We Have Brains: My Utopia

I've had a great time thinking about this topic. First. consider this description from the new Outer Limits series, season 4, episode 17, called "LITHIA" : http://www.tvtome.com/OuterLimits/season4.html#ep79

It is 2055 and the post-apocalyptic world is populated exclusively by women; all the men were killed in the Great War and the Scourge that followed. Into this matriarchy comes Major Jason Mercer (David Keith), who was cryogenically frozen forty years earlier and now awakened in Lithia. Lithia is a small agricultural enclave overseen by a group of women that include the regal elder Hera (Julie Harris), Ariel (Claire Rankin), Miranda (Nadia Capone) and Pele (Kirsten Williamson). Mercer's arrival sparks a debate about the nature of men among some women and revives long-dormant sexual feelings in others. The debate intensifies as Mercer, seeing the enclave's poverty and primitive tools, begins to repair the community's broken machines and pushes Miranda, the group's trade representative to barter with Hyacinth, a neighboring community, for electricity to run the machines. Over the objections of the elders, Mercer gets the machines running by stealing power from Hyacinth's dam. But, can Mercer revive the world of men, without also bringing back the violence, anger and death which led to his gender's extinction?

I wish it were available on DVD or VHS, but alas, it has never been released. I have it on tape somewhere, so if anyone is interested in seeing it, let me know and I'll try to dig it up. In short, because the man won't work within the system of consensus and cooperation that the women established after the apocalypse, they decide to return him to a state of suspended animation.

Now I'm not saying men are evil. I wouldn't want to have to get along without them, because I really love men. What I hate is Patriarchy. The man in the little morality play I've referenced was a product of Patriarchy, and he wouldn't let it go. He wasn't used to thinking cooperatively. He put his needs above the needs of the whole community, thinking in "us against them" terms rather than the "we're all in this together" approach of the new Matriarchy.

I am a Matriarchist. That's like a Feminist, but more so. The most difficult part of teaching my philosophies is that our culture has so many misconceptions about Matriarchy. It's not Patriarchy in a skirt. It's not some man-hating, Fem Dom fantasy where men are treated as inferiors, or worse. Those are the nightmare scenarios that Patriarchs use as an excuse to oppress 53% of the population. It's the concept of "Power Over," where might equals right, and the ruling class claims dominion over those is considers to be inferior. Matriarchy is about empowering everyone within it.

Patriarchy is all about property, with the ownership class calling the shots. Within Patriarchal systems, women, children and "others" are property to be controlled and trade as for the financial gains of the ruling class. If you think this doesn't happen in America 2004, see "Sexual slavery: Real, but largely ignored, Two books fault media, international officials." By Carlin Romano from today's Philadelphia Inquirer. In short, there are twice as many people enslaved today as during the height of the African Slave trade of the 18th Century.

There are people right now who envision a new way of life. The platform of the Green Party describes what I'd call hives - small, interdependent groups that govern themselves and cooperate for the common good. Preservation of the Commons - whether actual, intellectual or electronic- would take precedence. In my Utopia, corporate power would be limited and regulated. Basic needs would be met first. Wealth is possible, but not at the expense of Indigenous tribes, the environment, or human rights.

Farm subsidies would be for organic farming, not corporate warehousing that produces hormone, antibiotic and disease laden animal foods. Vegetarianism would be encouraged, but not required. (I don't think it would be necessary to require it - the price of meat produced in this kind of system would be prohibitive in and of itself.) No grain would be used for animals while people starve, nor would food be allowed to go bad in storage while people are in need. Farmers would neve be paid not to grow crops.

Clean water, electricity, clean air, health care, education, internet and telephone access would be considered basic necessities and therefore accessible to everyone. There would be no censorship. Prisons would be rare and only for those predatory criminals that cannot be rehabilitated. Others would serve time in public works projects, and have to surrender wealth obtained illegally. Parenting classes would begin at the junior high level. Contraceptives would be provided freely, as would abortions. No one under age 18 would be allowed to marry, marriage would be difined by a declaration of the parties involved, without regard to gender or number. There would be no prohibition of any kind, but there would be high luxury taxes on items like alcohol and other stimulants and narcotics. Rehab services and counseling for any and all mental illness would be provided easily and extensively. There might actually be a tax to reproduce.

There would be actual democracy, open and transparent government. Women would be 53% of the house of representatives and half of the senate. We'd have more of a parliamentary structure. We'd have the ERA and protections for LGBT and disabled people in the Constitution. There would be no such thing as an illegal alien, because we'd allow people to flow freely in and out of countries. War would be nearly unthinkable, except in cases of human rights violations. Genocide and genital mutilation would not be tolerated. Religion would be taught in philosophy classes. Common sense would mean more than ideology in policy decisions. Honesty would be rewarded. Dishonesty would be grounds for impeaching a public official. Voting would be required as a condition of citizenship.

Corporations would not be treated as people, and would be held financially responsible for harm done to the people or the environment. Crimes against nature and crimes against humanity would be prevented and severely punished. Technology would be used judiciously, with a respect for life and an eye toward the common good. Anti-trust laws would be strictly enforced, and the public airwaves would be just that - for the people, used by the people, not corporations.

I believe that all of this is attainable. It would take time - probably more than my lifetime, but it could be done if we envision it, expect it, demand it. I've been saying for a while that our current government reminds me of the French Monarchy at the time of the French Revolution. We need a new American Enlightenment, of the kind that spawned our own democracy. The American Revolution was just the first step in what was intended to be a move toward an egalitarian society. Jefferson and his compatriots fully expected that our social development would continue to become more fair and more inclusive than their contemporaries would allow. Democracy is a process that has only just begun.