The human race has yet to show that it possesses the humanity it needs in order to survive much beyond our ability to kill ourselves in large numbers. Like it or not, we are all likely to go up in smoke and flames long before we ever reach maturity where we genuinely give a damn about each other. Some estimates put our extinction date at about 10,000 years following our first efforts at recording our history. If that is an accurate prediction, then we are teetering on the brink of extinction right about now.

This essay is therefore only a guide for how to do a better job of living, and sharing, and caring. It is not an epitaph to leave behind that documents what we might have done in order to have saved ourselves from ourselves. It is based on our core values that embrace justice as our banner, and freedom to think and to do as our means to get there. We may never arrive at the summit where life and liberty are as plentiful as opinions, but having goals is necessary to be able to recognize when we are making progress toward distant objectives that we almost certainly will never reach.

And so, this is my vision of the good life—here at home and around the world. It flows without bitterness or anger, but with due consideration for thinking that is as devoid of religion, or ideology, or selfish pursuits as my mind and soul permit.

A worthy society is a just society, one with goals that coalesce around core values, that projects a sense of fairness, that encourages each resident to find his or her talents, that allows for their cultivation; that embraces excellence, while it establishes and protects the means by which each of us can pursue the fulfillment of personal dreams so that we can contribute to the betterment of humanity.

Government’s role is to build, support, and adhere to a framework that permits the realization of those visionary objectives. It begins with the articulation of our founding principles; and that is followed by providing the means for building the corresponding society.

Our first objective is to provide for the common defense. To that end the national government must build and maintain a strong, efficient, and smart national defense; one that participates in global alliances with our friends; and sets forth the equitable rules for manning and maintaining that defense. A smart defense relies on technology, not on brute force. Drones, robotics, and the use of pinpoint targeting, greater reliance on satellites, and a global network of intelligence gathering are at the core of a smart defense system. Rapid deployment of resources that protect and maintain our security are also essential. Those who honor and protect our right to live according to the principles of justice are followers of a very high calling, and those who are willing to safeguard them with their lives are our true patriots.

Second, government must assure that providing for the general welfare means we need a healthy population in which all residents have the right to the benefits of a free universal health delivery system that is paid for from common tax revenues. Only the government can assure that each resident has the fundamental right to live as healthy a life as he or she can consistent with our resources. Health is not a privilege for the few, but a necessity for all.

Third, an educated population is necessary for the development and maintenance of safe and efficient means for living, for agriculture, and for making the products for a better way of life, for improving transportation, for conducting research and development, and for all the other pursuits that contribute to a fully engaged and working population. Every resident deserves to be able to develop his or her skills without consideration for the amount of money in his or her bank account. Education pays its way in human benefits that are many times beyond its costs. Its opposite is ignorance, the bane of humanity.

Fourth, government needs to assure a thriving economy that produces ample employment, price stability, and enough wealth and prosperity that is equitably distributed among the entire population. Wealth is produced by all; and it belongs to all. An efficient economic system depends on great minds, and computers, and modeling, and simulations—worthy pursuits for highly trained individuals. It must be free from the narrow interests of political ideologues, of tyrants, and of greed. It’s supervision also cannot allow for “Big Brothers” of any stripe to always take and to enforce their will on all of us. To those ends we need an expanded supervisory role for central banks (our Federal Reserve) that work in consultation with the academic community, with private industry, and with local communities to assure that incomes and wealth flow equitably to all. An economy that works for everyone is too important to be manipulated by the selfish, or subject to the sticky fingers of puppets devoid of a moral compass.

The government nevertheless must never own the means for producing or maintaining health care, or food production, or education, or creating goods and services; it is merely the storage place for honoring our ideals, and the mechanism that assures that these four pillars of life and liberty are maintained and are run efficiently so that no one is denied access to them without imposing too heavy a financial burden on the individual. We must never forget that wealth, health, education, and fulfillment are consequences of our collective efforts; they not privileges of, by, and for the few.

These are the bare elements of a free society, one that is worthy of ourselves, and one that is ever looking to improve itself. Most of the other elements within it are achievable when we are healthy, and educated, and motivated to make them happen. Singers, dancers, entertainers, and athletes do not need huge rewards or subsidies. It seems irrational that those of us without talents in those areas are willing to heap excessive riches on performers who celebrate life more than live it. We love them, but not more than those who are willing to die for their right to entertain and to show us what talented people can do.

The price of freedom is indeed eternal vigilance. In such a system, care must be taken to assure that democratic processes prevail, not plutocratic rule where enclaves of thugs and ideologues seek power to control others. Excessive flows of wealth to the individual must be prevented. Stating limits in simple ratios to all others is a good place to start. Eliminating and preventing large or small pockets of squalor are key to reducing and eliminating crime, mental health issues, incarcerations, and illiteracy. A collective sense of justice and safeguarding it is the key to eliminating and preventing barriers for finding an abundant life with challenges and the freedom to develop and to pursue individual goals.

Life is always unfair in part because abilities and skills are not equally distributed. But we dare not disown or neglect those who are impaired, or who are born with little, or who become disabled by accident, or in the defense of our right to exist, or who grow old and weary with age. We are all just one moment away from living with their limitations. They always need our support. But we also dare not subsidize or reward greed, selfish pursuits, or those who seek power for the sheer corrupting influence of having it, and in forcing their will on others.

Life is precious, and tenuous, and temporary. There are charlatans, liars, cheats, thugs and tyrants everywhere. Reigning them in and containing them are daunting tasks. Such tasks are made ever more difficult with the realization that those same attributes are part of our darker nature. We must never let them define us. They are neither who we are, nor who we must become. There simply is not enough wiggle room in a worthy society for cowards who are too afraid to live, to love, and to improve.