How the 99% can come to hold real democratic power

[CSummer]

True democracy empowers people to meet their needs and manage their affairs. Our way of life - and even our political work - often involve giving up our power to economic and political systems that do not empower us. If instead we use the power we have to build communities of mutual caring and support, we can together find cooperative ways of meeting our needs and managing our affairs.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something,
build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." - Buckminster Fuller


How could the 99% come to hold democratic power?

This question was addressed at a meeting held by OSR on 10/22. I would like to share here some of what there wasn't time for me to express at the meeting. It is also what seems to be most absent from the Occupy agenda.

A shift to a true democratic society is most likely to happen gradually, unless there's a catastrophic breakdown of the dominant economic and political order. We, the people cannot assume power until we're ready (willing and able) to assume responsibility for how our needs are met and how our affairs are managed. A truly democratic society is one that empowers people to take this responsibility.

The existing society is dis-empowering, because participating in that society/economy means we must buy into and give up our power to the various institutions. When we do this, we're actually giving our power to those who control those systems (i.e., the 1%). This includes protesting, confronting and in other ways trying to change those systems, which tends to legitimize the existing power structures.

A cooperative social order based on communities of mutual support would exist to empower all members of the society. This is the obvious and only peaceful and just alternative to our present way of life and society. All hierarchical social orders concentrate power, often in the hands of unknown and/or unaccountable individuals, which leads to the abuse of power.

Those of us who are ready to do so (who have reached a certain level of maturity and personal power) can begin creating this society at any time. Many are already doing this (or attempting to do it) in the form of intentional communities. Those of us who aren't ready but are willing can - with the help of others - learn the relationship and communication skills that cooperative living requires. At the same time, we can unlearn the cultural conditioning that has left most of us with a worldview based on scarcity and powerlessness.

For many years I've returned often to the question of how we can make the transition from where we are now as humans within a dysfunctional, violent and destructive society to creating a peaceful, just and ecologically sustainable one. I believe it is possible and that we can accelerate this process, if we're willing to do the learning and growing that's required to work closely with others in cooperative communities.

The world is urgently in need of a real alternative to the dominant social paradigm and order. It would be quite unwise for us to wait for the existing structures to collapse. Now is the time to begin building the foundation for a new inclusive, empowering, humane society.

The basic approach is fairly simple: we come together around the question of how we can meet our real needs (and it's important to distinguish them from culturally contrived needs) through relationships of mutual support and cooperation - with each other and with the natural environment. We start, though, with a more basic question: Why are we doing this? What is our purpose in coming together to form these relationships and communities? A clear, shared understanding of our purpose and direction becomes the starting point for our journey together.

Democracy is power to the people. We, the people must reclaim the real power we have and stop giving it to the 1%! And, we must learn to distinguish between what is within our power to do and what is not - and focus our energies on what is!

CSummer