AEM-What is Egalitarianism?

What the AEM Means by Egalitarianism

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.