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Introduction
The following article is adapted from the second third of a pamphlet that I self-published at age 26, Our New Planet: An Economic Vision for a United States of Earth (1999). [Since 2004, after serving as interim president of Citizens for Global Solutions (formerly, World Federalist Association), Washington, D.C. Chapter, my views on world federalism have become more constructively critical and I have continued to serve as an officer with a more nuanced precursor organization, Association to Unite the Democracies since 2014.] Other updates relevant to world events since 1999 are given in sentence form through footnotes along with regular sources. An autobiographical article from August 14, 20251 provides more social context from the 1980 timeframe and serves as an introduction to this three-part article, the first part of which was published on September 21, 20252 and the second part on October 31, 2025.3
Linking our common human indigenous cultural heritage with the scientific method and the written word – the life example of Tecumseh
Conventional Wisdom (CW): Since you think that money exchange is animalistic and uncivilized, what should we do with indigenous cultures, who by definition, are not “civilized,” nor want to be?
Martin Schwab (MS): Tecumseh, a Native American leader from the Great Lakes Region of North America in the early 1800s wanted positive synergy between the European-American culture and his indigenous peoples, including rival tribes – at least at a personal level. Tecumseh proposed a life of commitment and partnership to nearby settler, Rebekah Galloway (1791-1876) within the Shawnee tribe after she read to him from the Christian Bible and Shakespeare in English which he spoke. While his proposal was denied, from Rebekah and her father James, a veteran of the American Revolution against the British Empire, Tecumseh gained an appreciation of what the written word and the scientific method could bring to his people(s). He also held dear to his heart his own cultural heritage and fought to his death within a complicated alliance with the British Empire to unite his own peoples against the inherent aggression of the culture with which he wanted to synergize his own. His life endures as a model for what human civilization can become, minus the arrogance of cultural hierarchy.4
Our present world should be able to figure out a way to create human synergy as Tecumseh saw possible. We should be able to balance the interests between far-reaching types of people and those who emphasize living in harmony with nature by living simply. Already, the Amish live in concert with modern folks in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. Another example of this synergy is Masaai villagers in Kenya, where as of 1987, they danced to music played on solar-powered tape recorders.5 There is much that “Western Civilization” has already learned the hard way from indigenous values. The “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s is just one example of this. This three-part contribution has its origins in the philosophies of Stoicism and Taoism, which are essentially the same, to be one with nature. Being one with nature, or the Tibetan goal of being harmless can become our common goal as synergistic humans, dictated by everyone’s conscience.
Eliminating class and status
CW: Are you the same as Karl Marx in terms of wanting a classless society?
MS: Yes but without the conclusions reached by Marx. There is much to admire about the structure of how he approached social problems. Marx understood that history was a class struggle that didn’t work, yet he added to the struggle by saying the working class should unite around the world and overthrow the capitalists. So, in effect he said everybody should be working class.
His dictum was “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Had Marx simply added two words to this dictum, or better yet substituted two words, he might have really changed the world for the better. The dictum for an exchange-free interchange economy is this:
“From each according to his or her interest, to each according to his or her desire.”
Capitalists may claim this is capitalism, but to me this is the true definition of free enterprise, which they claim to support but in reality defeat.
CW: I understand that you think free enterprise can flourish without capitalism, money or exchange, but you haven’t really addressed your views on the concept of private property. Do you believe in it?
The difference between private property and private possession
MS: Privacy is the essential part of “private property” worth preserving, just as free enterprise is the essence of capitalism worth preserving. To explain further, the term “ownership” differs from the term “possession.” “Ownership” implies exchange value. “Possession” implies a right to privacy. Individual possessions and privacy would still be driving factors of a new exchange-free, capital-free, free enterprise.
We need not yet be as radical as John Lennon’s song “Imagine,” in which he sings, “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can?” I imagine a world where people could, as I said before, drive a car for a week, recycle it for a new design and drive off, not worrying about insurance. Free car, care free.
There could just be a general respect for somebody’s time to privately enjoy whatever he or she could enjoy. That would be especially true with respect to quiet enjoyment of residential living space. Again, it’s back to honor, the golden rule and following one’s conscience. It could be easier to do this if we were not tempted to “gain” things we already could have access to through energy abundance and automation. Unfortunately the golden rule now means that those with the gold rule. We can change this.
CW: Since social/economic class is so ingrained into many of our various cultures, it seems that to get rid of money and exchange, which may be a good thing, will also get rid of culture. Is this just a necessary part of human progress, like ending the southern United States slave plantation culture?
