Introduction

America has a ton of problems with its government, its economy, and just in general. We are the richest nation in the whole world, yet we have the 10th highest homeless population and some of, if not the worst healthcare out of any developed nation. How can the so-called "Greatest Nation in The World" show such incompetence in caring for its citizens? I propose what I believe an "Ideal America" should look like as well as possible ways to achieve it.

What Society Should Be About

My Ideal America and the ideology espoused are based on 3 basic tenets; Acceptance, Advancement, and Altruism.

ACCEPTANCE: Acceptance of everyone in this society irrespective of age, gender, race, religion, sexuality, and culture. If people accept each other as who we are rather than discriminate, the world would be a way better place.

ADVANCEMENT: We should all work together to advance ourselves and our society, we should all support intellectual pursuits, like the sciences, the arts, as well as, the humanities, and multiple cultures/countries and their histories. We could also support discoveries in any of these intellectual pursuits as well.

ALTRUISM: Our species tend to have a lot of hatred in their hearts for each other, but we also have a lot in common, and some of us need to realize that. We should help our fellow humans a lot more. The disenfranchised, the mentally ill, as well as many more people that need a helping hand.

My Ideal Government

The government of this "Ideal America" would be a true democracy instead of this duopoly we have currently. It would be a blend of liquid democracy and ranked-choice voting, meaning that citizens would have the choice to vote directly on policy issues or delegate their vote to a representative, and in this "Ideal America," if you go the representative route, you can rank candidates from your most favorite to your least favorite.

Reasons for Liquid Democracy

-Voters would now have the choice to either personally vote for someone or delegate someone else.

-It would be far easier and cheaper for people to become delegates, it wouldn't be necessary to win an election, avoiding big electoral expenses.

-Votes would be secret to avoid buying votes as well as coercion.

Reasons for Ranked Choice Voting

-RCV gives people more say in who gets elected; even if people's favorites don't get elected, they can still help choose who gets into office.

-Parties would have to focus more on making themselves look good instead of making their opponents look bad.

-RCV also promotes more diverse candidates, perhaps breaking the American duopoly.

Its Culture

My Ideal Society would advocate multiculturalism, environmentalism, and acceptance as well. It would preach a gospel of solidarity and cooperation rather than a gospel of prosperity and competition. Though there will be a good amount of individuals that would resist this.

Its Economy

The economy would primarily be a Nordic-style welfare state that supports robust and extensive welfare programs to ensure the safety and happiness of the people. Another aspect of this economy would be the Land Value Tax which is a tax on the value of the land without any regard to any buildings, property, and land development happening on that land. Not only that, most if not all businesses in America would be workers' cooperatives, which would give workers more control. One last characteristic of this economy would be the nationalization of all industries.

Reasons for Nordic Model

There is a lot more social mobility in Nordic countries than in a lot of other countries in the world.

There is a lot less poverty, but it could be just a lot less visible than in other countries, but due to a seemingly better social security everybody is mostly taken care of, but people might use the Nordic model for their ends so we might have to be careful.

There is also the fact that the Nordic countries give everyone the same basic services like education as well as healthcare, there is also way less corruption in the Nordic countries than in America, meaning that they are a lot more equal as well.

Reasons for Land Value Tax

-This can prevent mining for fossil fuels because mines will be taxed, meaning an increase in solar panel use.

-There will be more productive usage of the land, which can lead to a job increase.

-Since there'd be greater land productivity, there'd be a decrease in inflation and an increase in actual wages.

Reasons for Workers' Co-ops

-There'd be less toxic work environments.

-Far fewer Leadership Crisis, due to the fact this is a team, not a group "led" by a boss.

-As well as more long-term employment, due to the fact workers would want to protect their livelihoods.

Reasons for Nationalization of Industries

-It helps to prevent the exploitation of workers.

-It would eliminate monopolies.

-It also protects strategic industries.

Its Penal System

Another thing that is quite important to mention is how my ideal America deals with criminals. To be honest, I think the prison system should be more focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment, drugs should also be decriminalized and mental health institutes should be funded more. Also, prisoners should vote after release, as voting is a right, and there is no reason to keep on punishing ex-cons if they did their time. Prison should be a place of learning and redemption, not a place of torment and punishment.

Its Policing

My Ideal America would have radically different policing from that of the police in current America. That would include but not be limited to; the elimination of qualified immunity, improve the standards of training and de-escalation, addressing the wellness of officers and restructuring of civilian payouts for police misconduct, as well as making changes to the contracts of the Fraternal Order of Police and make changes to police culture.

How to Achieve an Ideal America

It's great to talk about what a better society would look like, but how would it be achieved? In this paragraph, I set out to answer that question. One thing I noticed in both the political left and right is the "Reform vs Revolution" debate, which method is more effective? My answer is that both are effective methods, as proven throughout history, and both can be used to make a change in our current society. Both can be used in tandem to promote even more change in our country. On the reformist side of things, you pick a progressive cause to fight for (Medicare for All, Black Lives Matter, Pro-choice, etc), write to legislators and politicians about those causes, and get involved in local politics by attending town halls and city council meetings, support candidates/parties that support your progressive causes (The Green Party, The DSA are good places to start). Also, remember this, you aren't alone, there are others with similar views, so find and work with them. Now on the more revolutionary side, I suggest reaching out to your community through mutual aid (Community Fridges, Child Care Collectives, Doula Programs, etc), as well as participating in protests that represent your causes, joining political organizations that align with your beliefs is also a major help (BLM, DSA, IWW are some you could look into), and if you are currently working, you can join or start a trade union and participate in workers strikes to meet your demands in the workplace. Social Media is also a great way to spread change, for example, I have been working on a discord server to discuss and spread ideas, as well as organize. Making change takes a lot of time and effort, and sometimes you may not live long enough to see the results, but when you succeed, the world will be a better place, and your children will thank you.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope to have inspired and informed. To have inspired others to build a better world. To have informed others of how flawed America truly is. And to the people that have read this, thank you for reading, and I hope you took something from this essay.

Sources

enliveningedge.org/tools-practices/liquid-democracy-true-democracy-21st-century/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model

nyc.gov/site/civicengagement/voting/ranked-choice-voting.page

institute.coop/what-worker-cooperative#:~:text=A%20worker%20cooperative%20is%20a,labor%20contribution%20to%20the%20cooperative

brookings.edu/research/a-better-path-forward-for-criminal-justice-police-reform/

globalpeoservices.com/top-15-countries-by-gdp-in-2022/

finance.yahoo.com/photos/10-countries-with-maximum-homeless-people-how-many-homeless-in-india-131259042/20-may-2020-berlin-homeless-123811016.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJosPkJ_KmGFaBgiAte3RNFxU-123A9_PUYWrArNTQWSnDEljF9rWlAqPWQkKInLvYZYkO4No2Tnjm6TUocollkftp2Z2FTFq16tTbjidRp3w6uHsQhlfmr1z9AGCSX2Hj3uHAOgBuQYpqdH6v9hvoDbQNPXOPEYTge3MePmQcf

washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/05/global-health-rankings/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_(organization_theory)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax

khatabook.com/blog/nationalization/

cnn.com/2016/11/15/politics/ways-to-be-more-politically-active-trnd/index.html

Organizations to look at

iww.org/

dsausa.org/

y.dsausa.org/   (For students)