to the above 3 step process for solving problems.
Presentation, discussion, vote.
Modern courts aren't so good for achieving justice, actually they damn right suck at it.”
Most of the crowd laughed and nodded in agreement
“But they have a few good elements we can copy and implement in our own systems.
Over time, we’ll find that more and more people will have a great comprehension of what is fair and just.
Justice should not be something only the few specialise in.
Because what is right and what is wrong often is much simpler than we have been conditioned to believe.
In our arbitration systems, we’ll need people to hear the cases.
There will be 2 unbiased judges that moderate the case and each party is able to choose their judge.
This is to ensure fairness and competency.
It’s very common nowadays for people to go into court and be dealt a judge who hasn't the slightest idea about morality.
They may be competent criminals, draining their victims of cash and sentencing then to extended periods of torture.
When it comes to justice though, totally incompetent.
I don't know what you call being locked in cage, but I call it for what it is.
It’s torture and it doesn't solve a bloody thing!”
The crowd nodded in agreement with his passionate delivery.
“So, each party is in control of which judge they would like to hear the case.
Now, we need a jury.
We can’t just have 2 judges decide on the case, especially if they disagree.
So we have a jury of 5 random volunteers to assist the process.
The two disputing parties go to the arbitration centre which is run by volunteers.
They follow the procedure of the court room and present their stories.
In today's system, most people pay an enormous amount of money for a professional lawyer to help them get punished.
Not a good system.
If you have a mouth, you can speak for yourself.
Unless you have a speech difficulty of course or for whatever reason, really do require someone else to speak on your behalf.
That should be a rarity though, not the norm.
This shifting of responsibility to speak for one self is not healthy and not helpful.
Unless you want to be a rich lawyer that is.
There is no need to be afraid when going through a dispute process like you normally would in modern court systems.
That’s because modern court systems are punishment and revenge centres, not centres for justice.
Our community led systems would be focused on the R system.
Remedy.
Resolution.
Rectification.
Rehabilitation.
We’ll aim to come to an equitable and fair outcome for both parties, doing our best to ensure it’s a win win for both sides.
The mentality of win lose is outdated and barbaric.
We are so much better than that.
Now that I mention it, we really dont even want win win.
Think about it, where do you have winners and losers? In sport.
That's why they call it a 'court'. Because it is a sport to them, who can they make lose and how can they win.
They make it a game of competition and pit us against each other.
Even the notion of calling it win win implies the possibility that someone could have lost.
Hopefully I don't need to point out how this is the wrong mentality.
We don't want losers and we dont want winners. We want to settle and resolve disputes and crimes that have been commited.
That's why we need to create our community arbitration centres and stop using their 'courts'.
So we can help solve problems, not create more of them.
Making a game out of playing with peoples lives is sick.
It needs to stop and it needs to stop now.
We must learn how to reach equitable and corrective solutions for everyone.
Even in serious cases like murder and rape.
Instead of saying ‘how best should we make them pay’?
We need to ask the question, why did this happen?
What trauma did that person experience to commit such a terrible act out of alignment with their true nature?
How can we make sure the society we live in does not contribute towards such negative behaviour?
What can we do to help this poor person who has murdered or raped someone?
Having a murderer pay money to the victims family will not bring them back.
No amount of compensation will change what they did.
But perhaps their mental recovery and transformation in a rehabilitation centre could offer some piece of mind.
At the very least, we wouldn't be accomplices to torture and we would be giving someone the chance to heal and become a valuable member of society.
In our current day, murderers and rapists get punished and tortured inside a cage for 20+ years and then are relseased back into the world.
Sure, they have 'paid' for their crime.
But the question is, who do you want as your neighbour?
The criminal who has just been tortured for 25 years, or the man who did something wrong because he was hurt and has now been healed and transformed into the standard of morality?
Just a quick show of hands now what you would prefer.
If you did something wrong, would you vote to be locked into a cage for 20+ years in harsh conditions?”
No one raised their hands.
“If you did something wrong, would you prefer to go to a rehab centre for however long it takes to fix whatever caused you to do something wrong? Which in most cases if we do rehabbing right, should be far, far less than 20 years.”
Many people raised their hands in support of this idea.
“What is justice if not fixing whatever caused the problem in the first place, so that it never happens again?
If it doesn’t prevent the same crime from occurring again, it’s not justice.
Why keep someone locked up for longer than necessary?
Sure someone may be locked up in a rehab centre if they murder someone, but the conditions would be very good and they would be treated with respect and if they choose to follow the rehab program, they would only need to be there for as long as it takes to heal. No longer and no shorter.
The best way to defeat an enemy is to make them your friend.
Revenge is the fuel for a vicious cycle that never ends.
It’s understandable to want to hurt someone who hurt you.
But it doesn't solve the problem of why they hurt you and it doesn't stop them from hurting you or others in the future.
Vengeance is an animalistic tendency, rehabilitation and cures are for civilised mankind.
