Egalitarianism
means equality, in some way,
between all
members of a social group or society.
The concept or philosophy of Egalitarianism can be applied to many issues within
any society, but in this campaign, as far as Egalitarianism is
concerned, the AEM is concerned with the issues listed below, most of
which can only be achieved by
changing the constitution of Australia. You will notice that the AEM is not completely Egalitarian in all issues. For example, some things are not equal by
age. However, because
most of us will one day be older, we who do survive will eventually
get to enjoy the privileges associated with being older, and
therefore we think that not being Egalitarian by age is still
being highly Egalitarian as a society/culture. Also, full-time workers will obviously receive more pay, and
will therefore have more access to material
and social resources than do part-time workers.
- Equal Rates of Pay: All
types of work receive the same rate of pay per hour. For example, the AEM does not view intellectual labour as being of
more value than physical labour. Equal rates of pay is the most important
Egalitarian issue that the AEM represents, and the one that all the fuss
will be about, and why we have decided to refer to ourselves
as the AEM, even though we represent several other policies. We hope that by the time you have read through
the material indexed on our
Major Policies
web page, particularly those concerned with Egalitarianism, you will see just how rational, fair, and crucial it is.
We also hope you will come to realise just how
socially, economically, and environmentally insane and unfair
capitalism is. Equal rates of pay does not necessarily mean that all citizens will be
economically equal (even though most will be, and even though
this is what the AEM deliberately makes possible for all
citizens). This is because not all people will choose to work
full-time, and frugal consumers will save more money than
gluttonous consumers or consumers with expensive tastes or
hobbies, and some people may encounter such things as more or larger speeding
tickets than most other people.
- Equal
Employment Rights: All
working age citizens have the right to full-time employment. All
full-time workers can expect the same worker's rights, such as 5 weeks
annual holidays with pay, 10 days sick leave each year, the
opportunity to divide one's working day or week into two or
more different occupations, lunch and smoko brakes, a maximum of 40
working hours per week (or the excess time will be owed to you), the age of
retirement, and paternity
leave. Similar rights exist for part-time workers.
- Racial Equality: All
equality rights discussed here apply to Australian citizens of
any race or cultural background.
- Legal Equality: All
law-abiding citizens are protected by the state, and all
citizens have equal access to legal representation (legal
services are free). All
adult citizens have the same (private) legal rights. All
children and young adults within the same age groups have the same legal rights.
- Educational Equality: All
citizens have free access to a full-time, senior secondary
school education. Tertiary education is free to all citizens,
but only those citizens who are granted scholarships will be
paid to study (instead of working), and this study may not be
full-time and will probably be associated with related
practical work. All citizens have free access to all academic
and scientific literature and other educational media.
- Equal Access to Information: All
citizens have free access to publicly available information
services, news and current events, public think tanks,
statistics, and public and university libraries. Eventually, most types of
information will be available on Australian
websites.
- Equal Access to Medical Advice
and Care: All
children and all full-time workers generally receive the same
free medical care, although....
- one may opt to pay for extra
medical insurance cover or for extra medical services as
one desires them;
- it will be impossible to
provide the same speedy service or the same level of
medical facilities to people in remote regions (but we are
sure we can easily improve upon the service these people
now receive);
- certain workers who may have rare
skills or knowledge or who are currently extremely vital for
the society may be given preferential treatment, under rare
circumstances;
- part-time workers (and
full-time workers) may choose the degree to which they are
covered, medically;
- the AEM is not opposed to
user-pay medical care (which will result in a slightly
higher income), if this is your choice, and if you have
enough money saved to cover your medical costs if require;
and
- several years after retirement, there may
be some economic restrictions on health cover, but a retiree can
always pay for more health care with his/her savings (this
policy is designed to provide an incentive to work beyond retirement age and an
incentive to not squander your money earlier in life).
- Gender Equality in the Workplace: All
occupations are available to either gender. The intention of
the AEM is to work towards a more equal representation of both
genders within most occupations (although you must remember
that unequal representation of each gender in various
occupations is a social problem that will take up to 70 years to undo). As implied earlier, both genders receive
the same rates of pay per hour as part of their worker's rights.
- Equality of Sexualities: All
equality rights discussed here apply to everyone, regardless of
their sexual inclination (e.g. heterosexual, homosexual,
bisexual, transsexual).
- Equal Access to Products and
Services: Generally, all
citizens of the same age group, and within the same regions have
access to the same products
and services (e.g. childcare, electricity, cars,
entertainment, clothes, food, toys, dwellings,
furnishings). However, some rare and/or expensive products
such as art will usually also require one to have displayed a
love of art over many years, and to have demonstrated that one
is able to look after the products that one has had charge of.
Non-full-time workers do have access to the same products and
services, but depending upon how much they work, some products
and services may be unaffordable or afforded less
often. Most entertainments will be available to both
genders, but we have no objection to catering to any socially
accepted thrills desired by a group within either gender,
exclusively.
- Religious Equality:
Any citizen can be a member of any peaceful and law-abiding
religion, non-religion, atheist organisation, anti-religion,
or any other philosophical belief system. As stated in our 'Religious
Neutrality' web page, the state is
committed to not institutionalising, favouring, suppressing,
or economically supporting any belief system, in particular (other than
Egalitarianism). Other than academic representation, all such
institutions, their staff, and the activities of these institutions are
financed by the members of each institution. The state will
also provide airtime, web pages, and other rudimentary media
publications for each belief system. The members of each
belief system will also be provided with facilities that allow
members to unite and meet.
- Equal Privacy Rights:
All citizens (including public figures) have the right to
privacy. That is, what people do and consume in their own time
is not for public disclosure (by other people or the media) or
to be used to shame or defame them, no matter how peculiar,
illegal, extreme, self-abusive, cowardice, gluttonous, or
deviant etc., it is, unless it is something that affects the
public detrimentally. Those products, services, and
entertainments that one uses or consumes can never be used
against one in a court of law, particularly since the state is
responsible for providing them. Other personal
information, such as medical records, financial details, or
(non-violent or non-sexual) criminal records is also not
available to the public.
The AEM also has a number of other rights that
it intends to institutionalise, such as economic autonomy for
everybody and freedom of speech and thought, which you can read about on
our other web pages.
Here are some definitions
that you should understand the meaning of before reading further.
- An economically stratified society
refers to a society in which the wealth of the society is distributed
unequally throughout the population.
- A materially stratified society
refers to a society in which goods, services, and property are distributed unequally throughout the
population.
Because such
commodities are usually bought using money, an
economically stratified society is usually also a materially
stratified society, and economic stratification is usually
institutionalised
in order to create material stratification. This is why these two terms are often used
interchangeably.
- A socially stratified society
refers to a society in which social privileges, such as education,
ownership of land, or hunting rights, are distributed unequally
amongst different social groups within the society (e.g. social
classes, genders, age groups, or religious groups). This usually
serves to produce economic, material, and political
stratification.
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