Thus spake Robert Cordingley circa 10/06/2008 12:25 PM: > Someone wanted to know what we could do. Well, to break the connection > between money and power which I think is a core problem, nationwide, I'd > start with: > [...] > Quick questions: What political animal does this make me? How do I get > started? Can someone model all this to see if it would make a difference?
Well, I can't say what type of political animal it makes you; but I can say that breaking the connection between money and power seems like a fundamentally flawed concept to me. I take "money" to mean something like "a medium for exchange" ... a currency. And, in this sense, it's virtually identical to "power". The only way out of that is to establish some sort of non-exchangable rights... like inherited, non-transferable titles or ... royal blood. But, I could see attaching some sort of equitable transience to any given form of power. For example, the ownership, exploration, and maintenance of land is an inherently inertial form of power whereas money is very fluid (or even gaseous ;-). So, one could install, as a part of the definition of money some form of restrictions on its accumulation. Perhaps a promissory note should expire? Or degrade as time goes by? If I trade a pig for $50, then that $50 should only be good for about the same amount of time a pig would be good for? ... what? 10 years? This would discourage (though not debilitate) the trade of wealth for money and, thereby, discourage the type of money multiplication that's lead to the current crisis (and the paper millions of our newly rich). As for buying a political office (which is what we do in this country), perhaps those notes could be saddled with a decay appropriate to the office being bought? Pay for a 4 year position with 4-year money. Pay for a lifetime judgeship with 75-year money. Pay for mineral rights with 1000-year money. -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
