Firstly, let's describe what the term Ideal Society is not. It is not a "heaven" or a "paradise" where the world is devoid of crime, or violence, or hunger, or poverty. Such views of heaven and paradize are not based on how we humans actually are and how we act. Futurists may describe a future where humans surpass or evolve past their humanity and can thus achieve "heaven", but that is not what the Ideal Society is about. The Ideal Society is an ideal yes, but it needs to be solidly based on a foundation of our actual humanity, and something that could theoretically be achieved through our own humanity.
Please note that this Stance has nothing to do with a true Heaven, brought about and orchestrated by God. This Stance deals with human society, and thus human relationships. God can be, and should be heavily involved on an individual level, but for a secular world, society needs to be based on the natural laws He laid down, not on a societal relationship with Him. Anyways, He doesn't seem to have a relationship with Society as a whole since Christ tore the curtain and instigated individual relationships.
Stance Summary
The Ideal Society is a society that is based upon the Primary Foundational Principle1. A Society that recognizes that man should not initiate violence upon another man. If one thinks this seems simple, read the Primary Foundational Principle1 post again. A society that fully recognizes and is founded upon a man's individuality and ownership of himself and his property is a stateless society. No coercive state, no coercive laws or police force, but instead it is comprised of voluntary authorities that provide the various needs of people. It is not devoid of crime, criminal behavior or evil - that society will never exist excluding God's direct intervention - but instead deals with crime and criminal behavior justly2 & 3 and in a manner that doesn't remove them of their God-given human rights; which is the right to their body (Life), their freedom of choice (Liberty), and the products of their justly used labor (Property).
Personal Actions Based on Stance
An Ideal Society will never come unless people actively pursue the future they want and begin to understand the Golden Rule1 and it's consequences. As such, I educate myself on these matters and attempt describe how the Golden Rule applies in life when given the opportunity. Sometimes sheepishly as I am not the most bold of men; but I have become bolder. I have spent years absorbing, and will continue to absorb, but I recognize that it is time to "give back". The stronger the foundation, the firmer one can stand.
I am not active in coercive government and do not actively encourage participation.
I commit to not bring people to an unjust (coercive) court2. I want to pursue Alternative Dispute Resolution4 and it's application for individuals.
Expansion
It bears repeating that this term - Ideal Society - is not heaven, it is still a place where terrible things can and probably will happen. Where brother kills brother, where children die of starvation, where rape occurs. It is not within man's power to truly remove those things.
Doesn't Forcibly Imprison
The Ideal Society is a society that minimizes the endorsement of evil acts and maximizes the endorsement of beneficial acts. It is a society that doesn't forcibly imprison someone for victimless crimes, or even crimes with victims. It instead recognizes the right of people to destroy themselves through drugs or alcohol, but also doesn't condemn and jail them for seeking to get out of their ruts and heal themselves. It recognizes that while man may hurt another man, it doesn't give the hurt man the right to forcibly exert pain on the other man. It is a system that encourages victim compensation and justice while putting responsibility upon the criminal perpetrator to either fix the problem he created or to deal with the consequences of his actions.
Devoid of Coercive Taxation
The Ideal Society is devoid of any kind of coercive taxation. People pay for the service they voluntarily use. They pay for their internet, they pay for their house repairs, they pay for flood/hurricane/earthquake/theft/accident insurance. If they don't pay, then they take the risk only on themselves. No taxes for roads means an increase pay as you go roads. Cabs can be independently owned, certified, and driven for profit. Mass Transit no longer is subsidized by the masses through taxation and must exist and operate on it's own ability to serve the most number of people for the biggest profit it can, just as any other business. Competition in an ideal society is rampant. Multiple, but cooperating (as cooperation increases profits) bus systems, roads, grocery stores, gas stations and airplane manufacturers abound.
Say "Goodbye" to the expensive, out of date Military
The modern coercive standing army becomes non-existent in the Ideal Society. Small groups of people, who are highly specialized and trained for guerrilla combat is the new medium of defense and that will evolve and change - just as all for profit products and services do - to become the better, higher quality, cheaper, involve less risk just to maintain profits against rampant competition. The military is reduced and privatized because we don't need to be in other countries, we don't need to have bases in Germany and Japan. They are not threats. Instead the specialized arms services focus purely on country-wide self defense, for which has not been needed since the American Revolution, and debatably not even then.
No Monopoly on Money
There will also be a lack of coercively enforced form of money. Does that mean that their will be 2 billion types of money? Washington Mutual Dollars, or AIG Bucks, or Shanghai Sterling? Probably not, but maybe. If that is what people - customers - desire. Take a look at the modern computer. Even in a reasonably free market we have 3 primary Operating Systems (Windows, Macintosh, Linux Variants). Why? Because people don't necessarily want 2 billion types of operating systems, they want to use the OS to entertain themselves and to produce. Same with money, money is a tool to get things done. To acquire present goods or to save for future goods. For which, I think - without authoritatively stating - that there will be one to ten standard monies in an Ideal Society supplied by a variety of companies, and that number (from 1-10) varies depending on the size of the Ideal Society and how many cultures are within it. If the entire world was an Ideal Society, then chances are their would be more monies, just as in the modern world there is on average one money for each State. And if history shows anything, the primary monies will be based on Gold or a mixture somehow of Gold/Silver/Copper. But in the modern age, the shortcomings of Gold (hard to buy a pack of gum for .02 grams of gold) for can be over come by electronic means where it is relativly easy to debit from one electronic account to another a few micrograms of gold. See suggested reading for more on this topic, and how it is already being done in modern society.
Closing
This concept of the "Ideal Society" is something that will have to be expanded upon in future posts, the short summaries given on the various topics are obviously lacking and require additional thought and writing. Look to also see this post expand as additional topical summaries are added. In the end, the Ideal Society is a thought experiment of a world that is based upon the Primary Foundational Principle.
Sources
- Primary Foundational Principle - Link
- The Jail System - Link
- Victimless Crimes - Link
- Wikipedia: Alternative Dispute Resolutions - Link
Suggested Reading
- The Stateless Society: An Examination of Alternatives - Link
- The Molinari Institute: About Market Anarchism - Link
- Center for a Stateless Society: What Will a Stateless Society Look Like? - Link
- Lewrockwell.com: Anti-State, Anti-War, Pro-Market - Link
- Ludwig Von Mises Institute: Austrian Economics and Thought - Link
- Wikipedia: Digital Gold Currencies - Link
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