I’m constantly thinking of how to make my next book as accessible as possible. How do I write something so people want to read more, want to change their lives.

Usually I write ideas by hand on paper, a mode that feels like there’s less between me and what I write. Then I transfer it to my files by typing it into the computer. I also write here as a sidcha. Today, I’ll combine two processes and type my ideas here. I’m not sure if the following will make it into my book, but even if it doesn’t, it may help share my thought process.

It feels more vulnerable to publicize something less edited, but maybe seeing into it will engage some of you or whet your appetite for the book.

Enough preface. Here are my unfiltered ideas, designed for my recall more than readability, but more raw.

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This book is for you if any of the following apply:

• People on the left claim to be anti-racist, etc yet promote racism, sexism, and giant bloated government
• People on the right claim to promote traditional values, limited government, and free markets yet make government intrusive, markets coercive, and undermining families and communities
• People who claim to be libertarians promote freedom and liberty, yet create coercive markets and align with big-government
• People in the center who complain about others but offer no alternative and go along
• People on either side claim the other is just after power so end up moving toward fascism
• [Global markets, fear being taken over if we don’t do what we have to]
• [Global nations, fear being taken over if we don’t do what we have to]
• You feel these issues are important but just don’t have time. You’re too pressed to earn money to pay the mortgage, put food on the table, and pay for your family’s education, health, and safety.
• You are concerned about future generation being too fragile, anxious, out of work, in basement playing video games
• You fear AI taking your job, destroying your industry, or taking over the world
• You see litter everywhere, as well as an environment less able to support humanity
• You see nothing to do that feels effective
• You think living sustainably is extreme
• You fear living sustainably means lowering quality of life, undermining health, safety, security or risks returning to the Stone Age
• You fear a dark future, struggle to imagine a brighter future
• To the extent you can, you can’t see a path to it
• To the extent you can imagine such a path, it seems impossible, undesirable, impractical, or no one would actually do it
• You can’t think of any great leaders today
• You love working hard for a cause you love, especially to help those you love, your community, those who are also working hard, the truly helpless, your tribe, your nation, and your neighbors as yourself, but you can’t find anything where your work would help

All these issues are symptoms that result either directly from one problem or from what happens when we accept that problem and rationalize or justify living with it—that is, from being corrupted, as a society and individuals.

The problem affects everyone globally. As an American citizen who loves his country and its founding principles, who also sees it leading in contributing to the underlying problem, I’ve focused on acting here. In my last book Sustainability Simplified, I suggested a constitutional amendment. Since then, I’ve worked at refining the language and eventually found more perfect language than I could come up with on my own:

“No person … shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

I would clarify “property” to mean [Madison’s wording] or [Jefferson’s] or what everyone understood to include [Locke]. I would clarify that to secure rights, [Declaration: consent of governed.]

We have come to violate these three minimum requirements for liberty, freedom, equality, and democracy. With them, [Constitution preamble] and [Smith: opulence]. Without them founders knew tyranny. Smith knew [crumble to atoms].

We’ve seen results of violation. Violation of fifth amendment resulted in Civil War. Thirteenth shouldn’t have been necessary, but they lied to themselves that people weren’t persons for their skin color. Most didn’t whip slaves themselves. Most funded by buying their product, corrupting themselves and funding what they opposed.

Violation of property resulted in dust bowl. Left will recognize as environmental destruction, reducing feet of topsoil in some places to zero, bare rock and sand, as well as displacement and extermination of indigenous people. Right will recognize as creating such a large problem that people clamored for government to solve, which grew government, creating ever bigger problems that people clamored for yet bigger government, ever more centralized, to solve. [Likewise with water out west]

Solution on the one hand is as simple as what Lincoln did: immediate end to slavery, though for us would be immediate enforcement of fifth amendment, property rights to include what Madison, Jefferson, and Locke clarified, and consent of governed. Restoration of these minimum requirements would unleash people to solve problems as they arose. We keep thinking we have to solve problems before they arise, but markets don’t work that way: if we keep violating our values, we’ll never solve how to live by living by our values. As Lincoln finally understood, immediately restoring living by our values is only way. Had he realized earlier, or anyone who recognized slavery violated their values, at least as early as the first abolition society in human history, in Philadelphia in 1775, could have averted Civil War.

