A VISION FOR A NEW SOCIETY
Draft: November 28, 2001
By Wade Hudson

I like your "vision" statement very much. I agree that a succinct description of what a good society would look like - something realistically grounded and achievable -- is a necessary educational tool. I hope your statement gets wide circulation. I have often been asked to  describe my "ideal society" and yours is as good as I've seen.

Howard Zinn, on the following draft of the vision statement

[NOTE: Written in the present tense from the perspective of thirty years from now, the following statement describes the United States as it could be if the American people united to make it happen.]

As we enter the fourth decade of the 21st century, the United States of America has the look and feel of a new society. We're not perfect, but we've have made much progress, especially in the last ten years. We're becoming truly democratic and caring.

Making money is no longer society's driving force. The quality of life and becoming better human beings are top priority now.

Most people work only 30 hours a week. All workers receive at least one month's paid vacation each year, as well as paid family leave in the event of a medical emergency or the birth of a child. All workers earn a living wage. Economic security for all is guaranteed.

More confident about the future, people use their increased free time to pursue their heart's desire.

They play with children, relatives, lovers, and friends.

They paint, learn photography, write poetry, play music, beautify their homes, cultivate gardens, and pursue a wide variety of other creative activities.

They participate in the religious community of their choice, exchange email with people throughout the world, join book clubs, volunteer at community centers, work with grassroots political organizations, perform in church plays, and take part in civic life in any number of other ways.

They read and surf the Web and go to lifelong learning centers.

They join support groups with people who share similar histories, take self-improvement classes of all sorts, meditate, pray, learn how to relax, appreciate solitude, and practice doing nothing.

They exercise and play sports.

They dance and go to movies and concerts.

They hike in the woods, stare at waterfalls, commune with trees, camp, travel, watch birds, listen to the ocean, sail, watch falling stars, listen to crickets, and learn to love nature in all sorts of ways.

Now, much more than before, people enjoy life. The underlying foundation of economic security enables people to focus more on appreciating each moment.

Workers who can't find a job in private business, or who prefer public service, go to the local employment office and get referred to a meaningful public-service job.

Social Security benefits provide retired persons with enough income to live decently.

Universal health insurance protects everyone from being thrown into poverty by a sudden illness or accident.

Due to a massive expansion of publicly subsidized, non-profit housing and effective rent control, affordable housing is assured everyone.

An effective federal farm program has led to a rapid growth in sustainable, organic family farms. Compared to large-scale, single-crop corporate agriculture, these farms provide healthier food, preserve the environment, and are more efficient. Small towns throughout the country have been revitalized by this rebirth in local agriculture.

Increasingly, businesses are employee-owned and -controlled. On the basis of one vote for each worker, employee-owners elect the boards of directors. Workers on all levels have a major voice in running the business, including the selection of supervisors. Truly democratic work teams are commonplace.

By giving substantial tax breaks and other support to businesses that adopt employee-controlled status, society has actively encouraged this form of enterprise. The percentage of employee-controlled businesses grows each year, resulting in increased morale, productivity, and job security. These businesses are rooted in local communities and stay there much longer than was the case with large corporations with absentee owners.

Employers in traditional businesses can no longer fire union organizers or hire replacement workers without being severely penalized. Unions are recognized when a majority of workers sign union cards.

Unions are more democratic than they used to be. Most unions, for example, now elect their national leadership directly, which was not the case decades ago. In addition, secondary boycotts are allowed so that unions can support one another's strikes. Consequently, most workers in employer-owned businesses belong to unions. This overall strengthening of unions has boosted wages and job security.

Getting promoted so that one can be "top dog" is no longer routine. Workers are learning how to be more cooperative. Cutthroat competition is fading. People learn self-respect based on simply being human and doing their best, rather than basing their self-worth on dominating people they consider inferior.

Increasingly, people respect others as human beings of equal worth. Self-determination and mutual support are more common. Relationships characterized by domination and submission are disappearing.

This shift in attitude toward living the good life is reflected in politics as well. The primary purpose of government is no longer to help the wealthy multiply their wealth. Rather, as originally stated in the Preamble to the Constitution, government's main focus now is to "promote the general welfare."

The "general welfare" is everyone's welfare. If one person is left behind, no one is secure. If anyone is considered "disposable," everyone faces the threat of neglect. If the liberty of one person is denied unfairly, no one is free. So as a society, we now affirm that all people are entitled to fundamental human rights. In particular, the United States of America is now committed to providing everyone in this country with the means to live a fruitful life as each person chooses (so long as she or he does not violate the rights of others).

