PAPER 72
GOVERNMENT ON A NEIGHBORING PLANET
72:0.1 BY PERMISSION of Lanaforge and with the
approval of the Most Highs of Edentia, I am authorized to narrate something of
the social, moral, and political life of the most advanced human race living
on a not far-distant planet belonging to the Satania system.
72:0.2 Of all the Satania worlds which became
isolated because of participation in the Lucifer rebellion, this planet has
experienced a history most like that of Urantia. The similarity of the two
spheres undoubtedly explains why permission to make this extraordinary
presentation was granted, for it is most unusual for the system rulers to
consent to the narration on one planet of the affairs of another.
72:0.3 This planet, like Urantia, was led astray by
the disloyalty of its Planetary Prince in connection with the Lucifer
rebellion. It received a Material Son shortly after Adam came to Urantia, and
this Son also defaulted, leaving the sphere isolated, since a Magisterial Son
has never been bestowed upon its mortal races.
1. THE CONTINENTAL NATION
72:1.1 Notwithstanding all these planetary handicaps
a very superior civilization is evolving on an isolated continent about the
size of Australia. This nation numbers about 140 million. Its people are a
mixed race, predominantly blue and yellow, having a slightly greater
proportion of violet than the so-called white race of Urantia. These different
races are not yet fully blended, but they fraternize and socialize very
acceptably. The average length of life on this continent is now ninety years,
fifteen per cent higher than that of any other people on the
planet.
72:1.2 The industrial mechanism of this nation
enjoys a certain great advantage derived from the unique topography of the
continent. The high mountains, on which heavy rains fall eight months in the
year, are situated at the very center of the country. This natural arrangement
favors the utilization of water power and greatly facilitates the irrigation
of the more arid western quarter of the continent.
72:1.3 These people are self-sustaining, that is,
they can live indefinitely without importing anything from the surrounding
nations. Their natural resources are replete, and by scientific techniques
they have learned how to compensate for their deficiencies in the essentials
of life. They enjoy a brisk domestic commerce but have little foreign trade
owing to the universal hostility of their less progressive neighbors.
72:1.4 This continental nation, in general, followed
the evolutionary trend of the planet: The development from the tribal stage to
the appearance of strong rulers and kings occupied thousands of years. The
unconditional monarchs were succeeded by many different orders of government
-- abortive republics, communal states, and dictators came and went in endless
profusion. This growth continued until about five hundred years ago when,
during a politically fermenting period, one of the nation's powerful
dictator-triumvirs had a change of heart. He volunteered to abdicate upon
condition that one of the other rulers, the baser of the remaining two, also
vacate his dictatorship. Thus was the sovereignty of the continent placed in
the hands of one ruler. The unified state progressed under strong monarchial
rule for over one hundred years, during which there evolved a masterful
charter of liberty.
72:1.5 The subsequent transition from monarchy to a
representative form of government was gradual, the kings remaining as mere
social or sentimental figureheads, finally disappearing when the male line of
descent ran out. The present republic has now been in existence just two
hundred years, during which time there has been a continuous progression
toward the governmental techniques about to be narrated, the last developments
in industrial and political realms having been made within the past decade.
2. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
72:2.1 This continental nation now has a
representative government with a centrally located national capital. The
central government consists of a strong federation of one hundred
comparatively free states. These states elect their governors and legislators
for ten years, and none are eligible for re-election. State judges are
appointed for life by the governors and confirmed by their legislatures, which
consist of one representative for each one hundred thousand
citizens.
72:2.2 There are five different types of
metropolitan government, depending on the size of the city, but no city is
permitted to have more than one million inhabitants. On the whole, these
municipal governing schemes are very simple, direct, and economical. The few
offices of city administration are keenly sought by the highest types of
citizens.
72:2.3 The federal government embraces three
co-ordinate divisions: executive, legislative, and judicial. The federal chief
executive is elected every six years by universal territorial suffrage. He is
not eligible for re-election except upon the petition of at least seventy-five
state legislatures concurred in by the respective state governors, and then
but for one term. He is advised by a supercabinet composed of all living
ex-chief executives.
