re: NEED HELP QUICK support Maine agriculture

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/21/03 11:51:59 AM Eastern Standard Time,

Idol@... writes:

> I explicitly acknowledged that, but if there's no strong government,

> mega-corporations won't have less power, they'll just use different tools

> to wield their power. In fact, spared the necessity of lobbying

> politicians and corrupting the political process, they'd probably be even

> richer and more powerful.

Oh sure, huge concentrations of power in the private sector need similar

public concentrations of power to keep them in check. But there is just as

much potential for tyranny in the public sector as the private. I suspect

the only way to avoid tyranny in either is to return to a farming-based 19th

century New England type politico-economic arrangement. Almost all the taxes

went to the town government. Most of the people were property owners as

well. When the taxes go to the town government, it is the only possibility

for true democracy because the people actually are connected to the process.

In my state, people just voted to reduce the income tax, and it is wreaking

havoc on the state. In fact, last year, they voted for a non-binding

referendum to *eliminate* the income tax! Why? Because they are completely

ignorant and have nothing to do with the budgetary process. To prove it, 4

years ago a landslide Clean Elections law passed by over two thirds when the

slogan was " Get Big Money Out of Politics. " Last year, when a non-binding

referendum was placed worded " Do you believe your tax dollars should pay for

politicians' campaigns, " these same people voted for a landslide against it!

When taxes and laws are made at such a large level, the entire democracy

generates into rule by people that can come up with the best slogans rather

than rule by the people. Yes, strong government is necessary to tame

corporations, but a truly democratic society can not be reached with such

large governments OR corporations. And the reduction in the sustainability

of agriculture has closely paralleled the rise in central power of

corporations AND government.

> Remember that Adam never postulated concentrations of capital that

> were so big their magnitudes approached that of the seas of capital and

> commerce they exist in.

No. I haven't read Wealth of Nations completely, but I did spend some time

in the library peeking around in it and read some of the chapters. It is so

funny how completely different Adam 's thought is than the libertarian

capitalists who claim him as their own. In it, he supports public

education-- paid for by the government! And public infrastructure to! He

also predicted that a free market would cause all people to have similar

incomes, because people who had lower paying jobs would go work for a higher

paying job and it would all balance out! That is NOT the society we live in

obviously.

> Maybe there's some new, better political system that you and I haven't

> thought of, but until somebody devises it, we're stuck with representative

> democracy, which is very easily corruptible but can also be a powerful

tool

> for freedom, prosperity and health. The problem is that we've let things

> get so bad that the vectors of education are almost entirely controlled by

> big business. The internet, though, may be our salvation. How many of us

> would be here -- would have heard of WAP or grass-fed meat or raw dairy or

> anything else we hold dear -- without it? I know I wouldn't.

Definitely. We'll see how much of an effect it actually has. I think an

industrial economy is probably inherently conducive to some degree of

concentration of power. Like I wrote above, I think the closest thing I can

think of to a decentralized modern or semi-modern system is 19th century New

England, but that by nature requires the large portion of the population to

be self-sufficient or semi-self-sufficient.

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to

bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature.

Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the

truth, and for those who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian