Als bijdrage aan Jouw2028 heeft mijn zoon Bauke een fictieve brief in het Engels geschreven aan W.J. (Bill) Clinton. Jouw2028 was de jongerencompetitie van de Conventie van Achlum.

U kunt het hier lezen:

August 19, 2028

 

W.J. Clinton

 

Dear Sir,

 

Congratulations on your 81st birthday.

 

Many years ago, you spoke at the Achlum Convention. You may not remember, but I participated in the convention’s youth competition. Today, I still cannot believe what has happened. Our country has the highest education rate in the world, unemployment is very low, and our monetary unit is so stable that every other country is using it as a standard. Government is limited, not so much out of principle, but just because there is little to do. Crime rates are remarkably low, the economy governs itself and the poorest 25% of the population is rich in comparison to 17 years ago.

 

How did this happen? My idea at the Achlum Convention was so simple that I am amazed at the results. We only changed our mindset. While at first we saw children as an annoyance, a strain on the economy and a necessary evil, we realized that every mouth to feed brings two hands to work. As the demographic winter conquered the surrounding countries, we discovered that overpopulation is a myth. We turned our vision on children inside out, and encouraged people to have large families. Large families are highly economically efficient and far more productive than small ones. Elderly people are easily supported by their families and add their skills and time to the family enterprises.

 

Medical advancement has eliminated many of the discomforts of childbearing and modern technology has taken many of the routine household jobs out of mothers’ hands, freeing them up even more to develop themselves with e-learning and to start home-businesses. Plummeted divorce rates resulted in overall stability and solidarity. E-learning and technology also enable children to learn from the home; faster, better and fully personalized. This allows them to bond better with their parents and siblings, and it leaves them more time to play with other children. Parents are naturally fully equipped to coach their children in the education process, because they are the only ones who are able to retain a full view of every single child’s development Neighborhoods are spacious and lavish greenery permeates them. What did the government do? Very little. We allowed people to take initiative and responsibility, to make their environment as beautiful as they wanted.

 

Are there no wrongs in our society? Certainly, there are. Yet we have a clear law system that adequately punishes materialized crime. Thus the fear of punishment prevents normal people from transgressing. We instituted complete freedom of conscience, since the government cannot decide what people should think.

 

Was it hard to get here? Yes, it was. We had to fight. Turning a country for good is a difficult task. Yet we did it, and, I believe, with blessed results. As I write, the sound of laughing children and singing girls, mingled with that of the whistling birds, comes through my open window with a gust of deliciously fresh air - it makes it all worth it.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

B.K. Stelma