It depends on what you care about more, revenge, or justice?
Do you want to part of the problem or the solution?
Do you want to spiral back down to where we came from, where we are now, a cesspit of injustice?
Living worse than animals?
Or do you want to try another way?”
The crowd had
serious deep looks of concentration on their faces. They had never
heard anything like this before, but many of them could already feel
that Alex was right. His argument was just making sense.
“I know there will still be many questions and ‘what about this and what about that’s’ but for now, I think that’s enough for one night.
I know that was a long explanation, but did that answer your question Fiona?”
Fiona had sat down by this point and had been leaning her head against Gerald’s shoulder.
She sat up straight and answered, “Yes, thank you for the thorough explanation, I’d like to have more of an input when the time comes to create our own arbitration systems.”
“Great, I’ll be glad to have your ideas contributing to the new systems.
Please give me a show of hands who enjoyed that presentation and would be interested in hearing more?”
Over half the room raised their hands.
“Beauty.
Well, I look forwards to sharing more another time and working with anyone else who is interested in expanding upon these ideas.
Thank you for your attention, I will take my leave.”
“Great thank you very much Alex for that explanation of Lore and morality. I know I sure find that system much more preferable than government legislation!
Ok, Theresa, please share what a real democracy looks like.”
Introducing Theresa
“Hi everyone, Theresa here.
Sometimes it can be easier to show you how something works rather than explain it.
I’m going to show you some examples of modern democracy and real democracy and see if you can spot the difference.
So right now, you’re all going to be voting for whether myself or Rebecca is going to be the mayor of Frocksville.”
A group of men violently stood up and yelled at Theresa.
“The whole point of this meeting is so we don't have crazy people thinking they can be the boss of us all and now you go and declare we have a choice of dictatorship between you or her”!?
Theresa laughed. “I’m very glad you know what an involuntary society looks like, but this is just an example.
A real democracy doesn't have mayors and isn't like modern democracy in the respect of only being able to choose your dictator."
“Oh, sorry” The group of men sat back down and crossed their arms.
“Don’t be sorry, I’m glad we have such passionate men attending the meeting, we can’t make this happen without a bit of masculine energy” She said as she winked at them.
They looked at each other with cheeky grins and uncrossed their arms.
“Ok, so back to the purely theoretical examples of modern democracy and real democracy.
Rebecca wants to increase GST to 15% so she can install more security cameras and hire more police to increase town safety.
I want to leave GST at 10% but introduce 14 new tax laws so we can build a new military base in town, just in case there is civil unrest that needs to be put down quickly.
So who do you vote for?
If you don’t vote, you will be fined and police will be coming to your house to collect the amount owed.
Hands up if you vote for me?
No hands in the room were raised.
“Raise your hands if you vote for Rebecca”.
Again, no hands were raised.
“Oh no, it looks like you are all going to be fined and be getting visits from the police!”
So that was obviously a demonstration of modern democracy.
Here’s a demo of real democracy.
Please raise your hands if you would like me to get off stage now so Larry can explain community protection.”
A few people raised their hands.
“Oh my, I’m sorry you feel that way!”
The crowd laughed.
“Ok, raise your hand if you would like me to continue my democracy show and tell?”
Most of the crowd now raised their hands with smiles on their faces.
“See, how simple is that, democracy!
The crowd clapped and smiled.
"Since most of you voted for me to continue, more than 51%, which is the amount to be considered a majority, then I shall keep demonstrating what real democracy looks like.
So here’s another one.
Who wants taxes increased by 5%?”
No one raised their hands.
“Who votes to have police go door to door collecting that increase in taxes that they didn't vote to support?”
No one raised their hands.
“Ok, that’s good to see.
Now, who votes to have another community meeting like this at 6.00pm next Sunday?
Before they could vote, a lady stood up with her hand raised.
“Excuse me Theresa, may I speak for a moment?”
“Yes of course you may.”
“I think if we are going to be finishing at 9.30pm, that’s getting a bit late, what if we were to start at 5.30pm instead of 6pm?”
“Ok team, let’s put it to the vote, who would prefer 5.30pm?”
About 70% of people raised their hands.
“And 6pm”?
The rest raised their hands.
“Ok well, I don't need to count every hand to see that 5.30pm is more popular. That’s settled then.
Ok, back into it.
Who votes that the speed limit should be reduced by 10kmph everywhere in town and that if you get caught going at the old speed, you will be fined?”
No one raised their hands.
“Good as that would be really silly now wouldn’t it?”
People nodded in agreement.
“Michael has an idea to build special radio towers that will allow us free access to the internet, meaning you won’t have to pay for home WiFi or mobile data anymore when you’re in Frocksville.
Who votes that they would support the idea of building these towers, as long as they are proven to be 100% safe?”
Most people raised their hands.
“I’m asking for a volunteer who didn’t raise their hand to share why they wouldn't support such an idea please”.
