This is an excerpt from Chapter I of
The Democracy That Never Was, a book
found only on the Institute's webstore. It describes
some of the benefits of a fictional DD.

There are other benefits enjoyed by fictional Americans. Some obvious, others not so obvious. A few of the benefits listed below require a small monthly or annual fee. All have been discussed by the citizenry in Open Forum, and approved on the basis that mature people always pay their own way in life.

There are no personal income taxes in America. Most government and social needs are paid by rental income from the republic’s natural resources plus surpluses produced by the American Financial System.

Unlike the hostile, uncaring societies of the past that have allowed the lives of their common citizens to fade into oblivion, unrecorded and unrecognized, Americans care enough to have created the American Memories Program. This is the program by which each citizen leaves a statement of personal philosophy to posterity. It’s the record that proclaims to the world he or she has existed. Every life is documented, and records placed in a branch of the American Public Archives.

To assure elder citizens of the U.S. are included in the program as the republic is being transformed into a true democracy, high school students visit the elderly residents of nursing homes, collecting information about each: writings, photos, taped recitations—memories.

If the individual is considered the flower of the American social system, the family is the garden in which emotional stability and positive intellectual growth is nurtured. Positive family relationships are high on the American value scale. Parents are rewarded for their efforts with credits in New Government’s Good Parent program.

To guarantee every newborn a nurturing environment, New Government uses its authority and all its powers to promote the family and the values of family unity. Throughout all of life, and in many ways, Americans are reminded that a stable, caring society is merely an extension of stable, caring families.

In America, the health of the citizenry begins with the intake of healthy foods. Americans, therefore, believe farmers are essential to the republic and the food industry, assigned to sphere one, has been removed from control of corporate conglomerates and returned to family farmers.

Many New Government programs are designed to assist small family farmers. One such program transfers the processing, transportation, and distribution of food from profit-making middlemen to nonprofit, public corporations. Public corporations also provide small farmers with the expensive, temporarily needed machinery necessary for seasonal planting and harvesting.

These programs function in conjunction with the Water Conservation & Dispersion Program that researches and implements methods and systems to utilize existing water supplies more efficiently. This includes a major effort to capture, process, and transport rainwater where needed.

American Healthcare Centers, which are found in every city and town across the republic, are dedicated to the total health needs of the citizen. Each contains a medical clinic that performs all preliminary medical examinations. Should specialized private sector medical services be necessary after such an examination, citizen/patients are given an estimate of probable costs to help them shop wisely. At birth a child is assigned to the family’s Healthcare Center, which is expected to care for the medical needs of each family member.

Americans prefer doctors to concentrate upon their health, and not upon their wallets, as is done in the U.S. In America, a citizen is allowed to become a doctor or a business person, but not both, as the objectives of the two are conflicting. Doctors are not allowed to own hospitals, clinics, or diagnostic labs; these are always public corporations funded by the community, or by New Government. Or both.

Because pharmaceutical companies are public and not private companies, drugs are also more reasonably and honestly priced in America than in the United States.

Each neighborhood possesses a Healthcare Fitness Complex offering public baths, exercise rooms, diet clinics, health lectures, and dozens of other programs related to physical and emotional health.

American Children’s Villages provide homes to the children who regularly are abused and beaten by immature, emotionally unstable grown-ups. Each village is staffed by mature adults who provide children with love, care, and guidance; preventing them from becoming lawbreakers and prostitutes; helping them to become emotionally and intellectually stable; helping them to become productive, happy citizens.

Healthcare Centers and Children’s Villages are two social inventions initiated by the American people to maintain the public welfare.

Americans believe natural life forms should live in natural environments. They understand the stress and strain of living in overcrowded, hostile cities contributes to intellectual, emotional, and physical human disorders. Americans also understand that people cherish privacy. However, the deliberately designed isolation of townhouses and walled-in fortress homes offered by many U.S. developers in response to the fear generated by the media’s emphasis on violent crime are not to their liking. They understand that people have always needed neighborhood just as they have always needed family, for while the family fills the emotional need for home and love, the neighborhood helps fulfill the need to belong to a group.

Americans want neighborhood communities, not “developments.” They understand builders can’t build “neighborhoods,” that neighborhoods evolve from the sociability of people and their daily activities, so they’ve asked architects to give them designs conducive to neighborhood life, with shopping centers and schools within walking or bicycling distance, and homes conducive to socializing with neighbors, for times when people feel like socializing. New Government has established programs to eradicate all slums and congested cities remaining from the previous political order, and has begun replacing them with environments responsive to the needs of people.

The trend in America is to small, neighborhood owned businesses. The megastore chains in the U.S. are no more, for it is recognized that they have driven hundreds of thousands of local citizens out of business, and taken away the warmth of the neighborhood shopping experience and the often anticipated interaction with familiar neighborhood entrepreneurs.