72:2.4 The legislative division embraces three
houses:
72:2.5 1. The upper house is elected by
industrial, professional, agricultural, and other groups of workers, balloting
in accordance with economic function.
72:2.6 2. The lower house is elected by
certain organizations of society embracing the social, political, and
philosophic groups not included in industry or the professions. All citizens
in good standing participate in the election of both classes of
representatives, but they are differently grouped, depending on whether the
election pertains to the upper or lower house.
72:2.7 3. The third house -- the elder
statesmen -- embraces the veterans of civic service and includes many
distinguished persons nominated by the chief executive, by the regional
(subfederal) executives, by the chief of the supreme tribunal, and by the
presiding officers of either of the other legislative houses. This group is
limited to one hundred, and its members are elected by the majority action of
the elder statesmen themselves. Membership is for life, and when vacancies
occur, the person receiving the largest ballot among the list of nominees is
thereby duly elected. The scope of this body is purely advisory, but it is a
mighty regulator of public opinion and exerts a powerful influence upon all
branches of the government.
72:2.8 Very much of the federal administrative work
is carried on by the ten regional (subfederal) authorities, each consisting of
the association of ten states. These regional divisions are wholly executive
and administrative, having neither legislative nor judicial functions. The ten
regional executives are the personal appointees of the federal chief
executive, and their term of office is concurrent with his -- six years. The
federal supreme tribunal approves the appointment of these ten regional
executives, and while they may not be reappointed, the retiring executive
automatically becomes the associate and adviser of his successor. Otherwise,
these regional chiefs choose their own cabinets of administrative officials.
72:2.9 This nation is adjudicated by two major court
systems -- the law courts and the socioeconomic courts. The law courts
function on the following three levels:
72:2.10 1. Minor courts of municipal and
local jurisdiction, whose decisions may be appealed to the high state
tribunals.
72:2.11 2. State supreme courts, whose
decisions are final in all matters not involving the federal government or
jeopardy of citizenship rights and liberties. The regional executives are
empowered to bring any case at once to the bar of the federal supreme court.
72:2.12 3. Federal supreme court -- the high
tribunal for the adjudication of national contentions and the appellate cases
coming up from the state courts. This supreme tribunal consists of twelve men
over forty and under seventy-five years of age who have served two or more
years on some state tribunal, and who have been appointed to this high
position by the chief executive with the majority approval of the supercabinet
and the third house of the legislative assembly. All decisions of this supreme
judicial body are by at least a two-thirds vote.
72:2.13 The socioeconomic courts function in the
following three divisions:
1. Parental courts, associated with the
legislative and executive divisions of the home and social system.
2. Educational courts -- the juridical
bodies connected with the state and regional school systems and associated
with the executive and legislative branches of the educational administrative
mechanism.
3. Industrial courts -- the jurisdictional
tribunals vested with full authority for the settlement of all economic
misunderstandings.
72:2.14 The federal supreme court does not pass upon
socioeconomic cases except upon the three-quarters vote of the third
legislative branch of the national government, the house of elder statesmen.
Otherwise, all decisions of the parental, educational, and industrial high
courts are final.
3. THE HOME LIFE
72:3.1 On this continent it is against the law for
two families to live under the same roof. And since group dwellings have been
outlawed, most of the tenement type of buildings have been demolished. But the
unmarried still live in clubs, hotels, and other group dwellings. The smallest
homesite permitted must provide fifty thousand square feet of land. All land
and other property used for home purposes are free from taxation up to ten
times the minimum homesite allotment.
72:3.2 The home life of this people has greatly
improved during the last century. Attendance of parents, both fathers and
mothers, at the parental schools of child culture is compulsory. Even the
agriculturists who reside in small country settlements carry on this work by
correspondence, going to the near-by centers for oral instruction once in ten
days -- every two weeks, for they maintain a five-day week.
