The Trans-Atlantic Prisoner Exchange

The United States and Europe are presently struggling with two separate but related problems:

In the United States, millions of people are held hostage to the private property system. Instead of having the fruits of a productive life bestowed onto them by right, they are deprived of the luxurious life that is the right of all Americans, and are confronted with the mean-spirited choice of work or poverty.

In Europe, there remains a remnant of the population which chafes at the measures that the governments of Europe have taken to ensure that all Europeans can enjoy lives of comfort and ease, without the harsh indignity of labor. To keep this minority from exploiting the rest of the population, it has been ringed about with protective measures which ensure that nobody in Europe is forced to learn a new trade, or an old one, or be confronted by the harsh consequences of not having useful skills, or have their souls crushed by the rigors of daily work.

The solution I propose is for the governments of Europe and the United States to identify those elements that cannot find contentment under their current governing philosophy, and once that is accomplished, for the United States to exchange with Europe those elements that would prefer the other government's reigning philosophy. The prisoners, now repatriated to their real homes, can be quickly assimilated into their new society.

Naturally, there would be a great deal of details to work out. American social workers would be very hard hit, because most of their business would go to Europe; however, for those who are willing to continue in their previous line of work, there should be plenty of opportunities in France or Germany. In a like manner, most European business regulators will soon have no businesses to regulate, but I am sure that they can find something else to regulate over there.

The United Nations would greatly benefit from this exchange. Since they are overwhelmingly sympathetic to the European viewpoint in all matters, they could escape from the hostile United States and seek refuge in Eurpose's welcoming arms. Since many people from New York would be accompanying them, the change would be cushioned to some extent.

Nor need this be a one-time exchange. On an annual basis, people in the United States who are found to share in their fellow's wealth, while rejecting the capitalistic requirement of first obtaining the fellow's consent, can be sent to their natural home in Europe, while European tax-dodgers can be exiled to the United States.

The benefits of this approach cannot be overestimated:

The Ship of Europe would at last be free of those barnacles that keep it from sailing along its Third Way into a glorious future of community prosperity. With the last few exploiters packed off to America, there would remain only those fellows who share the European spirit of sharing, and all could freely partake of the work of everyone else's labors. Since many Americans who prefer the European philosophy are quite rich, all fears of a looming economic crisis will be staved off for at least a year or two. Since many of our college professors share the European spirit, they can go there too, and work to allay the fears of their new fellow Europeans on these matters, by assuring them that we cannot know whether we are poor or not, that poverty is merely a matter of perspective, and that prosperity is a tool of oppression.

The situation in the United States would change drastically. Instead of an equality of economic outcomes, each person would have to take the enormous risk of making it on his or her own without the benefit of government interference. The world could sit back and watch as Americans struggle to cope with a government only one sixth the size of the one that they previously had to support. All humanity can observe justice in action as all true Americans finally get what they deserve.