I stumbled on a book a long time ago at a used book store with the title, "The Quest for Utopia," by Glen Negley and J. Max Patrick, copyright 1952. The subtitle was "An Anthology of Imaginary Societies." It is basically a collection of wrtings by nineteenth century utopists describing societies which they believe might exist some time in the future. A lot of these descriptions are fanciful and based on notions which, in my opinion, are pretty far-fetched like the notion that all human beings are basically good people and that they will all behave properly given the right conditions. I don't believe that any society predicated on the fact that good behavior will somehow be universally achieved is realistic.
Other utopias, however, are not only realistic but contain germs of ideas which could be manifested in reality. Some of these ideas have in fact already been implemented. Such a one is "The Future Commonwealth" by Albert Chavannes (1836-1903), a Swiss immigrant to the US. Chavannes became a successful businessman and devoted his last years to writing. In 1894 he established a lumber company in Knoxville, Tennessee of which his grandson became owner. The grandson, Edward Chavannes, also became Mayor of Knoxville. Albert wrote "The Future Commonwealth" in 1892. What is interesting about this tract is not that it is an all encompassing description of a society which could be implemented in toto, but that it contains many good ideas which could be implemented in any society and some that have already been implemented in certain societies.
Chavannes was in the tradition of the English utilitarians and believed that whatever promoted the general welfare would also promote personal happiness. Contrast this with the current prevailing notion in the US today that whatever promotes individual freedom promotes the general welfare - just the opposite. Chavannes writes, "We consider the distribution of products the most important question, and that its correct solution offers the best prospect of increasing human happiness. The rich have more than they can enjoy, while the poor have less. We made our new Commonwealth the great Capitalist, and thus prevented the undue accumulation of wealth in private hands.
"There is the whole secret of it. Cooperation on a large scale, not practised by a few, for the advantage of a few, as it exists among you, but carried by the Commonwealth, for the advantage of the whole population, for the rich as well as for the poor, for the women as well as for the men."
Chavannes goes on to say that his utopia is not "simply a Socialistic settlement, where the state controls everything" and is not antithetical to the "free and independent citizens " of the US. He reassures the reader that his utopia has not abridged personal freedom.
"We ... have entrusted the Commonwealth with the accumulation and use of a portion of our capital for the benefit of the people, while you only entrust your government with the spending of such capital as you raise by unequal taxation, or by borrowing from the wealthy class, thus increasing the burdens of the producers by compelling them to pay interest on the money your government spends."
Here Chavannes has put his finger on the difference between the US model and the models of many other countries of the world. The US government is run on debt or taxation instead of on the principle of capital generation and accumulation. Other countries such as Norway, for example, have Sovereign Wealth Funds which generate capital which is then distributed to the people in the form of old age pensions. Norway's government takes 50% of the monies derived from its natural resources, oil, for example, and uses it on behalf of its citizens to offset taxes and to supply social benefits such as social security. The US gives away its natural resources to private corporations which then accrue all the profits for themselves. The US then has to borrow money from other nations' Sovereign Wealth Funds and has become the world's largest debtor nation. The only way the US can pay its own way is to raise taxes which it has an aversion to doing. So while other countries accumulate wealth which not only provides for social programs but is also used to offset taxes, the US neither accumulates wealth as a nation nor raises taxes thereby going increasingly into debt.
Tom Friedman on Meet the Press, Sunday March 14 contrasted the efficiency of the Chinese government with the American:
Tom Friedman thinks Democracy is becoming a hindrance.
The media is wringing it’s hands over the political climate. It’s always sunny when Democrats get their way. The forecast is for stormy weather. All this opposition and people in the street, it’s not a good thing.
Tom Friedman was on Meet the Press today with Tom Brokaw and David Brooks. He thinks we’d be better off if we were more like the Chinese government.
Brokaw: Tom, are we at a kind of turning point in America in terms of being able to make this a functioning country again or are we dysfunctional?
Friedman: This is what worries me that I’ve been saying for a while there is only one thing worse than one party autocracy, the Chinese form of government, and that’s one party democracy. In china if the leadership can get around to an enlightened decision, it can order it from the top down. Here, when you have one party democracy, one party ruling, basically and the other party basically saying “no”, every solution is suboptimal. When your chief competitor can produce optimal and you can only produce suboptimal! Because what happens whether it’s health care or the energy bill, votes 1 through 50 cost a lot; votes 50 to 59 cost you a fortune and 60, his name is Ben Nelson. By the time you made those compromises you wind up with the description out of the health care bill, which is this Rube Goldberg contraption, I hope it passes but I can’t tell you I think it’s optimal.
It’s so much easier to get things done when there’s no opposition, no one to say “no”. Of course to achieve that you have to round up and imprison or kill dissidents and impose censorship. As long as something optimal comes out of it once in awhile, say universal health care, it’s well worth it or so the thinking goes in some circles. History is well acquainted with optimal solutions from unopposed governments.
So even Tom Friedman, the arch proponent of globalism, thinks the Chinese model is winning out over the American model, and he didn't even mention the fact that China has a Sovereign Wealth Fund that is accumulating monies as the American government pays interest on its debt owed largely to China.
Chavannes had the difference between the "socialist" economies of western Europe and the laissez-faire capitalism of the US pegged. On the one hand the socialist governments are in the business of accumulating monies which can then offset both taxes and social programs. On the other the US government is in the business of beggaring itself because it gives away profitable revenue sources to private interests.
Chavannes goes on:
"Whatever costs money to maintain, as the streets and the parks, the police and the fire departmen, etc., is placed in the hands of the government, and the people are taxed for its support, while those enterprises which offer oppoprtunities to make money, as the supply of light and water, the life and fire insurance companies, are allowed to fall into the hands of corporations and individuals. We are so far Socialists as to keep in the possession of the people many valuable privileges which you give away to men who use them for private benefit."
Chavannes goes on to outline the various profitable enterprises that the government controls , but makes clear that there is still plenty of room for private enterprise to flourish. The point here is that not only is the government well funded in order to provide the things that private enterprise won't like maintaining and improving infrastructure, but does so without taxing the people so low taxes, improved infrastructure and social benefits go hand in hand.
Chavannes also makes a major point about apprenticeship programs in his utopia which is a subject we will go into on a future post.