72:3.3 The average number of children in each family
is five, and they are under the full control of their parents or, in case of
the demise of one or both, under that of the guardians designated by the
parental courts. It is considered a great honor for any family to be awarded
the guardianship of a full orphan. Competitive examinations are held among
parents, and the orphan is awarded to the home of those displaying the best
parental qualifications.
72:3.4 These people regard the home as the basic
institution of their civilization. It is expected that the most valuable part
of a child's education and character training will be secured from his parents
and at home, and fathers devote almost as much attention to child culture as
do mothers.
72:3.5 All sex instruction is administered in the
home by parents or by legal guardians. Moral instruction is offered by
teachers during the rest periods in the school shops, but not so with
religious training, which is deemed to be the exclusive privilege of parents,
religion being looked upon as an integral part of home life. Purely religious
instruction is given publicly only in the temples of philosophy, no such
exclusively religious institutions as the Urantia churches having developed
among this people. In their philosophy, religion is the striving to know God
and to manifest love for one's fellows through service for them, but this is
not typical of the religious status of the other nations on this planet.
Religion is so entirely a family matter among these people that there are no
public places devoted exclusively to religious assembly. Politically, church
and state, as Urantians are wont to say, are entirely separate, but there is a
strange overlapping of religion and philosophy.
72:3.6 Until twenty years ago the spiritual teachers
(comparable to Urantia pastors), who visit each family periodically to examine
the children to ascertain if they have been properly instructed by their
parents, were under governmental supervision. These spiritual advisers and
examiners are now under the direction of the newly created Foundation of
Spiritual Progress, an institution supported by voluntary contributions.
Possibly this institution may not further evolve until after the arrival of a
Paradise Magisterial Son.
72:3.7 Children remain legally subject to their
parents until they are fifteen, when the first initiation into civic
responsibility is held. Thereafter, every five years for five successive
periods similar public exercises are held for such age groups at which their
obligations to parents are lessened, while new civic and social
responsibilities to the state are assumed. Suffrage is conferred at twenty,
the right to marry without parental consent is not bestowed until twenty-five,
and children must leave home on reaching the age of thirty.
72:3.8 Marriage and divorce laws are uniform
throughout the nation. Marriage before twenty -- the age of civil
enfranchisement -- is not permitted. Permission to marry is only granted after
one year's notice of intention, and after both bride and groom present
certificates showing that they have been duly instructed in the parental
schools regarding the responsibilities of married life.
72:3.9 Divorce regulations are somewhat lax, but
decrees of separation, issued by the parental courts, may not be had until one
year after application therefor has been recorded, and the year on this planet
is considerably longer than on Urantia. Notwithstanding their easy divorce
laws, the present rate of divorces is only one tenth that of the civilized
races of Urantia.
4. THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
72:4.1 The educational system of this nation is
compulsory and coeducational in the precollege schools that the student
attends from the ages of five to eighteen. These schools are vastly different
from those of Urantia. There are no classrooms, only one study is pursued at a
time, and after the first three years all pupils become assistant teachers,
instructing those below them. Books are used only to secure information that
will assist in solving the problems arising in the school shops and on the
school farms. Much of the furniture used on the continent and the many
mechanical contrivances -- this is a great age of invention and mechanization
-- are produced in these shops. Adjacent to each shop is a working library
where the student may consult the necessary reference books. Agriculture and
horticulture are also taught throughout the entire educational period on the
extensive farms adjoining every local school.
72:4.2 The feeble-minded are trained only in
agriculture and animal husbandry, and are committed for life to special
custodial colonies where they are segregated by sex to prevent parenthood,
which is denied all subnormals. These restrictive measures have been in
operation for seventy-five years; the commitment decrees are handed down by
the parental courts.
72:4.3 Everyone takes one month's vacation each
year. The precollege schools are conducted for nine months out of the year of
ten, the vacation being spent with parents or friends in travel. This travel
is a part of the adult-education program and is continued throughout a
lifetime, the funds for meeting such expenses being accumulated by the same
methods as those employed in old-age insurance.