MS: Much of culture, such as American blues may not have been possible without economic hardship. Much of culture and humor comes from pain. We would have enough to strive for and fail at (receive feedback) in all that we choose to do, including exploring space and detecting and deflecting asteroids and comets to give us material for cultural evolution.
CW: What about the intangibles that may or may not have anything to do with exchanging this for that. Are you suggesting that your plan would alleviate social status and the elevation of beautiful people over others in our society?
Beauty, marriage and female lineage
MS: At first, it appears that the concept of beauty is the one unmovable barrier to the idea of equal abundance for everybody. It is true that there is a scarcity of classical features that are recognized as universal standards of beauty. However, we are becoming more aware of a visible inner “glow,” which is described in James Redfield’s book, The Celestine Prophecy (1993).
However, even before we grow into this acquired appreciation of the physical/spiritual beauty outlined by Redfield, we are making significant progress in the area of cosmetic surgery. It used to be that if one went in for “that sort of thing,” he or she was considered vain. “Blue peeling” freckles or sun damage and face lifts and other such procedures challenge how we as individuals determine our sense of self. Are we confined to what we are born with physically? Is changing faces, eye color, and etc. incidental to who we really are? Again, the best answer to this type of question lies in the individual conscience. However, in the interchange economy, individuals and doctors could do what they wanted, without insurance companies dictating to them what is and isn’t cosmetic surgery.
The juvenile schoolhouse question of “whadya get,” referring to grades, is an early version of what I call the “vulture” question asked at cocktail parties: “So, what do you do?” This question really means “How much money do you make, and are you a threat to the possession of my spouse?”
Women are typically threatened by another woman’s beauty (the ability to attract a man with money, which represents security) while men are typically threatened by another man’s social status (the ability to attract beautiful women). All of these ugly attitudes and social mores could be eliminated by eliminating the old world force of exchange and money in our lives!
We all can help each other grow. However, just as we choose an occupation to focus our energies into, we should do the same when we choose a life companion. Marriage, as it too often exists today, is not as it is claimed, an innocent public pledge of love between a man and a woman, for the purpose of raising children in a stable environment.
If this was the “true” rationale, civilization would be satisfied with monogamy, publicly recognized, without the extra flair and economic overtones that accompanies the traditional marriage ceremony. This includes the father of the bride “giving away” his female offspring, indicating that females are still at some level considered an economic possession of men.
It also includes the usual discussion about how well of a provider the groom promises to be to the bride as represented by how many karats are in the diamond that he bought for the woman.
CW: Since you believe in temporary job assignments, do you believe in temporary marriage?
MS: I do not discount it. That’s up to the individuals involved. There is a song that says: “Let’s leave it alone. There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy, we just disagree.” But then there is another song to consider: “If love is not forever, then what’s forever for?” We are finding out new ways to love people. A lot of times that means letting go, such as in the song that sings: “If you love somebody, set them free.”
CW: Before you go any further, can you please address where tradition and culture end and the influences of money exchange begin? Are you suggesting that we do without marriage ceremonies because they have been symbols of sexual and economic exchange in the past?
MS: At one time in human history, women themselves were used as media of exchange and to avert war! In a sense, this is even true today. Men work for money, primarily to impress women, and women usually are seduced, at least initially. Men are not impressed by how much money a woman makes, and women seldom advertise how much they make, if they make a lot.
The vow to “love, honor and obey” a man is still implicit in a lot of marriages. These notions alone speak volumes about the nature of money and what it does to us. They are reasons enough to create a new economic system!
In the past, there were marriage payments, paid by the male to the female’s family or dowry payments paid by the female to the male’s family. Today, it is still customary for men to spend one month’s salary for an engagement ring, then whatever they “want” to spend for the marriage ring, as if the more one spends, the more one loves. However, there are many “progressive” thinkers today who believe that the spending of money just represents what we value and that money is a “flow of loving energy.”
Only two individuals fall in love, so it would follow that even a marriage ceremony would be considered a private ceremony. “Monogamy without marriage” is a more personal confirmation between two individuals that their love stands solid and separate from the old-world societal influences of money exchange and social status. These influences, like the influence of organized religion, can often corrupt the best personal relationships with the divine and among ourselves.
The ideals for which religion and marriage were created can exist in a more true form, if we just believe in ourselves and our conscience, which may be defined as the divine spirit within us!
CW: Do you then believe in the current trend to hyphenate two last names in your “monogamy without marriage” concept?
