The State of the State and Real Economic Freedom

Again, backed up on writing!!

There are so many subjects tugging at my narrative! But I wrote myself some notes on this the other day. Also not the only page of writing notes in recent months but the one I finally settled down on. What to call this one? I guess I will figure it out as I go.

But. There is much to say about the state of the state and the changes that MUST be made. They are not as looming as you might think, and yet, they are. It is a matter of making simple changes at the heart of the matter that radiate out as bigger and bigger system wide changes as they expand. A drop of water that becomes rings of ripples that form waves. Or the flap of a butterfly's wings. It is a matter of survival for your planetary entity, and the success of future society if you wish to survive and continue. It is going to happen, is happening. Yes of course I am talking about New Earth.

So I was thinking the other day. What am I planning to do with the rest of my life? You know. The five year plan. Or something! Someday I would like to set up my own non profit, with a mission statement that defines its purpose as support for community wide sustainability, with a focus on arts, education and wellness. That includes a LOT of fun stuff, such as homeschooling, natural medicine, yoga, art of all kinds and education programs for the community. Even evolving lifestyles, including alternate power (earthships!!) and gardening.

My husband and I set up a solar off the grid home at one point, from the ground up, using both passive solar (greenhouse) and active solar power (panels, batteries, inverter, etc.) running the works ... I would do that again in a heartbeat! And, having learned even more on the subject since then. I homeschooled our kids for their first 10 years. I became an herbalist and healer as a family resource - we never were able to afford private health insurance as a single income family, where sustainability for us, took the place of things most people wind up paying for. We only had one vehicle for the longest time, on purpose. I've been involved with the other subjects on a community level - I was a volunteer in the public school system as well as a School Board member in my community. I am a bead artist too! I've always supported community arts and craft shows both as an event organizer and a vendor. Oh yeah, and I am a writer. So that is my background and interest. I've been thinking about setting up and sharing my resume but this is a general overview.

What is Sustainability?
https://www.sustain.ucla.edu/about-us/what-is-sustainability/

From the link: "Sustainability is a complex concept. The most often quoted definition comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and Development: “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In the charter for the UCLA Sustainability Committee, sustainability is defined as: “the physical development and institutional operating practices that meet the needs of present users without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, particularly with regard to use and waste of natural resources. Sustainable practices support ecological, human, and economic health and vitality. Sustainability presumes that resources are finite, and should be used conservatively and wisely with a view to long-term priorities and consequences of the ways in which resources are used.” In simplest terms, sustainability is about our children and our grandchildren, and the world we will leave them."

Anyway...

So I was thinking about my non profit plans someday, and I came up with some insights to share with all of you. More about good government.

My husband once said to me that he thought non profits could save our government, and he was right. It was a brilliant insight. The idea is, to run the government as different departments and projects as non profits. Any and all of it can be run this way. Remember, salaries of employees are valid expenses of non profits. All 'profit' is designated by the operations and mission statement of the non profit. Ie, being thrown into the pot for funding and investment in the projects or operations it oversees. Operations of government have GOT to be credible, that is, clean of conflict of interest.

Government is necessary because we are social beings. Good government anchors people in common goals, common values and cooperation. It is our natural inclination as humans to form families and communities and ultimately a global community. Our purpose as human beings is to take our place as the natural stewards of our planet, caretakers all - this is how I see it. An evolving human planet without the healing of government is wide open to chaos and disaster, which is proven over and over again by history. I think the point is ultimately, love (and safe space), and that it is only a matter of time before we've exhausted our mistakes, learned our lessons and gotten it right. Statistically, the odds are in our favor.

