Forum Post: The Free Association Method of Governance-idea
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 17, 2011, 6:19 p.m. EST by maywatcher
(2)
from Sacramento, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Ok you guys, it's clear you're changing the world, but a "General Assembly" of 2000 people isn't gonna work long term. You need division of labor. Here's my idea on how to do it.
THE FREE ASSOCIATION METHOD OF GOVERNANCE
(snip, will post other non-essential parts if requested)
So, we need a non-hierarchal system of organization. Fortunately there is one-the Web. And it has nothing to do with the internet. In web organizing, there are concentric circles rather than a hierarchy. So, we need a way to organize society in interlocking circles rather than a top down pyramid.
So, here’s what we do. Instead of organizing the world by nation-states, which each have their king and so on, we organize it by interest field, or task that needs to be completed. So that all the auto mechanics are members of the Auto Mechanics’ Union, instead of each guy having his own little shop and being all alone. Well, he still has his shop, but now he’s a member of a union, and so are the guys who work at each auto repair shop everywhere. So instead of boss and employees (lord and vassals) you have shops full of EQUALS. They may select one guy to do the bookkeeping, who of course would be a member of the Accountants’ Union as well. And one guy can do the advertising, so he’s also a member of the Admens’ Union. And then one mechanic comes home and checks on his chickens while reading the latest from the Chicken Rancher’s Union on his smartphone. (cont...)
(cont...) So, who runs the unions? NOBODY. Each member is equal legally to each other member. Any member can propose something, they all discuss, then take a vote. Here’s the thing though: if anybody wants to opt out, they can, but there would be a strong social stigma against bucking the will of the majority, especially if that member got in too much trouble. Ostracization has worked in traditional cultures for millenia, there’s no reason it can’t work now. And let’s face it, do you want to be the only guy in the Land Owner’s Union not paying your agreed upon taxes? All for one and one for all. Everybody is a member, they don’t have to apply to join, they’re automatically considered a member if they share that interest/profession. The web leaves nobody out. Even those who want to be left out would have an Iconoclast Union.
So that, in a nutshell, is a start on how to organize a post-revolutionary society for the good of ALL, not just the “kings”. And let’s face it, we DON’T want a Napoleon armed with the nuclear arsenal of the former USA.
The Maywatcher 17 October 2011
(cont...) You see how it all interlocks? Each interest, each field of work, every concievable interest anywhere has its own union. So instead of complaining that “nobody likes what I like”, the “crazy cat lady” has the Cat Lover’s Union which she belongs to where every member has 10 or more cats. The internet makes this possible. Previous revolutionary movements have been forced into the hierarchal model by lack of connectivity which is now here and real thanks to the internet.
You see why the kings of our time want to turn the internet into a big one way shopping mall? They know its power, and they FEAR it. They know that once the power of connectivity is unleashed, it’s curtains for the tired old hierarchies. They would rather have a nuclear war so they can emerge from their bunker underneath Denver at the end and become lords all over again with a more manageable population. Seriously. (cont...)