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The world we live in today is not perfect, it is not even satisfactory.

We have systemic environmental problems, economic problems, huge inequalities and many people struggling with psychological problems. At the same time we have the best opportunities to make something much better. We have fantastic technologies and an unprecedented understanding that something needs to be done.

Occupy Wall Street, the environmental reports, reports on the psychological health—but still nothing real is happening. Why?

I think we lack a concrete vision of how we would like the world to be that we can work towards. If we can agree on a vision we together can change things—and change them fast.

I don’t know if I have the right vision that it takes, but I at least have tried to describe it. Maybe it can serve as a starting point for a discussion and jointly we can come to a strong vision of how we would like the World to be—we only have one and we should take better care of it and ourselves than we do now.

In this short introduction I can only outline the ideas, but there is a longer description available for those that find this interesting.

First a short description of our society and why it is so hard to change.

We live in a society based on people having jobs with salaries. The salaries people earn and what they consume are taxed. This tax is used to give service back to the people—some people are employed from this tax to provide “free” services, like police, health care, education. Another part of the tax is used to support those that do not work—elderly, unemployed and the sick.

The difference between societies and political parties today is mainly how much shall be transferred through what type of taxes and what this shall be used for—how much and what welfare shall we have and what shall be left for the individual to take care of themselves.

All politicians are fighting to ensure that people have jobs, consume and keep the economy rolling. This is becoming increasingly difficult with globalization and increased productivity—everyday, the things that we consume become cheaper to produce.

This consummation is also straining our natural resources.

Thus the root of the problem is that we have connected the welfare that we want to the economic activity. If we can break this link, we will be free. It is simple!

Here are my five basic ideas.

1. Divide Service and Work.

Instead of letting people that work pay for the welfare, we let everyone serve every seventh year to provide services for others. This service is provided in Service centers. Education and health services are provided free in the service centers with the requirement on extra time serving. Work for money is a fully commercial and voluntary activity disconnected from the service.

2. Replace “money” taxes with taxes on resources and pollution.

Money taxes are all sales, income and capital tax. Resource taxes are tax on land and natural resources. Through this we can raise the tax on carbon dioxide and other pollution to the level where we can stop the environmental problems.

3. Replace the “central banks” with “credit unions” and make all money electronic.

Credit unions where real people are behind the money and fully electronic money will let us handle economic recession through demurrage of money.

4. Replace professional politicians with ordinary people.

“Politicians” are only elected one year at the time and only among the people that do their seventh year service.

5. Except for that have a fully free-market economy.

The economy outside the service centers will be a fully liberal capitalistic economy with free enterprise and competition, without any “state” intervention.

In this short text I have only been able to briefly touch the main ideas for an alternative society where we can have:

The necessary security and welfare for all.

The opportunity to utilize our talent and skills, both for our own prosperity and the good of society

The opportunity for everyone to participate.

An environmentally sustainable future.

An economy that can cope efficiently with both growth and recession.

If you want to learn more, please look at the more extensive description.

Let us start discussing how we want the world to be. I want this idea to be called evenism.

Relephant read:

One of the Hardest Scientific Problems in the World to Solve.

Author: Kahit-na Hata

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: paduiblog