72:4.4 One quarter of the school time is devoted to
play -- competitive athletics -- the pupils progressing in these contests from
the local, through the state and regional, and on to the national trials of
skill and prowess. Likewise, the oratorical and musical contests, as well as
those in science and philosophy, occupy the attention of students from the
lower social divisions on up to the contests for national honors.
72:4.5 The school government is a replica of the
national government with its three correlated branches, the teaching staff
functioning as the third or advisory legislative division. The chief object of
education on this continent is to make every pupil a self-supporting
citizen.
72:4.6 Every child graduating from the precollege
school system at eighteen is a skilled artisan. Then begins the study of books
and the pursuit of special knowledge, either in the adult schools or in the
colleges. When a brilliant student completes his work ahead of schedule, he is
granted an award of time and means wherewith he may execute some pet project
of his own devising. The entire educational system is designed to adequately
train the individual.
5. INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
72:5.1 The industrial situation among this people is
far from their ideals; capital and labor still have their troubles, but both
are becoming adjusted to the plan of sincere co-operation. On this unique
continent the workers are increasingly becoming shareholders in all industrial
concerns; every intelligent laborer is slowly becoming a small
capitalist.
72:5.2 Social antagonisms are lessening, and good
will is growing apace. No grave economic problems have arisen out of the
abolition of slavery (over one hundred years ago) since this adjustment was
effected gradually by the liberation of two per cent each year. Those slaves
who satisfactorily passed mental, moral, and physical tests were granted
citizenship; many of these superior slaves were war captives or children of
such captives. Some fifty years ago they deported the last of their inferior
slaves, and still more recently they are addressing themselves to the task of
reducing the numbers of their degenerate and vicious classes.
72:5.3 These people have recently developed new
techniques for the adjustment of industrial misunderstandings and for the
correction of economic abuses which are marked improvements over their older
methods of settling such problems. Violence has been outlawed as a procedure
in adjusting either personal or industrial differences. Wages, profits, and
other economic problems are not rigidly regulated, but they are in general
controlled by the industrial legislatures, while all disputes arising out of
industry are passed upon by the industrial courts.
72:5.4 The industrial courts are only thirty years
old but are functioning very satisfactorily. The most recent development
provides that hereafter the industrial courts shall recognize legal
compensation as falling in three divisions:
1. Legal rates of interest on invested capital.
2. Reasonable salary for skill employed in
industrial operations.
3. Fair and equitable wages for labor.
72:5.5 These shall first be met in accordance with
contract, or in the face of decreased earnings they shall share proportionally
in transient reduction. And thereafter all earnings in excess of these fixed
charges shall be regarded as dividends and shall be prorated to all three
divisions: capital, skill, and labor.
72:5.6 Every ten years the regional executives
adjust and decree the lawful hours of daily gainful toil. Industry now
operates on a five-day week, working four and playing one. These people labor
six hours each working day and, like students, nine months in the year of ten.
Vacation is usually spent in travel, and new methods of transportation having
been so recently developed, the whole nation is travel bent. The climate
favors travel about eight months in the year, and they are making the most of
their opportunities.
72:5.7 Two hundred years ago the profit motive was
wholly dominant in industry, but today it is being rapidly displaced by other
and higher driving forces. Competition is keen on this continent, but much of
it has been transferred from industry to play, skill, scientific achievement,
and intellectual attainment. It is most active in social service and
governmental loyalty. Among this people public service is rapidly becoming the
chief goal of ambition. The richest man on the continent works six hours a day
in the office of his machine shop and then hastens over to the local branch of
the school of statesmanship, where he seeks to qualify for public
service.
72:5.8 Labor is becoming more honorable on this
continent, and all able-bodied citizens over eighteen work either at home and
on farms, at some recognized industry, on the public works where the
temporarily unemployed are absorbed, or else in the corps of compulsory
laborers in the mines.
72:5.9 These people are also beginning to foster a
new form of social disgust -- disgust for both idleness and unearned wealth.