The character of a society is judged by how it treats its weakest members. Consequently, since young children are most vulnerable, we, the people of the United States, assure that all children grow up in families that have sufficient income and other resources to meet their children's basic needs.

When needed, families receive wage subsidies that enable their children to live decently.

Quality childcare is available for all children. A substantial increase in salaries and training for childcare workers has resulted in a major improvement in the quality of childcare centers.

Parents who need it receive an in-home caregiver's grant during the first three years of a child's life, so that one parent can care for infants and toddlers full-time when they choose to do so. Similar in-home support is offered family members who wish to care for frail relatives.

When children are school age, a variety of after-school recreational and cultural programs at schools and parks prevent the old problem of "latch-key" children being left home alone.

Many parents are heavily involved in the operation of these childcare and after-school programs. Parents work in the centers as volunteers, participate in special events, and are invited to annual membership meetings.

All stakeholders in each center, including clients, staff, volunteers, representatives from the primary funding agency, and representatives from the surrounding neighborhood are welcome to participate in these annual membership meetings. At these meetings, members establish policy directives for how the center is to be operated and elect members to the center's governing board.

In this way, each center becomes a democratic, supportive, participatory community, open to all stakeholders, operating within official guidelines and monitored by appropriate agencies.

The same principles apply to all publicly funded social services throughout society.

Victims of physical and sexual abuse, especially women and children, require special protection. Throughout the country, small crisis centers assist these victims. Public funding is adequate to establish enough centers so that people can receive help when they need it.

Peer counselors who share similar experiences with their clients staff these centers. Staff members facilitate self-help support groups and connect victims with other services as needed. Former clients are invited to return to the centers, become involved as volunteer staff, and join the centers as community members with real decision-making power, as described above.

The United States also provides quality services to people who are afflicted with disabling personal problems, such as substance abuse or being seriously troubled emotionally or mentally. Again, public funding has been increased sufficiently to assure that these services are available on demand to those who want them.

All stakeholders operate these centers democratically based on the principles of self-help and peer support. These centers offer peer counseling, self-learning, support groups, many varieties of counseling and therapy, and holistic alternatives such as diet, exercise, meditation, breathing exercises, and natural remedies. Psychiatrists are available to prescribe mind-altering drugs when clients want them.

Because these centers are attractive, comfortable, available on demand, truly supportive, and voluntary, people in need utilize them much more readily than was the case decades before, when large numbers of troubled people wandered the streets in a daze, afraid to go to unfriendly, over-crowded service centers.

In addition, the easy availability of living wage, meaningful employment provides clients with more incentive to deal with their problems. They are now better able to become independent than was the case when economic insecurity and dead-end jobs awaited people leaving similar programs.

A criminal justice system that differs dramatically from the earlier system handles people who break the law. Vengeance and cruelty are no longer the rule. Jails and prisons are based on the principle that the denial of liberty is sufficient punishment in and of itself.

We have eliminated the inhuman conditions that previously drove prisoners crazy, created deep resentments, and fostered more crime. When needed, we employ imprisonment without possibility of parole rather than the death penalty, which we abolished.

Whenever possible, people who commit crimes are required to engage in restitution or some form of repayment to the victims of their crimes. Education about the consequences of crime and other social rehabilitation services are offered prisoners as a way to reduce future crime. If prisoners prefer to be left alone and simply do their time, however, they are able to do so.

Once prisoners are released, they are eligible for all public services and entitled to vote.

With assistance from strong civilian review boards, police departments have rooted out abusive officers. Virtually all police officers now see themselves as servants of the people, peacemakers, and mediators. The extensive use of foot patrols in urban areas contributes to higher quality, more personal police work.

Vigorous prosecution of white-collar crime has led to a greater sense of fairness. The criminal justice system now takes seriously crimes such as embezzlement, fraud, price-fixing, and tax evasion, both by corporations and individuals.

Partly because meaningful living-wage job opportunities are guaranteed and quality health and human services are available on demand, society has decriminalized behaviors that do not involve violating the rights of others. Police departments no longer squander resources on "victimless crimes," such as the use of mind-altering drugs, prostitution, and merely drinking alcohol in public.

Poverty and lack of services no longer drive so many people into the severely self-destructive forms of behavior that used to be associated with victimless crimes. These improvements in the social environment facilitated the decriminalization of non-coercive activities.

The United States therefore fully affirms liberty and self-determination throughout society. Governments can deny the liberty of an individual only if and when that individual has denied the liberty of another human being. Otherwise, people are free to do with their bodies as they choose and the right of privacy is consistently respected.

