A Planetary Society Consider the possibility of a planetary society in which life is the measure of value and the defining goal is to assure the happiness, well being, and creative expression of each person. Well-being and progress are evaluated on the basis of indices of the vitality, diversity, and productive potential of the whole of society's living capital its human, social, institutional, and natural capital. These indices are monitored as carefully as we now monitor GDP and stock prices. Any sign of decline evokes prompt corrective action. Human rights and political sovereignty reside in real persons on the basis of one person one vote.
Civic associations facilitate the practice of direct democracy.
Public funding of elections and free access for political candidates to media minimize the role of money in elections. Economic life centers on well regulated, self-organizing markets that function within a strong ethical culture of cooperation and mutual responsibility. Some call it the mindful market economy. Firms are human-scale and owned by real human stakeholders their workers, customers, suppliers, and community members. The right of each person to a means of livelihood is considered to be the most basic of human rights a right secured in part through owning a share in the assets on which one's livelihood depends.