March 25th, 2014

What does the ideal community look like to you?

 

I used to think about what I would do if I won the lottery. I was going to build a large commune in the mountains, where my friends and family would all live safely, and at ease. There would be a community center where people could go swim in the giant pool with swirly slides and other awesome attractions. There would be a place for all to gather and play cars, or watch movies in our giant theater with comfy chairs instead of the seats in regular theaters. Underground tunnels would connect people's homes, because this commune would be in Montana or some other place that gets REALLY cold. With tunnels, you could get to your friend's house without going outside and getting cold! This dream left me as the leader and Supreme Being of the complex. I realize that this is not the ideal community, rather a lotto dream with only the surface thought about. I have to say that it was a good start.

 

To me the ideal community would involve community participation, and everyone actually having a say in what and how it happens.

It would start at the top, with a flat tax, everyone pays a certain percentage to the government, which itself would limit. Those funds are then distributed evenly across the country.

 

Those funds would be put to use in the community as community sees fit. Schools, roads, hospitals, etc. would be paid for as the community votes. There would be a council, of volunteers, with limited terms allowed. No pay, no lasting benefits other than the good you can do while you serve.  No pay other than a sense of service, no pay means less chance for corruption.

 

Everyone over 18 gets a vote on how the funds are spent. Everyone gets to make a pitch for what they think that the funds should be spent on that is how things get on the ballot. A giant 'science fair' if sorts where the people with the ideas can present them to the people in an open forum, and everything about the plan must be laid out for people to understand, what they present is what will pass, no adding on or omitting later. If you want to vote, you have to go to the 'fair'. You have to be an informed voter, or at least try to or appear to be.

 

If you live in a community that does not seem to appreciate the same values as yours, you are free to move, but in whatever community you reside in, you must pull your weight. Sounds somewhat Marxist, I realize this, but I actually think, like Homer Simpson said, "it sounds good in theory".

 

Everyone must serve community services. There will be everything from litter 'retrieval committees' to deciding who services next on the different councils. The types of committees you serve on will be based on what abilities you have. You are a good weekend carpenter? Great, you can build benches for the parks. You make excellent lasagna? Brilliant, you can work for a weekend making meals for the elderly in the nursing homes, or still in their own homes, but may not be able to cook so well for them anymore. This would be done on the weekends, and the meals would be frozen in portions and delivered on weekdays by someone else. Your kids are in school all day, and you don't have a on outside of the home job?  Sweet, you can deliver meal to those in a certain area on the third Thursday of each week. Spend a little extra time with the people you are delivering to, not because it will earn you points in the community, but because it will earn your Karma points.

 

Public transportation would be prevalent, and more convenient. It is pretty good in Albuquerque, but then again, I have nothing to compare it to. It would be free, so that it was more attractive. Hand in hand with the bus thing, there would be addiction treatments available to all who need it. Also, if you don't realize you need it, your friends and family could make the argument that you do, and have you 'committed' as needed. I know that sounds harsh, but had I had the ability to make my dad get help, I would have done it in a heartbeat. He's gone now, and he doesn't have to be.

 

All power would be solar and wind generated. This would generate jobs, changing the infrastructure to a more sustainable source of power.

 

Churches would not be tax exempt, but they would get tax breaks based on the help the amount of help that they provide to each community. The breaks would be provided to each church in each community, not to the church as an entity. The object would be having the funds and help stay in the communities. 

 

Over a few generations like-minded people would live together in communities. This would be advantageous because they would work together more readily because they have the same ideals and goals. With this style of communities all over the country, it would be better for the country, and people would have a say in what happens, a say in how it happens and hopefully a say in the outcomes of the taxes that they pay.

 

I could go on about this all day, but I am about to get to work.

 

Blessed Be

)O(

Misty Dawn