A woman's right to choose when to give birth is effectively protected. Abortion clinics and their staff are guarded against threats of violence. Opponents of abortion who utilize or threaten violence are vigorously prosecuted. At the same time, society has greatly increased support services for women who wish to have their children adopted.

Houses of prostitution are publicly supervised and licensed.

Mind-altering drugs are distributed at health clinics, along with educational materials about their dangers. These same centers offer counseling and rehabilitation programs to people who want to change their habits. Decriminalization has taken the profit out of the black market drug business and eliminated the violence and crime previously associated with drug dealing.

Self-determination is also affirmed in the classroom, where students are encouraged to pursue their curiosity at their own pace and help each other solve problems. Appropriate learning tools are available for students to utilize in a joyous, largely self-directed approach to learning and discovery. Classrooms are much smaller. Teachers and teachers' aides are much better paid. Teachers encourage students to think for themselves. Schools facilitate participation in extra-curricular and service-learning activities. Teaching the philosophy and methods of non-violence and conflict-resolution permeates all school systems. Since children learn that they can do what they want so long as they don't violate the rights of others, they're able to protect their own integrity as they mature.

Thus, our society supports both individual liberty and community support. By encouraging each person to discover his or her own path, people are better able to develop satisfying relationships when they truly want to do so. By limiting governmental power over private matters, we're better able to focus government activities on public issues of common concern.

Publicly funded, multi-purpose community centers serve as places where people connect and provide natural human support to one another. Some of these centers are neighborhood-based and others are rooted in specific common interests. Many are based at schools and park facilities that provide space for free or low-cost activities at night and on weekends.

These community centers offer a variety of educational, recreational, self-help, cultural, and creative activities. Life-long learning opportunities for adults are a common component. In order to assure that all people have the opportunity to participate in a rich community life, our society dedicates sufficient funds to support as many of these centers as are needed.

Believing that everyone benefits from the empowerment of others, our society has resolved to steadily reduce all forms of unjust discrimination. The number of staff people investigating charges of discrimination, especially in employment and housing, has been greatly increased, as have the penalties. In particular, we have resolved to eliminate all forms of institutional racism.

The gaps in pay between women and men and between whites and people of color working in the same occupation are being steadily reduced. Victims of wage discrimination can now effectively sue employers. In combination with an educational campaign directed at employers, this threat of legal action has encouraged equal pay for equal work.

Speaking on behalf of the people of the United States, the federal government has officially apologized to African Americans for the institution of slavery and begun the payment of reparations for slavery and the official discrimination that followed it. The sovereignty of Native American nations has been reaffirmed and strengthened.

Colleges, universities, businesses, and public agencies incorporate individuals from groups who have been historically disadvantaged, including lower-income people, people of color, and women. As a result, these institutions now relate more effectively with the communities they serve.

Legal immigrants to this country are eligible for all human services and public assistance. We treat undocumented immigrants with dignity and respect their human rights. All undocumented immigrants can receive health care and their children can attend school. People awaiting deportation are no longer detained in jails, but are held under humane conditions with access to legal services.

Because some illegal immigration is inevitable and undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to exploitation, occasional amnesties allow undocumented immigrants to remain in this country legally and receive the full rights and benefits accorded all legal immigrants. Our primary method for discouraging illegal immigration is to assist economic development in less developed countries, so that prosperity in those countries will enable their citizens to remain in their homeland, as they generally prefer.

In all of these ways, the United States has become a more caring society.

The federal government has raised the funds required for needed jobs and services by transferring funds from the military-industrial complex and by increasing taxes on the rich, the super-rich, and large businesses. In addition, steady economic growth has boosted federal tax revenues.

Most federal funds for social-service programs are distributed to state and local governments, which administer programs within broad federal guidelines. This decentralization maximizes local community participation in the operation of services. As a result, programs are less bureaucratic and more responsive to local needs.

Tax rates, graduated according to ability to pay, enable the wealthy to give back to society part of what they owe for all that they have received from society at large, including the infrastructure, property rights, cultural inheritance, stability, and other forms of support.

As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor has been reduced substantially. This reduction in inequality has lessened resentments, hostility, and self-destructive behavior that previously were more severe among lower-income people. These improvements have contributed to a more peaceful social environment, which benefits everyone.

Since lower-income people now have enough income to make ends meet decently, they are healthier, happier, and better educated. Consequently, they are more productive at work, which benefits higher-income people and large businesses. In addition, they hold more purchasing power, which benefits higher-income people and businesses by enabling them to sell more products.

