For the sake of argument, let's say we are remaking the United States of America. It's been a few hundred years since it was
formed, and like all good things, it needs an intensive restoration every now
and again to keep going for another few centuries. Perhaps this was the failing of Rome, that it did not
reinvent itself from time to time.
Let's take our countries borders as they exist for now,
perhaps later we'll let the states decide if they still wish to be a part of
the country, or go off on their own. I
don't think it matters in the long run, as eventually the world will be as one,
with what we now know as countries being more like the states that we know
today. Being super connected to one
another via the internet and technology has shown how this might be possible I
think.
Start with the basics of our reinvented country. What are human rights? Do we want to include them in our
charter?
At it's root, human rights seem to be a human
invention. Without our structured
society, human rights are still there, but are less enforceable. The higher our level of technology and
automation goes, the more viable a large set of human rights becomes.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those are pretty good, for a start. I think we should keep those, as I'm looking
to cherry pick the good from the old system, and only add newer, and to my
mind, better ideas. Someone smart told
me not to reinvent the wheel every time I do something.
Life is important, without it, we are nothing. Our corporeal existence is all that we know
on this earth, the rest of the rights become sort of meaningless without
it. I can't disallow for life after
death, but for the sake of this discussion, it must be separate.
Liberty
is a good concept of freedom. The ability
to do as one wishes. With the important
caveat implied that you don't hurt someone else by doing as you please. In our modern age, I think perhaps that the
ability to leave mental scars should be as important as physical ones. Liberties should take adequate precautions to
prevent them both. In other words, it's
not ok to be mean, even if you don't physically touch.
I realize I'm presenting things simplistically, but I'm but
a simple warthog, after all.
The pursuit of happiness.
I like that one, it takes the liberty, and uses it to seek fullfillment
in life. Pretty nice. I'd like to spring off of it into new
territory.
How can you seek happiness in your life, if you are so busy
being stressed out over your health, or a loved one's health. Losing your house because of back
payments. Loss of your job, so you can't
afford to take care of important things.
No money. And I'll get to that
too.
Human rights, at least in our new conceptual country for a
start, should include the basics of living.
How can you have the right of life, without the means to
support it? Humans need things to
survive and thrive. Air, water, food,
shelter, clothing when necessary; in our modern age the ability to communicate
and know what is happening in the world is important, and education gives us
the ability to interpret all that we see or want to do properly.
So I will add these things to our current list of rights,
maybe as subheadings if you will under the mains.
Life
Air
Water
Food
Shelter
Clothing
Communication
Information
Education
Liberty
Pursuit of
Happiness
You might find it silly to include things such as Air or
Water on a list of human rights. I
don't. Water has often been an issue in
our history, and our present. Wars have
been fought over water rights. Right now
some of our states need so much more water than they actually have, that they
make deals with other states to use theirs.
Perhaps a common sense practice of living in sustainable areas should be
added to our new Constitution? But I
digress.
Just as water is and has been an issue, I can forsee a
strange future where Air is also a commodity.
I hope it never happens, but it could.
Check your speculative fiction for a favorite example. One of the failings of our current
Constitution and Bill of Rights, is that it failed to be as forward thinking as
we now need it to have been. The fact
that it is a living document is almost irrelevant as the process to change it
is now so mired in our current corrupt system as to be impractical.
Food should be a right.
Our farming practices have increased their efficency to such a degree
that no one in this country should ever have to be hungry. Even though I think the efficiency model has
gone too far, and is now a little unhealthy; we could pull it back to a little
more natural state, and simply apply modern technique for good results. There would still be more than enough food
for our population easily.
As a right, the food should be provided freely. I don't mean you can get any kind of food you
want, such as junk food. Sweets can be
made from simple staples if desired in moderation. Twinkies are ridiculous. Food such as a person needs to life happily
should be given out.
Appropriate shelter should also be a right. A home to call one's own is an important part
of being a happy human. It's the way we
are wired, a safe place to live is really important. For sleeping, for rearing young, for the pursuit
of happiness. The home provided by your
rights should be in a location that makes a person happy. It's no good to provide a place to live that
no person would want to live. We'll have
to figure that part out.
Clothing is important.
Important for practical reasons of given activities, and for
climates. I'd say the people of Hawaii have no need of
clothing, but again you should have the right amount of clothing to feel happy
and safe, as those are some basic concepts of our new society. As an aside, I'll not have laws requiring
clothing when it isn't needed, thank you very much. Some will want to be clothed on a nice day,
others will not, I see no need to govern that.
Communication and Information, really very closely
related. I think I envision the basic
home provided under these new rights, to have something built into it. The fantastical do it all terminal of the
future. Phone, video, audio, internet
access, etc. Important for keeping
society informed, educated, and empowered.
Education is a right already. I think we need to make a right to a GOOD
education a right. Growing up is hard
enough without having to put up with the bullshit system that so many young
people have to. With the extra time that
many citizens will have in our new country thanks to their new set of rights,
home schooling will be more possible for many.
That will help. I don't know
what, how, or even if to regulate the educational content everyone learns. Smarter head will have to think on that. All I know is that I had to
"learn", at least long enough to pass a test, many things that I never,
ever used again. Many things that I do
actually need in my life, I don't know as good as I wish I did. But that is probably due to the niche I've
found for myself, and my interests.
Perhaps everyone should learn differently? Custom schooling for the modern age?
Well, that's all the rights I have so far under the heading
of Life. If it is starting to sound a
little communistic, you are probably right.
I think that the negative baggage that the United States has associated with
strong social programs is unfortunate. I
think that many of the concepts of communism are things to strive for. Much of what actually transpired in communist
countries, is not. In our new country,
we must prevent those negative aspects somehow.
My social theories are wonderfully unfounded in any real
way. I was influenced early on in my
life by books. I'd point you to a couple
Heinlein books, For Us The Living: A Comedy of Customs. And Coventry. These two books show where I first got my
feet wet in social ideas. They both
contain many ideas I think should be incorporated into our new country.
In case you are wondering: Yes, I know that the rights I've outlined above are a profound change. Requiring many many things to work to achieve them. Hopefully I can successfully touch on them in the future.
I think I'll wonder about the right of Liberty some.
Cheers, to the Rights of Humanity
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