Vote 1: A Civil Manifesto

I wrote this at 4am in the morning and sent it to all the Parliamentarians just prior to the election where John Howard was replaced by Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister of Australia. I felt inspired to write a Civil Manifesto.

A CIVIL MANIFESTO

A Civil Manifesto is dedicated to all those
who seek a society worthy of all the peoples,
Who in sobriety seek a new road leading to sustainable prosperity,
For all the children of the world,
No matter their colour or status.

A Civil Manifesto shines on the Shrine of Remembrance,
For the military industrial complex values objects of war over resolution of conflict,
Hanging plagues of sacrifice over returned soldiers in good health,
Lest we forget that war is never just to the victims or combatants.

A Civil Manifesto values productive work
that is satisfying and offered in equality,
Equal opportunity is valued for all society
no matter gender, creed or culture,
For payment is fair compensation for time, effort and the opportunity cost of a hard working life,
Time in lieu that balances work, family and leisure to live life with pleasure,
Fixed hours conducive to wellbeing, financial security and full participation,
For contracts contract conditions and the marginal propensity to consume,
As the multiplier effect deflates utility and real wealth,
Housing prices become the negative gear,
That sends us in reverse,
As there is no building in sites,
For unions dis-organise as management cannot retrain or retain contractors in industrial anarchy,
The strategy of pauperising the working poor,
Fuels road rage and civil disobedience,
Inflates the cost of living,
Fast breeds social exclusion and tensions,
For the choice is to sign on the bottom line or stand at the end of the unemployment queue,
Waiting for rights and justice to return
in another depression.

A Civil Manifesto facilitates open education as an investment in intellectual propriety,
For the greatest asset adds value in realised talent not inventory, stocks or bonded labour,
For a society that values true equality provides equal access without up front fees or genetic inheritance as barriers to entry.

A Civil Manifesto recognises the treasury of real democracy as a right inherent and not earned,
For active democracy is representative of the people by the people,
It is not succession of a master class or privileged elite,

It is enshrined in freedoms of liberty, fraternity, equality and just laws,
Constitutional civil, political, economic and cultural rights signal an advanced society,
That monitors human rights watch with trade,
For everyone has the right to be human.

A Civil Manifesto adheres to just rules of law and alternative dispute resolution for natural justice,
For punishment is regressive and circular,
Many can learn from mistakes when awoken,
Restorative justice faces crime with consequences,
That seeks illumination rather than condemnation,
For it is easy to blame and harder to rectify the societal problems in truth.

A Civil Manifesto aims to restore the balanced ecological footprint within natural limits,
For humans are divorced from their true nature,
To live beyond means is to live on credit,
Yet there is no excess capacity in a closed system,
For to consume without replacement as growth,
Relies on flawed infinite economic modelling,
Choosing current stakeholders over stewards of future generations,
Thus the inheritance is raided before its due date,
Divestment of a generation with no credit rating,
Is not renew-able when fossils fuel old fashioned thinking as clean and green.

A Civil Manifesto promotes Corporate Social Responsibility as progressive survival of economy,
For internalising externalities yields greater growth in innovation and efficiencies in trusts,
As citizens realise the consumer is voting rights,
Citizens demand yields on sustainable options,
And arbitrage is gambling out-laws,
Bonds return secure investments for the future,
As ethical investments are naturally selected by renew-able forces of demand and supply.

A Civil Manifesto inspires leadership that serves truth over righteous ideologies,
Politics as collaborative community based forums,
Businesses as employee/employer cooperatives,
Sustainability as deep ecology (E) factored into the real costs of extraction, manufacture and consumption for GDP=G+I+C+(X-M) +(EValue-ECost) becomes real wealth that factors in a future,
The media as fair, accurate with social conscience,
As people enjoy the true bounty of inner security,
Valuing happiness and freedom over
unfounded fears and negative spin as control.

For all this is achievable when wisdom and common sense informs the political will of us all,
For each is responsible for the world we create,
For our purpose on earth is to live peacefully
as nature intended.

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Mohandas Gandhi

“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.”

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