A woman stood up and started speaking.
“We already have too many towers in town that emit harmful radiation that’s affecting our kids and causing depression.
It’s just not safe.
Theresa said “If we made sure through proper testing that our new towers would be safe and we decided to replace all the harmful towers in the town with safe towers, would you then support the idea”?
“Well, yes, yes I would” Said the lady as she sat down.
“Wonderful.
“Greg has an idea of building a free energy device, a machine that can power your home indefinitely, require no maintenance and will be very cheap to purchase.
It would decentralise our power grid, making it less likely you would lose power from weather events or accidents at a centrlaised power facility.
It would also make all your electricity free of course.
As long as it’s proven to be 100% safe, would you vote to support Greg’s idea so then everyone in Frocksville can have one of these devices in their home to generate free electricity?”
Most people raised their hands.
"If you were able to have access to the design and step by step instruction manual of this free energy device, would you consider building it for yourself?"
Many hands were raised.
“Arnold wants to begin replacing damaged sections of road with a new prototype made from recycled plastic, called plasroad.
This idea will use plastic rubbish that has been recycled to make roads that are 250% stronger, estimated to last 780% longer and are 300% cheaper to build.
Hands up if you
would prefer to stick with our current method of building roads where
you are taxed on your petrol, registration and income to continuously
pay for the repair of roads? Which when it comes to the roads that are built nowadays, is about every 6 weeks or so!
No one placed their hand in the air, but the crowd did laugh and nodded in agreement, acknowledging all the poor quality roads.
“Hands up if you would prefer to start implementing Arnold’s idea of plasroad?
Almost everyone raised their hand.
“A volunteer please who didn’t raise their hand”? Inquired Theresa.
A man stood up and said “Because I have a blueprint I’m ready to build that will make cars hover. We won’t need roads then.”
“Well that’s a fantastic idea and I hope to see your presentation at a meeting very soon” answered Theresa.
“Gerry has an idea of building cars that have a free energy device powering them, very similar to Greg’s idea, an electromagnetic engine that never runs out of fuel and doesn't require any maintenance or very little. This would mean you wouldn't have to pay for petrol ever again and car maintenance cost would dramatically decrease.
Would you vote to support this idea?”
Most raised their hands.
“A volunteer please?”
A young man wearing a baseball cap stood up “I like petrol cars, they’re fun”.
“Of course, I can see the attraction, it’s the smell isn’t it? Joked Theresa.
“No one would be taking your petrol cars from you, you could still use them if you like, or just keep it as a hobby for race tracks.
Similar to how we don’t rely on horses for transportation anymore but people still ride horses.”
“Yeah true, that’s a fair point” answered the baseball cap man.
“Hands up to vote to keep petrol cars, maintenance, paying for petrol, paying for petrol tax and polluting the environment, as the only solution for powering our cars?” Theresa added the last part just to be clear.
One old man put his hand up and said "What about electric cars"?
Theresa answered "Electric cars have a short distance they can travel before needing to be recharged. They still require power from somewhere to recharge them. The batteries are very expensive, are hard to make and last less than 10 years. They are also known to have many problems, like the batteries exploding.
Gerry has informed me that the eletromagnetic engine, which he has a working prototype, can run continuously, meaning it can go for millions of kilometeres, doesnt need to be recharged and requires very little to no maintenance. It's also very cheap to manufacture.
That's a very simple and basic explanation, I'm sure he will have a presentation of how it works in the near future.
Does that answer your question?"
The old man nodded, "that's enough info for now, I'd like to see this thing working before I actually believe it."
"Fair enough, ok onto the next idea.
“Instead of paying for yearly registration and number plates, would you prefer a system where you were issued a free plate and had the choice to record it in the town database or not, for free, would you vote for that?”
Almost everyone raised their hands.
“A volunteer please who does not support this idea?”
A short haired middle aged woman stood up.
“Well, if we aren't paying for registration, how are we going to pay to build and fix roads”?
“Via donations of course” Answered Theresa.
“Any town project that has our backing and which a form of currency is necessary to complete, we will donate.
If a cause is worth supporting, people will show their support through wilful donations.
If it’s not a cause worth supporting, well, it won’t go ahead.
This way we make sure that things only change in our town because we the people will it.
Not because a ruler said we had no other choice.
Even better than the idea of currency donations is the idea of volunteering and resource donations.
If someone who had the resources to build a new road donated the required materials to the town, then the people needed to build it volunteered their time, we wouldn't even require monetary donations.
A touch better method then the old ‘pay your rego or else’ threat, don’t you think?
‘Yes, I think you’re right, that is a better way, thank’s for your time.” Said the short haired woman.
“My pleasure” Responded Theresa.
“If we could start using an alternative currency that there was no gst, no fees and no taxes, such as The Freedom Credit, would you consider using that currency alongside the national currency?
Everyone raised their hands.
“Aaron wants to build a football stadium on Smith avenue, would you vote to support the idea of building it there?”