MS: Hyphens create a lot of confusion, especially when children are involved. Children are either put in the awkward position of having to choose a last name from between their parents, or, when they get married, to be consistent, they will adopt three last names or four last names if they marry someone with two last names.
We could simply establish female lineages. Most women give up “their” paternal last name when they marry. Much is being discussed about preventing girls from losing their “voice” when nothing is being done to prevent them from losing their symbolic identity when they are expected to marry.
Women like to say taking a man’s last name gives them options if they don’t like their given last name. However, the principle of taking someone else’s name is inherently a subordinating act for women, despite any of the rationalizations they might give. Women should trace their female ancestry as far back as they can and take that name.
However, if women see this as just taking another man’s last name, they could make up a name they like and start their female lineage. Under this arrangement, a newborn female would take her mother’s last name while a male would still take his father’s last name. That is fair.
If this seems too convoluted for some, there could be another option: computer selected single, unique names, like “MacGyver” or “Sting,” recycled after a person dies (or perhaps not). Parents could browse around a database before they selected a name they liked.
If this seems too “big brother,” parents could still go with the male/female lineage concept. I have a last name that goes back centuries. It gives me great comfort to know the history of my male lineage, energy and DNA. Perhaps, through advances in historical record compilation, this can be achieved for all.
PW: How do you feel about single-parent families? Don’t you think that a child is better off with two parents and that we should do all that we can (in any type of civilization) to promote marriage for that reason?
Parenthood as a profession
MS: Half of what you say is true. Yes, in the current civilization, where most people can’t devote their whole selves to their children, two is better than one. However, in the new type of civilization advocated here, one parent would be able to devote more attention in real hours than two parents today can devote.
The woman who plays the mother character on the television show “Home Improvement” is in real-life, a single, divorced mother. When she was married, she felt her children did not get her full attention because her husband demanded too much energy from her. This must be a common dynamic. Through all the measures explained, if we paired down the working day to four or five hours, maybe even fewer for those who have young children, one parent (with day care help for the four or five hours while the parent is at work) would be sufficient. Another dynamic would need to occur, one that would come naturally. That is, a public recognition that parenting is a full-time profession.
We should not leave it up to our schools to raise our children (in any kind of civilization). Whether a family has one parent or two, parents should engage in this most solemn task honorably and fully. There should be parent training, planning, maintenance of skills, all the things that accompany other professions. For this reason alone, our children, our future, is why we should be committed to making this economic vision known to our leaders.
CW: What can I do to help get things moving towards an interchange/free-enterprise human existence?
What we can do
MS: The force of ideas has always caught those in power by surprise. Those who agree with these ideas are encouraged to think and write together.
There is a legitimate concern that there might be large-scale confusion and perhaps riots if humans were suddenly given this new-found, unlimited demand and freedom. The transition needs to be phased in correctly. An education campaign would have to be undertaken to let people realize that they could get more goods and services through the new interchange process than by looting in a state of sudden euphoria.
We could start a lobbying campaign to notify government leaders of the merits of this option. As in war-time mobilization, industry would expect to hire, expand and make whatever logistical support plans they deemed necessary. It is not too soon to start this full-scale education campaign.
Write letters to others. Always listen to others. Get feedback. We’ll just organize, the old-fashioned way. Most important, beyond letter writing and signing the petition form at the end of this pamphlet is simple dialogue in the most common circumstances. Extraordinary conversations, given time, will create our new civilization.
CW: What about political gridlock?
MS: Restructuring our campaign finance system is probably the first step before lobbying Congress. We need to be able to elect a President and Congress who can think creatively and independently from the undue access and influence of financial contributors. Then they could bring about answers to the huge possibilities that could be achieved more quickly without money exchange, namely:
1) Harvesting energy abundance, mass recycling and water desalination.
2) Space exploration and development and asteroid and comet detection and deflection.
3) Creating a United States of Earth.
Included in the back of this pamphlet is a one page proposal to those currently in gridlock to change the part of the U.S. Constitution that outlined the electoral college as a way to elect our President. The proposal outlines a mechanism for a political discussion tournament to replace our primary system. In theory and in practice, a candidate could become President without raising a dime. The founding fathers meant to guard against mob rule, but in our new planet and with our technology, popular democracy in this area is possible and desirable.
We should still believe in representative democracy, or republicanism, but we should elect our representatives directly, especially the President. This proposal is for you to copy, sign and send to me. I will collect your signatures and send them in bulk to the President and to key representatives in Congress. My address is also in the back of this pamphlet.
