A deeper exploration of fairness, responsibility, and the true meaning of abundance
Imagine entering this world with no advantages whatsoever. No inherited wealth. No family connections. No safety net. No possessions. No one to call for help.
Imagine seeing and feeling life without the comforts, protections, and privileges you currently rely on—many of which you may not even notice because they have always been there.
Now imagine that from the very beginning, the deck is stacked against you. Your starting point in life is so far behind others that you spend every day running uphill. You chase money, opportunities, and stability – not from a foundation where your essential needs are already secure, but from a position where survival itself is a struggle. You never get to pause. You never get to breathe. You never get to simply be.
Instead, you live under constant pressure:
- to earn enough
- to prove yourself
- to meet standards set by people who have never lived anything like your reality
- to justify your existence in a system that rewards advantage and punishes disadvantage
And what if, despite all your effort, the distance between you and those ahead of you doesn’t shrink – but grows?
What if it becomes clear that only extraordinary luck – luck comparable to winning the lottery – could ever lift you out of that position?
What if the more you try, the further behind you fall?
For millions of people, this is not a thought experiment. It is daily life. And as economic, technological, and social pressures intensify, many more will find themselves in the same position – not only the poor or vulnerable, but people who once believed they were secure.
This is the context in which the Basic Living Standard becomes not just an idea, but a necessity.
Abundance Is Not Accumulation – That’s Greed
The modern world has elevated money to the centre of everything.
Money defines power, influence, status, and even identity.
We are taught – subtly and explicitly – that success means having more: more money, more possessions, more property, more influence, more everything.
But this is not abundance. This is manufactured scarcity, wrapped in the illusion of abundance.
True abundance is simple:
Abundance is having everything we need – not everything we want.
The desire to take more than we need is easy to justify when:
- the system rewards accumulation
- rules can be bent or rewritten
- distance hides the consequences
- we believe others would do the same if they could
Throughout history, this behaviour has been common enough to appear normal. But normal does not mean right. And in a world where we now have the knowledge, technology, and capability to ensure that every human being can have their essential needs met, the moral justification for excess collapses.
When we hold more than we need – whether it’s money, property, resources, or influence- we are not simply “fortunate.” We are occupying space that others require to meet their basic needs. We are benefiting from a system that allows some to accumulate while others go without.
This is not a judgement of individuals. It is a recognition of a systemic truth.
Power Is Not a Title – It’s Every Choice We Make
Power is often imagined as something held by leaders, executives, or institutions.
But power exists in every choice we make, because none of us lives in isolation.
Every action has consequences, even when those consequences are invisible to us.
When we buy more than we need, someone else goes without.
When we waste resources, someone else loses access.
When we accumulate wealth, someone else is pushed further into scarcity.
When we treat wants as needs, we distort the entire system.
The greatest danger of modern life is the distance between our actions and their consequences. When harm is invisible, it becomes easy to ignore. When suffering is out of sight, it becomes easy to forget.
This distance is not accidental. It is built into the structure of the system.
A Twisted System Built on Manufactured Abundance
The idea that abundance means accumulating as much as possible – regardless of cost – has warped our values.
Centralisation, globalisation, and digital life have created layers of separation between action and consequence.
The internet age has amplified this distortion.
It has:
- dehumanised relationships
- turned people into data points
- created new forms of exploitation
- widened the gap between those who “succeed” and those who are treated as disposable
In such a system, it becomes easy to believe that some lives matter more than others.
But this belief is false.
Every human being has universal value, regardless of wealth, status, or circumstance.
Distance does not erase responsibility.
Ignorance does not erase impact.
Comfort does not erase obligation.
The Basic Living Standard: A Universal Guarantee
The Basic Living Standard is a guarantee that every person must both receive and respect.
The Basic Living Standard ensures that every individual has enough to meet their essential needs – food, shelter, energy, water, clothing, healthcare, and the means to participate in society.
But it also requires something deeper:
No person may take, hold, control, or influence anything that is – or could be – used to meet the essential needs of others.
This applies even when it appears there is “more than enough.” Because abundance is not measured by quantity – it is measured by access.
The Basic Living Standard is not charity.
It is not welfare.
It is not a handout.
A Basic Living Standard is a universal right, paired with a universal responsibility.
The Cultural Refocus
To implement the Basic Living Standard, society must undergo a profound cultural shift.
We must move from a system that prioritises money to one that prioritises human needs.
This shift will feel uncomfortable.
Manufactured abundance has conditioned us to believe that happiness comes from accumulation.
But natural abundance – the state of having enough – creates freedom, not fear.
When essential needs are guaranteed for all, something remarkable happens:
- competition becomes cooperation
- fear becomes security
- isolation becomes community
- profit becomes secondary to purpose
A society built around essential needs becomes a society driven by people, not profit.
The Requirement: Everyone Plays Their Part
A system that guarantees essential needs for all requires participation from all.
This does not mean everyone must earn money. It means everyone who can must also contribute time, skills, and effort to the system that sustains them.
Contribution replaces currency.
Responsibility replaces entitlement.
Community replaces competition.
The rules that uphold the Basic Living Standard are simple:
- Every person has the right to everything they need.
- Every person who can must contribute to the system that provides it.
- No person may take more than they need.
- No person may control resources essential to others for their own use or benefit.
This is not restriction.
This is fairness.
A Different Kind of Future
The Basic Living Standard is not just a policy. It is a re‑orientation of society around what truly matters: human wellbeing, shared responsibility, and the recognition that abundance already exists – if we stop hoarding it.
When we stop chasing manufactured abundance, we rediscover natural abundance.
When we stop competing for excess, we rediscover community.
When we stop fearing scarcity, we rediscover freedom.
This is the world the Basic Living Standard makes possible.
Please read The Local Economy & Governance System, to begin.
Adam Tugwell 