giddyiguana

From my friend Susan:

Hi, Sweetie -

How are you doing these days?

I have a favor to ask of you. I am working on a detailed, positive vision of the future... let's say about 50 - 100 years from now.

In other words, I'm trying to envision the very best the world could be if we suddenly begin to do everything exactly right!

So, I'm writing to you for your ideas. There is no rush. But, please give it some thought and anytime an idea comes to mind that you think could be part of this super positive vision, please zip me an note, so I can include it in my project.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Love always, Susan

____

Fun little writing assignment, I thought. And I don't have anything else pressing to do today, so....

My reply:

____

My vision of the future, you ask? Well, I don't really have anything new or original to add. What I want is the same thing that visionaries from Jesus Christ to Bob Marley, Mahatma Gandhi to 'Che' Guevara, John F. Kennedy to Dennis Kucinich, Karl Marx to Martin Luther King Jr. have been advocating for years; namely, love and respect for your neighbours and your planet. Unless we can truly achieve that, nothing else we say or do can ever hope to have any meaningful impact.

In my future, everyone, regardless of their race, gender, age, income, geographic origin, or family background, will have not only the freedom to choose their own destiny but a truly EQUAL opportunity to do so. Workers will be furthermore guaranteed the right to organize and the right to a truly LIVING wage.

We will be finally rid of our dependence on foreign fossil fuels thanks to the growth of domestic, alternative 'clean' energy technologies. We will have finally acheived a balance between our domestic and commercial interests and our ecological concerns, and preservation of our environment will become our ultimate priority.

Nationalistic furor will become nothing more than a bad memory. Peaceful resolution of both internal conflicts and international disputes will be more than just an abstract ideal. People will finally realize that we're all just 'citizens' of the same planet and will quit trying to destroy ourselves over petty ideological disagreements.

Everyone will have access to the same top-quality health care, and I don't just mean only in the case of emergencies. Most of these 'emergencies' can be avoided given the right mix of preventative care, public safety measures, and education. What we ultimately need is a fully-comprehensive, publicly-funded, Canadian-style health care system, free from the influence of profit-motivated insurance adjusters, HMOs, and bureaucrats. Health care decisions should be completely at the discretion of doctors and patients.

We will also be guaranteed equal access to the same top-notch educational opportunities, from preschool through graduate school. A person's opportunities should be determined only by his or her abilities, not by his or her ability to pay (or live in the right neighbourhood.)

And finally, all political campaigns, from city council to the Presidency, will be publicly funded. Today's system of legalized bribery via 'campaign contributions' stands as the biggest obstacle facing truly progressive reform. The current system's net effect has been to turn our representative bodies into 'millionaires' clubs' and wholly owned subsidiaries of corporate interests. Only through public funding can we break the stranglehold of corporate influence and elect truly 'representative' delegations.

Perhaps this is all a pipe dream, but this is the ideal towards which I and my friends within the progressive movement are striving. We don't inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children. And only by working for meaningful, positive change can we ensure that we'll leave them a world worth inheriting.

Keep up the good fight!

Democratically yours,
Harold G.