GLOBE-LIB
Education focusing on what kind of a decentralized world federal government could maximize both justice and sustainability.
Affiliated with HOME RULE GLOBALLY, COMPETITIVE RATIFICATION SERVICE, and ZEST QUEST CABINET
Dr John R. Ewbank, Focalizer
For 43 years I have lived in an intentional community, one of the most successful anarchist experiments. For 55 years, this intentional community of 74 families has flourished without coercion or threats of coercion, relying strictly upon voluntarism. Individual liberty is possible only when a community has adequate wealth and only when individuals voluntarily make the commitments for adequate individual responsibility. Individual freedom should be discussed with recognition that individual responsibility and individual liberty are two sides of the same coin.
The Fellowship for International Community had a conference in Evergreen WA in 1992 which attracted more than 1,000 from nearly 1,000 intentional community. For many years, I was President of such FIC and its revolving loan fund, CESCI.
So long as an individual has an opportunity voluntarily to leave with property, I am not distressed by the authoritarianism within some intentional communities. The personalities of some individuals thrive better in a stratified authoritarian structure quite repulsive to a freedom-lover. Within Bryn Gweled, I cherish the great diversity. It is the great diversity of local neighborhoods [intentional communities or typical random neighborhoods] which needs to be cherished everywhere, because without acceptance and cherishing of diverse neighborhoods, the regional-wide pressures for conformity destroys significant hope for individual freedom.
There cannot be adequate freedom unless many nearby neighborhoods can tolerate and cherish the diversity of a neighborhood having lifestyles which are extremely offensive to nearby neighborhoods. The great tragedy of government has been the propensity of the coercion by remote governments [that is, those having a constituency larger than about 15,000 or desirably about 5,000] concerning matters about which diversity should be cherished instead of prohibited.
During the 1920s, the USA government tried to prohibit the use of alcohol, and many Muslim governments continue to do so. Although such prohibition can be effective in neighborhoods consisting exclusively of those voluntarily choosing to be teetotalers, such prohibition is less than 100% effective when the coercion is exerted over a constituency larger than about 5,000 or 15,000. Dozens of other lifestyle choices are similarly not advantageously enforced by coercion by a remote government. However, remote governments are needed to adequately protect people from military conquest by occupants of remote areas.
Dozens of unworkable theories have been proposed for trying to coordinate by pure contract [as distinguished from the governmental coercion of all occupants of a particular geographical area] but none has been manageable. I sometimes use the term “libertarian” for embracing all who think that at least some of the existing remote governments should be curtailed by at least one-third, as distinguished from the “reformers” who would try to cut taxes, but not drastically curtail remote governments.
GLOBE-LIB aspires to be the world’s largest libertarian organization. It is not concerned in any way with exerting political power. It emphasizes voluntarism and commitments for individual responsibility. Although society benefits by minimizing government, the drastic curtailment of remote governments stimulates social trauma which is a part of the cost of the desired transformation.
GLOBE-LIB is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation which since 1979 has functioned somewhat as a subcommittee of the Peace Committee of Abington Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends [Quakers]. Only members of AMM can be on the Board. Upon dissolution, all assets go to the incorporated Trustees of AMM. In Pennsylvania, the nonprofit subsidiary of a nonprofit corporation can be a one person Board who can hold all of the officer positions. GENTLE USURPATION INSTITUTE is such a subsidiary corporation formed to minimize any need for frequent meetings of the Board of its parent.
The full name of GLOBE-LIB is CORPORATION OF SEEKERS FOR GLOBAL LIBERTY AND GOVERNMENT because it aims to educate humanity to understand the desirability of achieving a truly libertarian world federation which could promote subsidiarity, neighborhood empowerment, decentralization, and abolish national militarism, national monetarism, and minimize military hostilities and violent rebellion. Nation-nation disputes should be dealt with in the legislative and judicial chambers so that nation-nation relations can closely resemble city-city relations.
Because only military weapons can deter the use of military weapons, GLOBE-LIB has not advocated absolutely complete disarmament, but instead has urged the privatization of Rebellion Deterrence Services, so that each government at each level could have protection contracts with one or more tiny armies for assuredly deterring rebellion. The world federation would require every government at every level to have reliable procedures for assuring a change of administration on a plausible schedule, so that dissidents everywhere could have plausible hope of participating in some future administration.