Implications of our new planet for current issues:
Environmental protection, climate change and pollution
There is the occasional story about how new technologies to control pollution will create jobs. However, the problem with this novel approach is that these technologies cost money because those who invented the technology and those who produce it have to make money.
Companies in developing countries can’t afford pollution control technology, so they continue to pollute. These countries, mostly in the southern hemisphere, have fewer polluting restrictions because they are poor. Since they have fewer restrictions, the companies in the developed northern hemisphere argue that global agreements are unfair and convince their governments not to comply.
If a polluter reads this pamphlet, he or she will realize that if we took money out of this equation, the problem becomes merely a matter of logistics, how to get existing technology to our polluters. If expense was not a concern, production would continue and would be largely automated. More pollution-free factories would be built, even on other planets, since money would not be an impediment. See how our options would open up?
Overpopulation and famine
These two issues are linked. People in historically famine-stricken countries have more children to offset the very good odds of any one child dying and not being available to farm whatever eroded land there is left to farm. Like many issues, this is a vicious cycle.
Buckminster Fuller wanted to create an abundance of cheap (practically free) electricity to famine-stricken regions via a global electric grid powered by renewable energy sources from around the planet. He demonstrated that when an area has electricity for the refrigeration of medicine and food, the infant mortality rate goes down and the population reaches a plateau.
The oil industry has been slow to transfer into this line of business because the industry can still make money selling oil. This is why this type of cheap electrification project has not come to fruition. However, you can’t rationally blame the oil industry. It is only playing the game that we started at the dawn of civilization – get as much as you can, for your own interests while you can.
Agriculture
We should grow as much environmentally non-destructive food as the global carrying capacity can handle, especially protein-rich soybeans. The “veggie burger” and other such innovations with this versatile food source are steps in the right direction.
Animal nutrition pollutes our rivers with blood and clearing land for the animals in South America destroys our rain forests and potentially a lot of our medicines. Feeding cattle grain for beef is also an inefficient use of grain that could be feeding starving people.
In our current economic structure, it actually makes sense to pay farmers not to farm when people are starving so that prices will stay low, due to the “necessary” concept of scarcity. See how it works? See how it doesn’t work?
Illegal immigration
Why do so many Mexicans want to come to America? Money. We Americans, mostly immigrants ourselves, have a soft spot in our heart for the struggling immigrant. We shouldn’t. A lot of immigrants are coming to America for an avoidable reason, the same reason most of our ancestors came, a better life. Without the structure of exchange and monarchy meddling in our lives, our ancestors in Europe could have had a good life in Europe, and then they could have humbly explored the new world for the sake of exploration.
Money was also a central reason tribal chiefs in Africa sold their “undesirables” into slavery in the Americas. That didn’t have to happen. Trading with the Indians also didn’t have to happen. We could have had a real synergy between European science and the written word and Native American understanding of nature.
America should vigorously support a “bloom where planted” and outreach concept so that all regions of the globe can flourish in production, science, culture and the arts. This ideal cannot be achieved without moving towards a United States of Earth.
Violence in society and the media
What a classic conundrum perpetrated by the system of money and exchange! Concerned citizens like Tipper Gore say to the artists that they should use their fame responsibly and not influence society by using violence and obscenity in their performing arts. The artists respond by saying they are just portraying society as it is and they have a right to make a living any way they can.
The dilemma in the news media is similar. News organizations would like to do more thought-provoking documentary type stories. However, the networks are always pressed for time because they are beholden to advertisers for money and have to report what the lowest common denominator of people want to see. Unfortunately, for ages the formula for the popular press has been three-fold: blood, sex and celebrity.
Imagine what television would be like if networks did not have to sell to advertisers? Producers would be unlimited in what they could research and provide to the public. We would probably have even more channels than we have on cable today. Yes, we still might have more blood, sex and celebrity (scandals) vying to control the new free market. However, blood, sex and celebrity would not be at the expense of quality programming. We would have more documentaries and more searching for truth, more quality programming. There would be more of everything for all interests. That can only be good for civilization.
Abortion
What is the reason most young women choose to have an abortion? The lack of money. Yes, a woman can always work really hard at two jobs, while paying for child care and can make ends meet; but is a women really selfish for not wanting this type of lifestyle in the prime of her life? Is this type of sacrifice really necessary and proper?
Some will tell you that a hard life is the only life worth living. That notion is unhealthy. All people should be able to live a rich life, doing what invigorates them, which for most includes having children.
