Essay on utopian state

Introduction

A state of utopia can be described as a politically and socially perfect state. It is an imaginative system in which the political and social state of the society is perfect and without fault. The name was adopted from a book titled ‘ utopia’ written by Sir Thomas More in which he describes a perfect Island in the Atlantic Ocean . But the idea of a perfect society has been in debate for many centuries since the times of Socrates and Plato.
The first recorded literature on utopia was from the conversations ‘ The Republic’ by Plato. In the book, Plato describes a society in which the community is categorized into three groups; the gold, the silvers and the bronzes. The golden of the society will be granted the chance to face thorough education for a long time so as they can apply the skills in eliminating poverty. While the second and the third group implements their suggestions. Many other scholars have suggested other forms of utopian states.

My Utopian State

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If I was to set up a utopian state then it would be a perfect state. The government would be led by a council. The council will be composed of elders from sections of the country. The country would be divided into 12 sections or provinces. Each province would elect one elder, a man of integrity and upholds the norms, beliefs and customs of the appointing society, to the governing council. This council will then oversee all the aspects of ruling the country and would be changed after every three years.
In the state, decisions will be made by the council and in case of non agreement then community leaders will be called to a popular vote. These community leaders will number as many as there are different communities described either by ethnicity or religion. Each leader will hold a single vote and the popular vote will be deemed as the decision of the governing council.
The citizens would be divided into three categories. The first category is the professionals. This group will undergo a free high level of education to be teachers, engineers, doctors and religious leaders. This group will be taught all that they need to know so to work towards eradicating poverty, disease and illiteracy. This group will also be called upon by the council to provide their view on how to go about improving the society’s state. They will also be granted an opportunity to try and experiment their research without restrictions. In return, this group will provide the society with free non-discriminatory services.
The second group will be the Handy Man Group. This group will perform the nation building activities such a farming and building. They will be required to attend basic education to only a specific level. Upon getting the basic education the group will further be divided into two groups; the farmers and the builders then proceeds to the activities that they deem fit for them. No individual will be allowed to own a farm, thus all farm will held by the central government. All produce from the farm will go to a community central store from where it would be distributed according to families. The builders will also be building house for everybody in the community.
The last group will be the physically and mentally unable group and the aged. This group will only be tendered to by learned individuals of the society. They would be held at a central home and taken care of and would not be required to work. For the physically challenged persons that can attend schooling will be encouraged to do so and allowed to be educators.

The utopian state would not have a judiciary. Instead, the governing council will give powers to the community to oversee how justice would be exercised. Communities would have local leadership who will appoint a jury to dispense serious crimes. Otherwise small crimes would be handled by the community council.
The utopian state would be a moneyless society. It is believed that money is the root of all evil. Therefore property would be held and grated to in terms of the goods and items held by the central store. In the store, every family would be entitled to equal share of the country’s generated property. These goods will be allowed to be a mode of trading between commodities among the citizens. Taxes will be in form of these products. Once the central store has partitioned the commodities according to the families, then a small amount is subtracted to feed the challenged and kept. A separate store will also be kept to store commodities to be used in time of disasters such as droughts. Other goods considered as luxury will be held by the government and traded for basic goods.
My government will be very much similar to the one proposed by Karl Max. Economic greed was the reasons why individuals develop a sense of greed leading to a terrible society sometime regarded to as ‘ men eat man’ society. Therefore in my government, I will follow the ideals of Marx where I will strive to eliminate the idea of class so as to have a purely level society in the economy. Marx asserted that, the wealthy in the society owned most of the property but were the least involved in working towards a prosperous nation . This lack of ownership of property by the working class and inequality between them and the rich was causing much of the political upheavals in the society. Therefore he is regarded as the founders of economic utopia suggesting that an economically sound community will also be politically just. My State will ensure that everyone has a chance to live decent life, regardless of their economic or social status.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that a utopian political state would mean the ultimate elimination of the state as a whole. It is the process of governing a society that gives rise to a state and thus a political entity. Just like Marx asserted, an economic utopia is a product of a total political utopia as well as a religious utopia. In as much most of Marx’s followers tried to do what he instructs, they all were successful for some time but eventually failed. Therefore, an ideal state can never be sustained.

References

Taylor, K., & Goodwin, B. (2009). The Politics of Utopia: A Study in Theory and Practice.
Peter Lang.