Only 20% of people raised their hands.
“Do you believe that whatever we decide here in Frocksville, we have the right to enforce our decisions onto our neighbouring towns?
The crowd looked a bit confused at this question.
“Ok I’ll say that another way. If we decide that we will use the freedom credit here in Frocksville, do you think we should be able to force people in our neighbouring town, Shermanville, that they must also use The Freedom Credit?”
Three people raised their hands.
“A volunteer please for why you support forcing others to do something?”
A man in his early 20’s stood up.
“Well, don't we want people to use The Freedom Credit so then we don't have to pay taxes and all that?”
“Yes that’s what we want, but as soon as we force or threaten anyone to do something against their will, we become the bad guys, we're no different than government then, it doesn't matter how good our idea is. If they want to use The Freedom Credit then they must voluntarily choose to use it. Does that make sense”?
“Oh Ok, I see now. We should let them decide to use it. If they want to use it they will. If they don’t, they won’t. Gotcha.”
“Yes that’s right.”
Theresa continued.
“Sally wants a bridge built from Frocksville to Shelter island to replace the ferry. Would you vote to support this idea?”
About half the crowd raised their hands.
“Karen would like there to be an open speed limit on the freeway going through Frocksville, do you support this idea?”
60% of people raised their hands.
“A volunteer please”?
A man wearing a blue shirt stood up.
“It’s just too dangerous”.
“Do you know that studies show it’s not speed which is dangerous, it’s lack of concentration?
It’s much more difficult to be distracted when going fast than when going slow, but I hear your concerns.
Perhaps this next idea may help.
“Peter would like to build a driver education track and facility so we can have a higher level of training for drivers to improve skills and safety on the road.
It would be a free of charge course run by volunteers and the system would be modelled off professional race car drivers, who have to be the best drivers in the world.
Would you vote for this idea to be implemented?”
Everyone raised their hands, especially the blue shirted man.
“Susan doesn't like it how people in the community take drugs, but she likes it even less when they get punished for doing so.
She wants to abolish the idea that punishment is the answer for taking drugs and instead build a facility to help educate people on the dangers of drugs and provide a safe place to assist them coming off drugs.
This would be a free of charge service offered to help people who have drug problems.
Since this is two topics in one, I’ll ask each question separately.
Do you support the idea of violent force and punishment being used against people who take drugs, I don't mean people who take drugs and drive or cause trouble, just people taking drugs and behaving peacefully at home?”
No one raised their hands.
“Do you support the idea of allowing people to make their own choices and to take drugs?”
80% of people raised their hands.
“Do you support the idea of building a drug support and rehab centre in town and offering a free service to help those in need?”
Everyone raised their hands.
“Do you support the idea of building homeless shelters and providing a safe place for those people to get back on their feet?”
Everyone raised their hands.
“Do you support the idea of installing 60 new security cameras around town?”
Only 15% of people raised their hands.
“Do you support the idea of having more police checkpoints for alcohol breath testing?”
Only 10% of people raised their hands.
“Do you support the idea of developing self driving cars that use free energy engines that have been proven safe and could operate like a free Uber service for in town?”
Most people raised their hands.
“A volunteer please?”
A dark skinned man stood up.
“I work as an Uber driver now, I would lose my job if this happened.”
“If you were able to find or create a new job that you enjoyed more and which paid better, would you support this idea?”
“Well, it’s not that easy finding a new job you know”…..
“If we came up with a solution to help people like you transitioning away from jobs that machines can do and helped you find your place doing something else that only a human can do, would you like that”?
“Well yes, if there was a system to help, that would be Ok then”.
“Beautiful” Said Theresa before continuing.
“Do you support the idea of more random compliance checks by police to ensure you are obeying national policy?”
No one raised their hands.
“Do you support the idea of a new recycle bin offered free of charge for every house dedicated to metals?”
Most raised their hands.
“A volunteer please”?
A pot bellied man in his 60’s stood up.
“I have a car yard and I keep lot’s of metal, I don’t want to go giving it away for nothing”.
“As is your right, no one would force you to recycle things you wanted to keep.
The choice is yours.
The metal recycle bin would be optional for those who think they could value from it.
Would that make you change your mind and support the idea”?
“Oh yeah that’s alright then, I just don’t want anyone taking my metal”.
The crowd laughed.
“Do you support the idea of building a tram line through the middle of town?
50% of people raised their hands.
Do you vote to remove the current town policy of requiring a permit to build on your own land?
80% of people raised their hands.
As you can clearly see, this is how real democracy works.
There is no rulership or authority required.
People simply come up with ideas, present them to the community and the people vote yay or nay to implement said idea.
It really is super simple.”
“What about for those people who aren't at the meeting, how do they have their say? Piped up an elderly woman sitting at the front.
“Would you vote for the idea of building a community based app where you can see all current ideas being suggested and vote online as well as in person at these meetings?”
Most people raised their hands.