If the money system was replaced by the options in this pamphlet, young mothers and fathers could engage without regret, with full concentration, in the most natural human activity of life, perpetuating and advancing the quality of our species.
I have also written a poem that relates the issues of abortion and over-population:
We Could Do More
We could do more and more together
There should be more time in a day for each other
What civilization dissuades creation due to the wealth of the creators?
Is it any civilization in which we should take pride?
Is not the advancement of our species worthy of reward?
Or, does the reward scheme that we keep hinder the advancement of our species?
Applause is the true reward and when it reigns alone, all sectors of production will increase
Only those who truly enjoy rearing should rear – it is a noble task, not an accessory to the ego
Homelessness
Those who are currently homeless could find a home by engaging themselves in the interchange loop. They would first go to a private or government personnel services office and match their interests with job appointments that some small or big business in the true free enterprise system has to offer. The homeless could be trained by historic conservation groups to repair and re-wire old buildings and then live in them. It is criminal that there are vacant buildings in cities that also have homeless.
If a homeless person belonged in a mental health institution, no lack of money in the budget would justify them being released out onto the streets. During the 1980s, this is where most of our homeless population came from.
There will always be a welfare problem as long as we cling to using money and exchange systems as a way to run civilization. Remember, those who are on welfare are like those at a party who have been eliminated from a game of musical chairs.
Tobacco
Nicotine is present in all natural tobacco but is added to mass marketed tobacco products to hook smokers to buy a certain brand. In our new planet, tobacco companies would have no reason to add nicotine. Smokers could then use tobacco moderately, as it should be used, if at all. Also, with less stress to maintain the “bottom line,” smokers would have one less reason to smoke. The European learned about tobacco from indigenous native Americans who used tobacco for ceremonial purposes – the peace pipe. We all would do well to return to this proper philosophy for the use of tobacco.
Drug abuse
Why do some of us choose to abuse drugs? To escape the reality of not having enough money to fully participate in life. Is marijuana a drug? Yes. Is alcohol a drug? Yes. Do some people abuse alcohol? Yes. Do some people abuse marijuana? Yes. Should alcohol be illegal? No. Should marijuana be illegal? No. Should alcohol, tobacco (including marijuana) be used moderately, if at all? Yes.
Should cocaine and heroin and other hard drugs be illegal? Yes, because they are essentially high-grade poisons that can kill people the first time they take them. Remember, Len Bias, the University of Maryland basketball star who upon being selected to play for the Boston Celtics partied too hard with cocaine and died.
Prostitution and marriage
If money did not exist, we probably would not have prostitutes. We also would not have confused women who wonder whether they married for money, status or love. We also would not have wealthy men who wonder whether their wives married them for their money. Marriages, if we still had them, would be true statements of love.
For those men who like prostitution or controlling women with money and for those women who like controlling men’s money with their beauty, let me suggest that we could have a new world of true intimacy that would be far more satisfying. We could have a society more conducive to true companionship between the sexes, whether married or not. That is a natural reason for anybody to support a paradigm shift into a day-tonight-today reality of our new planets.
The Mafia
As with the oil industry, perhaps we should not blame the mafia. They are playing the game the best way they know how. They even think they are playing it more honorably than corporate America. They emphasize loyalty. However, a civilization without money and exchange would take away the reason for mafia to exist in the first place.
The Sicilian mafia perhaps rightly believe that “law is only for the rich.” So, they try to operate a system of justice outside of the law. This works for a while, but when mafia families run into each other’s economic turf, violence beyond the law is bound to ensue. This is an unacceptable alternative to the rule of law.
If we as a civilization take “rich” and “poor” out of our economic vocabulary, which we can do, we would have a civilization that the mafia could join. This new civilization could welcome their codes of loyalty and honor without their violence that is perpetuated by our present economic systems.
Racial disharmony and affirmative action
When there is never enough to go around, it becomes easy to be suspicious of others not quite like you. When there is plenty to go around, it becomes easier to see what you have in common as human beings and to appreciate differences. However, since those from different races are all too often from different economic classes, sincere human interactions of this sort and real understanding are rare.
Why is affirmative action even an issue now? It is because we are wedded to this idea that scarcity is good. If somebody always has to lose out, then suspicions arise that whole groups are being excluded on purpose. Regardless of whether this is true, this whole confrontational and divisive debate is another reason why we should create a human civilization where everybody is needed to help build space stations and environmentally sound transportation systems and water desalination systems.
