The Crux of the Crisis

Problem, what problem? Like the twelve steps, the first is admitting that a problem exists. Once we agree that we indeed have a problem, the next step is determining what is the root cause of the problem. If we fail to strike at the ‘heart’ of a problem, we will fail to solve the problem.

This is simple and easy to understand. If you don’t attack the root cause, all you’re doing is putting out fires.

In our far less than hypothetical situation, we are currently ‘ruled’ by a handful (700 out of 293 million is a tiny handful) of handpicked criminals.

If you don’t get either party’s endorsement, you’re not a candidate for anything. If you actually want to make things better for the citizens you’ll be elected to represent (at the expense of those who are making things worse) it stands to reason you will not pass muster with either party.

Thus is this system broken right out of the box. If you don’t get the nod, your only choice is to run as an independent. Even if you win, you will be one against 573 or 100 respectively.

Not to put too fine a point on this but a bunch of people that you don’t know and with whom you personally have nothing in common with (besides being members of the same species) get to tell you what to do.

Taking this one step backwards, any system that denies the individual the ability to decide (vote) directly on the issues is the same thing as a dictatorship.

If said dictator gets you mad enough you have the ‘option’ of not re-electing them. Unfortunately, this does nothing to reverse the four years of economic carnage they were able to wreak that you are powerless to stop.

Without a direct say on the issues, you are powerless.

Let’s take it back another step. The whole ‘concept’ of representative government is seriously flawed. People establish governments to uphold the law.

When the people elected to public office rely upon the deep pockets of those who the laws are most likely to affect, we arrive at serious conflict of interest.

Globalization is a primary example. An entire segment of our society is being ‘sold down the river’ so a few can make obscene profits, and our lawmakers are cheerleading for them.

Putting a nation’s workers out of a job, sending the work off shore then re-importing the end result guts the fabric of the affected society…while enriching the few how hold sway over our ‘elected’ officials jobs.

When the working class ‘disappears’ all you have left is the wealthy (who can live anywhere) and the poor, who have no job and no money.

When this is over, all that will be left is the retail outlets of the wealthy, the rest will be a smoking ruins.

You can’t ‘vote’ for change because you don’t get to ‘vote’ (directly) on the issues. The ‘Constitution’ doesn’t protect you, it was written to protect the overlords, who coincidentally ignore it whenever it stands in the way of a desired goal (otherwise the current idiot would already have been impeached.)

Where does this leave ‘us’, Jane and Joe average citizen?

Same place we’ve always been, up the creek without a paddle.

The crux, the very center of this entire issue, is rooted in ownership.

In the infamous words of John Jay (the idiot responsible for setting up our ‘justice’ system), “Let those who own the land, rule the land!”

Can you give me a rousing chorus of ‘Long live the King’

Thus do owners rule. As for the rest…tough luck.

Technically nobody owns anything but we humans decided to buck Mother Nature on that one. We created our courts and pieces of paper that serve as proof to the contrary.

And what a fine mess it has created.

In order to solve this problem, we have to roll all the way back to the beginning and start fresh.

While this sounds like a monumental task, it’s actually very easy. The hard part has already been done.

There’s no tearing down and starting over involved. Labor driven society is our species next logical step.

Shouldn’t say no tearing down. Representative government and political parties will cease to exist, replaced by direct democracy.

The banking industry will vanish as will insurance. The stock market, poof, gone along with the professional interpretation of law.

That’s right, no more lawyers or judges although the lay jury system will remain as will the presumption of innocence and the concept of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Why target these ‘institutions’?

In every case they enable a few to hold within their power the life’s blood of the many. None of these institutions are essential or even desirable within a ‘rational’ society.

We would start over using the Golden Rule of ‘do unto others’ and measure all new laws against that primary guideline.

If I can solve the problem in less than a page there must be something to it. The only time you hear an issue being described as ‘complex’ is when those involved are trying to pull a fast one.

While it is easy to envision spending a good portion of your free time voting for or against whatever someone perceives to be an ‘issue’, let me assure you voting will be a rarity. If a proposal can’t pass the litmus test of the golden rule, it doesn’t get put to a vote.

It will start fair and stay fair, guaranteed.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Mine

Anarchists and capitalists go back and forth over the issue of property to the point of distraction. The Capitalists threaten to enter your house, eat your food and take up residence in your bed because, ‘You said so yourself, it’s not yours!’

Anarchy, in an attempt to distance itself from its violent past, politely invites the capitalists to make themselves comfortable, just look out for the steaming pile of shit between the sheets!