On the other hand is as hard for us as ending slavery appeared to them. Half the nation considered end of slavery a fate worse than death. Most of the rest of the nation supported them financially by buying their goods and feared acting so much that in practice they delayed and effectively opposed abolition. We like to think we’d act to oppose slavery, but almost certainly would have at best paid lip service whose effect our actual behavior would have overwhelmed. Doesn’t matter your skin color or ancestry’s suffering today.

On the other hand is as hard for us as declaring independence. Most of us would have preferred paying the taxes and accepting the intolerable acts.

Won’t solve all conflict. Can’t give answers for level of taxes, education administration, balance of gun rights, if and when abortion allowed, limits of free speech; but can give best way to live together despite conflicting values: restore liberty, freedom, equality, and democracy by enforcing already-existing minimum criteria.

Consistent with all religions, at least those that include some version of do unto others, love your neighbor as yourself, live and let live, and leave it better than you found it.

In the meantime, we end up playing the roles of the most despised characters in history: the tyrants and Tories in the revolutionary period, Benedict Arnold during the Revolution, the plantation owners and people who bought the sugar and cotton that funded them, the politicians who called slavery a positive good before the Civil War, and the KKK and others who opposed and thwarted Reconstruction. Frankly, those who built on American legitimizing myths such as racism who in Europe grew them into Nazism.

We mistake symptoms for problem.

But actual problem isn’t what to do. Problem is that we believe it’s hard or impossible: the result of corruption, dependence.

Experience will show that the earlier we restore minimum requirements the easier and faster we’ll solve if we fully commit. That is, as problems arise, innovators and market will solve. In principle, a lawsuit from anyone deprived of life, liberty, or property from government permitting what it’s designed to protect would solve, but examples like Dred Scott show that government can find ways to extend corruption when most of nation is corrupted.

In practice, will need to restore values in practice until widespread, even overwhelming. Will show you benefit personally in acting yourself even if you couldn’t change system. Will also see path to changing system.

Will start by showing why you feel helpless. Why you support doing things against your values. Experience has shown that just giving the answer doesn’t help as much as sharing story of how I got there.

You will feel engaged, invigorated, inspired. Future generations will look at our recent past with the horror we look at those who watched slavery and tyranny fester and grow, enabling it through inaction. Future generations will also wish they lived today and were those who acted, as the revolutionaries in their time, abolitionists and anti-slavery politicians in theirs, and Mandela and King in theirs, Schindler and Bonhoeffer in theirs, Clarkson and Wilberforce in theirs.

We will see how for 300,000 years of human existence all had liberty and freedom because they could walk away if they wanted, and created cultures (amazing what advances in anthropology show) that enforced equality.

Then, through no one’s fault or intent, conditions for dominance and hierarchy formed, resulting in tyranny, despite everyone doing when seemed right. Tyranny grew wherever land was arable or could be made so.

Then, amazingly, conditions that followed 1492 that appeared to deal crushing blow to last part of global population not under tyranny, amid imperialist, colonialist genocide and slaughter, enough of new world culture combined with some of old world to create only defense against tyranny that has endured: democratic hierarchy.

Reconstruction will restore liberty, freedom, equality, and democracy. Will take work. [Compare with past reconstructions, which we’ll learn from]

Liberals will see how pollution and depletion cause imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and racism. They will find current practices repugnant so they will be easy to stop. It’s not hard to stop doing things you find repugnant.

Conservatives will see how pollution and depletion create problems that promote big government. They will see how they are driving socialism and centralizing power. [Explain with litter and sanitation?]. They too will find current practices repugnant so they will be easy to stop. It’s not hard to stop doing things you find repugnant.

After Reconstruction, future: instead of watching sports on TV or playing video games, will play sports; instead of screen time will participate in community theater, instead of depending on doctors to heal will live healthier, instead of complaining will act, spend more time with family by choosing not to live flying-distance away, not denigrating most of America as “flyover country” by not flying over it

• ← Book idea: How Not to Fly
• Some thoughts and responses to Julian Simon →