“Does that answer your question mam?
“Oh yes thanks that’s a good idea, but I’m not so good at technology, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to use it.”
“Please raise your hand if you would be able to offer assistance to, what’s your name ma’am?”
“Alberta.”
“To Alberta here?”
At least 10 people raised their hands.
“As you can see Alberta, many people would be willing to help you.”
“Oh that really is excellent, thank you all!”
“Is there anyone in the room who could develop and build the app?”
Several people raised their hands.
“Fantastic!
Who would now like to here from Larry about community protection?”
People half heatedly raised their hands.
“We want to hear more from you!” Someone called out.
Theresa laughed.
Ok ok, I'll leave you with this summary.
Modern democracy is voting for which dictator you would like to make every decision for the next however many years.
Real democracy is everyone voting all the time on every decision.
Ok, I’ve spoken enough for now.
What Larry has to say is very
important, so over to Larry.
Larry walked out on to the stage.
“Well, I know when I’m welcome don’t I!
Raise your hands if you want to hear about community protection and security!
People laughed and raised their hands.
Introducing Larry
Larry held the mic and began speaking.
"A good way to clearly see my idea is to take a look at what we have now.
Currently the responsibility and duty of protecting people and maintaining peace has fallen to a small group of thugs called the police.
Per individual, they rank as the most effective criminals the world has ever seen.
Strange that we rely on the people who cause the most crime to protect us from crime.
And look, I’m not having a dig at police here.... well actually I am as someone has to say it like it really is.
Most reasonable people are scared shitless of cops.
They see a cop on the road and they instantly have heart palpitations.
Most people only follow ‘the rules’ because they are scared of getting fines or assualted by police.
Most of us good blokes and gals are far more worried about the coppers than about any other unorganised criminals.
It’s the organised criminals who are always the most dangerous.
Some people say, 'I saw a cop doing something good once' they aren't all bad'.
You know, I once saw a man who was famous in the southern part of this country for being a brutal biker.
A gangster who tortured people who didn't pay up.
I saw him help an old lady carry her groceries to her car one day.
This was undoubtedly a good deed.
But did it excuse all the other crime he committed and make up for it all?
Well of course not.
He was still a gangster, he had just done one good deed.
Which is better than nothing, but it would be better if he stopped being a gangster all together!
There is no such thing as a good cop. Just like there is no such thing as a good rapist, a good carjacker or a good serial killer.
Except a cop is much worse, as their actions are legitimised and have public approval as noble and honourable.
Rapists and serial killers don't usually work in organised groups with an array of the latest weapons and equipment.
It's much easier to stop a lone rapist or murderer than it is to stop an organised gang such as the police. This is why the police are by far the most dangerous threat to any peaceful individuals or societies.
Overall, people who engage is such evil behaviour are bad people.
They may do good things from time to time, but their general philosophy towards life and other people is immoral and objectively wrong.
But look, they’re also victims of the same trickery we’ve all fallen for at some point or another.
The best way to defeat an enemy is to turn them into friends.
Yes, at the moment, the police are our enemies, that’s just the harsh truth.
We all know who they work for and it sure as heck ain’t us.
They only follow orders from politicians who write the laws, they don't give a damn about morlaity or doing the right thing, all they care about is ensuring they have a paycheck and the way they do that is by being obedient.
But, it may be possible to befriend these people and bring them back to the light side.
We owe it to ourselves to try at any rate.
I mean it will take a better man or woman than me to convince the police to stop serving the dark side, but hey, someone has to try, just not me!
If there are any coppers in the room now, please don’t hit me with your whacky sticks, I have a freedom of speech and ain’t hurting anyone, calm down.
Anyways, enough about my rant.”
The crowd laughed.
“Back to the structure of what happens today.
Whenever there’s trouble, instead of people resolving issues themselves or calling their neighbours to help, they call upon a central command to come and save the day.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it could be better.
If a fight broke out down the street in front of a bar, normally people call the police to break it up and then to arrest and detain the two fellas.
They then take them through a lengthy judicial proceeding that ends up punishing them both through fines or even locking them into a cage.
Instead of going down that route, which might only discourage further fights because of fear of punishment, we use a different method.
And for the record, before I continue, I want to state that I do not support the idea of punishment and revenge, I stand by rehabilitation, resolution, remedy and rectification.
The R system Alex was talking about.
Even for those dirty
coppers, yes even you bastards deserve the right to be rehabilitated. Maybe, that is up for serious debate I have to admit as their crimes are worse than the average petty criminal.
If all of the above doesn't work, then and only then may punishment be an option, although this would be in very rare cases and not the standard practice.
Ok, back to the fight example, Say for instance that same fight broke out in front of the bar.
Instead of calling the police, the people around the fight break it up, which to be fair, does happen frequently even today.
The friends and surrounding people break up the fight and then insist that the two brawlers actually continue the fight, surprising I know, but hear me out.
