Toward Self-Sufficiency

Introduction: Designing a Community to Prevent Chaos and Provide Opportunities for the Future Another purpose for writing this book is to offer a feasible program that the United States or other countries can implement to move toward a postcapitalist society. This would be a transition period. It would be a society where people feel wanted and have a purpose in life. It would be not glamorous but far more viable than what we are seeing now. The first thing that has to be done is to show people that our present living situation has to change because we are running out of renewable materials that the earth is providing at rates where they cannot be replenished. I have included a list of books and articles in the references and resources section at the end of the book. Multiple authors can show what is happening to our society and analyze what needs to be changed much better than what can be accomplished in one book. The recommend readings will also provide a good reference for anyone interested in how to fix and understand our present environmental, political, and social problems. The main intent of the suggestions shown is to create a way to live in an actual built community. This community is called the “Pilot Demonstration Project” (PDP) (once started, it will have a better name). It can provide services and data that will be a start to show what can be accomplished by following a way of development thinking using the processes of nature as guidelines. Innovation is key, and the plan will be made available to make it happen. It is perhaps a utopian dream, but look where most people are now. If we don’t understand what we are doing by putting our capitalistic goals ahead of the ability of our future children to have decent lives, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. The project will be an active, continually changing community. We have to help people be aware of what is happening now because of our consumerism binge and our government policies. Each book I listed as a reference has a letter/number designation, and I will refer to information I am writing about by using that designation and the name of the book. I have put that information adjacent to the material being read so people can expand their knowledge on the subject and get additional information. Copyright laws limit the amount of words and sentences that you can use for quotes from another author. These insertions that I use are just blips and many times out of context with what that author feels is important in their book. Times have changed because of Amazon books. Now you can look up the book on the internet and look inside the book you are interested in to get additional information (from what you have already read in my book). Then that author of that book may suggest another book that is interesting and worth looking at to obtain other viewpoints. This then, in a way, lengthens what I am writing. The whole purpose is to get people to read more so that they get a broader picture of what is being discussed. This is why I put such a long list of books in the reference section and why I wanted a means that will enable people to understand what expanded information is available within certain categories of subjects. Some of the books are more pertinent than others for explaining our present situation and our possible future, but all of them should be recognized and used for reference. This is against convention, and I hope this explains why it is formatted this way. The same information is available as in a footnote or biographical notes in most books. I think this is an easier way for people to get additional information and you can choose books by topic. Most of the recommended books on my list, however, were written before the Trump presidency. Trump’s present dysfunctional type of government was described in several books as an example of a society in decline or chaos. It is up to the reader to determine whether this is the case. The election in 2016 was basically a negative vote by voters against both parties. The economy had been flat since the 2008 recession, and people wanted change because they felt left out of the system. They definitely got it. Now, to make society start to right itself, there has to be exponential change toward a postcapitalist government or a government that will improve our chaotic form of democracy as it is practiced today. The book Edge of Chaos 1 by Dambisa Moyo provides insight on methods that could fix some of our present societal and political problems. It is discussed later in this book and is one of the most comprehensive books explaining why our democracy is failing to deliver manageable economic growth. It recognizes what is happening to our environment, our class structure (including inequality), and our political system. What is happening now is an example of how the elite keep control by offering false promises. President Trump is a master of distraction and is keeping the media talking about him rather than them noting what he is doing to the environment and society. Constructive change has to occur in America in so that it can become the democracy as envisioned by our founding fathers. Also, media has to change by offering some long term ideas and environmental solutions rather than what they are doing now with their constant emphasis on daily news and political agendas. Some of the media is owned by corporations that do not want to rock the boat with their advertisers or change their political philosophy or formats and these policies do not help our progress toward cooperation. The main absurdity is that many Republicans accept Trump’s lies, female discretions, and tweets with little questioning. Both parties have been affected by restarting the lemming gene in its members, where everyone behaves the same. This is when they consider the party more important than what is good for the “American People”. The recently passed tax bill is a good example of this. The bill was not explained in detail to show how each quintile of the population would be affected and would receive benefits. In some corporations, there will be increases in wages for their bottom-tier personnel, but this is long overdue anyway because of the long period of a flat economy. Some economists argue this point (of the economy being flat), and it is partly determined by what indicator is used: GDP—gross domestic product; GPI—genuine progress indicator; CPI— consumer price inflation; or PCE—personal consumption indicator. However, many economists have poor batting records (e.g., 2008 recession). The indicator GDP is the measurement most countries use. The GDP is the usual way to measure a country’s economy. GDP is the total value of everything produced by all the people and companies in the country. It doesn’t matter if they are citizens or foreign-owned companies. If they are located within the country’s boundaries, the government counts their production in the GDP. Wikipedia notes the alternative method, GPI, is designed to take fuller account of the well-being of a nation, only a part of which pertains to the size of the nation’s economy, by incorporating environmental and social factors that are not measured by GDP. For instance, some models of GPI decrease in value when the poverty rate increases. The GPI separates the concept of societal progress from economic growth, while it is also used in ecological economics, green economics, sustainability, and more inclusive types of economics. It factors in environmental and carbon footprints that businesses produce or eliminate, including the forms of resource depletion, pollution, and long-term environmental damage. This is why the GDP is not a true indicator of the economy. For example, the money spent for a person’s medical expenses is part of the GDP estimate, but it is a negative indicator by being an expense to society.