Slowly but certainly they are conquering their machines. Once they, too,
struggled for political liberty and subsequently for economic freedom. Now are
they entering upon the enjoyment of both while in addition they are beginning
to appreciate their well-earned leisure, which can be devoted to increased
self-realization.
6. OLD-AGE INSURANCE
72:6.1 This nation is making a determined effort to
replace the self-respect-destroying type of charity by dignified
government-insurance guarantees of security in old age. This nation provides
every child an education and every man a job; therefore can it successfully
carry out such an insurance scheme for the protection of the infirm and
aged.
72:6.2 Among this people all persons must retire
from gainful pursuit at sixty-five unless they secure a permit from the state
labor commissioner which will entitle them to remain at work until the age of
seventy. This age limit does not apply to government servants or philosophers.
The physically disabled or permanently crippled can be placed on the retired
list at any age by court order countersigned by the pension commissioner of
the regional government.
72:6.3 The funds for old-age pensions are derived
from four sources:
72:6.4 1. One day's earnings each month are
requisitioned by the federal government for this purpose, and in this country
everybody works.
72:6.5 2. Bequests -- many wealthy citizens leave
funds for this purpose.
72:6.6 3. The earnings of compulsory labor in the
state mines. After the conscript workers support themselves and set aside
their own retirement contributions, all excess profits on their labor are
turned over to this pension fund.
72:6.7 4. The income from natural resources. All
natural wealth on the continent is held as a social trust by the federal
government, and the income therefrom is utilized for social purposes, such as
disease prevention, education of geniuses, and expenses of especially
promising individuals in the statesmanship schools. One half of the income
from natural resources goes to the old-age pension fund.
72:6.8 Although state and regional actuarial
foundations supply many forms of protective insurance, old-age pensions are
solely administered by the federal government through the ten regional
departments.
72:6.9 These government funds have long been
honestly administered. Next to treason and murder, the heaviest penalties
meted out by the courts are attached to betrayal of public trust. Social and
political disloyalty are now looked upon as being the most heinous of all
crimes.
7. TAXATION
72:7.1 The federal government is paternalistic only
in the administration of old-age pensions and in the fostering of genius and
creative originality; the state governments are slightly more concerned with
the individual citizen, while the local governments are much more
paternalistic or socialistic. The city (or some subdivision thereof) concerns
itself with such matters as health, sanitation, building regulations,
beautification, water supply, lighting, heating, recreation, music, and
communication.
72:7.2 In all industry first attention is paid to
health; certain phases of physical well-being are regarded as industrial and
community prerogatives, but individual and family health problems are matters
of personal concern only. In medicine, as in all other purely personal
matters, it is increasingly the plan of government to refrain from
interfering.
72:7.3 Cities have no taxing power, neither can they
go in debt. They receive per capita allowances from the state treasury and
must supplement such revenue from the earnings of their socialistic
enterprises and by licensing various commercial activities.
72:7.4 The rapid-transit facilities, which make it
practical greatly to extend the city boundaries, are under municipal control.
The city fire departments are supported by the fire-prevention and insurance
foundations, and all buildings, in city or country, are fireproof -- have been
for over seventy-five years.
72:7.5 There are no municipally appointed peace
officers; the police forces are maintained by the state governments. This
department is recruited almost entirely from the unmarried men between
twenty-five and fifty. Most of the states assess a rather heavy bachelor tax,
which is remitted to all men joining the state police. In the average state
the police force is now only one tenth as large as it was fifty years ago.
72:7.6 There is little or no uniformity among the
taxation schemes of the one hundred comparatively free and sovereign states as
economic and other conditions vary greatly in different sections of the
continent. Every state has ten basic constitutional provisions which cannot be
modified except by consent of the federal supreme court, and one of these
articles prevents levying a tax of more than one per cent on the value of any
property in any one year, homesites, whether in city or country, being
exempted.
72:7.7 The federal government cannot go in debt, and
a three-fourths referendum is required before any state can borrow except for
purposes of war. Since the federal government cannot incur debt, in the event
of war the National Council of Defense is empowered to assess the states for
money, as well as for men and materials, as it may be required. But no debt
may run for more than twenty-five years.