Most areas would choose to have appropriate elections, but those which chose to select a replacement administration by lottery [or other 3rd party managed randomness] would fulfill the obligations for scheduled change of administrations. In view of such guarantees of opportunities for dissidents to participate in future administrations, any violent rebellion would be prohibited just as unambiguously as any international warfare. The goal would be that of minimizing military hostilities, while recognizing that it might take centuries before humanity had a full century with zero military hostilities, while recognizing that even such a record would not mean that future military hostilities could be prevented perpetually.
In deterring rebellion, the main emphasis would be upon the requirement for the 50 year deportation of all participants in any rebellion, so that there was an absolute assurance that zero political power was attainable by violent rebellion. The immediate families of all such participants in the rebellion would also be deported.
Ultimately, the cost of preventing any successful rebellion, the provisions of five years of global caretaker administrators for any area troubled by rebellion would benefit humanity, and would be a part of the total cost of establishing a democratic world federation. By adequate decentralization and neighborhood empowerment, the per capita global productivity could triple within a few decades, and the costs for the birthing of a democratic world federation would be paid for by taxing such increased productivity.
Enforceable constitutional restrains would prevent any remote government from having any coercion of government for wealth transfer, graduated income taxes, graduated wealth taxes, etc. National government would be constitutionally restrained from operating business projects, making economic regulations, etc, although provincial [Pennsylvania is a province of the USA] governments could have economic regulations, subsidies, etc. because it is plausible for a person or business to migrate inter-provincially.
All continental areas would have greater voting rights than the regular areas or islands in the oceans. Wealthy nations such as England, Iceland, Japan, and New Zealand would be arbitrarily classified as a part of the continental government system, which would supervise the insular areas as quasi-colonies. Thus the world federal government could designate “free immigration areas” to which rebels, etc. could be deported. Each year, the three metropolitan areas of Oceania which had the lowest average per capita income for the past 10 reported years [omitting the current and most recent] would unless they had already reached a population of 15,000,000, be designated as “free immigration zones [FIZs], to which the world federation could send anyone actively assisting any violent rebellion.
Nations having excess populations in their Dissident Havens, [DHs] could have restricted deportations to such FIZs. Provinces similarly could have the potentiality of deporting excess population in their DHs to the national DHs. Individuals could voluntarily choose to be temporarily domiciled in DHs and FIZs. Such “Citizen Watch” would provide some protection for the individual rights of the victims of deportation programs.
Within a few hundred years, most areas would choose to maintain living conditions such that relatively few people would either voluntarily emigrate or behave in such a manner as to risk deportation. Tyrants can dominate extremely transitory people more readily than people cherishing roots.
For the few caught up in the deportation programs or DHs and FIZs, there would be some resemblance to the contemporary refugee camps. The total person-days per century of such restriction upon freedom would be a tiny fraction of what prevails today. Whatever is done, some adolescents are likely to be so defiant of all authority and of such poor mental health that their choices might lead them through manipulations by governments through deportations to DHs and FIZs.
One of the alternative options contemplated for the Comprehensive Menu would feature granting a right to emigrate from all Continental areas. This would substantially eliminate capital punishment throughout all continental areas, while still permitting insular governments to use the death penalty.
Another option would impose limits on the length of imprisonments for crimes by governments at various levels. Continental municipalities might be permitted to have maximum imprisonment terms of 20 years, counties years, provinces 10 years, nations 7 years, and all variety of supra-national governments, 6 years, with no restrictions upon insular or extra-terrestrial governments. Unless there was evidence that a conspiracy of at least three persons was involved in a crime, the punishment limits would be one-third the penalties against organized crime.
Governmental deterrence of inappropriate behavior would be based overwhelmingly upon the critical importance of assuring restitution for the victim, with governmental punishment as a predominantly supplementary deterrent, except in crimes against the state such as conspiracies for violent rebellion, espionage, etc. At the neighborhood level, the concept of “community standards” would be adequately clarified by published guidelines, so that juries could impose financial penalties of 0.1% of annual income for crimes as vaguely defined as “offensive to the community”. In democratic neighborhoods properly cherishing diversity, and having guidelines emphasizing individual responsibility and the stewardship of the community of life, relatively few individuals would prosecute neighbors for violating such a vague law. To discourage careless accusations, prosecuting witnesses would be obligated to pay restitution to any victim found innocent by the jury.
