Island LittleBush Founders: Beth Avery, Brian Cokelet, Matt Egan, Chelsey Hill, Jason Taetsch, Terence Grado, Cynthia Wittig

The Form of Government

Our government was based on the principle of survival. The survival of all and/or as many survivors as possible is the main concern of all of our governing ideals and decisions. Therefore, we have decided to set up a modified socialist government spliced with ideals from representative democracy. We chose to borrow ideals from a representative democracy because all of the survivors who used to live in America will be accustomed to its procedures, and it will allow the people to have a say in a governing socialist body that is normally dominated by one person.

The nucleus of our government will be an elected body known as a The Committee for Survival (CFS). The CFS will be elected as follows: For every 250 survivors there will be one person, who they elect through direct voting, who is the most qualified in wisdom, survival, leadership etc., and will become a member of the CFS. The individual committee member will have the right to appoint no more than 10 secretaries to aide him in decision making. Terms in CFS will be arranged according to Parliamentary style; when a member of the committee no longer has the support or confidence of 51% of his constituents, a new election following the same procedure is held. If someone is voted out of the CFS, they will not be able to run the consecutive election. However they may run for election in any other following race.
The primary duty of CFS is the arrangement of people into living communities. These communities should strive to be completely self-sufficient and should consist of a satisfactory amount of each profession so that they may live on their own, such as enough carpenters to build dwellings, and enough farmers, gatherers, fishermen, and hunters to gain food. The food will be collected by the Foods Committee, an elected committee (similar to the CFS) of working people in each community to gather the food and distribute it evenly among the population. The food will be gathered in the center of each village daily, under a sturdy shelter, and there it will be divided among the population.

This form of socialism is only necessary in the beginning years; it is designed so that each person starts out on an equal level and so that each person’s chances of survival are the same. Each person will receive the same amount of food, the same house, and work for the same community that they are apart of. By working and living together closely, we hope to stimulate a bond within the community which will inspire them to work harder for one another.

The Powers of Government

As stated in the description of the form of government, this system of government will be structured into a modified form of socialism. Since there is essentially no private property, the government has the ability to control all potential property on the island. Therefore, the government will be responsible for making sure that each member of a community is adequately provided with the necessities of life. This is a simple society that does not rely on market forces to dictate, through supply and demand, which goods and services are provided to the community. As a result, the Committee for Survival (CFS) must decide on which goods and services must be provided and set quotas for how much of each good is required. For example, they must determine the amount of food necessary to sustain the communities for one year, and instruct the Foods Committee to be sure to meet that quota. The CFS will create similar quotas/goals for each of the other committees. An additional example is the Dwelling Committee. The CFS will determine how many dwellings the Dwelling Committee must construct, and since all dwellings should be essentially equal in size, quality, and variety, the CFS will also work with the Dwelling Committee to determine standards for each home. The CFS will have the power to change the quotas of each committee at will, and will also have the power to decide on the method of distribution of goods to each person.

The CFS will hold each committee accountable for meeting each of the set quotas, and if a committee does not meet its goal, then the CFS will hold a hearing in which it will discuss problems with either the quotas or the methods used by the committee to meet the quotas. These hearings will be open to the public. The CFS will have the ability to appoint and remove members from each of the committees as it sees fit.

The effectiveness of this type of socialist government relies on each member of the community pulling his/her own weight. Since the government provides the necessities for each person, there exists the threat that someone will decide to stop doing his job based on the observation that he will have the same accommodations regardless of whether he does his job. Therefore, each committee will be able to identify people within its respective profession who are not doing their job well enough. Similar to the response to an ineffective committee, the CFS will hold a hearing to decide whether or not this person is guilty of not doing his job. The first time a person is found guilty, he will be reassigned to a new profession. If a person is found guilty a second time, he will be denied the government provisions of food, clothing, and shelter, and will be forced to provide these things for himself.

Obviously, the government must also be prepared to deal with basic crimes. Although there is no private property, theft will still be a problem if a person steals more than his fair share of government provisions. Vandalism or destruction of government property could also be a problem, such as if a person damages another person’s dwelling. The government must also be able to respond to the possibility of violent crimes. To monitor such crimes, each community will elect a special committee that will act as a police force/community watch group. This system will work much like a community watch program. When one member of the community is suspected of or found to have committed a crime against another member of the community, a trial of his peers will be held and punishment meted out appropriately. Possible punishments will include imprisonment, lowering available rations to that community member, or expelling the member from the community. This justice system relies heavily upon the people and their understanding of the situation and people involved. For this reason, the community watch will hold its own meetings, and punishments will need to be approved by the government’s Justice Department.