72:7.8 Income to support the federal government is
derived from the following five sources:
72:7.9 1. Import duties. All imports are
subject to a tariff designed to protect the standard of living on this
continent, which is far above that of any other nation on the planet. These
tariffs are set by the highest industrial court after both houses of the
industrial congress have ratified the recommendations of the chief executive
of economic affairs, who is the joint appointee of these two legislative
bodies. The upper industrial house is elected by labor, the lower by capital.
72:7.10 2. Royalties. The federal government
encourages invention and original creations in the ten regional laboratories,
assisting all types of geniuses -- artists, authors, and scientists -- and
protecting their patents. In return the government takes one half the profits
realized from all such inventions and creations, whether pertaining to
machines, books, artistry, plants, or animals.
72:7.11 3. Inheritance tax. The federal
government levies a graduated inheritance tax ranging from one to fifty per
cent, depending on the size of an estate as well as on other conditions.
72:7.12 4. Military equipment. The government
earns a considerable sum from the leasing of military and naval equipment for
commercial and recreational usages.
72:7.13 5. Natural resources. The income from
natural resources, when not fully required for the specific purposes
designated in the charter of federal statehood, is turned into the national
treasury.
72:7.14 Federal appropriations, except war funds
assessed by the National Council of Defense, are originated in the upper
legislative house, concurred in by the lower house, approved by the chief
executive, and finally validated by the federal budget commission of one
hundred. The members of this commission are nominated by the state governors
and elected by the state legislatures to serve for twenty-four years, one
quarter being elected every six years. Every six years this body, by a
three-fourths ballot, chooses one of its number as chief, and he thereby
becomes director-controller of the federal treasury.
8. THE SPECIAL COLLEGES
72:8.1 In addition to the basic compulsory education
program extending from the ages of five to eighteen, special schools are
maintained as follows:
72:8.2 1. Statesmanship schools. These
schools are of three classes: national, regional, and state. The public
offices of the nation are grouped in four divisions. The first division of
public trust pertains principally to the national administration, and all
officeholders of this group must be graduates of both regional and national
schools of statesmanship. Individuals may accept political, elective, or
appointive office in the second division upon graduating from any one of the
ten regional schools of statesmanship; their trusts concern responsibilities
in the regional administration and the state governments. Division three
includes state responsibilities, and such officials are only required to have
state degrees of statesmanship. The fourth and last division of officeholders
are not required to hold statesmanship degrees, such offices being wholly
appointive. They represent minor positions of assistantship, secretaryships,
and technical trusts which are discharged by the various learned professions
functioning in governmental administrative capacities.
72:8.3 Judges of the minor and state courts hold
degrees from the state schools of statesmanship. Judges of the jurisdictional
tribunals of social, educational, and industrial matters hold degrees from the
regional schools. Judges of the federal supreme court must hold degrees from
all these schools of statesmanship.
72:8.4 2. Schools of philosophy. These
schools are affiliated with the temples of philosophy and are more or less
associated with religion as a public function.
72:8.5 3. Institutions of science. These
technical schools are co-ordinated with industry rather than with the
educational system and are administered under fifteen divisions.
72:8.6 4. Professional training schools.
These special institutions provide the technical training for the various
learned professions, twelve in number.
72:8.7 5. Military and naval schools. Near
the national headquarters and at the twenty-five coastal military centers are
maintained those institutions devoted to the military training of volunteer
citizens from eighteen to thirty years of age. Parental consent is required
before twenty-five in order to gain entrance to these schools.
9. THE PLAN OF UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
72:9.1 Although candidates for all public offices
are restricted to graduates of the state, regional, or federal schools of
statesmanship, the progressive leaders of this nation discovered a serious
weakness in their plan of universal suffrage and about fifty years ago made
constitutional provision for a modified scheme of voting which embraces the
following features:
72:9.2 1. Every man and woman of twenty years and
over has one vote. Upon attaining this age, all citizens must accept
membership in two voting groups: They will join the first in accordance with
their economic function -- industrial, professional, agricultural, or trade;
they will enter the second group according to their political, philosophic,
and social inclinations. All workers thus belong to some economic franchise
group, and these guilds, like the noneconomic associations, are regulated much
as is the national government with its threefold division of powers.
