Welcome to the 21st Century! Our accomplishments to date include: the Mother of all catastrophic leadership, two wars, an economic meltdown, joblessness, corruption gone wild, and a multi-trillion dollar legacy of debt bequeathed to our children. This colossal financial obligation, in which our inheritors had no say, amounts to taxation without representation – a moral bankruptcy of our democracy.
Do people want change? You bet they do! They demand change, not bailouts. And if President Obama’s decision-makers think they can ask for more support of bailouts bundled in earmarks, or even for Obama’s reelection, while maintaining business as usual in Washington, without real social and economic innovation, they have a surprise coming.
The mood is changing fast, our citizens’ patience is on a short fuse. Some already talk about blocking emails from Obama for America - morphed into Organizing for America - that relentlessly request activism and donations. Not only Obama’s reelection, but also the great wave of Hope he created is at risk.
The future of Obama’s grassroots network and his reelection depend not on political punditry or dubious bailouts and extension of broken institutions, but on engaging people in physical projects that build self-organized communities and generate jobs, economic security and sustained hope.
Holigent.org, a Los Angeles based nonprofit organization, is developing conceptual plans for a nonprofit, mixed-use, live/work, compact urban village, with a car-free pedestrian core, to facilitate the transition from sprawl to vertical expansion, and from car-dependent to car-free living. Such communities would develop a hybrid economy by rearranging the way they live, work, commute, consume and govern themselves. The rearrangements would create economic security, peace and sustainability on the community level, largely bypassing Washington and its inherent political gridlock.
The heart of the Holigent Economic Solution is a three-way agreement between participating employers, their employee-residents and a nonprofit developer/management organization (NGO). This agreement provides conditions whereby employee-residents who live in the Holigent Village work for lower wages, should economic conditions require, in order to remain competitive in a global economy, while maintaining their quality of life.
For example, during a severe downturn of the economy, the agreement would allow affected companies to adopt a reduced operation, or dormant state, rather than shut down. During a worst-case scenario, affected employees would go on a temporary furlough rather than be laid off. Employee-residents would perform community service earning community credit, which would be accepted as rent payment in lieu of cash, as well as provide means to buy household essentials during a furlough.
This is a vision for a hybrid socioeconomic system in which the best features of capitalism work in tandem with local human resources to generate and retain wealth and secure quality of life. This system would provide economic, social and environmental security and sustainability for a widening circle of participants, even during economic recessions. A national program, beyond a demonstration project, could provide a million or more jobs and leave a legacy of low carbon, self-organized, affordable and sustainable communities across the country.
Would Obama’s grassroots organization take up this new mission to promote the construction of an experimental compact urban village and persuade Congress to fund this project? And, when the demonstration project shows its capacity to solve the multiple social and economic problems facing our nation, would Obama’s grassroots organization continue to work with Congress to expand the funding of such projects across the country?
This hybrid solution will bring economic security, energy independence, social harmony and environmental sustainability to participants across America. When this program is applied as an instrument of foreign policy, supplementing or supplanting military assistance and foreign aid, it will promote peace, sustainability and good will worldwide, at a bargain price for American taxpayers. A bold investment in such social and economic innovation would introduce real and constructive change.
President Obama’s grassroots network has a rare window of opportunity to build a new and hopeful legacy, while helping to reelect him in the process. David Axelrod and all decision makers, I would call you but I don’t have you numbers. Please drop me a line at “transform-@-holigent-dot-org” and let’s talk about this.
Lately, I am having a hard time meeting the eyes of my children because I know that the world they will inherit may not be fit to live in. With your help, we can change that. But without the help of all of you reading this article, change won’t happen.
So - please - be part of the solution. Send this to a friend and let’s start a conversation about replacing the old, burnt-out engine of global capitalism with a new, hybrid engine: the Holigent Solution for Economic Security, Peace and Sustainability. More at www.holigent.org
