The Question – What Makes A Society?

We all are part of a society based on freedom of expression and rights to access education, health care and equality in law. But in some way our society isn’t equal, as the chance for the poorest to get themselves out of poverty as easily as it is for the wealthier to get wealthier. Western society I believe is based on the rights of individuals to live how they want.

A good society I believe allowed everyone is allowed to contribute freely, regardless of gender, sexuality, disability, personal circumstances or religion. Our understanding and acceptance of different groups have evolved over time, as we can see every day in our streets and through the media are the people with nothing.

Maybe our culture of me first makes us blind to the bigger issues in our society. Many of the decision-makers are from the middle classes, but the fact is that our country is mainly working class. The other thing is that 16.5% of all workers are employed by the public sector, mainly in the NHS.

I believe that the NHS is key to everything, it removes the worry from the poor and those who don’t have the means to pay for health care can access care without fear of bills. We also have a free education system, where every child must attend school, and for those who struggle they have the right to help.

Nye Bevan once said, “no society can legitimately call itself civilized if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.”

I think education for all is very central to who we are, you need to hope everyone leaves school with a good standard of English and Maths. Our education system may not be the best in the world, but I worry that moves towards the final exam system is bad.

I believe that exams are not the hype that school’s and educational people make them out to be. While expecting you need good grades to get into university and a well-paid job, they are not a sign of intelligence. Many of us don’t go to Oxbridge, but that doesn’t mean your not clever or intelligent.

We live in a multi-cultural country, as I have written before, we need to use the best parts of all faiths and groups to create a society of equals. I’m not saying that Eid or Diwali should be bank holidays, but we should as a society be aware of these holidays.

We can use the values taught by various faiths to support and adapt British values, I believe that at the core of every faith, is a belief Christians would describe as ‘love my neighbour’, support those in need, reach out to others in need with compassion.

We cannot allow religion to shape our education, as I think that will only grow intolerance and prejudice. I believe that education shouldn’t exclude topics like LGBT issues and creation, as they are things where children need to know. What happens if we allow the minority to dictate to the majority.

I like to believe that any democracy is based on freedom, as I explored earlier in a year. Our country needs a strong economy based on democrat socialism, this means to me one where the richest pay more to support those most in need. One where those at the bottom can be helped out of poverty and provide them with stable income.

The biggest example of a society where everyone is supported is the NHS, this is a cornerstone of British society, it provides everyone regardless of ability to pay and based on need. The same with education is free up till the age of eighteen.

A ‘true democracy’ needs to be based on the right to vote a government, person, group in and out of an elected role. It’s then for those who are defeated to accept defeat, but then learn the lessons, rebuild, learn, fight and work towards there vision of the country.

Society needs to continue to evolve, sometimes we need to realise that our core values are more important than the race to grow the economy. It can’t be good for our county when forty-four per cent of the UK’s wealth is held by ten per cent of the population.

It seems to me if you are a white abled-bodied straight male that is the best to get by. Research and analysis by many organisations show that if you’re a woman, LGBT, single parent, disabled, in rented accommodation you are more likely to be worst off.

We face common challenges, the big questions of caring for an ageing population, lifting the least well off out of poverty and what kind of society we want to live in. WE must not think that its not my problem, as while it may not currently be a problem for you one day.

The biggest challenge I have to say is climate change, we are seeing record-breaking summers and the current bush fires in Australia. If we are going need to not only work intergovernmental but as everyday citizens. The way to tactical the climate emergency, being declared by governments and councils around the world, is if we all give things up and work together.

Society works when the governed people can stand up to the law and decision-makers, so they can change their mind to deliver what we want. We live in an established democracy, we need to respect that as well as challenge those in power so we can get change.

We need any company, organisation or government to be run by a number of different people. A society run by people different people, our experiences are different, and we need to share our experiences to inform those who make the decisions on our behalf.

But we all lose out from corporate greed, they can get away with it, unlike the induvial. A company can’t be imprisoned for tax avoidance a person can. Its easier for companies and the wealthy to find the loopholes to lower the amount they pay in tax.

Respect and the ability to disagree well is the key to any society, we need to do this to reach any kind of compromise. The best decisions I feel are made when we can work together, we need strong decision making on the big issues, like infrastructure, health care and the biggest challenge of or time climate change.

A society which can work together on these issues are the strongest debated issues, sometimes mean compromise, but if we find that middle ground that when a levelheaded approach to find the best way ahead. We have big challenges ahead, only when a government, business, political organisations work together solutions can be found.

Equally, our society only works best when we can take a common-sense attuite and have those in power held accountable. The challenge for them then is to make the right decisions and be in touch with the electorate, as they need to remember they are accountable to us.

We live in a country in which I think we might be forgetting that our actions affect other people. We have a duty to think of others when we give and take that can be both rewarding when you are both giving and when you receive support.

Concluding, it is up to all of us to build the society we want to live in, but we need to accept each other’s point of view and they live there lives.