Education
Currently, the debate on this issue centers around the right of wealthy school districts to spend money versus redistributing some of that wealth to disadvantaged districts. The voucher idea makes sense except that the vouchers are for less than the average per pupil cost in any given state. So, the private schools still have to charge a sizable lump sum, even while their total tuition is in many cases less than the public school average per pupil cost. The money side of this issue is actually solvable. However, even if the voucher system was fully funded, this wouldn’t get us to where we need to be in education.
Perhaps we should abandon the traditional idea of “school,” including universities altogether. Teachers and corporations could educate our youth in an apprenticeship/library setting. Classes would be composed of students who wanted to be there, not who had to be there. The social connection in this type of academic setting would be genuine.
Some hold onto the status quo of education by making the argument that adolescents in particular don’t know what they are interested until you show them. To this I would suggest that librarians and mentors should go out of their way to round out young peoples’ knowledge or at least awareness of different disciplines. Again, this is natural for those who like to teach. It does not need to be forced or bought by money or any exchange.
It should also be noted that there is a school of thought, put forth most notably by Maria Montessori that adolescents would do better if they were involved in some form of community service rather than being cooped up in a classroom all day.
Without the quid pro quo economic structure, librarians and mentors would be in a better position to inspire and develop the minds of our youth. As for school sports, there is no reason we can’t hold onto the same teams as local sports clubs and continue the same rivalries.
Medical care
We all know how expensive hospitals and health insurance can be, not to mention the costs of birth, old age and even death. Why all the expense? This is another vicious circle issue. It starts with the cost of medical school. Doctors have to spend about ten years in school and their residencies before they establish themselves as practicing doctors. They have a lot of expenses to become doctors and then a lot of expenses while they are doctors, the most notable being malpractice insurance.
Doctors specialize so they can charge more. This is good and bad. Doctors are usually experts in a given area of medicine and still know enough to talk to each other for the good of the patient. However, this passes an additional cost onto the patient and to the insurance companies, when most of the time the patient only needs a general practitioner of medicine. We don’t have enough of these generalist doctors. Doctors should be able to practice the Hippocratic oath by not having to turn anyone away because he or she doesn’t carry the right amount of insurance.
Doctors and the insurance companies play the game the best way they know how, just like the oil industry and mafia. Again, you can’t blame them. Don’t blame anything. Be committed to inventing a new, more satisfying game for all of us to play.
The answer is not socialized medicine or socialized anything else. We all know this creates complacency. Why? Those in socialism are still working for money itself instead of working limited hours for the honor of the task they are performing. Those few who are able to create high quality health care (or anything else) in capitalism are not doing it for the money. Capitalism affords the few the opportunity to discover, a natural process anyway. We should let that natural force loose for everyone, not just the elite at the top of the capitalist ladder.
Straw bale construction and the forest industry
We should look to other renewable materials beside wood with which to build homes. In addition to subterranean homes and adobe construction to consider, there is straw bale construction. Straw can be compressed together very tightly. The amount of insulation or R-value this provides is as good as or better than anything on the market today. You can build load bearing walls with these straw bales as if they were cement blocks.
Why isn’t the forest industry retraining at least some of their loggers to grow renewable wheat for straw and compress it? The same reason the oil industry isn’t supporting Buckminster Fuller’s global electric grid plan. It still stands to make money off of mother nature rather than enjoying the fruits of energy abundance with her. If the economic consideration were taken out of the equation, we could live in harmony with the spotted owl and the rest of nature.
Antitrust laws
There would be no reason for these laws because the “best mouse trap” would “control” the most market share and lose it very quickly to an ever-emerging “better mouse trap.” As I mentioned before, I believe in healthy, not cutthroat, competition.
We would have more healthy competition, more innovative products and more satisfied consumers. The reason we have antitrust laws now is because money is involved. Whole companies, thousands of jobs and entire local economies can be ruined. This is the result of cutthroat competition, which is the norm for capitalism. Basically it’s “make a killing” or be killed.
In capitalism today, a company can be so visible because it is so big and established that smaller companies have trouble getting the money to spend on advertising, production, equipment and research and development.
Sometimes, in an expanding market, an innovative company like Microsoft can start small in a market controlled by a company like IBM and become much bigger than IBM to where it becomes the “virtual” monopoly. Across our new planets, every market could be an expanding market without any monopolies. Imagine the increased choice with no expense.
Vandalism and other youth crimes
The reason we have vandalism today is because there is very little significant activity for our youth to pursue. Our vandals should be in apprenticeship positions where they are involved in cutting-edge science, culture and other professions. Today, we hold back even our most “successful” adult population by not having budgets big enough for what they could really accomplish and discover. Then we wonder why our youth feel there is no place for them.
