Ecotrain’s Question of the Week – What Would I Do If I was in Power

The Most Recent Question of the Week by @ecotrain was:

If you were suddenly and unexpectedly elected to be president / prime minister of your country what would be the first executive orders you make?

Disclaimer: this text is not to be taken as a serious suggestion for a political platform. It is rather a tongue-in-cheek way of playing with ideas to improve the current situation. It is for that reason I decided to use an exaggerated scenario and examples. So please don’t take me idea literally, though there might be an underlying message in it somewhere.

Well, first of all, I would renounce the title of President / Prime Minister and call myself the Big-Daddy-Chief-Boss-in-Charge. At the press conference that would inevitably follow, I would explain that the executive orders I’m about to make are too far outside the powers normally bestowed upon those offices. But since I happen to be in power already (suddenly and unexpectedly), I consider implementing these measures to be more important than playing by the conventional rules of politics. After the thundering applause quiets down a bit, I would proceed introducing my first measure:

(source)

Cleaning up the Means of Exchange!

A dollar is a dollar, and a pound is a pound, or so it has been for the longest time. Well, those times are over, as I make it mandatory to include in all financial transactions the most essential piece of information: where did that money come from? Let’s take an example: Kate makes ceramics, and she’s selling a beautiful coffee mug for ten bucks. Both Steve and Chris are interested in it, and offer her the ten dollars she’s asking for it. The difference is that Chris got his ten dollars by teaching music to children, while Steve got his by extorting protection money with his gang from shops like Kate’s, in a different part of town. Since the money has all this information included in it, Kate can compare it to her own values. She loves music, but is generally opposed to extortion, so she has no problems deciding which customer she’ll sell her mug to.

To take this a step further, Kate’s next customer Sue looks after the elderly for a living. She’s interested in one of Kate’s plates, and is ready to pay for it with money she got from one of her clients. It turns out that it was the aforementioned Steve who paid her for taking care of his grandmother. All this information is visible on the bill, putting Kate in a bit of a dilemma. Sure, she has refused to take Steve’s money before, but the most recent transaction of this money is care for the elderly, something she wants to support. So she accepts it, making the most recent transaction now a hand-crafted ceramic plate, following the care for an elderly lady, pushing its role as protection money even further back. Thus money is gradually cleaned up, because we can see where it comes from, and how it matches with our values. This brings me to my next measure:

Wearing our Values on our Sleeves!

We all have values that we believe in, which we are well aware of… or we should hope so. What is most important for each one of us? Honesty? Compassion? Hard work? Generosity? Empirical knowledge? Efficiency? Paying attention to others? or is it Ruthlessness? Outsmarting others for one’s own benefit? Avoiding responsibility? Becoming the number one, by any means? or maybe even No values whatsoever? Whatever it is, I make people wear a fashionable sleeve-band, listing the values that are most important to them. These values will give others additional information when it comes to making transactions with them. Does the money they carry reflect these same values? Of course it is up to each and every one of us to decide what money we take, from whom, and what we spend it on. But the information about the transaction would remain, irrevocably on the coin. Of course, as we keep learning we can always change and adjust our values, but the money we carry remains what it is and has been.

But… but… but… !!!

As soon as these two changes are implemented the inevitable crisis hits. All of a sudden the country is full of money that nobody wants to accept! They may have come from a company that made its fortune by pumping water away from farmers, and selling it back to them for exorbitant fees. Or from others making weapons of war. Or, all the money Steve’s gang has amassed. What can we do with all those funds nobody wants to touch? Who’s gonna clean it all up, making it valuable again?

There is a Solution

Okay, this is where the Big-Daddy-Chief-Boss-in-Charge comes in: I’ll take it upon myself to accept all that dirty money, in exchange for building hospitals, sports centers, schools, bike-shops, serving public meals, etc. Yes, just like any government (and now all citizens), I’m wearing our values on my sleeve, so to be credible I should adjust our practices accordingly. Now if the weapons company or Steve’s gang want to get value for their money, they will have to use it to fund public programs. And since their previous activities clearly don’t pay off any longer, they will have to change them to something matching the values of the people around them, as well as their own values. (Isn’t this what anyone in a community would do under normal circumstances anyway?)

With these great changes in place I can finally announce my retirement. After a fantastic retirement party we can even have new elections, where the country can go back to having a president or prime minister, whichever they prefer.