The way things currently are: We work, we pay our taxes, we follow the rules. But is the model broken? Is there another way?
No, I’m not going to get into the current state of the world, that’s already been covered elsewhere. This is an entirely different angle. Last night I had a very powerful, thought-provoking dream. Ready?
The Dream
I was walking familiar streets with my wife, a street from my childhood that I hadn’t frequented since. Out of curiousity, we took a diversion down a lane which I hadn’t covered, even back then, and the world seemed to open out into the very un-familar, as though we had passed through a portal of reality, although still nothing totally alien, just different.
The first landmark we came across was a large oblong stone structure, very 70’s and in some state of disrepair, but open to the public. As it happened, underneath the wooden boarding and rough edges was a community hub of sorts, and a source of interest and amusement to our kids who had just turned up. There was a library, play areas, an arcade even. I never had access to this sort of thing on my doorstep back in the day. Curious.
As we left, the surroundings were run down, the remnents of a forgotten parrallel industry, with mammoth, rusty iron clad piping providing the pathways and playground through broken windows and rubble. Something significant was once here, and through every step we longed to learn more. We also noticed others on a similar path, but more confortable in their surroundings than us. Where is this place? Where does it lead?
Trying to navigate using the knowlege of this same location back in my reality, things got stranger still. The deserted buildings and monstrous machinations gave way to a quaint community of cobbled streets and shops circa the turn of the 20th Century then curved round down to a harbour. We felt like unwelcome but tolerated vistors, with the vibe of the place being that of a closely protected haven, not spoken of outside these parts.
Although it felt like intruding, I entered one of the stores, and the shopkeeper immediately made it known nothing was to be shared on social media. This place was off the grid, it ran itself. Remember ‘The Beach’ ?
As I stepped back outside, we soaked up the rejoicing of friendships and families re-united by the returning fishermen and, although not mentioned, I knew the place was not governed in the usual sense, no taxes were paid, and people just happily went about their lives unburdended.
The Reality
And then I woke up!
Is this the way things will go? Will we get so sick and tired of the status quo that we take matters into our own hands and just decide to ignore the broken system no-one signed up to in the first place.
We see it in the traveller communities worldwide, I see it in my own home town where money-laundering establishments brazenly pop up all over the place. It used to be black and white for me, good and bad, the law and crime. Now the lines have been blurred, now I can see why people get desperate, why they don’t engage with the system, now I can see both sides.
All my life I’ve tried to follow the rules without question, but when we live through times of the highest tax burden coupled with a cost of living crisis and disintegrating public services, that parrallel-universe harbour community certainly seems more appealing, and going off-grid would probably do me the world of good also.