THE MODERN UTOPIAN

   - "The Other Half ..."

 

 

 

The 1st & Highest Priority for  the Modern Utopian is the end of wars and violence worldwide.    (See End Wars page.)

SITE UPDATED FEBRUARY 10, 2013

Each of the 26 issues has now been given a "first step"!

 

"Utopia" is not accomplished overnight.

Change for the better is almost always accomplished incrementally. 

One word about the word "utopia":  Nowhere.  In the context of this web site it simply means efforts to make the world for all of us a better place

in which to live. 

Defining Utopia as a place of Perfection is ridiculous. Perfect is not possible - no where.  Better can happen every day...for you, for me, for all of us.

 

(Be sure to read to the bottom of this page.)

 

 

"If it had not been for the discontent of a few fellows who had not been satisfied with their condition, we would still be living in caves. Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization."                  - Eugene V. Debs

 

                Friends:  When you view these pages, make a note 

to email me:   Rifbeach@earthlink.net

Thanks & much appreciated. 

 

THE MODERN UTOPIAN                - the other half...

The Modern Utopian from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s was all about social change and community. 

This year, 2010,  Process Media re-published a compendium

of "The Modern Utopian" focusing on the majority of its work, communal developments.   

 The book is available at a discount through  Amazon.com 

or for more information, go to the publisher's web site: 

 

http://processmediainc.com/the-modern-utopian/

  
  
 

This TMU website is focused on the other half:   social change

to make a better world.

 

 

UTOPIA IS ARRIVING SOON - HOLD ON TO YOUR CAP!                      Read the book:

ABUNDANCE - The future is better than you think.
Technology is rapidly changing the world so that we will very

soon have the means to meet all the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet while saving the planet as well! The book presents information that we can never seem to access thru the MSM.  Not an easy read, but super important. 

Here is one example:

EDUCATION: A $35. computer tablet has been created and every child in the world can have one to access all the available knowledge in the world. Millions have been distributed...millions more will be.   SOLES - self-organized learning environments are being created; we are finding ways to make learning more like video games - game design and digital culture (which children love) and less like traditional schooling; the Khan Academy began to teach via YouTube - spreading everywhere - students can watch and learn at their own pace - over 2300 topics! Teachers are still necessary but not as lecturers but as coaches.

"the more well educated the population, the more durable its democracy." (See pages 174-188)

Below is a link to watch the full 1 hour presentation on Abundance: http://www.getabundance.com/presentation.php  

(They want you to buy the book. That's an option.)

THE COMMUNE AS/IS THE WORLD

 
TheModernUtopian.com website will discuss what I call "the other half",  the side of "Utopianism" that is not about communes. 
Times have changed and the world must become our commune,
not just isolated spots.
Please remember, we are all in this together.
Harm to one is harm to all.
Salvation for one is salvation for all.
We are not separable, even from all other creatures on this inter-dependent planet Earth.
Any other view is self-defeating in the long run.

THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE MODERN UTOPIAN

WAS PUBLISHED IN THE FALL OF 1966. 

Here is what I wrote in that first issue:

"The Modern Utopian has come into being because of a personal wish to take an active part in social change.  Because I believe that something should be done to correct the many social ills which exist,            I decided to find out what organized action was in fact taking place.

 That there are many groups advocating an end to the war in Viet Nam and rallying for Negro rights is obvious to almost anyone. But what about the fight against other social evils?       I discovered that there was very little way for most people to come in contact with other social action groups ex­cept by chance or as a result of much effort.

Each of these organizations puts out its own newsletter and pub­lications; but, to read a hundred different newsletters is not practi­cal for most people. The more I investigated, the more new groups turned up which I never knew existed. And they are still turning up. 

I also became interesed in the experimental community idea and I was evolving the opinion that such communitie were the most important way to effect a radical and constructive social change in our society. I soon learned of the existence of many religious and secular intentional communities These groups also had their own literature and newsletters.

Through all this was born the idea that one periodical should ex­ist to bring together information and news about these diverse organ­izations. Persons interested in the field of social change could read all about these groups without hav­ing to belong to everyone of them.

Because of the emphasis on change, I decided that The Modern Utopian should not be particularly concerned with social service agen­cies except as they also propose definite social changes. They would then be, in part, change agencies and this aspect would be covered in the magazine. (Planned Parenthood is an example of an agency which is both social change and social service.) These diverse...organizarions would have ar lease one thing in common:  a vision of a new future unlike the old....a look forward to an uncharted yet better world to come...

THAT WAS 40 YEARS AGO. 

THE NEED FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

IS EVEN GREATER TODAY. 

THIS WEBSITE WILL EXPLORE SOME "UTOPIAN" DREAMS  -  A  POTENTIAL REALITY  -  ONE DAY?

(Not "utopian" if you will it.)

    

THE BEST SYSTEM IS ONE THAT COMBINES “SOCIALISM” AND “CAPITALISM”.

Here are a few examples

(And with these, maybe we could eliminate the “isms”):

 *    The “too big to fail” banks should have been “temporarily nationalized.” Reorganized, under new leadership, broken up into smaller manageable units,   and then returned to the private sector, with the exception of few regional federal banks.

 *    Although the auto industry needed to remain under private ownership, the loans should have had a few more strings attached, such as once profitable, using some of those profits to expand development and production of electric cars.

    (See my Petition which involves participating by the

 

government as well.)

 *    There would not have been ObamaCare which serves the private insurers so well. Private health insurance would continue as optional as well as supplemental to Medicare for everyone. People could opt out of Medicare, if they choose, although a minimum Medicare payroll tax would continue for everyone, as it is today.

 *    Climate change, as well as most other environmental issues involving industry, could be helped by a combination of incentives and enforced penalties.

 *    Wall Street could be more strictly regulated to minimize speculation. A tax on transactions, elimination of credit default swaps and other instruments that increase risk. All capital gains and dividends taxed as ordinary income with the exception of long term capital gains (up to a specific dollar limit per year).
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