When citizens, in Open Forum, decide they prefer to shop a larger retail outlet providing a variety of services or wares under a single roof, the outlet becomes a community corporation organized into small departments, each owned by a resident of the community. Such a concept is similar to the franchised “specialty” departments in large U.S. department stores, or modern, indoor “flea markets” that have sprouted all across the U.S. republic

People living in a money society need the assurance that the funds to protect against the disruptions of life are available when needed. For a price, they insure themselves against every possible type of economic disaster from the costs of replacing a shipment of bananas lost at sea to the funeral expenses of an unexpected death; from the repair bill of a smashed auto fender to the future costs of a child’s education.

Humans are the most insecure life form on the planet. Throughout the ages, these insecurities and fears have produced the species worst habits and traditions, and helped many opportunists to amass great wealth.

Fear of change forces us to cling to institutions that stifle positive creative energies. Fear of death has given birth to organized religion, which presumably gives purpose to life by promising a highly improbable “life-after-death.”

Fear of economic deprivation and hardship has given birth to the insurance industry, imbedded today in the cultures of most “civilized” societies. An insurance company is a money company started by one or a group of wealthy people who have pooled their money to provide the financial and legal requirements necessary to offer insurance services.

The insurance industry, like the gambling industry, plays the percentages, which are always in their favor. It’s why both industries are extremely prosperous, and why there are so many casinos and insurance companies in the U.S.A. today. It’s why casino resorts have the money to build the most glamorous, luxurious, and expensive architectural creations on the planet, and why insurance companies can build some of the biggest buildings on the most expensive real estate in the biggest cities of the U.S. All accomplished with your money.

In Open Forum, the citizens of America agreed they don’t want privately owned insurance companies in their social system, seeing no logical reason why they, as intelligent individuals, can’t pool their own money and form their own nonprofit insurance services. Because they believe this arrangement would provide insurance at the lowest possible cost to everyone, they have authorized New Government to establish various insurance programs.

A monthly, or annual, premium paid into the Retirement Program guarantees residence in an American Retirement Village; paid into the Healthcare Program guarantees lifetime medical care; paid into the Vehicle Maintenance Program guarantees service and repair of vehicles; paid into the Funeral Program guarantees funeral costs; and a premium paid into the Homeowner’s Program guarantees home repair and replacement in times of disaster.

None of these programs pay cash to the insured: they merely replace the wares or provide the services specified in the policy. Wares and services are provided only by qualified, certified vendors. This policy eliminates much of the fraud and thievery plaguing the insurance industry of the U.S., resulting in lower insurance premiums for all Americans, saving them millions, if not billions, of dollars annually.

It also guarantees that private insurance companies won’t own the biggest buildings in America.

The objective of The Law in fictional America is to maintain social order and provide justice to all. There are no laws favoring one group of citizens over another, and rich Americans have no special influence within the system. Infractions of law are graded according to the seriousness of the crime. A first-level crime is a major offense, a second-level crime an intermediate offense, and a third-level crime a minor offense.

Penalties for infraction of law are uniform throughout the country. In this way, penalties for wrongdoing are consistent in every court in the land and all Americans are treated equally under the law. Penalties have been established by the citizenry in Open Forum.

The belief of Americans is that most “lawbreakers” are ordinary citizens guilty of temporary criminal behavior: that they are citizens needing help. New Government, therefore, rejects physical punishment as a norm and tries instead to determine and correct the underlying causes of an individual’s antisocial behavior. Only when a citizen uses brute-force to harm another citizen is punishment harsh, and possibly terminal. In many instances, Healthcare Center psychiatrists, psychologists, and sociologists first examine a lawbreaker, and then present their recommendations to the court.

There are no judges in America; a single individual isn’t allowed to play god. A jury of ordinary citizens not only determines whether or not the accused is guilty, but also determines the level of punishment.

For minor civil disputes, the judicial system uses arbitration and mediation, not court trial, saving money and time. Every citizen receives training in both techniques and is expected to serve within the judicial system when called.

Studies show most working U.S. citizens do little, or nothing, to prepare for retirement. Earnings are too meager, and they are constantly cajoled to spend what little they have by the capitalist-controlled media.

Understanding that jobs are limited, upon reaching the status of elder citizens are required to retire from economic activity to make room for the young people first entering the economy. Those who have been capable, or fortunate, in their money dealings can select their private retirement lifestyle. All others may move into one of the thousands of American Retirement Villages spread across the republic. The villages are a perfect example of people providing for themselves through cooperation and planning.

By participating in New Government, and by making regular payments to the Retirement Fund, Americans earn the right to this security. It’s one of the benefits of being an American. The system involves each citizen in the retirement process, relieving them of the prospect of facing his or her elder years alone at the mercy of human predators. By one method or another, everyone is guaranteed that they will live their final years in comfort and with dignity.

When Americans retire from economic life they don’t retire from civic life. They continue serving on Citizen Advisory Committees, they continue to vote, and they continue to function as active, contributing citizens in a society that wants them to continue functioning as active, contributing citizens.

