A Refuge from Modern England
Several things have triggered this article; conversations I have had with various Puffins face to face at meetings and get-togethers, something that Polar Opposite posted in one of the comments, reading some on The Unseen Path by one of our ex authors, and various comments raised about the same thing in passing.
The topic is, What can we do if we want to secede from an increasingly hostile society and form what amounts to our own society?
Polar Opposite made me think about this in a more detailed form than I had done previously, how do we create a society that is safe and fair so we can prosper outside Society (capital S)?
There are a number of things needed at a top level to do this
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Land – land that is defendable, productive, controlable
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Security – there is no point in building a society that cannot secure the safety of its inhabitants, from threats both without and within. From this leads…
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Legal Structure – there has to be rules, and a means of enforcing them. These rules cannot be arbitrarily decided, they must take account of every member’s wishes. This leads to….
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Governing Body – there must be some sort or representative body which discusses the rules, votes on the rules, submits the rules to a final binding vote of all the members. This leads to…..
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Enforcing the rules – a police force made up of a representative selection of members, membership of said force to be subject to an annual vote of all members.
Below this top level there lies a number of things which makes a society workable
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Health – there must be a means of assuring the health of all members of society, from youngest child to ageing pensioner
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Civic amenities – fresh water, waste disposal, power generation, heating, lighting etc.
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Accommodation – where will members of this society live within the land available to them? Would it be commune style living? Or individual housing?
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Food – we should be able to be almost self sufficient if staple foods. This will not happen overnight so we must have some means of sustaining ourselves until we can be self sufficient.
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Wealth – inevitably some members will be wealthier than others, this is only right and proper, but this should not impact on each member’s contribution to society.
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Participation – each member should have some means of participating in the society, either by having a skill useful to the society, or providing a like contribution to same. There are to be no freeloaders.
As I see it all of the above probably would mean, in the early stages, some sort of 18th Century feudal system. Maybe a few wealthy landowners with some industrial and farming output and with a village with tied cottages would be one example.
There are lots of problems to overcome if we want to withdraw from what is happening to our country, would our partners be prepared to take a step back in the quality of life that a loss of modern amenities gives us?
How would we attract young people to this society, as without an injection of youth we may as well call it a nursing home.
What would be the criteria for admission to this society? Has it got a cash value, or could that be offset by needed skills?
How cut off would we want to be, completely, partially, or not at all?
Is this just a pipe dream, unworkable? Or is it possible?
I have only glossed over some of the factors which would make this workable or not.
Over to you……
© Grimy Miner 2023
