A New Relationship Between People...

Begin with the premise that Proudhon may have had something going when he suggested that there is a confusion between personal property and private property.  Throw in a dream, because sometimes dreams, visions or simply feelings are precursors to actual thought and maybe someone could see something I didn't in how it worked.

Exhorted people to action.  It is a new year, time for a new start.  Prior posts listed things that can be done to create human interaction, to meet your neighbors and to be part of community without giving in to the organized form of community which leaves us all feeling just a little more co-opted and a little less fulfilled than we should. 

In fact, prior posts have suggested - and downright asked - for everyone to be creative in rejecting the social norms and forming these personal relationships.  The fate of our communities may depend on it.  We cannot abdicate our responsibility to ourselves and our children.  We cannot look to corporations and governments to tell us how to act or feel about important issues like climate change, genetic modification of food sources, global trade imbalances, education, consumerism, or even religion and morals.

Challenging these issues head on simply makes one part of the process.  Capitalism is, after all, amoral.  Puerile interests can be accommodated as well as altruistic ones in the marketplace.  But the marketplace is not where we should live our lives.  It should be no more than one tool to how we become the people we want to be.  Happiness should be given as much value as income.  How we treat the elderly, infirm or weak as much value as life insurance. 

Advocate an open rebellion against all forms of organized thought and organized behavior.  Question authority?  Hell, reject it!  Authority should be earned, not granted or expected.  I stated in an earlier post I was not anxious to go to jail.  I still am not.  I am not asking, suggesting or hoping anyone else does.  In fact, going to jail simply supports another organized form of control.  It increases GNP, GDP or whatever form of measurement your government uses for productivity.  Don't think for a moment that going to jail for your principles is the most lofty form of protest and don't believe for a second that damaging another persons personal property or committing violent acts are somehow justified because of your beliefs.

At the same time, do not give in to wrong thinking.  One does not have to smash in the windows of a large department store to attack the store in ways that make it clear you do not support its values.  In addition, not all large stores or companies are immoral.  It will take large organizations to tackle large problems.  The founding fathers of America, before they declared independence from England in 1776, entered into the Articles of Association in 1774.  This was essentially a private contract open to any person to sign (or not sign) that boycotted the English goods and refused to send raw materials to England.  This is a pretty good read for any anticapitalist alive today, as it sets out a specific course of nonviolent action intended to get a response.  While history tells us it got a huge response (including the Boston Tea Party and the creation of the United States of America), it is just as easy to read as a conservative idea that broke no laws, but made a point.

There is an often misquote made that what is good for GM is good for the country.  Well, there is some truth.  Typically, workers, or producers, produce goods and sell those goods (their labor or the fruits of their labor) to an employer.  The employer then sells that commodity to a middle man and ultimately to a consumer, who uses the money (or fruits of some other labor) to pay for the commodity.  In all cases, it is the worker's labor or money that is changing hands.  Since at every step of the process there is some "transaction fee", then the fact that goods are changing hands and someone is trading their labor for the money to buy the good does show that the system works.  However, like our forefathers in 1774, we need to demand the respect that without the citizens producing and consuming, the whole system beaks down, because, what is good for the country is also what's good for business.  We cannot elevate the accumulation of wealth over the nature of what is best for our citizens and our country.

These debates do not rage today.  They are taken for granted that people will consume and that companies are to make money for their shareholders at all costs.  Let's challenge that authority and let's do it everywhere.  1774 is not so different from 2012.  A government far removed from its people is trying to legislate economic policy which creates winners and losers.  And too often those losers are losing more and more, while the winners are winning more and more, when what's best for the country is everyone sharing in the prosperity that true leadership can bring. 

Question authority?  The citizens should be the authority.  Time to change the relationship.