Kamal S. Prasad

A democracy is defined by the right that it accords its citizens to choose its leaders. As such, anything that interferes with that process is, by definition, designed to undo that democracy.

To that end, anyone who commit voter or elections fraud should be considered a traitor and prosecuted for treason. The penalties should be equivalent to someone who would provide national security secrets to a foreign country or would commit acts of violence against his or her own countrymen.

Elected officials are paid for by tax-payer monies, making them public employees. With the lifestyles that some public officials enjoy, some might be inclined to think that either they are overpaid or making money moonlighting.

If they are overpaid, they should be ashamed to live so lavishly while even one of their constituents does not have a roof over their head, adequate healthcare, or the ability to provide their children with world-class education.

If they are moonlighting, their commitment to public service is compromised because it means they are accountable to others besides the people who elected them to service.

This idea of mine comes from Plato’s Republic. It would work for the national level and I have not given much thought about local levels. I propose that when a person is elected, that they be prohibited from working for any entity other than the office to which they were elected. This includes personal projects such as authoring a book for profit. The elected official will, in turn, be provided with public housing, transportation, healthcare and education for all immediate family members at a level that is accessible to all middle-class families.

This would ensure that only those who have the best interests of the people run for office.

There is great debate in the news these days about tax cuts for the large corporations and the rich, and how, when they get it, that prosperity will trickle down to the workers and others further down the socioeconomic ladder. As much as some would like to believe that, unfortunately, it can never be practical. There is no incentive for people to share their prosperity other than the goodness of their hearts and, when they are in competition with their neighbors to see who has the higher net worth, that goodness is not easy to find.

To ensure that all the people of a state are prosperous, their prosperity needs to be tied to each other. In order to make this happen, in my world, the salary of highest paid employee of an organization will be no higher than 50 times the salary of it lowest paid employee. If the CEO wants to give him or herself a raise, that means that the person at the bottom gets a raise too.

Why do we exist? Surely, not to do taxes, take out the garbage or do any of the other millions of things in between living. Life is meant to be lived well; not spent in doing chores.

To that end, governments, corporations, and other public and private institutions should exist to improve life for all. That should be their number one priority. One could argue that that is the way things are today. None of these entities work to make life worse for people.

But, the fact that these entities, on the whole, improve lives for people is a by-product of their desire to fulfill their own needs. For corporations, it is making money. For government, it is for the politicians to stay in power (whoever heard of a politician stepping aside because another candidate was a superior choice?).

Some organizations are truly altruistic. Public libraries, schools are examples. However, they hardly get the respect and resources they deserve to be truly successful.

In my world, it will be mandated that all actions of all entities should increase the standard of living for everyone of its citizens.

You know what that means, right? No more cigarette companies.

How is fining a multi-millionaire $100 for speeding going to deter him or her from doing it again? In my world, fines and punishment would be progressive, not only to reflect the severity of the crime but of the income and, perhaps, the social standing of the individual committing the crime.

Finland appears to have this system.

The world is a crazy place. There are so many good things and bad things in it. One would think that will all the good things in the world, people would learn to consolidate the things that makes good things good and pass it on to everyone so that everyone can live happily ever after.

But, they don’t.

Even in the most prosperous of nations, there still exists a large amount of sadness, mostly due to inequalities that people feel must be propagated to preserve the antiquated class system that should have never existed in the first place.

I had thought about starting a wiki site of rules for a society that treats everyone as equals and allows each individual to achieve their highest potential. Maybe I still will.

In the meantime, I thought to start writing to my blog again and who knows, it may be the beginnings of my “Plato’s Republic.”