OTS ~ O ~ STO ‘The Prospect of Babel’ (A rhetorical compendium) Program: Prologue Essence of the text Initial principles Introduction A. Polity 1. Introduction Cardinal points Social evolution (Revolution eschewed) Equal opportunity (Birth defect) Consequential citizenship (Confederate identity) Meritocratic conditions Global consciousness 2. Governance 1 Preamble (Federal order) Common politics (Party, dynastic and career mutations, soundly denounced) Muscular socialism Qualified, earned or deserved enfranchisement Meritocratic society (Consequential aristocracy) Aristocratic brackets (Social credit) Constitution (Electoral method, etcetera) Government Religion Ethical Sentinels (Maganimous order) Sentinel roles Sentinel benefits Ethical inculcation Enforcement (Police, civil guard & militia) 3. Cultural subscription Vital individuality Demographic address Constructive retirement Social service Social mobilisation Charity, philanthropy & Active taxation Cultural funding 4. Municipal issues Regional governance Town planning (& regional architecture) Trading standards Tidy society Communal mobilisation B. Ethics 1. Introduction Ethical caveats 2. The right to wrong (& freedom) Freedom defined Freedom of faith Freedom of equality Freedom from equality Freedom of choice Freedom from choice Freedom of selfhood (Freedom of expression) Freedom from selfhood Conventional freedom (Social licence) 2 3. Civil dialogue Ethical imperatives (& their enforcement) Essential legislation Suspect innocence Judgement Civil advocacy Relative penalties (& compensation) Relative surveillance Ad hoc prosecution Ad hoc sentences Corporal interrogation (in certain cases) Punishment (Civic liability) The Penal Standard (Sentence tariffs) Outlawing Licenced vice Licenced narcotics Licenced prostitution Gambling restricted 4. Civil law Contractual relation Relative damages Marital standing 5. True reportage Cultural archiving Limited marketing 6. Global law Insecure civilisation (Doubting civilisation [doubtful humanity]) Federal intervention (Mandatary humanity) C. Economics 1. Introduction Capital explanation (Meritonomics) Economic balance Economic cycles Helot technology (Cyber caveats) Anthropic occupation (Human employment) Concierge society Collaborative economy Common priority True currency (Fiat money assayed, cyber currency debunked) 2. Payment Preamble 3 The Labour standard Wage equation Public bonus Profiteering stopped Abstract commerce stopped State brokering Senior workforce 3. Possession Preamble (Common economy) The Land standard (Telluric security) Land standard applied to environment & resources State insurance Disinheritance 4. Commerce Public banking Public lending Pernicious business (& exclusive unions) Corporate formulas Personal companies Private companies Public partnerships Public companies Corporate licence Public utilities (plus natural & moral monopolies) Publicly owned vice Guilds, quality & true Unions Kaizen ethos (Qualitative deflation ~ ever better value) Economic cycles 5. Taxation Preamble Self-financing society State accountancy Income tax (Passive & Active tax) Tax exemption (as fiscal stimulus) Privilege driven industry (via Social credit) Frank taxation Free trade Vice excised Controlled royalties (& intellectual property) Cultural property capitalized Capital gains taxed Gifting restricted Tax surplus (plus sinking funds) Subsidised retirement 4 6. Welfare Preamble Alms & moral hazard Public cover Essential employment (Farewell welfare) Social contracting State care Healthcare Pragmatic triage Demographic management D. Education 1. Introduction Inadequate education 2. Teaching ethos Preamble Parental commitment Rude youth Qualified liberty Public patronage & an end to cyclic ignorance Public patronage & parental emancipation Public patronage & demographic management Public education Academic method (Technological tuition, human mentoring) 3. Primary schooling (Maganimous programming) Fraternal education (Egalitarian uniformity) Social school time English (Engloss & mother tongue) 4. Civic schooling. Social education (Qualified citizenship) Freedom to leave 5. Social scholarship Vocational tuition College fees Adult education 6. Social gearing (Maganimous anarchy) Communal meaning (Poetic & poietic education) Self-definition Natural perfection (New-Humanism) 5 Prologue Essence of the text “Merit; this, in a word, is the essence of the text that follows, to wit, that men earn what they deserve ~ and learn to be deserving ~ the good being rewarded, the bad getting their just comeuppance, whilst the vain are chastened (thus if this political system, warrants an ’ism, let merit be its prefix ~ its philosophical chassis, being Neo- Humanism). This ethical kernel can then be developed, into thirteen, fundamental