What does an ideal society look like?

10 Ideals to Guide the Struggle against Oppression

Peter Holmes
3 min readAug 17, 2022

Our problems are so bad that it’s difficult to imagine something better. But it’s important to have a clear vision of what we’re striving for. It’s our guide.

1. An ideal society has Food for everyone

Currently in America more than 38 million people, including 12 million children, are food insecure.

2. An ideal society has a Home for everyone

Currently in America more than half a million people are experiencing homelessness.

3. An ideal society provides Healthcare to all

Currently in America 31.6 million lack healthcare insurance entirely, and more than 40 million are underinsured. Also why are insurance companies involved in healthcare decisions? In an ideal society, healthcare will be left to doctors.

4. An ideal society is Meritocratic

Those who work hard and achieve great things should be rewarded! Competition drives innovation and ultimately benefits everyone. But ownership in America is currently more concentrated than ever. Just three Wall Street firms (Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street) control assets of over $20 trillion and are the major stockholders in 96% of S&P 500 companies. Meanwhile just eight media corporations control a vast majority of what we see, hear and read. This is a graphic showing how people think wealth should be distributed:

And here is our society:

The wealthy are literally off the chart, while the vast majority of people have practically nothing. Monopolies eliminate competition, harm citizens, and stifle innovation.

5. An ideal society is Democratic

Laws and policies should reflect what the majority of people want. But currently in America our laws and policies are defined by those in power, meaning a tiny number of people.

6. An ideal society uses Fair Money

Currently in the US our money is created and distributed by private banks, meaning ALL the interest profit of money printing is flowing into private hands. In a healthy economic system, the vast earning power of being able to print money would flow back into society, plentifully funding communities and removing the need for usurious taxes.

Say I loan you $200 Million to build a stadium. 5% interest mean $10 Million dollars a year. Now imagine I loan trillions. That’s what’s going to banks right now that should be going to the people.

7. An ideal society is not under Surveillance

The American people currently have an adversarial relationship with their own government. In the name of “terrorism” the government is allowed to read our emails, listen to our phone calls, you name it.

8. An ideal society is Free

America leads the world in jailed citizens per capita, with nearly 2 million people currently in jail. But jail isn’t the only definition of freedom- those working multiple jobs are hardly free. The economic destruction of the middle and lower class has essentially enslaved many millions of Americans to jobs that are often dehumanizing and hazardous to human health.

9. An ideal society is Safe

Crime and violence are closely related to economic hardship. They are also closely related to healthcare, especially in the context of drug abuse and addiction (public health issues currently being treated as a criminal issues). With historic levels of inequality and poverty, and police departments and justice systems lacking accountability, America is not a safe place.

The answer is not more jails. The answer is lifting up the poor and middle class.

10. An ideal society is Happy

In 2020 alone, 46 thousand Americans died by suicide. Each year approximately 1 in 10 American adults suffer from a depressive illness (major depression, bipolar disorder, or dysthymia). These illnesses do not occur in a vacuum- they are directly tied to economic hardship, lack of healthcare, and the myriad other stresses of living in an unhealthy society.

:P

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