TWELVE POINT PLAN

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein.

Twelve Policies to move the world beyond the age of Trump:

1. Learn from Indigenous wisdom.

Traditional Indigenous communities have a profound connection to the earth and the natural world.  We are not separate from each other, or from the earth.  This worldview sees humans as custodians of the land, and translates to approaches that are community-centric, ecologically balanced, and culturally sensitive.  It includes a stronger emphasis on relationships and sustainable practices, and much less emphasis on accumulating more stuff.

This consciousness and ethic needs to pervade the global north, and informs the further points listed below.

2. The Rise of Feminine Consciousness.

Over many centuries, millennia even, masculine energy has dominated, leading to a planet that is out of balance.  It is necessary for feminine consciousness to rise, so that the planet can reach a balance, a balance of the yin and yang.  Feminine energy embraces traits including intuition, nurturing, creativity, compassion and reflection.  The rise of the feminine includes facilitating more women to take up leadership positions.  It also includes an awakening to the feminine in all of us, regardless of gender.

3. Measuring Progress.

Societies need a better way to measure progress than growth in Gross Domestic Product.  A dashboard is needed that better reflects economic progress, includes social and wellbeing measures, and considers environmental sustainability.

4. Modern Monetary Theory.

A government which issues its own currency can’t go broke in that currency.  This provides an answer to the perennial showstopper for many reforms – how do we pay for it?

5. Jobs Guarantee.

Government should focus on ensuring that everyone has access to the basics – sufficient food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education.  Modern Monetary Theory argues that this should be facilitated through a Jobs Guarantee, supported by a decent safety net for those unable to work.  Others suggest the solution is a universal basic income or minimum guaranteed income.

6. Tighter regulation of banks.

For private banks who benefit from government guarantees, limit their scope to become too big to fail, and limit their ability to direct lending into inflating asset bubbles and into investments that are particularly damaging to the environment.

7. Address Climate Change risks.

Governments must act to harness investment in infrastructure to deliver sustainable environmental and community wellbeing solutions.  This includes investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, improved public transport and urban design, strategies to reduce waste, and improvements in agricultural practices.

8. Tax Policy.

Tax policies should focus on reversing some of the concentration of wealth of last few decades, and as a tool to control inflation.

9. Citizens’ Assemblies.

Use Citizens’ Assembly participative processes (sometimes called Citizen’s Juries) to reach informed decisions about the way forward on important issues, rather than having policy dictated by powerful lobby groups.

10. Ban Political Donations.

Ban all donations to political parties and candidates, and instead finance election campaigns through government funding only.

11. Regulate Social Media.

The algorithms that drive social media platforms thrive on emphasising difference and conflict, reinforced by successive rounds of angry responses, fake news and conspiracy theories.  In addition, social media platforms trawl through numerous data sources to compile profiles that compromise privacy and autonomy.

Solutions include breaking up large players through enforcing anti-trust legislation; ensuring that maximum privacy settings are the default; imposing greater obligations on platforms to remove content that is untrue or appalling; and ensuring that penalties for serious breaches by platforms include jail for the senior executives responsible.

12. Embrace technology.

Embrace technology to improve productivity, to reduce mundane work, and to allow a shorter working week.