Overall, this system shows how the CFS is elected and given the power to execute the government and hold hearings. However, it delegates much responsibility for running the government to the committees because the CFS cannot micromanage all the specifics of the entire community.

The Rights of Individuals

Since the survivors of the U.S.S. LittleBush are all accustomed to living in a free and open democratic-republic society they will expect and likely demand the full rights of individuals. While their work and their government will not resemble what they are used to in America, their individual rights will grant them many freedoms.

The inhabitants will have the right to free speech. Of course this will be limited: they will not be allowed to incite violence or cause an unnecessary panic. However, they will be allowed to freely express their ideas orally to anyone about anything they wish without fear of punishment. Since the population will not likely be able to print in mass quantities, freedom of the media is not applicable. However, the inhabitants will be able to petition the government to change its policies as well as to protest the government.

Furthermore, the inhabitants will be given freedom of religion and allowed to practice whichever religion they wish to. It is unfair to expect that these Americans would be able to adapt to a situation where they can no longer practice the religion they had practiced their entire lives.

Another important right that will be granted to the inhabitants is the right to privacy. The government will be required to give its citizens privacy in their own homes.

Human rights is another foundation of the rights of the individuals on this island. The inhabitants have the right to live, the right to not be tortured by anyone, and the right to education. It is important for this society to continue indefinitely that the youngest people be educated to the best of the population’s ability. While this education will differ from the style in most Westernized countries, it will still be valuable. It will center on survival and other essential skills needed to keep the society productive.

The Rights of Groups

Before explaining the rights of groups, one must first understand what a group is defined as in regards to our outlined society. One can consider a group to be two different things. The first group could be described as a group of individuals that form together because they share a similar, specialized skill. For example, there will be a group of hunters. The second interpretation is the various communities on the island. In each of these communities, there will be a sufficient amount of gatherers, carpenters, hunters, etc. so that the community can benefit off of the skills each group has to offer.
The rights of these specialized groups (hunters, gatherers, etc.) are limited. For all the animals the hunters may snag, they are not entitled to all of it. Since our society is based on the principle of survival, each of these specialized groups is not hunting only for themselves, but to benefit all of the members in their community. The hunters are responsible solely for hunting animals. At the end of a specific period of time, each of these groups brings their products to offer to the community so that everyone will have an equal share. Tendencies to keep what they produce and work at will not exist much because everyone is dependent on the other groups to live healthily and peacefully. Therefore, a form of checks and balances is created to make sure each group is working to the best of their ability.

Each of these specialized groups exists in the many communities sprawled out on the island. All groups follow the same socialistic democratic principles described in each of the other four sections of our contract (no group has the right to property, each group’s members will receive the same amount of food, etc.). There will be internal elections within the specialized groups, consisting of a number of leaders dependent upon the amount of individuals in each group. These leaders will be responsible for delegating order and a plan of action to complete their tasks for the community. The leaders also have the power to make decisions regarding other important issues that may arise.

Statistics are kept by the groups to determine which groups need more members as time goes on (people may die, while others are born and become of age to work). When someone reaches the age of eighteen, they are ready to work and aid the community. The group that needs the next person available for work will train them in the skills needed. If the apprentices are too inept at the skill, they may offer them to another group.

The Rules of Property

As in any society based around socialism, there are no rights for individuals in terms of property. Instead, property is communally owned, and, therefore, no one is the true owner of the property on the island. There is no private property, instead only public property belonging to everyone on the island. The power over property is given to the entire society. This takes away the rights of the people to property, but also takes away their individualism. Each person cannot live alone and are, therefore, dependent on the entire society as a whole. This collectivism in property rights allows for the people to each be at an equal level. The island will be free from individual thinkers that would potentially put the entire island in jeopardy. At the same time, the people who landed on the island are not resentful because on the island they did not own property to begin with. Therefore, they are not losing anything, but only gaining what little property they are given for the work they contribute to the island.

Taking away individuals’ rights to own property will be successful because each person owns only what his neighbor owns. Each person lives in the same-sized dwelling and owns the exact same things as everyone else on the island. They are all working for the good of the people so that everyone can have equal amounts of property. However, they do not own any property, regardless of how productive they are as workers or contributors to the civilization. Also, money is irrelevant in this society because the government is not based around money. People work for their basic necessities instead of working for money. Therefore, nothing in this civilization on the island is owned by any individual people, except what they brought to the island.

 

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