Nexus no war
One no poverty
World no excuses
I live in a place where there is no war, where there is no poverty, where everyone has access to an inspiring education as well as access to meaningful work. I live in a place where there are no structural obstacles to all people living in harmony. This is a place where our collective wisdom prevails. I call this place Nexus. Currently, this place exists only in my imagination. Perhaps you live in the same place. Perhaps there are many of us who live there.
We, in this place, understand, finally, why, generation after generation, century after century, we see only the pretense of change. We have been conditioned to believe that the way to effect change is by small, individual efforts by ordinary people. Sometimes these ordinary people form organizations which appear to have significant power. Sometimes, these organizations even appear to have extraordinary power, powers greater even than nation states. But the United Nations doesn’t fool us anymore. Too many years, too many disappointments, too many failures. And then, the veto system. The United States, China, France, England, and Russia with the capability of derailing any initiative that is not to their advantage. Structurally flawed is an understatement. You cannot repair a vessel that has fatal flaws. The position, size, or design of the chairs on the Titanic is irrelevant at a certain moment in time. This is that moment.
For real change to take place, the world will need a new system of governance. Each of the six continents (Oceania will adopt Antarctica) will send a delegation of the 9 wisest persons …not necessarily the most powerful, the richest, or the most famous. Start thinking about who you would like to represent you on your continent.
These 54 will replace the United Nations and will oversee the transition to a peaceful world. At the same time, each country will appoint 9 of their wisest persons to ensure that each country abides by the guidelines set out here. You get to vote here too. Democracy with a promise!
Each country that has democratically elected governments will maintain the same structures of governance. Each level of government will continue to have the same responsibilities. So, for example, a country like Canada would continue to maintain a Federal government, as well as Provincial and Municipal governments.
It is expected that every country in the world will move towards governments that are democratically elected in free, open, fair elections. Those national governments that have betrayed their people and abused their trust, those who rule by fear and violence, are hereby served notice. Your rule is nearing its end. We know what has gone on and continues to go on in many countries around the world. Your days are numbered.
In Nexus, our first requirement is that war be eliminated, be made illegal, impossible. In our ancient past, there were periods of peace which lasted thousands of years. Once we lived peacefully, we can do it again. Disagreements, no matter how divisive, will not be allowed to descend to a level where violence is unavoidable. Because war will be eliminated, there will eventually be no need for weapons manufacturing. This industry will slowly convert its production to meet the needs of a peaceful world.
A world without war is not meant to happen overnight. Nexus will maintain a sizable military presence all over the world to make sure all sides lay down their arms. The size of their ranks will be appropriately reduced as the world adjusts to this new position.
Our second requirement is that poverty be eliminated globally. Each country will establish a minimum wage which will reflect the minimum salary that a person/family would require to lead lives at a minimum standard of living. Everyone will be guaranteed access to work, decent housing, sufficient quantities of healthy food and clean water, and universal health care.
In Nexus, we believe that everyone, given the choice, prefers to work at something meaningful. We all want to make a contribution as a record of our life. As such, those unable to participate fully in this new world, for whatever reason, would be supported by a social safety net which would allow them access to a minimum standard of living.
In Nexus, we believe all persons are created equally and as such have equal value. One of the markers of personal value in a society is the salary attached to a person’s work. It is not the goal of Nexus that everyone would receive the same remuneration or that everyone would be treated identically. Each one of us is unique. However, in an attempt to control the outrageous discrepancy in salaries between the poorest and the richest of any country, certain controls would be imposed. Once a country had established a salary which would allow a minimum standard of living, a factor would be chosen which would restrict the salaries of the richest. For example, in a rich country, the minimum salary might be $25,000. If 10 is the factor chosen, no one in that country could make more than $250,000. Salaries that exceeded the chosen limits would be added to the Fund for the Common Good. (FCG…more on this fund later)
In a poor country, the factor 10 might be too challenging a hurdle at the beginning. For example, in many countries, a $5000 annual salary would be sufficient to achieve a minimum standard of living. A maximum cap of $50,000 might be too much to expect in the early transformation days. A more realistic initial position might be to suggest 10 to 1 for rich countries and 20 to 1 in the poorest countries.
The funding for this conversion would take place as follows. All countries of the world would be ranked according to their Gross National Product (GNP). The richest countries in the world would be expected to contribute 1% of their GNP to a fund. In decreasing increments, the rate would drop to .5% by the time you got to the second quarter of the countries. By the time you got to the end of the first half, the contribution would have dropped to zero. One half of this contribution would go into the FCG. As for the other half, each of the contributing countries would be matched with their appropriate recipient country. The richest country would contribute directly to the poorest country, the second richest to the second poorest etc.
