Dawn of the Unthinkable (16 page)


Agreeing to allow a vote
of society to determine what level of resources is going to be
allotted to their particular faith. The people will make a
selection as to how much of their own resource pool they would put
toward the continuance of their religion. The relative importance
that each faith put on their particular religion would determine
the share of the overall religion pool that society had determined
to be acceptable. This level of support would be established in the
beginning at transition time and would be updated with the annual
evaluations. At a minimum, the resources set-aside would have to be
sufficient to ensure the continuation of the existing physical
plant of the faiths.


While the support of
organized religion would now be through a governmental
organization, the government would not have any voice in how the
resources allocated were used. The members of the faith would
continue to act as independent stewards of their
denomination.

He decided to leave the religion segment at
just two bullets, as it was such a subjective area that he did not
think he should over-document it. If you weren’t sure about
something, better to remain silent. He had seen enough death and
violence in the name of God to know that he did not want to spark
any controversies along those lines. Besides, in the end, people
came to their God (or not) in their own way, so he was only going
to let people know that in a new order, the state and the church
could coexist.

He was up to page seven in this piece and
wanted to wrap it up in just a few more pages. He thought that a
brief conclusion was needed as well as the goals for such a
plan.

The conclusion of the article was fairly
easy. Ryan subscribed to the notion of writing that said, “tell
them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what
you told them.” He went back to the beginning and read again all
that he had written so far. While he had many more ideas about how
this might actually work, he felt that he had included enough
points so that people could get the gist of it. He didn’t want to
be known as a boring writer, as they always seemed full of
themselves. So he thought a brief conclusion would be fine. He
wrote:

Conclusion

This proposal organized,
in outline form, a beginning point for discussion of a substantial
reorganization of American society. It addressed the major
institutions of our culture and how they would have to change to
accommodate the main point of the plan, namely the elimination of
money. All factors of such a change could not, and should not, be
covered in an initial outline such as this, but the groundwork for
explanation and debate on the idea has been laid. Certain points
are not as well-developed as others as they are either too
controversial to pursue in a proposal of limited scope (religion),
or are so complex (foreign policy, business) that much more
discussion will be necessary. The proposal is written in terms that
allow for easy explanation to all members of society, especially
the young, as this is a possible alternative to the world that they
will inherit.

Ryan thought that that little bit was
fine—no need to belabor anything already covered. He wanted to
emphasize that this document was just a starting point for
discussion, that much more analysis would be needed. That was what
had happened with the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton had written
The Federalist Papers
, which summarized the debate about how
that document was framed. They had some brilliant men pulling and
tugging at the language, and over two hundred years later, it was
still doing the job. He hoped that his would at least come to
someone’s attention and that he would get to hear other people’s
opinions.

Ryan wanted to keep emphasizing that this
political system would be for all people to participate in, and
that there would be rewards for participating. He wanted to have it
so that all people’s input would be accepted and valuable, not just
those who were deemed wealthy. Whether this could actually work in
a practical sense he was not sure, but it seemed worth a try. He
decided to press on now and finish. The part that he had left,
Goals, was the most interesting to him, because it would spell out
what such a plan hoped to accomplish.

Goals

In order to continue to
thrive as a species, man must ensure that the generations that
succeed him have as good or better a chance to thrive and survive
than he does. In the United States, despite incredible wealth on
the part of some individuals, and a standard of living enjoyed by
most that is the envy of the rest of the world, there are still
intractable problems. While those who currently enjoy a high
standard of living would resist change, claiming survival of the
fittest, they may not realize that that theory sometimes leads to
the extinction of a species. If resource allocation continues to
polarize the way it has in the United States, can the possibility
of another civil war be entirely ruled out?

This admittedly is a
far-fetched scenario for the United States where a very stable
political system does not encourage armed revolution. However, a
very real form of oppression of certain classes in society may get
worse and threaten the moral underpinnings of society. That is why
society should begin to plan
NOW
to make a change that will occur after the
majority of the people making the decision will have passed
on.

One of the most accepted
paradigms of the United States culture is that a capitalistic
society will provide the maximum opportunities to the majority of
the people. As more people (especially children) slip into poverty
every year, it is apparent that this is not true. The system that
is being proposed continues to allow private property but in
proportion to one’s needs and not their excessive desires. An
athlete or entertainer would no longer have enough assets to feed
and clothe a family of four hundred but would be more in keeping
with an upper class citizen.

The proposed system would
give
all
people
the dignity of not having to worry about where their next meal is
coming from, or where they are going to sleep that night. It would
guarantee everyone healthcare, which is a goal that many presidents
have worked on but have not been able to achieve. It would
encourage new communities away from overcrowded cities that could
become self-sufficient with manufacturing brought home from
overseas. This could become the second industrial revolution, as
the first had the charm of benefiting predominantly American
workers. It seems that people who talk about creating jobs do not
realize that the United States will never be able to compete for
manufacturing jobs with countries that pay masses of people
starvation wages. Manufacturing is the engine that drives a society
towards maximum productivity (witness the World War II build-up)
and prosperity; its return is something that should be pursued and
encouraged.