The police, constabulary, etc. would have trivial responsibilities for law enforcement, relying predominantly upon citizenry fulfilling their responsibilities to be initiating any criminal procedures. Each level of remote government would have limitation on its total disbursements, total staff of its criminal justice system, etc. based upon an appropriate small fraction of the aggregate of the constituent governments having smaller constituencies. Whatever was done to minimize government at a municipal level would thus impose barriers of remote governments.
Just what can win global ratification is presently not known. The need is not only for aiming to win global ratification, but to provide adequate flexibility concerning future changes in technology, changes in wealth distribution, the changes in educational standards, etc. Most of human troubles arise because some remote ancestors having good intentions imposed durable restraints upon posterity instead of granting adequate free market of institutions for remote descendants.
Eventually hereditary wealth as we currently know it, and has been prevalent for possibly 10,000 years, may become analogous to racism. Sustainable justice involves minimizing the benefits and disabilities attributable to the accident of birth within a particular area, while recognizing that geographical differences in per capita wealth have existed for thousands of years and are likely to continue for thousands of years. To the extent that individuals voluntarily make gifts for assisting pauper areas, humanity benefits. To the extent that a government coercively redistributes wealth to alleviate the geographical discrepancies in per capita wealth, humanity suffers.
The pyramiding of wealth has been a problem troubling humanity for more than a million years. Every generation has observed that the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer” except for a few areas for a few decades. Those having a net worth of $10,000,000 or more are tentatively classified as wealthy, those having a net worth of loss than $10,000 as paupers, and the middle class as those having a net worth in the $10,000 to $10,000,000 range. The right of privacy concerning financial matters for the middle class is extremely important.
Governments cannot manage to fulfill some of their responsibilities without invading the financial privacy of paupers and wealthy. So long as it is only at the municipal level that any individuals have access to the personal financial data of paupers or wealthy, and as long as each level of remote government obtains only statistical data concerning groups of at least 20 persons, it might be possible for municipalities to process tax forms having confidential financial information without excessively endangering individual freedom.
Those municipalities and villages having no citizens other than the wealthy would be permitted to assess graduated income taxes, graduated taxes on net worth, graduated estate taxes, graduated inheritance taxes, etc. During the past few hundred years, wealthy people have attempted to be the puppet masters manipulating elections for the purpose of minimizing the damage done by national taxes concerned with redistribution of wealth. If the wealthy can be assured of protection from monocracy concerning future confiscations by high taxes controlled by poor people, then the wealthy can be stimulated to seek dynamic stability concerning the pyramiding of wealth.
An alternative tax of 20% of net worth per year for every person having a net worth of more than $10,000,000 could be imposed for as many years as necessary to restore the pyramiding ratio to a level corresponding to that of the arbitrarily selected standard year. To discourage politicians from seeking such an alternative tax, the gross funds there from would be allocated to every nonprofit organization proportionally to the contributions they received during the three previous reportable years.
The wealthy would greatly prefer, through philanthropy, to control the dynamic stability of the wealth pyramiding index. In calculating such index, all passive wealth [any nonprofit organization owning more than 5% of the capital of an enterprise would be deemed a part of the control of such corporation, and classified separately for a different type of pyramiding index] owned by nonprofit [churches, schools, charities, etc] or owned by governments would distinguished from wealth which was owned either by an individual or by a corporation controlled by family.
If in 1988, the wealthy owned 10% of the aggregate individually owned wealth and in 1989 it was 11%, etc. and in 1997 it was 19%, then the wealthy would have incentives for using 1997 as a target for the pyramiding index. Hence, the Comprehensive Menu might include an option whereby the alternative tax triggering would be based upon 1997 if global ratification were attained within five years, with the standard going back one year for each year of delay in achieving global ratification. This might provide a manageable approach toward dealing with one of the most perplexing evils burdening humanity, the acceleration of the pyramiding of wealth.
Stabilization of the cost of living through the centuries, and achieving a standard of value which is immune from political manipulation is among the needed transformations. By establishing the standard of value as one gram of each of the twenty most used commodities during each of the 10 most recent reportable years, plus one pictogram of each of the three solid, non-radioactive heavy metal [specific gravity above 10, i.e. silver and heavier metals] which were most hoarded during each of the 10 most recent reportable years, the cost of living is stabilized through the centuries.
