Wikidialogue/How can we better preserve human dignity

Each of us is born with dignity. It is the quality of worth and honor intrinsic to every person. Each of us is worthy simply because we exist. None-the-less, poverty, abuse, violence, crime, starvation, dehydration, disease, toil, and drudgery deprive many people of the dignity they are born with. What can we do better to preserve human dignity? Here are a few nascent proposals. Please consider these and help to continue this dialogue by asking questions to help clarify the ideas and providing suggestions for improved solutions.

We can better protect human rights worldwide by exhibiting in detail the status of human rights in each country. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a clear and widely accepted standard for assessing human rights. We can hold Human Rights exhibitions where each country reports their own progress toward achieving the human rights protections described by each of the 30 articles of the declaration. These reports would be judged, and the scores made available. Countries scoring high in some area can serve as models for others to learn from.

Poverty prevents many people from enjoying the dignity they were born with. A straightforward approach to reducing poverty is to distribute money according to the doctrine of sufficiency. A Universal Basic Income can address this need simply, fairly, and without tying us to a life of drugery.

In addition, each of us can decide to live wisely. We can learn to think clearly, decide to advance no falsehoods, and seek true beliefs. We can improve our emotional competence. We can learn to transcend conflict. We can refine our moral reasoning, choose pro-social values, and live the moral virtues. Each of us can focus on what matters and choose to seek real good.

Several other solution approaches have been also proposed.