HAPPIOCRACY UP TO 2007

Over the years, the notion of happiocracy has expanded, contracted and been born again. It first started, I suppose, many decades ago when I attended a series of lectures at the London School of Economics. There, I "saw the cat" - meaning that I absorbed some of the theories of Henry George, economist, and author of "Progress and Poverty".

In those days, there were no computers, powerpoint presentations or whiteboards. Just a blackboard and chalk. But the lecturer made it so obvious. He drew a picture of a house and announced its price. He then chalked in a road, a school and other infrastructure, and asked whether the price of the "house" was still the same. When we agreed that it had increased, he made his point - that it was not the value of the "house" that had increased, but the value of the "land". In happinomics, we now say it is the value of the "location" that has increased. Everyone understands the value of "location, location, location". But the principle is the same.

Since those far-off days, I have lived and worked, as an expatriate, in several countries. Even then, the kernel of happiocracy was forming. In a letter to Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Piers Jacobs, dated 17th October 1989, I urged him to refrain from introducing a sales tax. I also took the opportunity of suggesting what I then quaintly called a "Consumption Tax on Space" - in happinomics, more succinctly called a "LocoTax". Read my letter here

It is only in the last decade or so, that the development of happiocracy has been a full-time occupation. You can almost trace its more recent development by the dates on which I registered certain domain names.

In the year 2000, I registered two tentative names - practicaldemocracy.com and commonsensedemocracy.com, both of which I eventually discarded.

In 2001, I registered happiCASH.com, closely followed by happiOCRACY.com in early 2002. These were the subject of much ridicule by my learned friends.

But, during the rest of 2002, I pursued the “happi” philosophy with domains such as happiLAW.com, happiTAX.com, happiTIME.com, and their UNhappi equivalents - UNhappiLaw.com, UNhappiTax.com and UNhappiTime.com.

"Happi" and "Unhappi" are not frivolous add-ons. They have specific meanings - that when government gets involved, it inflicts, or does not inflict upon us, unhappiness over and above our usual quotient. For more, see 'happi with an i' and 'unhappi with an i'. On April 15, 2002, I dipped my toe into the blogosphere, but quickly withdrew it; there was much work still to be done. But I've preserved the blog for posterity! It's simply called http://happiocracy.blogspot.com See it here. The year 2003 saw the registration of BLOATWORK.com, happiNOMICS.com, happiFUND.com, happiACCOUNT.com and happiMONEY.com.

In 2004, further advances were made, including bloatEAUCRACY.com, bloatLAW.com, bloatLAWYERS.com, bloatWORKERS.com, and other such “bloat” names. It also included happiSTAKEHOLDERS.com which was eventually superceded by HEREDITORS.com.

Hereditors are a new type of citizen whose duty is to preserve endangered cultures; to guard for future generations the Inherited Treasure for which their ancestors shed blood, toil, tears and sweat.

The year 2005 saw several real break-throughs - TAXandDIVVY.com, happiERISM.com, happiRIGHTS.com, GEOgovernment.com and JustInTimeCapitalism.com (with thanks to Toyota).

TaxAndDivvy is the antithesis of tax-and-spend. It is ridiculously simple. But it means the end of income tax, and the end of tax-and-spend as we know it. It is not about "redistribution" in the socialist sense of the word. It is about leveling the playing field and changing the rules so that they reduce the privileges that democracy's unhappilaw heaps upon some at the expense of others. It is a means by which all hereditors enjoy equal dividends as the economy grows, whilst freeing free market capitalism from the distortions caused by democracy's unhappilaw.

Happierism - the notion that the greatest good is to minimize government-induced unhappiness, especially of the unhappierest - gave a solid philosophical foundation for all the “happi” and “unhappi” notions already registered.

HappiRIGHTS.com became the glue to bind together hereditors' rights - including happiCash, happiMoney, happiLaw, happiJustice, happiTime and happiData.{May 2017. "happiTime" is no longer counted as a happiRight. Why? Because, as hereditors, some may spend much time on lawmaking etc, thereby leaving them less "free" time than otherwise}

And GEOgovernment.com encapsulated the notion of separation of domestic and geopolitics.

JustInTimeCapitalism.com is what capitalism should be - undistorted by the rule of law. Today’s distorted capitalism is what gives it a bad name. JITcapitalism will change that. {May 2017. Not so. HappiLaw will change that}

2005 also saw two more missteps with the registration of EarthPart.com and AreaTax.com. These were subsequently replaced by a happitax called LocationTax.com, also registered by its abbreviated moniker LocoTax.com.

2006 was another break-through year. ItsOurMoney.com became the tagline emphasizing the rationale for divvying out happicash and happimoney. And EmancipationOfTheMOO.com became the focus of happiocracy’s happiVISION.com. {May 2017. Emancipation Of The MOO is now treated as The Mission. A new Vision has been created - see www.happimoney.blogspot.com}

2007 was a year of consolidation; a year that includes my tentative entry into the blogosphere. Happiocracy’s many blogs-as-a-website, or blogs-as-a-book, are a simple means of putting into the public domain, the result of many years of research and development. It is a no-frills means. There is still much to be done - amongst other things, a website (or rather, websites). But at least happiocracy is now in the public domain. It can, perhaps, add a smidgeon to The Debate. The polls show that there is something seriously wrong with democracy. It is a flawed product whose export should be banned. Happiocracy is a viable successor. If you like happiocracy, you can make a difference.

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