principles, which should underpin the running of an upright polity. Initial principles 1. Rights equal obligations (right – obligation = privilege) 2. Birthright is wrong (gifted privilege, smothering justice in the crib) 3. Common opportunity, won outcome (equity right, equality wrong) 4. No one surpasses another, over tenfold (success must be merited) 5. Short-term pragmatism, longterm idealism (in time, compromise) 6. Liberty hinges on low taxation 7. Public and private life are vital, for fulfilling Existence 8. Party politics rots democracy, common democracy lowers society 9. No welfare or benefits, sans pre or repayment (save when helpless) 10. Cultural plurality, common polity (multiple cultures, one republic). 11. Man must master, and command technology 12. Humanity is a stage, twixt Anima and Maganima 13. Deutero-Humanism (Vitruvian Man) Introduction* Book-ending the comments made in the Summary, at the close of this opening section, this work is full of good, bold ideas for social reform, but no one man has the wit to finish it, so at best it presents a proposal, a draft ~ whose subject is transitory, thus e’er topical ~ which invites dialogue, analysis, trial and rewriting (compounded thought being universally truer, than the ego-skewed musing of a sole soul ~ a state shaped true to one’s taste, being false to others, etcetera). Now, to begin… ‘Life, its meaning and reason, are philosophical issues, which fall outside the scope of this mundane statement, and, besides, have been addressed elsewhere*; our purpose here, is to soberly propose the optimal, workable form of society* ~ by outlining a hypothetical, concept-polity ~ and to correct current injustice (as evidenced by oppression; by inherent and prejudicial disparity; by excessive and complex tax; by expensive and specialist law; by riches amid indigence, and similar ills); consequently, 6 despite sounding at times like a manifesto, what’s said here’s more a question than an answer, an invitation for the listener to view things anew, to decide what is true, what is worthy of consideration, and development, or of ridicule, and dismissal (an ideal society, being one made by way of, so based on compromise, to which end a reader, is really here an editor ~ comments on the said rhetoric, being written, like this, in parenthesis).’ ‘On a broader note, rather than vainly aspiring, to be spoonfed to followers ~ or force- fed to students ~ a social philosophy should be like a craft, in as much as it ought to be a transmission of informed wisdom, which, by being culturally compounded, and moderated through debate, becomes an authorless, communal movement (while any man who, foolishly, thinks he alone has found the way, has in fact discovered conceit, through learning his own beliefs); shelving craft virtue, mind, ideas take on craft value, by being practically cast through group evolution, and thereby surpass exclusive interests, to become universally useful, in keeping with which, a good thesis is never completed, and should, forever, present a work in progress (updated by later thinkers, and perennially reinterpreted, ideas stay evergreen, by being open ended).’ ‘Nevertheless, the negative capability, to reason outside of closed systems, beyond dogma, and past received wisdom, does not warrant itinerant thinking, or dispel purpose, confidence or conviction, but merely looks to temper these sentiments, with an acceptance of fallibility, healthy irreverence, and an acknowledgement of nescience, which qualifies decisive action, without denying drive (wanting Logical contradiction, an open-minded man can, still, act with great determination).’ ‘Thus, as to fail to plan is to plan to fail, the question of the plan of man, is a valid and pressing one, which must be addressed by every generation (who should take note, that the planlessest men in decadent society, err to be leaders who chase popularity); moreover, though every plan needs to be adaptable, amenable, and pragmatically enacted ~ accepting of change, and welcoming revision ~ to own no longterm goal, is to betray the past, fail the future, and make the present more empty, to which end, ends are necessary (means naturally following them, as a matter of course ~ a thought which ought to, rightly, guide good society).’ (Candid veracity): ‘In respect of correctness, as all knowledge decays in the face of revelation, certainty is a species of conceit, and nothing can be said or written, which does not warrant criticism, the concept-society here outlined, must be, to a degree, erroneous; in spite of this honest, and modest qualification though, it must be said that this system, sometimes myopic, sometimes quixotic, often wrong, and riddled with silliness ~ or, perhaps, silly riddles ~ nevertheless