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    Seven Society Axioms
    Seven Society Axioms
    Seven Society Axioms
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    Seven Society Axioms

    By R. J. Treharne

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    About this ebook

    This short book describes seven axioms for societal living and provides the logic behind such axioms as well as their application to a variety of social and economic problems which currently plague our society in the hope that someone who reads this book also has the authority and ability to implement these solutions and in doing so raise the quality of life for all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherR. J. Treharne
    Release dateSep 10, 2016
    ISBN9781370524167
    Seven Society Axioms
    Author

    R. J. Treharne

    Ronald J. Treharne is a licensed Architect.

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      Book preview

      Seven Society Axioms - R. J. Treharne

      Seven Society Axioms

      By R. J. Treharne

      Published by R.J. Treharne at Smashwords

      Copyright 2016 R.J. Treharne

      ISBN: 9781370524167

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy to help the author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Preface

      Unless you are able to live alone, in an isolated place such as on an island, where your actions and beliefs, can in no way affect or impact the domain, actions or beliefs of others; you are compelled to live as part of a society. Consequently, there is a need for rules for self-governing all those individuals within that society which accomplish two things. First, all individual to the maximum extent possible, shall have their rights protected. Second, society’s goal should be to obtain optimum quality life for as many individuals as possible. To this end, the following Axioms of Society are promoted.

      Seven Society Axioms

      1 Individual freedom ends at the doorstep of another person’s domain.

      2 A privilege should not be construed as a right.

      3 Less is often more; simple often better than complex.

      4 To pay for shared society needs, tax what is consumed, not what is produced.

      5 Individuality does not mean inequality.

      6 Acceptable behavior is not defined by what you would do, but rather by what it would do to you.

      7 All who benefit from the society should contribute to society.

      -1-

      Individual Freedom Ends at the

      Doorstep of Another Person’s Domain

      As stupid as it may sound, individuals have the inalienable right to not do what is their best interest. But what happens when their stupidity detracts from another person’s rights? For example, if someone wishes to roar down the highway on their motorcycle without a helmet and visor, one may say well that is their right, it is their head! However, when that motorcyclist gets involved in accident with another vehicle because a bug flew into their face or they get air- lifted to the hospital with a serious head injury and their medical cost causes the insurance rate for everyone else to increase – knowing that both of these unwanted results could have been prevented had they worn their helmet and visor - now that individual’s right has just crossed over the line and affected another person’s rights. Obviously, there needs to be a balance between the rights of an individual and the rights of the rest of the community. In this instance, the purpose for compelling a motorcyclist to wear a helmet is not so much for their protection (you can’t fix stupid), as it is for the protection of everyone else’s rights.

      One of government’s primary roles is to protect people from either a common threat or from other people within the society. The former, a common threat, like a foreign enemy, a natural disaster or a communicable plague is easier to understand the necessity for a government. However, how and when the government needs to provide security for people from other people is a little more difficult to discern at times. Government protecting the community with a police force against crime seems clear enough; but whether government should provide education for everyone is not so clear. Yes, it would seem a community as a whole should be better off if more people are educated; but at some tipping point the cost of the education exceeds the benefit to society. It is obvious that the government should provide security to everyone equally against crime; however, is the government also responsible for providing education equally to everyone? Some would argue ‘yes’ because democracy is based upon the concepts of equality and individual rights – but what happens when that effort to obtain equality and securing individual rights results in a lower quality of living for everyone else? What happened to their rights? Does it really make sense that in the attempt to make everything equal everyone must have less, including those who were made equal? Who is really benefiting then?

      Today, we are faced with a variety of divisive issues today ranging from abortion to gay marriage, from gun control to use of recreational drugs, from illegal immigration to required military service, from taxation to unemployment compensation. These issues unfortunately segregate people into various political and religious institutions whose only agenda seems to be not only trying to protect themselves but to enforce their viewpoint upon each other, even at their own expense, all under the guise of equality and individual rights. These differences are creating a quagmire of policies within this country, a stalemate in our legislative bodies, a collapse of social and economic order and if unchecked, eventually hatred and violence among our citizens and possibly even against those who govern them. If only they could be enlightened to see that there are solutions which are not focused on equality and rights yet yield better quality of life and surprisingly better equality and rights for everyone.

      The consequent of these factions is that all of us are worse off under our complex rules (rights) than had we simply adhered to some simple rules (privileges). Without understanding this basic premise, the remaining ideas presented below will simply fall upon deaf ears. In the remaining sections, specific topics are addressed where a simple solution is applied to a complex problem looking past issues of equality and individual rights. If the reasoning is sound, then shouldn’t the solution be pursued? So, read the suggested simple solutions to complex problems presented herein, their benefits and their rationale, and then you decide. Would not most of us really be better off using simple solutions when it comes to some of our more complex problems and brush aside some of our misconceptions of equality and individual rights? Would we all not be better off if we adopt the premise that the government should me minimalistic, opting for stating a privilege, a guideline, or even a set of goals before the government ever considers enacting yet another fixed and mandatory law? Let ingenuity and in-the-field judgment derive the best solution for each situation, not a rigid law. Let

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