The message I wish to impart this labor day weekend...

 So, this is gonna sound cheesy, cliche, and probably repetitive, but I wanted to have a slightly different message this labor day.

I wish for a world without labor. I wish for a world without work. I wish for a world where we don't define ourselves as "workers" or "working class" and define ourselves by our work. 

It is a hallmark of progress to eliminate work. The labor movement, for as much good as its done, sometimes draws the wrong lessons on work itself. It says that work has dignity and defines itself by its work. It can't envision a world without it, but a world stuck in the 19th and 20th centuries in which employers were dependent on the working class for their labor. They fear a world without work, and become luddites seeking to preserve jobs at all costs than seek a world without it.

To some extent, I get it. At one point in history, work was more necessary and automation wasnt as widespread as it is today. And it makes sense, if we force everyone to work, the least we can do is make sure that we pay people decently. And the labor movement did bring a lot of positives to work. Better pay, better working conditions, better work life balance, etc. 

But still, we must do more. We must evolve past work itself. 

I said something the other day that some may find offputting. That those who take pride in their work and their concept of being a worker is a "loser and a sucker" to use a Trump term. I don't seek to say that to denigrate workers. Rather, I say it in the context of society being one in which we have rich people paying poor people to do labor, and most people are slaves. Cheering on your own enslavement is what I find so negative there. The idea that work has dignity sounds like gaslighting to me in order to manipulate people into accepting work. And accepting work as one's lot in life sounds like stockholm snydrome to me. We come to identify with our captors, or the system in this case. And ultimately, much like those in the matrix, we become dependent on that system to the point that we fight against anyone who seeks to liberate them from it. That is what I mean. I don't mean to denigrate workers themselves, just this slave mentality in which we identify with the system that keeps us captive, take pride in its values, and prop it up at the expense of the progress I seek. 

At some point, if we want the dream I laid out above to come true, we need to take steps to move in the direction we want to go. And this means breaking a lot of old attitudes and leaving them behind. And this means making a lot of steps that might be scary to those who are stuck in "the cave" of work. It might mean doing away with jobs, passing UBI, passing medicare for all, building a new kind of society and economy like has never existed before. We dont have to do it all at once. I know I think large uncontrolled changes are scary. I learned from the communists that reform, and not revolution, is the way to go, because the communists were the ones who tried revolution and look at where that went. No. We gotta do this slowly, one day at a time, one reform at a time, one step at a time. It's gonna be a multi decade project. Some steps will be more significant than others, and more impactful than others, but regardless, society has to evolve. Where we are isn't good. Unless you want to be chained to working for a living like sisyphus is to his rock. And unless you like the environmental degradation that probably comes with all of that human activity too. 

And that is my lesson this labor day. Honor the workers and the strikers who fought for workers' rights, yes. But we must do better. We always say to thank unions for our weekends. But why stop at 2 days and sometimes 3? Maybe we should strive for a world where we can work 2 days a week and have 5 days off. Or why stop there? 0 days a week and all days off. Instead of 40 hours a week with 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of whatever we want, we strive for a world with 6 hours a day. Or 4. Or 2. or dare I say, none. Whatever want you wanna go about it. Maybe instead of having everyone work, we give everyone work and make work voluntary. And if anything gives workers dignity, it's that. Because if you dont have to work and you show up and work any way? Yeah, you really are the hero taking one for the team there. And you should be well compensated for it. Maybe in such a world we honor our workers like we honor our veterans. And then work really WILL have dignity and respect and honor. It doesn't in a world of slaves but in a world of free people? Yes, yes it does. You get the point. I already discussed the idea of a "free to play" society before. Workers in such a world are the whales and people who buy microtransactions so the rest of us can enjoy a free game. And it works. Let them have their honor and prestege and extra rewards. Just dont force everyone to "buy in" like that. There are so many ways we can go beyond work here. These are just some of the ways that I've envisioned. Either way, we should strive to evolve beyond working for a living, and this should be the end goal of the 21st century. By 2100, i would hope we all work far less, and work is far more voluntary. 

And yeah, that's the message I wish to impart this "labor day."