The Common Good view on life

If we care about the world we will be a happier nation

We need a sense of purpose for our national life. Our purpose should be to make the world a fairer place for everybody. We ought to take seriously, for instance, our commitment to the UN Millenium Development Goals to halve the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015.
It sounds simplistic but of course making the world a better place matters a lot. It is an honourable job for any nation to immerse itself in with passion.
If we got stuck into such a big challenge together as a nation, our young people would say to themselves:
There's something good going on here. I want to be part of it. I'll pay attention in class and be useful when I grow up.

That way, we will soon have the skilled workers we need to run a thriving economy and enough resources left over to be a good influence in the world. Without a unifying purpose we will never achieve national happiness or harmony. Consumerism won't do it. It makes us greedy and turns us in on ourselves.

The world needs us. It is also true that we need a job to do in the world, that will bring us together and make us a happier society with a team spirit. Having something to live for is the answer to our social problems such as drugs and crime and messing about at school, pervasive loneliness and lack of direction in life.

I want to get this message through to my fellow citizens and to our leaders as persuasively as I can. I apply it to 20 specific areas of our national life and to our dealings in the wider world. Each issue matters in itself and illustrates the vision as a whole.