An exercise in Responsibility

It would be a novel thing if the entities that used the common wealth (see definitions below) for the generation of money, as oppose to survival, were to pay for that use accordingly.  What could our society look like?

Would a situation work that was structured as such:

Premise

     A person living on some piece of land and growing food on it for his and his families sustenance would not be taxed beyond what he offered.

     A person using the common wealth to create, manufacture, posses anything greater than his sustenance would be taxed with increasing rate according to increased use of said commonwealth and also additionally for any pollutants or corruptions inflicted upon the commonwealth.

     The Commonwealth, and thusly those entities with rights, would be limited to physical beings.  Non tangibles, ideas, concepts would have no limitations to use and dispersement.  (copyright and patent are nonexistent)

     A government would be established by these taxes to enforce these laws, the collection of said taxes, and regulate the public service providers.

     Ownership of land would not be allowed.  Use of land would be a right.  Corruption of land would be a crime.  Stewardship of land a responsibility.   See division of land use.

     Ownership of property would be limited to ones own duration.  No thing could be inherited, no condition could be inherited.  Any legal ownership of material goods would have to transpire during the lifetime of both parties involved.

     Punishment of citizens would be at the expense of the commonwealth.



In a society as such a persons real and primary occupation in life would be to eat and have shelter.  This would also be the persons fundamental right.  Also, his fundamental responsibility.
     A person who was not capable of gathering, hunting, or growing his own food would be provided for by his community.  The impetus for this would be derived from the scale of such communities and the direct impact of the well being of each person on the well being of each other person.
     A person who wanted to specialize in shoe making, or medicine, would be free to do so.  The motivation to do so must be pure because the financial incentive would be removed by the increased tax for doing something other than seeing to ones own needs.
     A shoe maker, for example would be taxed higher if he needed to gather materials from the commonwealth other than those for his own needs.  He would exchange shoes for his sustenance or material goods, but the incentive to greater production would be limited by the increased taxes for increased burden on the commonwealth that increased production would cause.
     A doctor would not require much of the commonwealth to practice his art, and thus would be taxed accordingly, but exchange for other than sustenance would give diminishing return because of the greater taxes on production of material goods.  The same would hold true for any public service providers.
     The ideas of a governmental surplus, or deficit, do raise concern, but since the government would be enforced by every citizen, for a limited duration, the risk of corruption would seem greatly reduced by the virtue of the fact that government office is more duty than privilege and little lasting power or influence is held.

Definitions

Common wealth:  All that is.  The air, water, land, flora and fauna of the planet and of the universe.

Government:  A rotating body of people whose responsibility it is to enforce the laws of Responsibility.  Membership in this government would be required of each citizen for a limited duration of time.  Compensation for time served would be only sustenance and surplus time if any existed.  This government would include any military forces.  Military service would also be a requirement of each citizen for a limited duration.

Military Service:  The responsibility of each citizen to defend the rights of the commonwealth.  This is a defensive role, not an offensive one.  Opposition to service on moral and religious grounds could be answered by renouncement of privilege to any material possession and a career of public service i.e. Doctor, fireman, veterinarian.

Public servant:  Any role that requires the trust of the commonwealth and is for the good of others.

Crime:  The oppression of another person, or the corruption of the commonwealth.

Rights:  Those realities available to every part of the commonwealth.

Responsibility:  The obligation of each person upon the commonwealth of no oppression,  or corruption historically or forward in time.

Oppression:  The restriction of the natural progress of another by outside influence that would compromise the natural cycle or spirit.

Taxes:  A contribution of ones sustenance, or production, for the benefit of the commonwealth.

Punishment of citizens: would be in the form of limiting access to social and economic exchange and public service or possible relocation of the convicted to locations of limited resource.  Imprisonment would be appropriate in cases where the criminal is an ongoing threat to the commonwealth (murder, rape, arson, pollution)

Pollution:  The result of activity by a human being that cannot be absorbed by the environment in such a way as to not be harmful to the commonwealth.

Division of land use

     One idea would be a mathematical formula calculated by taking the usable land and dividing it up by the population, adding a buffering factor and using that result as the bases for each persons reasonable land use.  This would be the premise for no actual property lines, but rather to determine what division would be acceptable to the commonwealth.

Just the idea of a shift in responsibility for each of us, and for all of us can be enough to promote change for the better.  This is really just the idea of a tune, a whistle or hum, if you will, rather than a complete score.  You can decide if it has the qualities of a pop hit, a symphony, or a dissonant noise.  Rewrite it, create a variation, or a chorus, or verse, or auto-tune it.  Do a punk version or a musak version, what ever, but at least if you've read to here, you have heard it once.  The theme may come back at some point in your future.