Thomas Bell: Heaven on Earth: A Utopian Proposal Based on Real Utopian Communities
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PREMISE: What is our “Utopia?�
When Europeans began immigrating to America, they had several ideas on their minds. Some dreamed of religious freedom, or even the freedom not to have religion. Others dreamed of Enlightenment-era ideals: equality, liberty, and fraternity. Still others sought economic freedom, the freedom for each man to work for himself and for entrepreneurs to do business without unwanted interventions. Personal freedoms and free trade became the cornerstones of the American spirit.
For a time, all these ideals survived in America. Even as the government grew in the east, the westward movement provided pockets where there was literally no government intervention in personal lifestyle. Religious groups could practice as they saw fit. Individual rights were protected above all else. Land was cheap or even free for homesteaders and businessmen. And as mentioned above, utopian dreamers were free to execute their plans, however ill-fated.
But the “American dream� didn’t last. As the government grew, other priorities replaced those original ideals. Economic freedom became stifled by oligopolies and monopolies. Special interests began influencing the government, destroying the idea of a truly equal society. In recent years, individual freedoms have taken a backseat to supposed “national security� or “the common good.�
In short, America is no longer the “land of the free� it once was. But we believe it can be again. By setting a new example via our own utopian community, we believe we can restore those once-sacred ideals. By taking the principles of personal freedom and economic opportunity and putting them into practice, we can set an example not just for America, but for the world. And if we do so in harmony with one another, we can create something very close to utopia on earth.
Keeping these ideals in mind and keeping a strong historical perspective firmly in place, we set out to design our utopia.
SECTION 1: Organization and Selection
Historically, utopian groups have been united under some common ideology or goal, such as a Christian group preparing for Christ’s return or a communist group setting an example for global change. But after much consideration, we have decided that such a society is far from “utopian� in many ways. How can we truly have “utopia� if membership is limited by a religion or political ideology alone? What if goals start to differentiate or individuals lose their convictions altogether? Such societies have often suffered ideological splits and difficulty in attracting new members, as the outside world usually shunned their strict moral codes or unusual lifestyles. For these reasons, we have decided on a secular community, with no moral or ideological restrictions beyond basic considerations for other human beings.
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