Water scarcity
Desalination, desalination, desalination. Saltwater oceans dwarf the amount of freshwater available on Earth. Freshwater is always subject to scarcity with the next draught. We have the technology to desalinate seawater and pump it to where it is needed, but the universal problem with this option is that it is too expensive because it requires a lot of energy. Enter Buckminster Fuller’s global electric grid plan. If we didn’t have to worry about expense, we wouldn’t have to worry about water scarcity.
However, we would still have industry building things, being regulated only by the global carrying capacity. So, to be consistent with the recycling ideal of non-pollution, we would probably still want to recycle or clean this desalinated water after it is used for sewers and manufacturing processes.
Listening to those who burn the flag of the United States of America
I don’t think any protest group makes their point very well by dis-respecting the symbol of those with who they disagree. Our leadership should invite those who burn the flag to talk rationally about why they think the flag should be burned and thereby reaching some sort of understanding and reconciliation. This is a far better approach than to condemn those who burn the flag outright, thereby inflaming more emotions and more flags.
Capital punishment and prison reform
There are those who say some murderers cannot be rehabilitated and therefore should die. When capital punishment is inflicted, civilization lets itself be dragged down by the murderer it kills. A society cannot at the same time stand for the ideal of rehabilitation and capital punishment.
I am not convinced that we are taking the right approach to rehabilitation. Even now, rehabilitation does not have to be expensive. Old books and magazines could be given to prisoners to read in solitary confinement where in addition to reading they would reflect on why they broke the law. If prisoners cannot read, then it should be a priority to teach them.
In addition to reading and reflecting, prisoners should spend time in mental human interaction, perhaps with other prisoners in discussion groups. Gardening as a way to connect with the planet and exercise designed to stimulate the mind should also be a part of a prisoner’s routine. Prison could also serve as a home for stray pets. Interaction with and responsibility for another living being, for those prisoners who could handle it would also add to rehabilitation.
Prisoner literacy is one of the first projects civilization should undertake. We cannot afford to waste humanpower. If rehabilitation is not achieved after prisoners are released, they are more dangerous to civilization than when they entered.
Gun control
Gun control is more of an issue of political science than economics, so it still has some relationship to the part of this pamphlet dedicated to the establishment of a United States of Earth. The second amendment is not always referred to correctly by those who advocate gun rights. It is very short and says:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The NRA and gun control advocates never mention the part about a well regulated militia. To me, the constitution provides for a law that says those who own guns must also have a license to operate them, similar to vehicles. To get a license, citizens would have to pass a test on gun safety and be screened for any criminal activity which would disqualify one from owning a gun. However, hopefully by now, I have convinced you that across our new planets, crime would be reduced.
Those who owned guns would technically be a part of the international militia, subject to military training, perhaps once a year. Even if we didn’t move to a United States of Earth, the concept would still work in America for a national militia.
Although we have passed the time in our country’s history when citizen militia served a significant military role in the defense of our country, a citizen’s national militia would strengthen ties between the people and the government.
It is the sense of alienation from the U.S. government, in addition to fear of the UN which is driving the current militia movement. They practice for a day in which they will feel constitutionally required to take up arms against their government which they feel is being taken over by the UN. I suspect they might feel less threatened by a United States of Earth in which they are a significant part.
Special interests
We have a situation in Congress and state legislatures where lobbyists (oftentimes former representatives) are paid for their access to our representatives. They argue on behalf of some issue or other. This part is fine. They bring needed information and expertise to legislators. The problem with this is the scarcity driven budgetary process itself.
Everything that needs doing cannot be done. The interests who can pay the most money for influential lobbyists get their interests included in our budgets. The message outlined in these pages has offered a way to make all of our interests special interests.
The ever-present scarcity of money is the one unsolvable enigma that makes policy decisions difficult. Money to one program always means more money from taxpayers or less money for some other worthy program. This is unacceptable and unnecessary.
Conclusion
Money and all systems of economic exchange simply do not serve us well in facing the multitude of our present challenges. The reader is expected to weigh all aspects of this message against his or her conscience and discuss it with others. By doing this together, we can excavate our real treasure, our common resolve and our individual significance. We can do this and we must.
Summary
Money and all economic exchanges inhibit true free enterprise from performing as it could. We all have a passion, a passion we want to study and a passion we want to contribute to civilization. However, most of us have to work at something other than our passion to survive, whether we live under capitalism, socialism or even if we barter. A lot of us have become power hungry because our economic systems reward greed and exercising power over others.