They suggest to continue the fight, but not right now.
They suggest to go to the towns martial arts facility the next day when they’re sober so they can punch it out in the ring, which is a controlled environment.
What’s likely to happen is that by the next day, the alcohol has worn off and they don't want to fight anymore, or if they do, they go to the centre, fight the other guy with gloves on in a ring with a ref and certain rules that make sure they don't accidentally kill or maim each other.
Or there could be dedicated 24/7 boxing rings located near a cities bar district which they head to right away.
There's also a high chance through this experience they are able to actually drop their differences and become mates.
It’s weird I know, but men can be strange.
Beating each other up has been known to bring many a men together.
All this ‘I’m going to sue you’ nonsense only breeds hate.
So that's one example of not needing police and how community protection does not have to be literal people volunteering to fit a role and function.
Community protection can be embedded into society through clever ideas and technical solutions like this.
Although of course it’s better to prevent the fight from happening in the first place, which can be done when one looks themselves in the mirror and figures out their shit.
Also better education about the dangers and downsides of alcohol and more intelligent entertainement options other than behaving like idiots.
Plus a town full of people volunteering their time to help is also useful.
Another big factor is to give responsibility back to the people.
If you see something happening in front of you that is wrong, you have the right to do what you can to stop it then and there, if you have the courage, confidence and skill to handle a situation, then do so.
Modern society has programmed us that we are not allowed to step in and resolve situations and it has to be done by “professionals”, lest we be punished for trying to do the right thing.
Obviously if a situation is to be handled by an amateur or a professional, it's always better to opt for the professional, but in real life, matters can be time relevant and a pro may not be available and action taken by an amateur is better than no action.
Not everyone has the confidence or skills to resolve violent situations, but you sure feel a lot more confident stepping into a situation when you know your initiative will be backed up by all the others around you who are inspired to help because of your initial bravery.
Instead of calling the police when you hear a domestic dispute next door, you knock on your neighbours door to grab some back up then head over to the disputing house and assist where you can.
That’s what police do anyways, they are just people like you and me, they are not special.
The idea of community protection is 5 pronged.
I’ll slowly get around to explaining all 5 points, one step at a time.
First is to
implement better technical solutions such as encouraging fights to
take place in the ring or by having better educational programs about alcohol or by inspiring different forms of entertainment which don't revolve around drugs and booze.
Second is to encourage people to take more action themselves and to become more responsible for the things they care about, such as community protection and peoples safety. Essentially empowering the common man to work in the name of justice when their is an absolute need.
When people in the community are aware of the Lore & morality in general and feel empowered to step up and do the right thing, we’ll see a lot more good people ready to take action then in society now.
Compare having only a small group of people dedicated to town safety and security, such as the police, compared to everyone in the town dedicated to safety and security, it’s an absolute no contest.
Third is to copy the idea of the police, the system where you have a group of volunteers dedicated to community protection, and instead of using that system for harm, population control and political enforcement, that group of volunteers act out the idea that police are meant to represent.
To protect the innocent and peaceful.
With the third idea, what we could do is have people volunteer to be part of the towns Community Protectors.
There would be no rank or hierarchy, only people with more experience and skill and some with less.
Hierarchy is only necessary when it is required. Hierarchy is only required when the purpose of an organisation or group cannot be successfully achieved without hierarchy.
If a project or purpose of an organisation would lead to chaos without hierarchy, then it's needed.
If hierarchy leads to increased order and effectiveness, then it is required.
As we have seen demonstrated, hierarchy in groups that involve force, such as police, only leads to more chaos and tyranny.
This is why it is so important to structure Community Protectors in a way that they can effecitvely operate without needing hierarchy.
The nature of Community Protectors are individuals who work as decentrlaised members part of an organisation that operates on centralised principles.
Every individual who volunteers to be a Community Protector would be doing so as a volunteer who is not getting paid and who can quit at any time.
They would all be trained on Objective Morality and would receive special martial arts training that can be used to break up fights with the least possible damage to the opponent.
They would not be following the orders of anyone else.
They would all use their own initiative to work together and to make the best judgement calls they can for each situation.
There would be no one who controls all of the community protection volunteers and who has ‘authority” to tell them what to do.
Instead of a lion commanding a herd of sheep, it’s like having a pride of alpha lions working together.
Are you really alpha if you can’t work co-operatically with other alphas?”
“They all act independently and only respond to injustices committed in front of them and to calls from people requiring extra help.
Which to be frank, if we do this right, or even close to right, calls should be once in a blue moon.
That’s how we measure success.
If we keep getting calls from people needing help, obviously things need improving, don’t they?”
People nodded in agreement.
“If no one in a town call’s for help, must be a pretty safe and respectable town aye?”
A gentleman at the front said “Seem’s obvious when you put it like that…”
“That’s right, this ain’t rocket science.
It’s all a piece of cake when you deprogram the nonsense those greedy buffoons have conditioned us to believe.
