Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time….
— Winston Churchill, 1947(**)
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
— R. Buckminster Fuller
When I talk to people about changing to a commonwealth money system, I often hear, “How can we trust government to decide how and when to create our money?” We ask this question because today we legitimately do not trust our government to make the best decisions. We know it often makes downright bad decisions, and the process of correction takes decades. So, how do we get to our best possible democratic republic in practice?
Back in 1981, Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr., in their book, In Search of Excellence; Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies, reported on a study exploring how and when we do our best work. People were placed in one of two rooms to solve some complex puzzles and to do a proofreading chore. “In the background was a loud, randomly occurring distracting noise…producing a composite, non-distinguishable roar.’” Both groups were told to work at the task. But, in one room, they were provided with a button to push to turn off the noise. “The group with the off switch solved five times the number of puzzles as their cohorts and made but a tiny fraction of the number of proofreading errors. Now for the kicker: ‘…none of the subjects in the off switch group ever used the switch. The mere knowledge that one can exert control made the difference.’” 6
Think about how this principle applies in a family, a classroom, a workplace or a nation. We do better when we know we have some control over our lives and our circumstances. We want control over our own lives. We want to choose our personal paths, to own a share of the nation’s prosperity, to open businesses and shop where we want. We want to know our voice counts in determining our nation’s path. We want representation that listens and takes action on our behalf, not to appease special interests or donors.
In July 2018, Gallup reports almost 80 percent of us disapprove of Congress. It’s no wonder people are skeptical of Congress’s ability to make any kind of decision without corruption and cronyism – especially about taxing and spending!
So, given that our government is corrupt, how do we get our government to pass laws that eliminate the corruption? It’s a difficult dilemma. But, there is a practical path to making this change.
In 2016 candidate Bernie Sanders demonstrated that there is a groundswell of people who will contribute in small dollar amounts to counter the power of great wealth. Whether or not you agree with his policies, we now know we can take our election process back when we put our mind, money and energy into it! We can all participate in a meaning- ful and effective way. This is a powerful understanding!
One of our first acts must be to remove money from our elections so we will have people representing WE, the people. Make it a deal-breaker and tell your Representative and Senator. Then vote accordingly. No good decision-making is possible until we accomplish this. Vote for the people who take no money from Big Money.
Social Technology
Here’s where we start on monetary reform. We have a draft of a law that changes the money system. A small group of smart and dedicated people worked on it for several years. It went through the Office of Legislative Council in Congress and was reviewed to see what impact it would have on previous legislation. Let’s use social technology to review it, understand it, and perfect it @ USMoney.US.
Let’s work hard to get our representatives and senators to join us, so that we know what they understand and where they stand on the issue. If you have a Congress person who refuses to demonstrate their understanding of our financial system and/or refuses to let you know where they stand on monetary reform, and most importantly, why they stand where they do, then work to put someone else into office who is on board with change. This is one of the most important things you can do.
We have yet to practice democracy in a way that aggregates the wisdom of a diverse, independent and informed electorate. We must begin to practice making decisions this way in order to get good at it.
So, let’s begin.