Page 48 - Big Idea

The Big Idea – Act 2

UTOPIAN: Well, I think everyone who’s going to live there ought
to pitch in. I can organize the work so nobody does too much or too
little.

INTELLECTUAL: That does raise the issue of who is in charge.
Are you proposing yourself as the ruler of The Big Idea?

UTOPIAN: No, just the originator.

HALFWIT 3: What does that mean?

INTELLECTUAL: It means as long as it’s just an idea, it’s his,
because he thought of it first; but if it’s to become more than an idea,
then it’s ours, because we have to make it into something.

HALFWIT 3: Then we are the rulers.

UTOPIAN: Exactly. if the settlement belongs to everybody, then
then everybody is in charge. Obviously, we can’t all participate in
every little decision that needs to be made, so we will delegate various
individuals or groups to take care of specific problems, like water and
food storage, or construction and maintenance. But these
assignments will have to be reviewed periodically by the whole
settlement, so we can be sure all the different jobs are being done
properly.

INTELLECTUAL: And if there are disagreements over privileges
and obligations, or individuals behave anti-socially, or the entire
settlement is attacked from outside?

UTOPIAN: Those are special cases requiring everybody to re-
establish their commitment to the community by coming to some
agreement that is best for the settlement as a whole. We could
designate, say, five thinking adults of either sex, to function as judges
of right and wrong, on a rotating basis.

HALFWIT 2: How does that work?

CLOWN 1: Here, I’ll show you. (spins HALFWIT 2 around several
times) Now, tell me: is this right? (holds up left arm)

HALFWIT 2: (dizzily) Right?

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