Forum Post: Let's build a democratic economic system – bottom up!
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 28, 2011, 2:13 p.m. EST by rjingalsbe
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The key to the OWS vision is in transforming the no longer useful private-ownership, private-profit economic system. This means working to evolve a new system, based on common ownership of the means of producing and distributing goods/services, along with democratic business structures (e.g. cooperatives) as the 'basic units,' and equitable/mutual rewards of labor. The social and legal tools are already in place, especially from cooperative history and law - we only need to extend the use of these tools into the mainstream. We can transform our communities from the bottom up, while we remind ourselves that true 'revolution' is conscious, collective evolution!
RJ Ingalsbe - Author of As the Tide Slowly Turns
How about a bottom up political structure instead? Everything stays where it is, except all of the taxes people pay go to their City or county (if unincorporated); the cities then pay part of those taxes to the county in which they exist for things the county does, like infrastructure, law enforcement, fire dept, for areas not covered by the cities; the county pays a part of that to the State for what it is uniquely capable of doing -- I'm not sure there's anything left for the State, actually, that isn't dealt with by the cities/counties, so we can eliminate state gov't. and have the counties pay a tax to the federal government to do what only it does -- interstate infrastructure, immigration, international trade, and, of course, military, which should be greatly reduced, interstate commerce regulation. With the original taxes (all of them) going to the first level of local government, there would be a whole lot more immediate awareness and response to how the taxes are used, with transparency being much easier.
No, the vision of OWS is to get big money out of US politics. You want to a system of common ownership, feel free to go to Cuba anytime you like, or maybe North Korea if you have a taste for kimchee. Anyway, I'm all for OWS as long as it sticks to the simple goal mentioned before. But a new system? fugghetaboutit!
Yeah...right, common ownership...hasn't that been tried time and time again.....never really worked well did it? What is needed is the actual rule of law, the right of contract, actual private property rights and a government that no longer has the power and authority to institute a patronage system, otherwise known as Mercantilism or Corporatism.
On Tuesday night, 75 people gathered in Louden Nelson Community Center to discuss a new currency, which will begin to circulate in Santa Cruz in February 2011.
http://santacruz.patch.com/articles/santa-cruzs-new-money
"Bottom up" reminds me of "servant leadership". This concept of leadership must be implemented asap.
You mean like the old Soviet Union?