[EM] Alexander Praetorius, regarding Frome, U.K.

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Morning, Alex

I apologize for the delay in posting this.  It couldn't be helped.

As I understand it, you believe political action can only occur in a 
business environment.  I question that.  Economic systems are the slaves 
of political systems.  Economic power can only exist to the extent it is 
enabled by the political system.

As we've seen in the United States, when the political system guts and 
repeals laws intended to protect the public from economic predators (the 
Glass-Steagall Act) and passes laws that let corporate giants steal from 
the people (Intellectual Property Laws for entities with no intellect), 
it empowers the economic leaders and protects them from accountability.

You mention traditional companies (economic leaders) and point out "... 
how they spend money to corrupt, how they abuse people in third world 
countries to work for cheap under horrible conditions, how they pollute 
the environment, and the like ..." Those travesties flow directly from 
the political system that empowers them.

You have made several references to the need for people to confer with 
their peers about the circumstances of their lives.  That can only occur 
when there is a purpose for their conference and a certainty that their 
deliberations will be fruitful.  Otherwise, it is mere babble, as most 
people recognize.

The Town Council of Frome, U.K. can provide a purpose for such discourse 
and a guarantee that the discussions lead to political action.  It can 
arrange for the people of Frome to meet in small groups, initially of 
neighbors, to select one of their number to represent the group.  Those 
selected can then be grouped in similar groups, progressively, until the 
people have chosen the individuals best suited to represent their 
interests in their government.

In addition to the obvious benefit of letting all the people of Frome 
participate in the political process to the full extent of each 
individual's desire and ability, this process has several benefits, two 
of which are:

* it eliminates political campaigning, the costs of which are at the 
core of political corruption.  Politicians sell the laws that burden the 
people in order to get the money they need to campaign for public office.

* Individuals elected to public office are not part of a bloc, they 
cannot be forced to support laws just because their party demands it. 
Instead, they must persuade their legislative body of the value of acts 
they favor by the force of their arguments, not by the pressure of their 
party.

There *is* something the Town Council of Frome can do to build a 
bottom-up political process for their community.  If Frome adopts such 
an electoral process, other communities will follow and the concept will 
spread.

Fred Gohlke