If we can successfully navigate our way to a society of universal ownership and subsidiary control, a society where individuals are no longer compelled by financial necessity to sell time from their all-too-brief lives in order to survive, what will we do with ourselves? How will we find a sense of collective or individual purpose?

What will we do with ourselves when we no longer need to work?

Will we spend our lives pursuing private interests, travel, hobbies, physical or intellectual development? Will we enrich ourselves through the arts. Will we sink instead into wanton hedonistic dissipation?

Maybe a little of everything. From our overworked and over-stressed perspectives it may be difficult to envision anything other than the enticing concept of genuine freedom, of not having to do anything. But after we’ve had a chance to adapt; after we’ve adjusted our minds to the freedom achieved by shaking off the filthy encumbrance of proletarian servitude we’re going to have to realize that there are new responsibilities we must accept.

Freedom is never free.

This semi-egalitarian society (yes, it will only be semi-egalitarian, for reasons we will discuss elsewhere) won’t run on its own. We are going to have to be custodians of freedom. We are going to have to rediscover civics and the responsibilities of citizenry.

If control of the new means of production is distributed subsidiarily individuals are going to have to be accountable and responsible for understanding the ins and outs of the management of their local concerns. And more. We are going to have to have a renewed sense of our duties as citizens. Those basic universal income checks come with strings attached. You, yes, you, must stay informed enough to protect the delicate balance that will be the new social order. Barbarians are always at the gate.

In this new society it should be incumbent on every citizen above an agreed-upon age to participate in the local decision-making processes. Each citizen must keep abreast of current events and have a command of issues of local, regional, national and global importance. Each citizen should have a duty to serve in the decision-making processes as an informed, educated member; each citizen must become a defender of democracy and liberty.

This is how a portion of our time will be spent — maybe something like 10 to 15 hours per week — discharging our duties to the community. The rest of our lives we will be free to pursue our private edifications or wanton dissipations.