Registration in these groups cannot be changed for twelve years.
72:9.3 2. Upon nomination by the state governors or
by the regional executives and by the mandate of the regional supreme
councils, individuals who have rendered great service to society, or who have
demonstrated extraordinary wisdom in government service, may have additional
votes conferred upon them not oftener than every five years and not to exceed
nine such superfranchises. The maximum suffrage of any multiple voter is ten.
Scientists, inventors, teachers, philosophers, and spiritual leaders are also
thus recognized and honored with augmented political power. These advanced
civic privileges are conferred by the state and regional supreme councils much
as degrees are bestowed by the special colleges, and the recipients are proud
to attach the symbols of such civic recognition, along with their other
degrees, to their lists of personal achievements.
72:9.4 3. All individuals sentenced to compulsory
labor in the mines and all governmental servants supported by tax funds are,
for the periods of such services, disenfranchised. This does not apply to aged
persons who may be retired on pensions at sixty-five.
72:9.5 4. There are five brackets of suffrage
reflecting the average yearly taxes paid for each half-decade period. Heavy
taxpayers are permitted extra votes up to five. This grant is independent of
all other recognition, but in no case can any person cast over ten ballots.
72:9.6 5. At the time this franchise plan was
adopted, the territorial method of voting was abandoned in favor of the
economic or functional system. All citizens now vote as members of industrial,
social, or professional groups, regardless of their residence. Thus the
electorate consists of solidified, unified, and intelligent groups who elect
only their best members to positions of governmental trust and responsibility.
There is one exception to this scheme of functional or group suffrage: The
election of a federal chief executive every six years is by nation-wide
ballot, and no citizen casts over one vote.
72:9.7 Thus, except in the election of the chief
executive, suffrage is exercised by economic, professional, intellectual, and
social groupings of the citizenry. The ideal state is organic, and every free
and intelligent group of citizens represents a vital and functioning organ
within the larger governmental organism.
72:9.8 The schools of statesmanship have power to
start proceedings in the state courts looking toward the disenfranchisement of
any defective, idle, indifferent, or criminal individual. These people
recognize that, when fifty per cent of a nation is inferior or defective and
possesses the ballot, such a nation is doomed. They believe the dominance of
mediocrity spells the downfall of any nation. Voting is compulsory, heavy
fines being assessed against all who fail to cast their ballots.
10. DEALING WITH CRIME
72:10.1 The methods of this people in dealing with
crime, insanity, and degeneracy, while in some ways pleasing, will, no doubt,
in others prove shocking to most Urantians. Ordinary criminals and the
defectives are placed, by sexes, in different agricultural colonies and are
more than self-supporting. The more serious habitual criminals and the
incurably insane are sentenced to death in the lethal gas chambers by the
courts. Numerous crimes aside from murder, including betrayal of governmental
trust, also carry the death penalty, and the visitation of justice is sure and
swift.
72:10.2 These people are passing out of the negative
into the positive era of law. Recently they have gone so far as to attempt the
prevention of crime by sentencing those who are believed to be potential
murderers and major criminals to life service in the detention colonies. If
such convicts subsequently demonstrate that they have become more normal, they
may be either paroled or pardoned. The homicide rate on this continent is only
one per cent of that among the other nations.
72:10.3 Efforts to prevent the breeding of criminals
and defectives were begun over one hundred years ago and have already yielded
gratifying results. There are no prisons or hospitals for the insane. For one
reason, there are only about ten per cent as many of these groups as are found
on Urantia.
