The author will respond to these
comments
on the Dialogue with Readers page.
Please use the "Submit Comment" page to post your feedback on Toward Peace to this website. Your comments will appear on this page.webweaver - Seattle WA, USA - Sunday, January 27, 2002 at 02:05:23
Interesting vision statement. The thing that hit me was the idea of a "vision" website that becomes a movement; undergoes change and instability, reaches a global audience, evolves beyond the original document, site, and authors-- as it inches toward world peace, love, and cooperation. bob - san francisco - Tuesday, January 29, 2002 at 00:24:09
Whast yopu describe is a utopia. It is of course good to dream, but then y6ou have to realize that this is a dream. What you are missing is the humasn nature. Every system that leaves place for abuse will be abused by people. This makes your whole vision impossible. What you describe is basically communism. I agree that communism is very good in theory, provided that all people believe in it and cooperate. But take a look at what happens in real communist countries. They are not democratic at all. They are not peacefuol at all. The reason is simple. Communism leads to abuse. Taker for example your idea that people should no longer be motivated to work becvause it would give them advantages like a good income or a good status. What will happen is clear. Nobody wants to work anymore. Why would they? It brings them nothing. They have no motivation at all. What you should do is take a look at the social systems like they exist in Europe. These systems are not as drasrtic as what you propose. They arwe realistic. They still motivate people, they don't let room for abuse of the system. But they do give people most of the things you say are desired. People have security and rights and freedom. One thing you have to realize is that differences in income and in social status are necessary to make any community viable. Henk Devos - Belgium - Tuesday, January 29, 2002 at 05:35:19
First of all, a HUGE thank you for doing this. a lot of thinking and a lot of work. In general, I think it's a very good start. However, I do (of course) have some suggestions. Some big-picture issues that are either left out or minimalized: ** Energy. You talk about centralized control of energy costs, and in vague terms, about switching to renewables. I believe strongly that if the energy policies of the Carter administration had been codified in building codes and MPG requirements, we wouldn't be at war in Afghanistan. I believe, that with minimal government intervention, there could be a huge shift, without coercion. For instance: Fleet fuel consumption averages of 40 MPG or more, federally mandated; tax credits for small-scale solar and wind systems; changing building codes to require a certain R-value, low-flush toilets, separately zoned heating systems for each unit of an apartment building, and a certain percentage of energy use from renewables. Our rooftops are a tremendous resource, for solar, and also for urban food self-sufficiency. if these had been put into place for new construction in 1975, our energy picture would be very different. ** Transportation. federal highway subsidies have led directly to sprawl, vast commutes, and major traffic problems. A focus on hub-and-spoke transit systems, changing HOV lanes to minimum 3 passengers or restricting them to buses, and revitalized light rail or separate-roadway bus systems could really help revitalize inner cities and cut back on sprawl. ** Health Care: I would be more explicit in proposing a Canada-style single payer health care system, one that recognizes and funds alternative treatments, too. and I'd add death of a close family member to the qualifiers for paid leave. ** You may want to consider creating a culture of volunteerism and community service, perhaps in the compassion or good life section--the expectation that everyone will give back to make the world a better place. ** Democracy/Electoral Reform: This is not really addressed, and it should be. Creating a culture of involvement and passion in civic affairs, starting with neighborhoods, villages, and towns, and continuing to the federal and even world level.instant-runoff voting, support for proportional representation of minority parties (with a 5% threshold), citizen initiatives, Internet polls and petitions, and a complete restructuring of campaign finances--among other potential reforms. NOTE: while most of your proposal has been kicking around in one form or another--your redesign of the corporate charter is new, at least to me--and brilliant. As far as what to cut...I think if you just tightened up the language (replaced long passive sentences with shorter, active ones, for instance) and cut out some of the duplication, you'd have room for my additions. Finally, when you get all your revisions together, I'd be honored to publish it on my sustainability page. I'd also suggest you read some of the other articles there, especially the ones about Amory Lovins and John Todd. http://www.frugalfun.com/dtb.html#sustain. Once again, great work--and thanks for letting me give my two shekels. Shel Horowitz - USA - Thursday, January 31, 2002 at 13:07:07
Hey Wade Steve Dibner here, bassoonist in San Francisco Symphony. I am as always deeply impressed by your visions yet remain unable to imagine having the space in my left brain for highly intellectual input of this kind more than once every couple months. So I'm certainly not planning to add my two cents in terms of feedback other than to commend you for harnessing your brain power and your command of the English language to such lofty but essential goals. All best to you for 2002 and beyond, in solidarity, Steve D Steve Dibner - San Francisco, CA, USA - Thursday, January 31, 2002 at 15:35:34
Today we look on silently as Israeli tanks encircle the democratically elected leader of the Palestinian state. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister said today that he should have killed Yasar Arafat in Lebanon in the early l980's.