The concept of ‘mine’ goes all the way back to the caveman days when humans were lone wolf predators, zealously guarding their little patch of dirt.

Is this kind of thinking still viable now that there are six billion of us walking the face of the planet?

We are not so much a social animal that we no longer need our ‘space’ but what of those who claim more than they need or could ever conceivably use?

To the capitalist, there’s no such thing as too much and the word ‘fairness’ gets twisted to mean whatever is good for them. That obnoxious smirk we all complain about comes from their ‘I’ve got mine, screw you’ attitude.

We resent their smugness but at the same time we are raised to believe that there is nothing special about them, that anyone can do it and in deep down in our heart of hearts we know that someday we’ll inevitably join the ranks of the smug.

This is the wishful thinking of the alcoholic in action. Your folks didn’t make it, their parents didn’t make it but somehow you’re going to make it. That good job you have at Wal-Mart is going to propel you right to the top!

Where does the word ‘mine’ fit in the world of ‘we’? I own, you pay. I own so you work for me. If you can’t live on what I pay you, it’s your problem!

Not a lot of ‘we’ there yet the world as we know it is the product of our collective efforts. Perhaps more importantly, all of the resources that make up this world we live in are free from Nature…free to the owner that is.

Shaking up the status quo is disturbing but if we fail to look at our situation under the hard light of reality, we are doomed to keep clubbing each other over the head in a desperate attempt to get ahead.

Although these days much of the clubbing stems from trying to retain hard won ground. The times being what they are, getting ahead is no longer quite as important as holding onto what you’ve got.

Crying about what’s wrong is easy but unproductive. To that end, I offer a humble solution.

Like all good solutions, it starts from scratch. Since the equitable distribution of wealth is crucial to the health of any society, the first step is to outlaw the employer/employee relationship and with it the private ownership of all avenues of commerce.

No one (as in nobody) will ‘own’ them, not the state, not the committee, nobody.

In place of private enterprise, twelve interdependent divisions would be established that encompass the twelve major fields of endeavor that make up our modern life.

These divisions will provide the framework necessary to manage the activities crucial to maintaining the welfare of a large and growing population.

Depending on the individual’s interests, they would choose which field of endeavor they wished to work for and that division would not only pay them but also train them in some aspect of that specialty.

Cash and all forms of hard currency would be illegal as would all debt instruments.

Citizens would be paid electronically with no provision made for the transfer of funds between individuals. The only way to get money is to work for it and the only way to spend it is through society’s retail outlets.

When you do ‘spend’ your money it is merely erased from your account, no one gets it. The same thing happens when you die, your account is merely zeroed out.

The implications of this set up are exactly as they appear. There will be no taxes, no mortgages or rent, free healthcare, free education for life as well as free utilities (phone, lights, heat.)

Since those involved in providing these services to society are paid to do so by their division, there is no need for you to pay them also.

It’s important to note the labor driven society has no need for cash. Money will exist for the sole purpose of regulating items that are in short supply.

Who would clean house if you could stay at a hotel for free? Who would cook if you could eat in a restaurant for free? How long before either of these industries collapsed under the enormous demand?

Thus will money serve a very different purpose than it does today.

Don’t want to work? Shucks! That’s the downside of labor driven society, all the ‘free’ hinges on the individual surrendering their labor (while getting paid for it) as the cost of membership.

Nobody skates and nobody is played for a sucker. While the disabled would be cared for they would earn no income. On the other hand, any person with a disability that desired to work would have work provided for them.

The right to work and participate in our society is everyone’s right. Don’t like working with others? There are plenty of solitary occupations, we’ll find something for you.

Unlike capitalism where more employees cut into profits, there’s room for everyone to work and earn in labor driven society; membership is your right.

Labor driven society is based on direct democracy. To that end there will be no political parties or legislative bodies whatsoever.
The laws, such as they are, will standalone. The only way to alter the laws will be through a direct vote of the people.

Allowing anyone to interpret the laws as they see fit or to alter the laws at will provides those individuals with the ability to lynch the rest of us for their own personal benefit.

Thus will sitting judges and the professional practice of law be prohibited.

A jury of your peers will interpret the law as they understand it and reach their judgement accordingly.

To that end, even society’s leaders will have no power to alter or interpret the law (or to exempt themselves from prosecution.)

The only way to enact new laws is through a direct vote of the people and then only in an overwhelming majority.

Society’s leaders must test all proposed new laws for fairness before submitting them to the public for a vote.

Where do these leaders come from?

This in part also answers the question of would everyone be paid the same.

The answer is no. Skill will be rewarded and a ladder of skills established. This ladder of skills leads to the very top of our society and for the first time in history, everyone starts off on equal footing. You could very well be the next leader!

