Some thoughts about the super-obscure " Modern Utopia ," by HG Wells. This is almost free (99 cents) from Kindle. It's well worth reading for the money, and I encourage people to give it a look. For one thing, it's a literary tour de force - a totally unique way of dealing with a subject. HG sets a task for himself that's worth noting for those of us who "live in our heads". Thinking about Utopia is a special kind of meditation. What would be a perfect world? HG takes due note of other efforts going all the way back to Plato's Republic  and Thomas Mores' Utopia . HG says you need to jump into this perfect world yourself and imagine this world to be populated by people you recognize as humans like yourself and people unlike yourself. Perhaps imagine a Utopia that doesn't boil down to a world governed by people like you according to your values. Given HG's example, I have found this to be good advice - even a roadmap to encourage us to...

My adventures in literature lead me to " A Short History of Europe " and then a side road to Thomas More's " Utopia ". Then to HG Wells' " A Modern Utopia " and, returning to a book that was waiting for all this, " Mild Voice of Reason: Deliberation " and the " Federalist Papers ". The two Utopias and the Papers (as commented on by Deliberation) are about the same subject: what would be the perfect society -- the Utopia that should replace the repressive rule of English kings? There is a progression from More to the US Constitution of 1787. Most people imagine that the Constitution magically popped into existence as soon as the States declared independence in 1776. In fact, many confuse the stirring rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution. It took over 10 years for the colonies to establish anything like functioning government. They fought a war with the world's most powerful nation without a f...