In these ways, the payment of more taxes by higher-income people and businesses enables an upward spiral of economic growth throughout society, which indirectly and constantly boosts the incomes of everyone, including higher-income people and businesses.

Awareness of these ripple effects has led to "enlightened self-interest" among a significant portion of higher-income people, who have provided major support to the transformation of our society.

Increased economic growth has contributed to inflationary pressures. But society no longer allows a creditor-dominated Federal Reserve to deal with the threat of excessive inflation by keeping interest rates unduly high as a way to protect the wealthy at the expense of the general welfare. Rather, the Federal Reserve now includes representatives from all sectors of society and is no longer controlled by the rich and super-rich. Society as a whole now controls inflation with strategies that are more beneficial to all people.

Representatives from labor, business, and government meet regularly in a wage-price council. This council determines the productivity growth in each industry (when productivity increases, the same number of workers produces more than they did before, which enables workers to earn higher wages without lowering profits). In addition, the council determines the average profitability for various industries and the overall rate of inflation. Based on these three factors -- productivity, profitability, and inflation -- the council sets standards for wage and price increases that do not risk runaway inflation or damage competitiveness, while allowing for a fair return to investors. These standards guide labor-business negotiations concerning wages and benefits.

When particular businesses ignore these standards and raise prices excessively, government officials, labor unions, and advocacy organizations engage in widespread and relentless public-education campaigns about the price gouging. When necessary, they lead consumer boycotts of particular businesses. A few highly successful campaigns of this sort years ago made the point. Most businesses now respect the standards set by the wage-price council and limit their price increases to a reasonable level.

In addition, government agencies regulate prices in areas that are inherently highly centralized and therefore not subject to competitive pressures. These areas include water, electricity, and airlines. The tendency to deregulate these industries that was prominent in the early years of this century has been reversed. In the case of electricity, government bodies on all levels have assumed increasing responsibility for the production of electric power.

Public income assistance programs, such as Social Security, increase automatically based on the rate of inflation for essential goods and services.

Local governments limit rent increases on residential and commercial properties, both when occupied and when vacant, at levels that allow property owners to earn a fair return on their investment.

The government's new farm policy stabilizes food prices.

All of these methods in combination have resulted in acceptable, predictable, modest price increases throughout the economy.

A stronger economy has added to the need for strong measures to minimize impacts on the environment. Now that everyone's basic needs are met and our focus is on the quality of life rather than making as much money as possible, society is better able to secure Earth's bounty for future generations because there is less anxiety about supposedly having to choose between "jobs" and "the environment."

Our society now uses renewable resources -- such as water, soil, forest products, and marine life -- without exceeding the rates of regeneration for those resources. We minimize depletion of non-renewable resources -- such as fossil fuels -- by maximizing conservation, greatly expanding public transit systems, encouraging workers to live close to their workplace, eliminating gas guzzling automobiles, and relying increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

We require all development to avoid damaging the ability of future generations to meet their needs. We're steadily recovering endangered species and damaged ecosystems. We've stopped the introduction of harmful or potentially dangerous genetically modified organisms. We no longer allow the build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances. We recycle most materials, ensure that the environment can assimilate waste naturally, and prohibit the production of materials that can't be recycled or assimilated.

The necessity to safeguard Mother Earth has contributed to the clear recognition that property rights are limited. Since society grants and defines the rights associated with property ownership in the first place, society clearly has the right to set conditions on those rights, including restraining property owners in advance from damaging the environment. Although courts and legislatures have long recognized the legitimacy of such restraints, political rhetoric about the alleged absolute rights of property owners confused the issue for decades. Now, the duty of property owners to prevent environmental harm is widely accepted.

Society more clearly legitimizes restraints on property rights in other ways as well, including requiring property owners to protect human and economic rights. These issues have been clearly resolved by the adoption of an amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment:

1) Clarifies that since corporations are not "persons," they are not automatically entitled to any of the rights afforded persons under the Constitution. Rather, corporations are entitled only to those specific rights granted them by legislation.

2) Authorizes governments to protect the general welfare when needed by limiting profits to a fair return on investment. (This amendment thus settled the previous controversy surrounding measures such as local rent control laws and zoning codes that limit development.)

3) Authorizes governments to limit spending on political campaigns in order to ensure all citizens a more equal opportunity to participate in the political process, prevent the corruption of our republican form of government, and improve public confidence in government.

