The government of the country of Chillainia recently decreed that all future generations will be covered under a Right To Not Work act, which will give their citizens, upon turning 18, the power to choose whether or not they will contribute to the economy.
Right on! The die is cast.
Rawpixel- Unsplash.com
Even though Chillainia is a very small and relatively unknown European country, shock waves resulting from this decision traveled rapidly around the world. Leaders took stands on the decision without delay, for they sensed its potential for fostering unrest amongst thieir populations.
While most of the progressive countries took stances of guarded approval towards Chillainia's action, some large industrialized counties went immediately on the offensive.
"This 'Right To Not Work' law is abominable!" blasted United States Secretary of Labor Rodney Blunt. "No country can operate under such a Socialist, pie in the sky, ridiculously unfeasible economic system!"
"Here here!" seconded the British, themselves threatened by a forever teetering economy, where those on the dole, the layabouts, are viewed by many as unnecessarily coddled. "Every able-bodied citizen must work, if work be available!" thundered Labour Party leader Colin Jones to a concerned Parliament. "Laying about and being coddled is the exclusive realm of the upper classes!"
Over in Asia, Japan and China weighed in, each country taking a dim view of Chillainia's action, especially the Chinese. Xia Zochen, Supreme Cultural Minister of the Communist Leadership, responded "The exalted notion of a lifetime of servitude in support of The State cannot be allowed to crumble, lest the party leadership goes with it! Production is at an all time high and container ships full of exportable goods crowd our busy ports, due to millions of happily employed, who are eager to prove their devotion to Communist/Capitalist ideals! (Isn't that right, minions?)".
To that, a resounding, clamorous "Shi!" (Yes!) followed by millions of hands clapping in thousands of factories was heard and if it wasn't, loudspeakers throughout the towns dotting the countryside played the minister's speech and the deafening applause that followed it over and over and over.
Here and there around the world, the progressive countries' responses to Chillainia's action were low key, their positions on the decree being ones of measured caution. While celebrating Chillainia's audacious stance, there was some wariness towards embracing the proposal in their respective home countries. To observers, it clearly seemed to indicate a wait and see approach. Still, these leaders, when cornered by the press to give opinions on the issue, were mainly heard to respond favorably. "Bravo!", "Glad to see it", and "An idea whose time has come" were some of the comments given.
Over in the United States, talk radio stations were buzzing in feverish reaction to the news. It seemed that Chillainia's decision ran counter to what they interpreted the Founding Father's ideas to be. According to them, the Founding Father's believed that 'everyone should have the Right To Work' and it was mentioned repeatedly that so far twenty eight states had passed Right To Work laws, as if to cement the Founding Father's wishes into stone.
Liberals of course argued in favor of instituting a slightly different yet similar version of Chillainia's Right To Not Work law, bringing to light that decades ago the military chose to eliminate the draft and institute an all volunteer army, which many claimed would never find enough willing candidates to fill its ranks. However, such an all volunteer system has proven workable despite the fact that military service entails low pay, continuous relocation, the constant threat of deployment, and the possibility of being involved in potentially lethal combat! Even with all those unfavorable conditions needing to be met the fact is that the rosters of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force continue to be filled.
Would a voluntary workforce be capable of the same? Would it be able to draw enough workers to run the economy?
Conservatives across the board rose up in arms over even entertaining the idea, claiming that not one single person would volunteer to hold a job. A nationwide sense of entitlement would prevail, a depraved and degenerate society would rapidly develop, and the 1% would find its fortunes flailing in free fall.
"Work is not just a right" shouted a livid Republican senator in response to the Democratic Socialists' proposal to place a Right To Not Work bill to a house vote. "Work is every man's duty, a cause noble and just! Every man in America knows that he's born to strive, to overcome, to pull himself and his family up, to compete in the marketplace! Like Gandalf at the bridge, I will stand firm. Democratic Socialists, hear this: Thou shall not pass!"
And so, on and on like this it went. Vehement resistance was kinda the prevailing vibe in this and other 'modern' industrialized countries.
Over in Chillainia, every baby, child, and teen didn't really know how momentous the moment was, but their parents did. "We are the wayshowers" they said to each other, their friends, and their coworkers. "We don't know what is going to actually happen so we have to prepare the young ones for every potential outcome. No country on earth has ever gone to an all volunteer workforce before. Some will choose to never work, we know that from the coworkers amongst us that constantly avoid work! We know from that that there are a certain percentage of louts. But we work around that, and always have. We are the unsung and unrecognized heroes who keep the businesses running. We're overworked and on top of that we work overtime, it's all we've ever known, but- "What If?
Yeah, "What If?"
Jake Oates- Unsplash.com
What if the people that presently don't pull their own weight stopped showing up? First of all, nobody would miss them, because they aren't pulling their own weight now! Secondly, everybody at work would be there because they wanted to be. In a strange way, operations would be fully manned, which would actually serve to lessen the workload for everybody. The managers could stop pretending that they're going to 'fix the problem', which they never do, and 'work' would be a happier place, full of only congenial employees.
At any point in any day you could choose to exert your Right To Not Work and go home, so the pressure to be at work wouldn't be there. If one person left, the rest could multitask to cover- just like in the old days! So many benefits would result, some conceivable, many unconceivable- simply by eliminating compulsory attendance!
And if worse came to worse, and the country started to fall apart, we would reintroduce compulsory attendance for awhile before trying again because I gotta feeling, and I think it's shared (nodding heads all around), that a lot of us are gonna like having the Right To Not Work!".