Crime is directly related
to a person’s lack of self-esteem, living conditions, and a sense
of opportunity. The current society does not provide a reasonable
chance for many successive generations to ever attain any
substantial increase in their lifestyle. If a person is made to
feel to be a contributing member of society instead of shunned, he
will have the motivation to stay out of trouble. On a more
practical level, if he can walk into any store and get most of what
he needs, there is no need to take something from someone else. The
absence of paper or any other form of money will reduce the
incidence of armed robbery, counterfeiting, and other impulse
crimes that revolve around greed and desperation.

The ultimate goal of
reordering in this manner is to allow a complex society, which is
constantly undergoing massive technological changes, a chance to
fully involve all of its members. To give society a means to
stabilize its families, which are now often torn apart for monetary
reasons. To turn businesses from their current profit-at-all-costs
mentality to a more mutually beneficial mode. And to allow the
government to do what it was created for, that is, to provide for
the security and well-being of its citizens.

The founding fathers
established a system of government a long time ago that has allowed
the United States to flourish. Though they were wealthy men
themselves, they created a system that guaranteed incredible
freedom to the people and what they thought to be unlimited
opportunity. They probably would not be pleased to see how some
have benefited unreasonably at expense of others and that men of
means have the wherewithal to ensure that these conditions will
never change. Would they not now perhaps agree to a change that
would be radical but not much more so than the one that they put
forth?

This proposal is to give a
chance to all people, regardless of sex, age, race, nationality,
sexual preference, or religion in the United States to participate
fully in the wonderful life that can be provided by an advanced
society. By serious consideration of this proposal and use of the
existing system of government—first to enact the change, and then
to become the conduit through which the resources will
pass
—society can become the land where the
pursuit of happiness becomes reality, as the founding fathers
intended and providence would bless.

There! He was finished! It got hokey at the
end, but a little patriotism never hurt anyone. In fact, he would
probably try to enlist the support of major religions and patriotic
groups throughout the country if he was to try to push this thing
through.

He caught himself, surprised at that last
thought. Push the thing through? What was he thinking? He was just
writing an article, right? He wasn’t really thinking of doing
anything, was he? He searched his brain to see if there was any
type of latent political activist hiding in there. None that he
could find. He voted fairly regularly, but that was about it.
Still, it was cool to think about actually being at the forefront
of a revolution.
Could you imagine being one of the signers to
the Declaration of Independence? Man, what balls those people had!
To leave the only form of government you ever knew, to knowingly
sign a document that could get you hung for treason? That took
guts.
Did he have that kind of intestinal fortitude? He didn’t
think so, but if he was going to send this article off to the
President and a whole bunch of other public figures, didn’t that
take some balls, too? Some, but not that much. Chances were that
the people he was sending it to would never see it. At best, some
underling would read the first few lines and then throw it out
without a further glance.
Oh well, that shouldn’t stop me from
trying
.

He printed a copy out and looked it over. It
ran nine pages, which he felt was just about right. It was not
meticulously researched, just a stream of consciousness from an
ordinary guy. But he was fairly certain he hadn’t heard it put
together in just this way, so why not have it copyrighted? That
way, no one else could take it and steal it. He hopped on the
Internet and found the Library of Congress’ site. They had
downloadable forms for applying for a copyright and just a small
registration fee. He decided it would give the thing more prestige
if it were officially copyrighted, so he decided to go through with
it. Kathy wouldn’t be happy with any expenditure on non-family
business, but the hell with it. He worked hard and deserved a few
treats now and then. He spent very little money on himself, leading
to a wardrobe that his kids were constantly snickering at. He
personally didn’t care if he had trendy clothes as long as they
were clean. Based on this approach, some of his clothes were now
celebrating ten-year anniversaries, and he still welcomed them as
old friends. So if he didn’t blow it there, he should be allowed to
spend it somewhere else.

He filled out the forms, and sent off his
article. With any luck, it would be back within a couple of weeks,
and he’d feel comfortable sending it out to his list of names.
This is going to be fun
.

David Dornstein sat outside the museum
watching the school buses pull up and disgorge their load of
hormone-stimulated high-schoolers. The kids were happy and goofing
off, pushing and shoving, and generally making enough noise to wake
the dead.
Goyim,
his grandfather would have said
disparagingly, using the disrespectful term for gentiles in
general. Dornstein knew they were just kids, and besides, they had
no idea of the impact of what they would witness inside. He gave
the schools credit for bringing the kids here; it showed an
appreciation of history and a respect for the dead. But he did
enjoy sitting outside and checking the expressions of kids who came
out.

He was sitting outside the United States
Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. He had been inside more times
than he could count and could probably lead an informative tour by
now. He still found it alternately disturbing and soothing,
depending on which section he was in. He had seen the exhibit about
the camps enough times to fully absorb its horror and usually did
not go there anymore. He preferred to sit in the Memorial Hall and
watch the flame. Sometimes the images of the upstairs galleries
would force themselves into his mind, and he would see the body
parts floating in experimental tanks, or the mock-up of people in
the gas chambers, or the shoes. The shoes affected people the most.
It was a room full of actual shoes worn by gas chamber victims,
hundreds piled on top of each other, much like their bodies were
afterward. People knew they were real and that stopped them. Still
got to him, too.