There is another HUGE benefit, to this model of government operation as a collection of non profits. That is, the taming of the economy. Yes I am talking about inflation and unchecked growth. It is the opinion of many leaders that unlimitted growth is what we need to continuously be aiming for - that it is good to keep increasing it. I humbly disagree. What always happens with this model is, currency loses its value and real estate finds itself being owned by the elite few and not spread fairly (note: I did not say equally! There's a difference) among the majority of people who live there!! Cost of living becomes too high for the majority of people. Real investment in the future ceases. Young people lose hope starting out in life, education loses its significance and many people become enslaved in order to survive. Eventually the economy will crash in order to find balance. Historically, crashed economies often wind up taking down society and culture with them when they go.

It is the only way out for the infinite growth model. These crashes destabilize the quality of life and are damaging to society that depends on it. Not to mention the environmental damage and depletion that occurs from not counting the destruction of natural resources as part of the equation. Sound government operation that can take control of conflict of interest and end profit loopholes (and unfair tax policy) for elite corporations can safely level economic growth and manage resources responsibly, which would be a service to society. We need to be thinking of stability and maintenance. Not unchecked, pie in the sky growth forever and ever.

I am not saying that there is no place in society for profits. I am probably a Capitalist at heart, but in saying that I don't believe that the world grasps the true understanding of Capitalism. The Republicans took the brilliance of economist Milton Friedman (based on the original ideas of Thomas Paine) and his understanding of this model and used it to largely dismantle our economy and derail it for elite benefit and control during the Reagan years. The negative Liberalist judgment against how Capitalism really works that has come out of that irresponsible time in America is innacurate and misunderstood. What I am saying is that profit should not be the basis of our quality of life!! Money does not buy happiness and you can't eat it. There is too prominent a focus on money these days, to the detriment of the planet and human society and the standards of life and value. The only people that should be making profit are small business owners and private investors that are NOT incorporated.

The elephant in the room is CORPORATIONS.
We need to lose them. They have to go.

Why?

The bottom line is, corporations should NEVER be able to compromise government!! Ever. Of course, the basis of government must be responsible and sound. This is another glaring example of conflict of interest in our times (besides the U.S. Federal Reserve). Again, conflict of interest means, using your position of public trust or control for private gain. Powerful corporations control public trust and operation of things "for society." But they don't take into account what is best for people; society or individuals. Much less the environment. Their only goal is to make profits. See the problem?

Corporations also create unfair competition for small businesses and credible investors in our future! Its a question I have asked myself often since the dismantling of the original American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1984 ... whatever happened to laws against monopoly in this country? They seemed to have quietly disappeared.

I should back track just a little bit here and explain. The role of good government as I see it, is facilitation of quality of life. Again with that, you have to define what quality of life means for that society, within its governing documents. It requires a clear definition of the Spirit of the Law. I feel that we are overdue for a rewrite of our constitution at the most fundamental level - the mission statement. The preamble.

The Preamble, or mission statement of the United States' Constitution goes like this. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, ('with balanced respect and value for all life and the life and care of our planetary environment' - this is my proposed edit, or something close) do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

What I'm proposing has never been done, that I'm aware of. I am talking about gently but firmly resetting our economy and taking steps to re establish value and fair exchange and fair competition. A working world that is stable and liberated of the crisis that keeps people from being free. Change needs to start with the idea of stability and long term outlook. It means giving people freedom and a level playing field for commerce (and culture!!) to happen.

I keep wanting to address constitutional amendments. The Founding Fathers made it possible to evolve and change things to fit the times but ... we need to stop or seriously slow down passing new laws!! The Spirit of the Law is important and should be clearly defined so that application becomes easy. Including its use for evaluating current laws, many that upon examination are clearly unconstitutional and should be thrown out. The backbone of the document should stand the test of time, without constant rewrite. I'm not saying we shouldn't change it as necessary but far less so. There are people who make a living milking the rewrite and addition of laws. Instead of having a life. It has become parasitic to our society and it needs to stop. Something to consider now that elections in the United States have just passed.

The first steps in decorporatizing our world are, as I see it, to start with vital services (resource distribution such as water and power) and medicine.

LR
11/7/2018

Image courtesy of Google Images.