Journey to a Worthwhile Destination
The Simple Society: Relationships and Vision
| We invited the Simple Society to explain what it is and why it exists. |
by John Watkins
Executive Director, The Simple Society
People form relationships to facilitate the pursuit of their goals. The family is a relationship with a purpose. A contract is a relationship with a purpose. Businesses, cultures, social clubs, governments: all are relationships with purposes.The Simple Society's mission is to articulate an ideal set of relationships that will make it possible to go well beyond mere survival and achieve maximum possible individual and community wellness.
We envision a society in which democracy, justice, community, and human potential are maximized! A society with laws and regulations so simple that anyone can understand how to live a successful life and be a good citizen.
To achieve it requires massive re-orientation and simplification of our major relationships.
I've been told often that our goal is Utopian, always with the implication that “utopian” is impractical because it's so difficult.
Difficulty is not an excuse for inaction. It is not an excuse for failure to try. It is definitely not an excuse for accepting lesser goals.
Think of Utopia, then, as the place you'd like to be at the end of your journey, a place so nice you'll never want to leave. To get there, you need a good road map, the motivation to take the first step, and the resolve to keep moving in the right direction. You'll never get there if you don't take that first step.
For most people, the real challenge is fear of the first step. Once they take it, fear falls away and the remaining steps usually become easier.
If you're willing to take that first step and combine your efforts and resources with others, maybe you can travel together faster than on foot—even at warp speed.
So, the larger mission of The Simple Society is to
- (a) articulate the vision,
(b) provide a road map and traveling instructions,
(c) encourage more people to make the trip, and
(d) remove the roadblocks that slow the journey.
Can people like you and me make a difference? Absolutely! Do you recognize names like Rachel Carson, Martin Luther King, Ralph Nader, Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, Bill Cosby, Ted Turner, Steven Spielberg, Albert Einstein, Colin Powell, Benjamin Spock?
They started with little more power than you or me. Yet, they made an enormous difference. They started with an idea and the determination to change things.
As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
To provide the needed road map, we will develop and publish
- Model guidelines for operation of a human empowerment system.
- A model set of dramatically simplified laws and regulations.
- Model operating rules and procedures for a vastly simplified justice system.
- A simplified model of governmental and political process.
The first model is our primary objective. It will provide a clear guide to a societal structure that will empower all people to be full, self-sufficient contributing members of society.
The other models are designed to assure public safety, safeguard our freedom, and remove most of the structural barriers to empowerment. Amazing simplification is possible and, with it, amazing reductions in the cost of living and major increases in personal freedom and creativity.
You'll find much more information on our web site at http://simsoc.org
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