Corporate accountability has also been strengthened by establishing criminal penalties for executives who knowingly market a defective product that kills or maims individuals. In addition, state governments now automatically review corporate charters every thirty years. Corporations that have had top-level executives repeatedly convicted of crimes, or otherwise violated their public trust, cannot have their charter renewed and must go out of business. Whenever a minimal number of complaints are filed against a particular corporation, state governments hold public hearings on charter renewals.

New and re-issued corporate charters now include requirements that each corporation include on its board of directors a substantial number of stakeholders from each community where the corporation operates as well as representatives from its employees. Locally elected governmental bodies appoint the stakeholder representatives for corporations based in their regions.

The federal government now vigorously enforces antitrust laws to prevent large corporations from using unfair business practices to monopolize economic power. In general, free-market competition sets prices and investment decisions are made privately. Public regulation, however, is well established in certain essential areas such as rent control and agriculture, as well in businesses like airlines and electrical utilities that are inherently concentrated.

In particular, corporate media is an ongoing focus of federal anti-trust action. Around the turn of the century, the federal government allowed media giants to own more and more media outlets, both in particular cities and throughout the country. This concentration of the public airwaves in the hands of a few corporations resulted in a bias in the flow of information that favored corporations and super-wealthy individuals. In recent years, this trend has been reversed.

Corporate conglomerates have been forced to divest themselves of their outlets. Massive public support for non-profit, non-commercial media outlets has resulted in a dramatic increase in the diversity of programming and publications. Recognizing that a truly free "marketplace of ideas" is essential for a democracy, the federal government has distributed substantial grants to non-profit, listener-supported and listener-controlled media outlets for the purchase of more power transmitters and other essential equipment. In addition, television networks are required to provide extensive free time to candidates for public office to present their views and engage in debate with one another.

Public financing of campaigns and effective limits on political contributions have leveled the playing field, strengthened the relative voice of lower-income people, enhanced competitiveness in elections, produced more choices, increased interest in politics, and reduced the unfair power of incumbents, wealthy individuals, and large corporations. All federal elections are held on a national holiday to increase voter turnout.

Globally, the United States now treats other nations with great respect. Just as we more fully affirm the right of self-determination for individuals in our own country, so do we more consistently support the right of other nations to shape their own destinies. Strong national governments are essential in order to protect people from powerful economic forces.

The right of nations to establish tariffs on imports in order to shelter developing and/or essential industry is unquestioned. In particular, the United States recognizes and supports the need for each country to maximize food security through diversified, local agriculture. Moreover, we no longer oppose the production of low-cost, generic drugs to deal with medical emergencies such as AIDS.

As a way to guard against destabilizing capital flight, many nations now heavily tax short-term investments that enter and leave their country quickly. To further stabilize the global economy, the United States and other industrialized nations have established significant taxes on purely financial transactions (such as buying and selling currency) as a way to virtually eliminate such non-productive, destabilizing activities.

The United States has fully paid its United Nations dues and pledged to fall behind never again. We've supported the democratization of the United Nations, which has added other countries to the Security Council and increased the power of the General Assembly.

We endorsed the International Criminal Court and agreed that member states shall have the power to arrest persons convicted of war crimes, including United States citizens if and when they are found guilty.

Some ten years ago, the United States finally began to cooperate with international efforts to ban landmines and began to effectively restrain the worldwide sale of military weapons by companies based in this country.

The United States no longer operates as Global Cop. Though we reserve the right to act to defend ourselves in case of attack, we are committed to use our military force only in conjunction with the United Nations under United Nations command. We no longer base our military forces on foreign soil. Our elected leaders no longer assume that they are the world's legislature, judge, jury, and executioner.

With the United Nations, we've invested major funds in the development of mediation teams to aid in the peaceful resolution of potentially violent conflicts. These efforts include mediation, observers, peacekeepers, and the infusion of major financial aid to induce antagonists to see beyond their immediate conflict and agree to long-term solutions.

Throughout the world, the United States has greatly increased financial assistance to developing countries geared toward supporting local self-sufficiency. The foreign debt of developing countries was completely forgiven fifteen years ago. The United States and other industrialized countries no longer interfere with efforts of developing countries to fulfill their capital needs internally by restraining capital flight and imposing taxes based on the ability to pay. As a result, decreasing global poverty and increased economic growth has created demand for U.S. products and services, which has strengthened our economy.

In these ways, in coordination with the peoples of other nations who have adopted similar policies, the United States is now working globally in a cooperative manner to safeguard the planet and the rights of its inhabitants, aware that we can learn as much from other countries as they can learn from us.