That’s it in a nutshell folks. The end result of changing ‘mine’ to ‘ours’.

No government, no corporations and no corruption and a vehicle that will lift all of it’s members from poverty and strife, a true society of equals building the life they want free from the tyranny of the owner class.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Loyalty

I’m sure you’ve wondered how it is that society (read employers) determine how much a job is worth.

It seems skill counts for little. For the real ‘high earners’ it’s all about trust.

The rich see it this way. Better pay the guy that handles my money well or he’s likely to rob me blind. The guy that keeps me out of jail, he gets a heap too.

The bozo’s that make me rich, pay ‘em as little as I can get away with. So what if they quit! There’s a million more just like ‘em lined up outside ready to take their place.

A doctor can save your life, a good lawyer can keep the wolves from your door and your accountant is probably the only one that knows how much you’re really worth.

Value to the rich, priceless. Value to society, zip.

Which brings us to our political process. There aren’t any Republican politicians any more than there are any Democratic ones, they all work for the same group.

The whole political scene is nothing more than window dressing, an illusion of participation, a con game.

It’s all a charade. Cheer when your guy gets into office then scratch your head in puzzlement as you wonder why nothing ever changes.

Nixon ‘opened the door’ to China. Carter started deregulation, which was used to bust unions across the nation. Regan dismantled the interstate banking laws and got the NAFTA ball rolling, Bush I kept the NAFTA juggernaut on track and Clinton, who could have vetoed it, signed on the line instead.

Massive coincidence, right?

Who would you ‘elect’ to turn this situation around? It would take serious money to get an ‘outsider’ elected.

Since we get our money from the same people the politicians get their money from…do you see a problem with this picture?

You aren’t going to win a financial showdown when the other team has the mint at its disposal.

I laud your desire to fight for what’s right but if you ever hope to succeed, you have to wake up to who the real enemy is.

Did it ever strike you as odd, in a society that prizes private enterprise above all things, how every improvement made to this nation came out of the pockets of the taxpayers?

Corporations didn’t build the roads but they benefit the most from them. Corporations didn’t build the schools system but they benefit the most from them. Corporations didn’t light the streets or run the phone lines but both are big businesses now.

Taxpayers foot the tab for every experimental technology. Once an idea proves successful, the result is turned over to private enterprise.

NASA is publicly funded. Once space travel becomes commercially viable, who will reap the benefit of those decades of research at the cost of billions of tax dollars?

I’ll give you a hint; it won’t be you or me.

Figure out who the enemy is yet? It is those who are in fact but dare not use the title royalty in our not so representative society. They are detectable only as the criminal investor class.

Let those who own the land, rule the land.

Ironically, most people are okay with this even though it is the root cause of every social ill facing our society.

I suppose most people are cool with this legal swindle because they have been deluded into thinking that one-day they may become one of them.

Too bad there’s only one way to join that club, you have to be born to it.

If you weren’t here when they carved up this country for themselves, tough.

You have no chance of using their own system against them. The deck is stacked from top to bottom. Vote your fool head off, nothing will change. The only reason the New Deal was passed is because the powers that be feared a real revolution.

The people were destitute, socialism was on the rise, riots were commonplace and the army had to be called out repeatedly to restore order.

That’s what it took good citizen, rioting and death in the streets that made the war protests of the sixty’s look like a love in.

Tens of thousands died at the hands of the army and the thugs hired by companies to protect their factories. The people were angry as hell, sick and tired of being forced to work fifteen hours a day, six days a week for next to nothing.

This period is history is glossed over as the turbulent times that marked the birth of the trade unions.

In less than a generation, those ‘elected’ to represent the worker were selling their union brethren down the river for personal gain.

Ever wonder why trade unionism is on the decline? They earned a reputation for taking your money and do nothing! Sound familiar.

Like our publicly elected officials, the only way you could punish a rat was to not vote for them in the next election.

And like our elected officials, those who failed to win elected office were rewarded with an appointed one (management job) regardless of which party wins.

Is it just me or does something reek here?

Once again I want to remind you that the intent of this work is not to tell you what to think but to give you something to think about.

The water is right over there. All I’m doing is pointing at it.

You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to.

So, you’ve decided to fight the good fight have you? Stop right there!

There’s no need for bloodshed. We can win the game easily with the trump card that they can’t take away from us.

That card is the power of no.

Refuse their fake money. Refuse their illegal laws and refuse to surrender your labor as it only makes them richer.

Just say no! If Nancy can do it, so can you.

Thanks for letting me inside you head,

Gegner