Here is how this would work in more concrete terms. Currently, the world’s richest country is the United States. Its GDP in 2005 was 12.36 trillion dollars. 1% of that is 123.6 billion dollars. Currently, the world’s poorest country is East Timor. Under this system, the United States would contribute 61.8 billion dollars to FCG and the same amount directly to East Timor. To continue the model, the 10th richest country, Mexico, would be paired with the 10th poorest country, Sierra Leone. Mexico’s GNP for 2005 was approximately 1 trillion dollars. Sierra Leone’s was 4.9 billion. By the 25th richest country, the contribution might be .75% rather than 1%. Both the FCG and Sierra Leone would be the recipient of 37.5 million dollars from Mexico. The GNP of each country would be examined annually or every couple of years and changes to the plan made accordingly. For countries that are exceptional by virtue of their geographic size and/or population, a formula would apply to equalize payment transfer.
The distribution of money in the FCG would fall to the 54 who oversee the world government. Should a portion of these funds be deemed appropriate for a particular country, the distribution of these funds would be overseen by the 9 country representatives. Otherwise, funds would be allocated to meet the needs of the global community which are not contained by national borders such as famine, Aids, epidemics, and disaster relief.
Our third requirement is that all citizens of the world would have access to a liberating education. There are already many models which exist. Each country would be free to choose and modify their own system of education once selecting from one of the models. All models would be free of societal messages intended to create obedience or allegiance to any ideology. Each educational model would also be free of any religious dogma that pitted one religion against another or sought to elevate one religion to the detriment or exclusion of another. School would be mandatory for every child until at least 16. Child labour would be illegal worldwide.
The overriding purpose of education would be for each of us to better understand who we are, what we are meant to do, and our place in and relationship to Earth and the Cosmos. Each one of us would be invited to seek truth and beauty in our educational journey.
At the outset, I wrote that Nexus would consciously seek to remove any “structural obstacles to all people living in harmony”. One of the principal “structural obstacles” as I see it is “the world’s great religions”...or at least, the interpretation of these religions by some.
These people would have us believe that their religion is the only one sanctioned by God, that all others bear false witness, that God has created a world where the vast majority are condemned to eternal damnation. From this perspective, one’s moral stance while on the earth is completely irrelevant unless within the framework of a particular religion. And then the framework is only recognized by members of the same religion!
We will not survive this worldview. Some will say we are not meant to. I think we are.
I think we are meant to live gloriously, knowing others are leading happy, healthy, fulfilled lives as well. We have been given free will. We are the consciousness of the planet reflecting back on itself. We can choose to live any way that we want.
Some hard decisions are going to have to be made. There are places in the world, such as the Middle East, where watching the conflict unfold on a daily basis is a form of insanity. What is going on there? Why are three generations of people completely incapable of solving their differences? Why would we create a state for one religion and not the others?
If you held a set of beliefs that led you to believe that you are God’s “chosen” people, how would you be treated by others outside of this circle? If your focus is simply the health and prosperity of those members of your religion, how would you expect others to respond to you? If, according to your beliefs, the after life is more attractive than your present life, and that the road to this after life is paved with the death and destruction of others outside your faith, is that not irrational thinking? We can ask these same questions of most religions.
It seems to me that unless we deal with these difficult issues of religious beliefs, we will never eradicate the violence that we witness daily in God’s name. Unless we find ways to interpret scriptures differently, we will never rid the English language of its darkest oxymoron, the “Holy War”. Members of Nexus see themselves as first and foremost members of the same human family
So, ………….. how do we move from concept to reality?
Begin to find ways to disengage from the dominant society.
Remind yourself that you believe that change will not come from within it's own enclosure.
Question your participation in the voting process. If you vote, the assumption is that you do so believing that it will make a difference. Do you believe that? Maybe in your judgement, it does at the municipal level but not at the national level. If so, perhaps you should consider voting in one election but not the other. Keep in mind that each time you vote you are throwing in your lot with that system, you are empowering that system to continue in its ways, you are indicating your belief that change will come as a result of your vote.
Think about who you think are the wisest people in your midst? Who are the wisest people anywhere in the world from your experience? Who would you like to see weigh in on any of the issues that currently demand our attention? Who are the visionaries that you would feel comfortable representing you in a quest to create a world that reflects our collective values?
Let others know about the website. Add your thoughts to the “Best Practices” page. Invite others you admire to add their voice as well, to share their vision for each specific aspect of our lives together.
So that’s it. Pretty straight forward, really. A world with no war or poverty. Maybe that’s what was intended all along.
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