Here, we find thinking radically different than found in the U.S. Of course, this is because common citizens, who are usually sent to die in wars have established the strategy and not privileged citizens, who normally start wars. Americans fully understand there are other people on planet Earth who covet their natural resources. But the American philosophy of defense is unlike any other people on Earth, past or present. They understand big countries with high tech, expensive weaponry don’t necessarily win wars anymore; Korea, Vietnam, the Russian attempt to conquer Afghanistan and the U.S attempt to invade Afghanistan and Iraq attest to this truth.

Control of the republic’s military force is the responsibility of the International Relations Sector for, after all, war is nothing more than another way Establishments conduct international relations: the low, animal-level way. Because American commoners of 1787 hated war and distrusted standing armies, the Constitution of the United States didn’t give the president of the United States the power to declare war, and the power to raise armed troops was restricted to the individual states. The president could issue a call for troops only to repel attack. Fictional Americans agree with this principle, therefore, the Planning Board of the Republic cannot declare war. Only citizen/voters in Open Forum can make such a decision.

The American military consists of a single defense force, forbidden by law to set foot on foreign soil during times of peace, and forbidden to use force against American citizens at any time, for any reason.

Because fictional Americans believe a people aren’t conquered until the enemy physically occupies its territories, all American adults are required to train as citizen/soldiers during specific periods of their lives. In the event of an invasion, neighborhood armories make weapons available instantly.

There is only one government spy agency in America, and that has but a single function. It’s to accurately pinpoint, at a moment’s notice, the exact location of all potential enemy leaders and their families. In the event of a sneak, brute-force attack upon American soil, or act of terrorism against the American people, it is these people—and only these people—against whom swift, pinpoint retaliation is made. Americans will not vent anger or take revenge against innocent commoners, as leaders of the U.S. frequently do.

Americans understand most of them will never be rich. But they also understand the acquisition of wealth is a universal dream, and the dream itself a stimulant that gives purpose to purposeless lives. It’s why people with little money are so easily seduced by the urge to gamble.

Gambling and lotteries in North America go back to the very beginning of the continent’s development. The original Jamestown was financed by a lottery of the Virginia Company in London, England. And as popular as cards and dice were in all thirteen colonies, so did almost every county seat have a lottery wheel. Throughout American history the lottery has been a popular method of raising money for churches, schools, and relief funds. Lottery funds helped to establish such institutions as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Private groups interested primarily in profit, however, managed lotteries. In the 1840s, public indignation over the corruption and flagrant dishonesty within lottery operations generated a reform movement. By 1860, lottery permits were stopped in all but three states.

In Louisiana, one of the three, lotteries were promoted as fundraisers for popular charities, and politicians continued to issue lottery permits to gambling syndicates. Of course, Louisiana politicians, bankers, and newspaper owners continued to get their cut of the profits.

After the soft economic conditions of the 1970s, politicians across the U.S. adopted the lottery technique as a means to raise additional funds without raising taxes. Today, state lotteries flourish, as unaccountable to the public and as prone as ever to the dishonesty of dishonest people.

Wanting even more money to squander, many U.S. state politicians have legalized casino gambling to get the increased income from taxes. Nourished by the base instincts of a hopeless citizenry, gambling casinos have sprouted in most all regions of the U.S.

But what other than the dream of gaining unexpected wealth can shed a ray of hope upon poor people, and keep them pacified? Didn’t the Oceania Establishment of Orwell’s book 1984 use the same devious device to salve the anger and frustration of its common working masses?

Fictional Americans understand gambling is almost as natural as breathing, and that there will always be people willing to gamble a little to win a lot. The American Lottery System’s function, however, isn’t to raise money for education or social needs, presumably, as it is in the United States. It is designed to soften the gambling urge, and to fulfill the universal dream of wealth for as many Americans as possible; to give people who would normally never possess wealth the opportunity to enjoy life as it can be enjoyed only by possession of wealth.

The American Lottery System promotes fifty-one weekly lotteries: fifty regional and one for the entire republic. The system functions without middle men, and all money raised is distributed to winners. Minus costs, of course.

Although it’s a goal of the lottery to produce as many financially independent citizens as possible, it’s a responsibility of New Government to see that citizens don’t gamble away earnings or savings in an attempt to win. Each adult citizen, therefore, is allowed to legally buy only two tickets per week: one for the regional lottery and one for the republic’s lottery. Computers at American Financial Centers certify winners have bought no more than legally allowed. The citizen’s American Credit Card number is the control factor. Attempts to buy more than one ticket in a specific lottery, or a ticket in a regional lottery, other than of residence, invalidates a ticket.

Each week, there are fifty coordinated, but separate, regional lotteries held in America. First-place winners get $5-million, no less, no more. Immediate disbursement. One-lump sum. Tax-free. Additional numbers are drawn for lesser percentages until all available money is dispensed.

The weekly lottery of the republic uses the same rules: One ticket per week, per person. First place winner receives $25-million. No more, no less. Immediate disbursement. One-lump sum. No taxes. All remaining money disbursed in lesser percentages until all available money is dispersed.

After winning first prize, it is illegal for a citizen to ever again participate in a lottery. The philosophy is one major win is enough; it’s someone else’s turn.

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