To be very clear, an injustice is only when a lore of morality is breached and there is a clear victim.
If you were to safely pass through an empty intersection, except there was a red light, why on earth should you be punished for that?
Nothing happened, except you safely drove through an intersection!
There needs to be either a victim, someone that was very close to being a victim or the intention to cause a victim, for there to be an injustice.
Let me say that again.
If you didn't hurt someone, didn't come close to hurting someone and had no intention of hurting anyone, then no injustice has occurred.
Sure there may be some fine details about specific situations, which Objective Morality as a whole covers, but for now I hope you get the point.
The point is, for there to be a crime, there must be a victim.
Think about all the times when you’ve been punished when you didn’t commit a crime.
Now try and tell me we don’t desperately need change…”
A man that had called out earlier called out once more “You can say that again!”
The crowd cheered and clapped.
Larry continued without skipping a beat.
“Every volunteer who would like to join the community protectors would have to pass specific tests to show that they know the difference between right and wrong and are unable to become corrupted.
As any peoples biggest threat is always from approved and legitimised military forces that start off as protection groups like this.
Just look at the current police force, they have become the greatest threat to our freedom and well being that exists.
Unless you live in a peaceful oil rich country without a central bank, then it’s foreign armies that are your biggest threat.
So how can we ensure we have a safe town that is able to deal with fights, domestic violence, disputes and the main issue, protect ourselves from organised terrorist forces like police and other government alphabet agencies, CIA, FBI and all the rest?
So step 1 is implementing better ideas for problems. Or as some nowadays say, ‘technical solutions’.
Step 2 is everyone stepping up and doing their part, no matter how big or small. Every single voice of reason counts, more than you know I’d say.
I want to give you a quick example here.
If a mans beating up his wife and the whole street comes to the house to intervene, even the little old lady saying ‘no stop that’ is going to make an impact on the husband changing his behaviour.
The more people of the same mind standing and speaking for justice, the more likely that justice will prevail.
The standard you walk past and ignore is the standard you accept.
Step 3 is to start a volunteer based community protection service.
Step 4 is to try and win police and military to our side and join the good guys.
Step 4 will be the hardest to implement, but if we work together, it may be possible to show them that there is a better way.
Now, another strategy to improve town safety, that many people may find controversial, is gun ownership.
Carrying guns is part of step 1 as its a technical solution for maintaining peace and preventing crime.
Gun ownership is not as scary a thing as many people may think.
The opposite is actually far scarier, not being able to own a gun.
Imagine only the bad guys being able to have access to weapons. Not good!
You see, owning a gun and knowing how to use it evens the playing field.
“Now Alberta” The elderly lady in the front row waved “is able to defend herself from a 100kg man who may be trying to rob her.”
Alberta said “Oh I pity the fool who comes to my home and try’s to burgle me!”
The crowd laughed loudly.
“Without guns, crime can be very one sided to whoever is bigger and stronger.
The bad guys don't care about rules or laws or morals and values.
If they are going to commit crime, they may use a gun if they feel it will help them perform crime better.
The only way to really deal with this threat is to have more guns in the hands of the good guys.
The media tries to make it appear that the wild wild west in America was a wild place to live because everyone had guns.
Not true.
When everyone has a gun, the likelihood of crime drops significantly.
If you were a criminal, would you be more or less likely to try and rob a house if you knew that they would be armed?
Look at Switzerland now.
Most people have a semi-automatic rifle in their homes and crime
is virtually zero from what I've heard.
Now, I’m not suggesting just anyone can get a gun.
What I am suggesting is that you be required to pass a psychological profile to make sure you are of healthy mind and know when to use a gun and when not to.
You’d obviously
have to thoroughly understand Objective Morality.
You could get your ticket through any qualified psychologist who is trained in gun profiling, then you need to pass a physical workshop which educates and trains you how to use firearms safely.
When I first got my gun license, there was none of this. No psych profile, no practical training, no morality checking, nothing.
Of course, bad guys could still get guns, but it would be much more difficult.
The current system now for gun control is a laughable bunch of amateurs.
Our system will be far more professional than what we've seen so far.
What I’m suggesting is a big step up in safety compared to what we do now and it also increases more freedom by allowing people to have access to any and all types of weapons and it increases safety of the town by putting everyone on the same playing field.
Bad guys are going to have guns regardless of the rules or laws.
The best way to solve this is to have more good guys with guns.
The more good guys with guns, the less likely bad guys with guns will use them.
Of course, as always it would be your choice whether you own and carry a gun.
This is also a massive deterrent for foreign invaders.
If a foreign military were attempting to invade and occupy, it would be much much harder for them to do so if every able bodied man and woman owned military grade hardware and had at least basic weapons training.
Instead of only relying on a small group of people part of a centralised army to protect us, which is normally less that 1% of the population, we could have the whole population armed.
If that’s not a deterrent to foreign invaders, then I don't know what is!
