A Letter from the CEO
On the Use of State Violence Against Humans
Author: Katie Evanko-Douglas
Published: May 31, 2020
AmeliorMate’s most fundamental value is to honor the wellbeing of humans. This means, at the most basic level, we condemn things that negatively impact human wellbeing and celebrate things that positively impact human wellbeing.
The most fundamental aspect of human wellbeing is safety. As Jim Clifton beautifully describes in his book The Coming Jobs War*, wellbeing is hierarchical.
“The hierarchy of needs has an order, and it must be kept. These steps on the path make individual wellbeing possible, without which national wellbeing is very hard to achieve.”
The very first step towards achieving acceptable wellbeing levels for a human or a nation is the absence of fear.
As Clifton explains, fear is best measured by the following two questions:
Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?
In the city or area where you live, do you have confidence in the local police force?
“These questions don’t refer to crime. They refer to fear because fear sucks energy from potential economic activities. Safety is therefore absolutely critical…. Law and order cannot be measured by crime statistics because those don’t measure fear.”
If we are to stay true to our values, AmeliorMate must and does reject the use of state violence against any human or group of humans because it decreases the safety of humans, communities, and whole nations. When there is no feeling of safety, wellbeing plummets because there is no foundation for the rest of the elements of wellbeing to develop.
Every human must feel safe in their community and have confidence in their local police force for humans to even being the journey towards high wellbeing for the species. Because our goal is to maximize the wellbeing of the species, we soundly reject the use of state violence against any human or group of humans.