The bosses revel in their new power. When we worked for them they could suggest to us who to vote for. Now they don't need to suggest, they spend their own millions to buy a government. They, the 1% (actually more like 0.01%) have shaken off their ownership of slaves and we have not learned to find our own food without their money.
We can, you know. Many millions of people did, not all that long ago. I've been thinking how to live without money. I eat what grows around here, my shopping list gets shorter every month. I still need electricity. I am trying to figure out whether I can live without a phone. Clothes? What I have will last a long time, I can patch worn out elbows myself. I don't pay for water, I use rain water. I need protein, I can catch fish, eat a chicken. I can eat cats; we did during the war.
What would happen if the 1% had all the money in the world, but we the 99% had food enough without needing money to survive? We would win.
Can we invent ways to make our own electricity to have at least one lamp at night, and perhaps run a computer? Certainly. there are already lamps that are charged by sunlight. There are flashlights run on electricity produced by squeezing a lever. A bicycle can produce some electricity. A windmill can make lots of power. Yes, we would be poor in terms of money, we could not travel all over the world as we like to do, we could not eat food imported from everywhere else, we could not change clothes, or wash them in washers and dryers. I have done without dryers for 40 years and there are times when it takes two days for towels to dry. But I do without; no problem. It is work but it is much more satisfying to work for myself than work for someone else. Can we do without refrigerators? We used to, only a few generations back.
I am convinced that the way to free ourselves is to do without money. We used to barter; it is coming back in some of our farmers markets. I exchanged wonderful soap someone made for a basket of fruit from our trees. I know someone who makes beautiful boots and mocassins. If I wanted his work I would have to pay him, but if I had an animal skin we could trade. There are wild pigs here, so un-hunted that they are easy to capture. The skin of a pig would make many shoes; their meat would feed many of us. Even today there are small farmers who can (preserve) vegetables and fruit for well beyond the winter. They barter canned beans for a shirt, ten pounds of sweet potatoes for a pair of jeans.
We all say we need jobs. The battle cry of the Republicans is jobs, jobs, jobs. In fact that is the code word for make abortion impossible. And while they talk jobs they do everything possible to prevent the creation of jobs.
What if we show them we can live without.
If one day my cats discover they can catch their own food, they free not only themselves, but they leave me with a bag of catfood that I cannot use. I would love to see the very very rich with trillions in their banks that are worthless, because there are no more consumers; we don't need their money any more.
The very very very rich are buying the next election with billions. We can't fight them with money; they have it all. What else can we do than showing them we can do without their damned money. I can hire someone to do some heavy gardening I can no longer do by bartering a shirt he admired and a dozen fresh chicken eggs I have been able to find, and a ripe papaya for a tip.
I can dream, can't I?
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NOTE:
There's an excellent book: Sacred Economics. Available for download from a great website: Realitysandwich.com
Also, David C. Korten has written on this theme, rather extensively. He is a co-publisher of YES! Magazine, which has an online component, as well.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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