Appreciation from our peers and a sense of individual achievement in following the divine force should be the sole rewards that drive us to produce high quality goods and services. Given the right not to work, people might travel and find themselves, then, like retired persons, would naturally want to contribute, out of self interest without concern for profit. We must set goals worthy of achievement and then compete with some and cooperate with many to achieve them.
We should develop Buckminster Fuller’s plan to build a global electric grid, connecting all continents via the Bering Straits between Alaska and Russia. This grid would be powered by existing renewable energy abundance: solar, hydroelectric, wave and wind. This energy abundance should fuel automation, providing for much of the production no one wants to do. Our diversity of interests and abilities, coupled with automation, would increase productivity in all sectors of the economy.
We should enhance our communications and transportation networks to distribute material abundance for all to demand, consume and enjoy at a very high level. However, the ideal of living simply should be encouraged as a way to achieve more rewarding spiritual goals.
High level material consumption could be maintained within the global carrying capacity by recycling. Today, recycling and its cousin, ocean water desalination are limited because they are expensive processes. Recycling and water desalination is at the heart of this reformulation of economics. The global carrying capacity should be the only regulation of this new and true free enterprise.
Our youth should find their significance sooner through a new apprenticeship system that would replace traditional schools and universities. They should be offered general knowledge by teachers working in libraries and taught skills by corporations. There are three key motivations to pursue one’s significance. First, the need to explore, second, the need to create and third, the need to earn appreciation through contribution to others. Education methods that promote these principles of living in our populace are essential to making this vision materialize.
There are three goals to transcend class and bring human beings together. The first is to create energy abundance through a global grid powered by renewable energy. The second is to explore and develop space, primarily focusing on detecting and deflecting asteroids and comets. Everybody can understand this most common threat to humanity.
The third is for the United States to create and belong to a United States of Earth thus fulfilling the American experiment in republican democracy. A reformed United Nations could be renamed the United States of Earth just as the Articles of Confederation were renamed the United States of America.
It is a natural victory for the United States project in the wider human endeavor. The Federalist Papers (a series of newspaper articles advocating ratification of the U.S. Constitution in wavering New York) is peppered with references to the service of mankind and the human race as reasons to unite the states.
The only way this vision will materialize is through dialogue. I ask you to talk about this vision in your conversations, and ask others to do the same. Even if people don’t agree with the conclusions presented here, it is an interesting conversation piece and you will be planting seeds of peaceful revolution.
REFERENCES
1. Martin Schwab, “An optimal form of economics, in the making since 1980,” 3×3 Global Drills, August 14, 2025. https://3x3globaldrills.com/2025/08/14/an-optimal-form-of-economics-in-the-making-since-1980/. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
2. Martin Schwab, “Our new planets: An optimal form and purpose of economics – part 1 of 3,” 3×3 Global Drills, September 21, 2025. https://3x3globaldrills.com/2025/09/21/our-new-planets-an-optimal-form-and-purpose-of-economics-part-1-of-3/. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
3. Martin Schwab, “Our new planets: An optimal form and purpose of economics – part 2 of 3,” 3×3 Global Drills, October 31, 2025. https://3x3globaldrills.com/2025/10/31/our-new-planets-an-optimal-form-and-purpose-of-economics-part-2-of-3/. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
4. See also, Allan W. Eckert, A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh (New York: Random House Publishing Group, 1993). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/463496.A_Sorrow_in_Our_Heart. See also, “Tecumseh,” Wikipedia, webpage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecumseh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eKft8CB6AM. See also, catahecasa, “Tecumseh’s Vision – We Shall Remain,” posted October 5, 2012 (1:19:54): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eKft8CB6AM – from “We Shall Remain,” American Experience, PBS. May 11, 2009. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/weshallremain/. See also, “We Shall Remain,” Wikipedia, webpage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Shall_Remain. See also, Gina Gearson movie trends, “Tecumseh The Last Warrior 1995,” posted December 19, 2016 (1:33:57): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xZnPr2BTSU. See also, “Tecumseh: The Last Warrior,” Wikipedia, webpage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecumseh:_The_Last_Warrior. All retrieved November 26, 2025.
5. Video evidence of this observation exists within my archives from a trip to Kenya and Tanzania over Christmas break with my maternal grandparents during my first year of high school in 1987-88.
3x3 GLOBAL DRILLS 