Talk:State, the Market, and some Preliminary Question about the Commons

I take issue with some of the rhetoric here and will try to compose a response as time permits. But I can extract some fundamental points of agreement, too. I agree that public-private is a false zero sum dichotomy. I would add that the economy and counter-economies (including commons) are likewise co-dependent antagonists. I think less that a commons-based paradigm must assert hegemony over some prior paradigm than that a new balance of power must be struck between the various constituencies in the mainstream culture, counter-cultures, mainstream economy, and counter-economies. Hegemony is a flawed objective that perpetuates pendulum swings just like the famous reciprocating vendettas. What we need is a steady state homeostasis. That is something which must be eased into gently and gradually. That said, there is no time or effort to waste. The old growth-based economy is heading for a perfect storm of climate change, peak oil, peak water, and peak food. It is like a cattle stampede in an old western movie. The stampede must be turned before the entire herd of humanity hurdles over a cliff. And yet somehow we must do this with considerable restraint and finesse. This requires less intellectual theory than pragmatic architecture and engineering. This requires that we work both within the system (law, politics, economics, culture, etc.) and outside of it, preferably in a coordinated manner. As one example, take the fascist think tank ALEC that for many years has been creating templates for bills that can be introduced by industry-funded republicans in state legislatures. Several thousand such bills have been introduced with apparently about an 18% success rate. Progressives and commoners need a similar mass incubation process for state, county, and municipal statutes, ordinances, and regualtions and for commons-based enterprises. The templates can be skeletal and a la cafeteria to allow for local diversity without necessarily reinventing the wheels in every state and community. --Poor Richard 05:52, 2 April 2011 (UTC)