Top Ten Steps to Achieving World Peace

Since I began to write mostly about what we need to do to establish a peaceful society, I’ve tried to balance my message with ideas for ending poverty. That’s because I believe we‘ll never end conflict on this planet until no one is forced to wallow in a state of destitution. Thus, my list of steps to reach the goal of world peace consists of the ways we can make our economy function for everyone currently experiencing financial devastation, rather than just those who fear physical and political insecurity.


1) Implement a system of full employment, so even the lowest-paid full-time worker on the planet is able to earn at least twice the cost of all the basic goods and services necessary to enjoy a dignified existence.

2) Implement a worldwide system of fair wages and anti-pollution rules, so no employer or region can undercut another by denying workers or residents access to essential goods and services, and no entity can win a labor contract by fouling the planet we all depend upon for survival.

3) Establish an educational system in which everyone can learn at their own pace to the extent of their individual capabilities.

4) Provide adequate health care for everyone, according to individual need, with no restrictions of discrimination based on health status or the cost of services received.

5) Provide decent basic housing for everyone.

6) Provide healthful, nutritious food for everyone.

7) Provide "green" transportation and utilities for everyone.

8) Balance employment opportunities with basic services for the young, the old, and disabled people, so everyone has access to all they need in exchange for contributing what they can, no matter their limitations.

9) Establish a system in which every individual enjoys full civil rights balanced with community responsibility.

10) Establish a system in which every resident participates in the process and success of their community.

The essays in The World I Imagine not only discuss
each of the 10 steps to achieving world peace,
they contain extensive cross references to show
how improving one area will have
positive effects in several other arenas.

This list includes some of the most vital issues that must be addressed in order to end poverty, but there are countless other details I have yet to discuss. That’s why I plan to continue writing on this subject for as long as I can--or need to. And while I’m grateful for the opportunity to write here, I hope this is only the beginning. I’ll continue to look for more outlets for my columns. In time, I’d like to syndicate. It can happen!


Meanwhile, to everyone who asks about the impact this work can have, I have a simple answer. The first step toward making things change for the better is to share positive ideas. I hope my efforts will spark others to share their own creative ideas for ending poverty and building peace. We all need to "think outside the box," because the same old ways of doing things simply are not working. In fact, those same old ways are the reason so many problems exist in the first place.

Can one person have an impact? Just think about two people who ignored the "nay sayers" and did the right thing: Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi got the English to leave India and established a "home rule" government, while Mother Teresa transformed the way many people treat the poor and sick in India and around the world. Citizens of the subcontinent still have a long way to go to control poverty and conflict, but at least they have many role models to inspire them to take the best course to strive for a prosperous and peaceful future.

In the U.S., people as diverse as Al Gore and Ed Begley Jr. have pushed "green" living for years. Only recently have more people accepted their message as the only hope for the future of the planet. There are still those who can’t see the pollution for the profits, so we must keep talking about both the necessity and the practicality of "being green."

As a child, I was inspired by the Christophers, an organization founded in 1945 by Father James G. Keller "to encourage people of all ages, and from all walks of life, to use their God-given talents to make a positive difference in the world." Their motto is: "It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."

These words encouraged me through years of fighting not only illness, but the people who continued to deny my basic rights and needs because of my disability, even as I tried to use my gifts to help others. Now I’m finding a handful of people who not only care about me but encourage me to continue this work--not only for myself, but hopefully, for the future of all of human society and the planet we call Home!

　

　
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

Finding money: Social Security and the Economic Crisis

When people require extra money, both the reasons for the need and the method used to fill the coffers depends on the economic status of the individual.

Many in the middle classes live paycheck-to-paycheck. A missed payday, medical emergency, or car repair triggers a scramble for cash. People at this level might look for extra work, either overtime at their regular job or part-time at a second job. Many use credit cards, accumulating debt they might not be able to pay later.

In the depths of poverty, life is hand-to-mouth. People barely survive the negative gap between income and outgo and often lack money for food or rent. A few might find extra work, but many seek help from government agencies or charities.

In the rarefied air of the upper classes, need disappears and greed is the norm. Unusual expenses arise when Buffy demands a soiree to outshine the party hosted by her private-school rival, Missy, or Dexter IV expects a luxury vehicle when he attends Dexter III’s alma mater instead of the sports car he used during his prep-school years.

A few hundred thousands to cover these expenses is no problem. Dexter III just convinces his board of directors to boost his annual bonus. Then he gifts his trophy wife with a private Caribbean retreat for those long winter vacations.

When government finds itself short of ready cash for such essentials as military pay and seniors’ retirement, where does Congress look? To the Dexters who can spare a luxury or two and help the rest of us? Or to people at the middle and lower levels, where any unexpected expense could push them onto the road to ruin?

Most conservatives propose the latter. They make frequent reference to the sacrifices people must make, but they balk at any suggestion that the super-blessed be affected by any imagined “hardship.” Instead of raising taxes on the super-rich, they propose raising Social Security taxes and cutting retirement and medical benefits to the lower classes.

Social Security is a tax on the poor and middle class. The wealthy pay nothing more into that fund on earnings above $106,800.00, a pittance for people in the highest brackets. Social Security is a lifeline for the poor, but since benefits are based on previous earnings, the lifelong poor rarely enjoy a decent existence in retirement.

Since Social Security is paid by and most useful to people in the lower classes, the only people who should decide how to design and administer the service should be people who make less than $110,00.00 per year. The same goes for Medicare and Medicaid, which are vital to poor people and irrelevant to the wealthy.

Conservatives argue that concentrating wealth with the few ensures a strong economy, but this philosophy is upside-down. History shows that every era in which hard-working lower classes generate great wealth for the privileged leads to a period in which members of the poor and middle classes lose the benefits and capital they struggled to amass during boom times.

When wealth flows upward, people below suffer, and squeezing the common people eventually destroys the economy. That’s because companies depend less on investment than on income from the goods and services they produce. Without customers, a company will eventually fail and be forced to close its doors. Those customers are the millions of lower-class members who spend most of the money they earn or receive in various benefits to purchase products and services from the companies many of them also work for.

And that labor is another vital piece of the economic puzzle. Nobody generates a million dollars or more through their efforts alone. It takes the hard work of dozens of people just to provide the labor required to support the payment of a million dollars to anyone. If one million goes out to one person, then all the others in the equation must also receive a few thousand for their efforts. The highest earner directs the operation of lower-paid team members, many of whom could likely do their jobs without much direction in the first place.

The conclusion must be that we should worry less about the rich and begin to bolster the status of people in the lower and middle classes. Only then will we start to solve the serious economic problems now threatening the world economy.