If the mistake were made to restore the gold standard, it would merely stimulate competition concerning the genetic engineering for the microorganism most useful in concentrating the gold of ocean water, because the total gold content of the ocean water exceeds all the gold thus far accumulated. By avoiding the governmental price basement for gold [the essence of the gold standard] and permitting the price of gold and other heavy metals to fluctuate in the free market, the dynamic stability of economic factors could be more assuredly achieved, even with ice ages, polar shifts, or other plausible tragedies.
Substantially all of the problems created by technology would have had minor influence upon the environment and the community of life if human population were what it was in 1500. If inexpensive fusion power could be developed, the available amounts of deuterium and hydrogen are such that humans could avoid energy shortage even with a 20 billion population.
I respect those ecologists who insist that, regardless of how advantageous fusion power might be, the sustainable population for this earth is of the general magnitude on one billion. Some trends suggest that colonization of planets will be needed to cope with surplus population. One of the important principles of libertarianism is the freedom of choice concerning reproduction. Hence, I vigorously oppose population control programs of the type administered in China and India. By appropriate education, I believe that a sustainable population is achievable. Such a goal is about one thousand times more difficult than zero population growth.
For many millennia, material things have been getting cheaper related to the cost of human labor, and this propensity should continue so long as per capita wealth increases. During the tragic era when population peaks above sustainability, human labor might be ridiculously cheap and material goods quite costly.
Whatever is received by gift or inheritance should be subject to the same income taxes as earnings, interest, dividends, etc. Government regulations and taxes should not distort the free market of institutions, trade, services, etc. So that most decisions can be made on a meritocracy basis while ignoring what impact government regulations or taxes might have. The estate tax could be graduated, being 100% for those dying at 100 or later, 1% of those dying at age 1, with the 98 variations in between. The exemption from the estate tax could be whatever it was demonstrated had been spent for sustenance [excluding contributions, gifts, investments, etc] during the two calendar years preceding the death, but not more than some top limit such as $200,000.00.
Whatever a testator bequeathed to descendants of the seventh generation, or septachildren or great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren would be exempt from taxes. If in the first generation, there were 1,028 parents, each having one child, and such one child rule prevailed for all seven generations, then such single child of the seventh generation would inherit all such bequests from his 1028 ancestors. Thus, even poor families could have wealthy descendants in seventh generation. Such skipping of six generations for inheritance of wealth could stabilize society and promote sustainable justice.
The annuity insurance companies holding the wealth during those six generations would be obligated to give as many Good Fortune Awards of $100,000 each year as corresponded to the income from “sixth generation dormancy” wealth to income from total wealth. Such Good Fortune Awards would be strictly at random, so that sometimes it would be pauper, and sometimes middle class, and sometimes a wealthy person who would be lucky enough to win.
From age 15 to 25, each septchild would receive a bi-weekly payment corresponding to 1/260th of his share of the bequests from his 1028 septparents. Youth could thus be affected both by the wealth of their immediate parents and the wealth of their septparents, thus stimulating in the youth concern about his septchildren. As more humans began having a 14 generation perspective, greater responsibility toward lifeship earth would be stimulated. The world is more endangered by the nowness of perspectives and by the cynicism than by the complexities of our problems.
Within family corporations for families having fewer than 50 participants, to the extent that the ownership and income were reallocated annually to always be proportional to the ages of the participants, the wealth would continue in the family corporation without being affected by the estate tax or inheritance tax laws. Much of the philanthropy would be by such families instead of by individuals.
Within the villages and municipalities having only wealthy people, the wealthy would develop appropriate procedures for promoting sufficient philanthropy to keep the pyramiding index comfortable below the point at which the alternative tax could become effective. All of humanity might become richer, and the rich thus might acquire more dollars of wealth, but there would be a permanent termination of the increase in the wealth pyramiding index.
I am quite willing to concede that thousands of pessimists can provide data showing that a dismal future is suggested by continuation of any of a great number of present trends. However, the creativity of humans is such, and the increase in the number of religious saints is such that there is basis for hope. I have been much too slow in writing my book on MARKETING SURVIVAL partly because so few people have shown interest in my writings. I continue to feel that my mission in life is to promote education alerting humanity to the hopeful possibilities of adequate doses of decentralization, subsidiarity, meritocracy, cherishing of diversity, etc. |
