Now I think we can all agree that, in terms of Quality of Life, which is something more, and better, than mere Happiness, although, in all honesty, perhaps it's not really different from simple Free Leisure Time to do whatever the hell we want, France--with its wines and cheeses and pâtés de foie gras, and its 36-hour work week, and its six weeks' vacation time per year for every damned French citizen--

is as close as we're going to get to a definable and realizable perfect and heavenly state in this sublunary world. And yet, as indicated by the recent "yellow vest" riots (approved, 'tis said, by a solid 70 per cent majority of French citizens; and, on several key points, much though however acceded to by that corporate pute of a Président, Macron),  the French people are not pleased with the way their banks and financial institutions and mega-corporations are nibbling at their savings and wages.  Allons, Enfants de la Patrie, what we need is tighter controls on what and how much our government can ask of us, and a more specific definition of what the public state's rights to our private funds are: I propose, for a provisional basis of taxation that we return to the douze royal, or a twelfth part of the net profits of all business transactions. Or a larger percentage, if that were insufficient, up to as much as a fifth part, with supplementary government loans (in the British fashion) if necessary, until all the costs of government, services and programs had been met, but with higher rates never for more than three or four years at a stretch, and with automatic reductions as, with careful management they should be, the costs of government be reduced; such that never, over a twelve year period, more than a twelfth part of all net profits be paid into taxes.  And thus might we keep our universal health care, and our fabulous educational system, and find ways even further to shorten our work-week, and to prolong unto absurdity our precious vacation holiday-time.