Along the topic of militaries and weapons, I also suggest we form a local militia.
This would be full of volunteers who would like to form our own local army, air force or navy, depending on our resources.
This local militia will reflect the same values that the rest of the community does.
Based upon voluntarism, respect, objective morality, real democracy and team work.
Now, in an organisation like the militia, a hierarchy does become more important.
Hierarchy is not
always a bad thing. It’s just that in reality, a hierarchy is not needed as often as it's utilised nowadays.
When I say hierarchy I mea as in “You better do what I say now otherwise we are all screwed” kinda hierarchy.
If we’re on a ship and a storms coming and the captain says “All sails set to starboard” yet you try sail to port, well we’re going to have a problem.
If a squad leader in combat says “Hold here and provide covering fire for bravo team to approach from the east” but you decide to charge in from the west, well you may get blue on blued.
Killed by friendlies.
Sometimes a hierarchy is necessary.
But it should be based on skill, experience and respect.
Just because someone has more skill and experience does not mean they are a better person and suddenly have the right to treat you like a piece of shit.
That would be proving they are the one wrong person for the job of being the leader now wouldn't it?
Military structure and captaining ships are some of the rare exceptions.
Project specific leadership, related to the town completing community projects, is different from this kind of hierarchy, as you can quit anytime without dire consequences.
So it’s more consensual agreement to respect the leader and follow their lead.
Now, this militia is made purely from volunteers.
You would not get paid and you could leave at anytime.
You could train as often or as infrequently as you would like.
Everyone would be treated with respect.
To gain rank, you must be voted into position by the people around you.
You cannot just automatically be given a position higher than your comrades.
You must earn it and you can be voted out of that position of leadership at any time.
If these ideas spread, then every town would form their own local militia.
This way, no one militia can have too much power.
Instead of having one giant army controlled by one general and only in specific geographical areas like military bases in capital cities, you would have lots of smaller militia centres everywhere, in every town.
This is also a huge deterrent against foreign militaries.
It’s much harder to invade a country that has armed forces everywhere then it is to invade a country that has armed forces only in certain key areas.
We could have all
the best tech, hardware, vehicles and equipment we can build.
Budget wouldn't be an issue on what gear we could have, especially when reach step 10, a moneyless society and have advanced automation working for us.
Before we reach that stage of Utopian development, we will build or trade for whatever we need to have modern weapons, ammunition, equipment and vehicles.
All this would simply be for the ‘just in case scenario’ that a neighboring town, city or country goes mad and wants to attack us.
At least we can defend ourselves.
Again, we keep the militia decentralised to local towns and communities.
No one individual should have power over all the militias, that’s when bad things start to happen, like the military being used against the people or being used to invade other peaceful countries.
Well it's not specifically because of that, tyranny and dictatorships happen because of bad philosophies, but it makes it much easier for tyranny to occur when there is a rigid and unquestionable chain of command.
To summarise those 5 steps of community protection once again.
Step one – Technical solutions
Step two – Responsibility & initiative
Step three – Organised protection
Step four – Convert and invite
Step five – Militia
I think that’s going to be enough for today.
Who here would be interested joining a committee for brain storming ideas about community protection?
About 70 men and 50 women raised their hands.
Great, the more the merrier, it’s always good to get different points of view.
I’ll
be holding a meeting on Tuesday night here at 7pm to discuss these
ideas further with anyone who is interested.
I hope to see you there.
Chiefs & Indians
Rebecca walked back onto the stage.
“Great work Larry, excellent ideas and I hope we can implement this as soon as possible.
I know I’ll personally feel a lot safer when we have more community protectors and less police.
Let’s hope we can work together and make this happen.
Ok everyone, that’s it for the formal presentations.
I’d like to add this before we cut to a break.
There is a saying that exists for when things are not getting done right and people are competing to be in charge.
‘There’s too many chiefs and not enough Indians’.
The best way to achieve success is to know when to be a chief and when to be an Indian.
If you’re great at software development, perhaps it’s best you become a chief in that area.
But if you suck at sewerage and waste management, perhaps it’s best to be an Indian.
There is no shame in being less skilled than another in a particular field.
There is shame when pretending to be the best when you’re not.
If you try and be the chief of all things, you may become an Indian before you know it.
Learn to lead when it’s your time to lead.
Learn to support when it’s your time to support.
The leaders can’t lead with no one to lead and the supporters can’t support with no one to support.
They are both equally valuable.
As you can see, I’m not a fan of the term ‘follower’ as it tends to imply one who does not think and merely follows.
Whereas to be a supporter, you must really know what you are supporting.
I really am glad to see so many supporters of the Utopian idea here tonight.
Let’s take a break now and resume in 30 minutes for anyone who would like to take the stage.
Thank you all for being such wonderful participants in building our new society, I’m so excited and can’t wait to see where this takes us.”
The crowd clapped and cheered and heartily started to enjoy the break, chatting excitedly amongst each other.