11. MILITARY PREPAREDNESS
72:11.1 Graduates of the federal military schools
may be commissioned as "guardians of civilization" in seven ranks, in
accordance with ability and experience, by the president of the National
Council of Defense. This council consists of twenty-five members, nominated by
the highest parental, educational, and industrial tribunals, confirmed by the
federal supreme court, and presided over ex officio by the chief of staff of
co-ordinated military affairs. Such members serve until they are seventy years
of age.
72:11.2 The courses pursued by such commissioned
officers are four years in length and are invariably correlated with the
mastery of some trade or profession. Military training is never given without
this associated industrial, scientific, or professional schooling. When
military training is finished, the individual has, during his four years'
course, received one half of the education imparted in any of the special
schools where the courses are likewise four years in length. In this way the
creation of a professional military class is avoided by providing this
opportunity for a large number of men to support themselves while securing the
first half of a technical or professional training.
72:11.3 Military service during peacetime is purely
voluntary, and the enlistments in all branches of the service are for four
years, during which every man pursues some special line of study in addition
to the mastery of military tactics. Training in music is one of the chief
pursuits of the central military schools and of the twenty-five training camps
distributed about the periphery of the continent. During periods of industrial
slackness many thousands of unemployed are automatically utilized in
upbuilding the military defenses of the continent on land and sea and in the
air.
72:11.4 Although these people maintain a powerful
war establishment as a defense against invasion by the surrounding hostile
peoples, it may be recorded to their credit that they have not in over one
hundred years employed these military resources in an offensive war. They have
become civilized to that point where they can vigorously defend civilization
without yielding to the temptation to utilize their war powers in aggression.
There have been no civil wars since the establishment of the united
continental state, but during the last two centuries these people have been
called upon to wage nine fierce defensive conflicts, three of which were
against mighty confederations of world powers. Although this nation maintains
adequate defense against attack by hostile neighbors, it pays far more
attention to the training of statesmen, scientists, and
philosophers.
72:11.5 When at peace with the world, all mobile
defense mechanisms are quite fully employed in trade, commerce, and
recreation. When war is declared, the entire nation is mobilized. Throughout
the period of hostilities military pay obtains in all industries, and the
chiefs of all military departments become members of the chief executive's
cabinet.
12. THE OTHER NATIONS
72:12.1 Although the society and government of this
unique people are in many respects superior to those of the Urantia nations,
it should be stated that on the other continents (there are eleven on this
planet) the governments are decidedly inferior to the more advanced nations of
Urantia.
72:12.2 Just now this superior government is
planning to establish ambassadorial relations with the inferior peoples, and
for the first time a great religious leader has arisen who advocates the
sending of missionaries to these surrounding nations. We fear they are about
to make the mistake that so many others have made when they have endeavored to
force a superior culture and religion upon other races. What a wonderful thing
could be done on this world if this continental nation of advanced culture
would only go out and bring to itself the best of the neighboring peoples and
then, after educating them, send them back as emissaries of culture to their
benighted brethren! Of course, if a Magisterial Son should soon come to this
advanced nation, great things could quickly happen on this world.
72:12.3 This recital of the affairs of a neighboring
planet is made by special permission with the intent of advancing civilization
and augmenting governmental evolution on Urantia. Much more could be narrated
that would no doubt interest and intrigue Urantians, but this disclosure
covers the limits of our permissive mandate.
72:12.4 Urantians should, however, take note that
their sister sphere in the Satania family has benefited by neither magisterial
nor bestowal missions of the Paradise Sons. Neither are the various peoples of
Urantia set off from each other by such disparity of culture as separates the
continental nation from its planetary fellows.
72:12.5 The pouring out of the Spirit of Truth
provides the spiritual foundation for the realization of great achievements in
the interests of the human race of the bestowal world. Urantia is therefore
far better prepared for the more immediate realization of a planetary
government with its laws, mechanisms, symbols, conventions, and language --
all of which could contribute so mightily to the establishment of world-wide
peace under law and could lead to the sometime dawning of a real age of
spiritual striving; and such an age is the planetary threshold to the utopian
ages of light and life.
72:12.6 Presented
by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.