At this very moment, Sharon is being indicted in Belgium for crimes against humanity committed on Palestinian women, children and old men with his support by Lebanese Christians in the 1980's. These atrocities, past and present, could not be committed without the complete financial, political and media support of the United States. Henry Kissinger, Bush 1 & 2 and their sycophants must also be indicted for crimes against humanity.
Bush 2 wants to initiate new armed conflicts in Iraq, Iran and North Korea in addition to the ones we are now waging in Afghanistan and the Philippines.
All Americans share a collective responsibility for what is done in our name, with our monies, by our government. The legacies of the Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as Panama, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Chile and Nicaragua are still with us. Everyday the destruction and pain caused by these "foreign adventures" continues to eat away at our national psyche.
It is time again, like during the Vietnam war, for all Americans to take an unequivocal and public stand for peace. There will be no peace for us until there is peace for all. Jed Riffe - West of the Pecos - Thursday, January 31, 2002 at 16:07:02
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Wade
Have read about half of your document and scanned the remainder.
Three suggestions for now.
In first paragraph the following sentence needs slight change, "We’re not perfect, but we’ve have made much progress, especially in the last ten years."
In section re work, I believe we need affirmation of injury-free workplaces.
And I would like to see emphasis on partnerships run by concensus in the workplace.
Can't offer more now.
Thank you for your passion and involvement.
Chia
Since writing this have received the Feb '02 issue of Fast Company and would like to recommend the article on Eden Alternative Nursing Homes. Will offer more as I discover it.
In Peace
Chia Hamilton - Oakland, CA - Sunday, February 3, 2002 at 23:31:35
I like your vision -- I'm glad you are compiling it and adjusting it based on reader feedback.
I have written a 320-page book that describes a similar vision and a way to get there called Inciting Democracy: A Practical Proposal for Creating a Good Society: http://www.vernalproject.org/IcD.shtml. Note that the whole book can be downloaded from this site.
Chapter 2 of Inciting Democracy describes the main elements of a good society and then gives some examples of what a good society might look like. Appendix A lists 158 near-term policy changes in 26 categories that would move the US in that direction. The rest of the book is a specific plan for creating a good society by bolstering the work of grassroots social change activists. Chapter 12 is an annotated bibliography of many visions of a good society and how to get there.
I like that you use hyperlinks to provide references for individual policy measures. You might build on this even more: list each major policy change, link it to a list of all the individual policy changes that must be made to bring about the major policy change, and then link each of them to a resource organization. That way you can expand the list without making the initial document too large, and readers can dig deeper on any item that interests them.
I agree with all of the comments of Shel Horowitz and Chia Hamilton. A few more:
WORKPLACES: Consider the idea from Looking Forward by Albert and Hahnel that every person should have a mix of work including some intellectual and some physical.
TAXES: Consider the idea of raising income taxes to 100% for annual income more than 10 times the minimum wage to remove the incentive to engage in exploitation, corruption, and fraud. Consider the idea of raising gift taxes and estate taxes to 100% of assets over $500,000 to prevent wealth accumulated from exploitation, corruption, and fraud to be passed on to others.
AGRICULTURE: Eliminate subsidies to large, corporate farms -- price supports should only apply to organic family farms.
ENVIRONMENT: Say something specifically about building a sustainable society. You talk about continual economic growth which will can only be achieved sustainably if there is massive recycling. You should re-think the idea of continual economic growth.
POLITICS: The government sends information to every voter with detailed information about every candidate for public office (provided by the candidate, but checked for accuracy by a government agency). Candidates are also required to engage in numerous public debates before each election.
MILITARY: The UN now supports a nonviolent intervention force whose job is to intervene in military conflicts and prevent bloodshed. This force, made up of unarmed (but highly trained) people, works to undercut the hatred and misinformation that underlies military conflict and to physically intervene with their bodies -- forcing soldiers to either kill them or stop their military campaigns.
Randy Schutt - Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Friday, May 3, 2002 at 15:33:28
- - Saturday, June 8, 2002 at 04:08:51
