The Utopian World Championship

Thomas Bell: Heaven on Earth: A Utopian Proposal Based on Real Utopian Communities

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Summary

Utopia.
The word itself conjures a multitude of images, images which are rarely consistent from person to person. For some, the word means some futuristic city where technology meets all humanity's needs. For others, "utopia" is the simplest life possible, a life supported by nothing more than Mother Earth's bountiful resources and one's own hard work. Authors, philosophers, and even politicians entice our imaginations with wishful visions of some perfect existence. Unfortunately, most of those visions remain wishful, beyond the bounds of reality.
But history shows us that some have taken their ideas of utopia a step further. Attempting to escape dissatisfaction with the world around them, they combined with like-minded persons and attempted to transform fantastic abstractions into a tangible reality. They were inspired by religion, philosophy, and even commerce. But more importantly, they were spurred on by hope, hope that a perfect society can indeed be formed on a planet so marred by dissatisfaction.
Unfortunately, every most attempt ended in failure. Poor management caused resources to be wasted and lost; ideological quarrels led to splits and fallouts; societal rejection and government intervention stifled the efforts of even the strongest utopian groups. Some even fell apart because the date they set for the Second Coming or the Apocalypse came and passed.
But despite their eventual failures, every group had its strong points. Some used religion or a uniform moral code to promote a strong sense of community. Others took advantage of American free enterprise to raise substantial capital.
When we set out to design our own utopian community, we did so under this principal: why dream of utopia, when we can create utopia? We looked to the past, to the successes and failures of those who embodied this principal. We dug through the very fabrics of these communities, snipped and saved the good ideas, and threw away the mistakes. What resulted was a "patchwork quilt" of utopian idea, which we now present for your consideration.

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However, like past utopias, we realize that we must limit our numbers based on resources. Furthermore, to create maximum harmony, we must find individuals who will actually promote such harmony rather than disrupt it. We have therefore decided upon a simple selection process for our community.
Selection will be a semi-democratic process. Prospective members will submit applications which detail their reasons for wanting to join the community, their personal history, and their possible economic contribution to the community. They will also go through an interview process with a group of community volunteers, which will be made up of a rotating group of members. This group will select the applicants with the most potential and present their credentials to the community, who will then vote democratically on new members.
Upon acceptance, members will be given a plot of land and a certain allotment with which to build a home, based on the average market price for doing so. Members who are starting businesses will be given zero-interest loans for doing so. The housing allotments do not have to be paid back; however, the business loans do.
In return, members will give the community ten percent of their yearly income. This money will go to fund new members and pay various community costs. If a member decides to leave and he or she has not paid in an amount equal to that of his or her home allotment during his or her stay, that individual must somehow repay the community. These rules will be enforced via simple legal contracts with no clauses other than those mentioned here.
The promise of a home and a close-knit community is a strong incentive to join our utopia. But our biggest incentives will be to people who want to start their own businesses. Section 2 demonstrates this.

SECTION 2: Economy

In a truly perfect society, money and material goods would never be a concern. Unfortunately, in a real utopian society, we cannot eliminate this problem effectively, only make it less prevalent. Without an effective economic system, a utopian community simply cannot survive. In the past, utopias often operated under a communitarian system, where all resources were shared and divided equally or as necessary. This rarely worked even in the short run and never brought success in the long run.
Sometimes, fallouts in communal societies came from simple labor inequality. Some individuals contributed more to the community than others, yet all were left with the same amount of resources for their work. This bred discontent and often led to members pulling out en masse. In other scenarios, communities simply didn't have enough capital, natural or human, to sustain the entire community, forcing even willing participants to disband out of necessity.
To prevent either of these scenarios in our own community, we recommend a system of free enterprise. Each individual will choose a trade in which he or she can serve the community. Agriculture, medicine, and education will be the main three community-focused trades.

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