“One of the cornerstones of the neo-liberal policies adopted by most Latin American governments in the 1990s was the privatization of state-owned enterprises. This process of passing national wealth on to the private sector has been so injurious that it could soon render entire countries unviable. On occasion, citizen organization has succeeded in halting privatizations through public demonstrations that at times have turned into outright insurrections.” ii

Following years of exhaustive research, analysis and, with amazing insight, Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis connected the dots in their 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine, iii in which they document and explain how the Chicago Boys birthed several generations of “economists” who modeled their brand of economic, social and political chaos theories after Hitler, Stalin, Machiavelli and other “evil doers” to move massive amounts of wealth from public institutions and from the mass of society, into private hands of a few super-rich elites. It is my opinion that this book and its associated cousins will equal or exceed the impact on our society that Rachael Carson's Silent Spring has had on the environmental movement. iv

The effect of shock works both ways, it seems. At first the killers win the race. As one commentator said, “ If you have a guy by his balls, his mind will soon follow”. Once the pain has been suffered and the truth of the crimes of the Al Capone Capitalists are exposed by the bright light of widely distributed publications, the workers and their allies will arise from their stupor and impressment as serfs, create the will to take back their economic rights and lives, and establish a truly democratic culture, political and economic system. We need not debate the truth of the expose's which are beginning to change the politics of the USA and are making progress in many countries still ruled by the super rich elite.

The model for governance of the democratic system is well established among the worker cooperatives. We simply rewrite the constitutions to mirror the best of the worker cooperative governance methods. The model should have these elements:

• One voter, one vote. Eliminate the Electoral College. Change the role of state legislatures in ratifying changes to the Constitution so that the power of ratification is by majority vote of all registered votes in the United States.

• Voter qualifications. The only requirements are that the voter be a U. S. Citizen eighteen years or older and be alive at the time he/she votes. A federal registrar of voter registration and voter ID cards would complete the registration process, thereby eliminating the need to register in any state or county for federal elections.

• Initiative and referendum. Add to the new constitution, the power of the voters to pass initiatives and referendums (by a 60% vote of those voting). Initiative and referendum laws must apply to the constitutions as well as legislative acts. Provision should be made to vote by secure Internet means.

• Reform the tax system. Repeal the income tax and substitute a federal consumption tax. Excise taxes on luxury goods and services should be retained in order level wealth. There should be an inheritance tax on the extremely wealthy.

• Reform land use regulations. The new constitution will explicitly allow for land use by worker collectives/intentional communities so that they can “Work where we live and live where we work”. This approach will cut down on long commuting, multiple car families, the continued expansion of the huge highway grid, pollution (air, water and ground), and transportation and storage costs. This approach will allow for the gradual reduction in per capita energy consumption, especially in the “developed” countries.

• Sunshine laws. Enscribe in the constitution, the right of the people to know what all governments are doing, have done, and their deliberations and records.

• Family planning. As part of the family planning and family promotion, ample efforts should be made to provide for family planning with the objective of reducing our total population. Demographers predict that the exponential growth in the Earth's human population is expected to greatly outstrip the available finite resources of the Earth in the not too distant future.

• Protection of private property. Restrict the power of government and quasi-government corporations to “take” private property for “public use” (even with “fair compensation”). All takings proposed by government should be explicitly subject to the referendum process. This same right of referendum should extend to when one government proposes to take the property of a different governmental unit for a “higher and better use”.

• Eliminate joint powers entities. Many state laws allow two or more governmental entities to use a “joint exercise of powers” law to form a separate entity which can have the same governmental powers as the forming entities have. This new creation of government is not subject to popular election. This aspect of joint exercise of powers should be explicitly prohibited or, at the very least, provide for election of the governing board directly by the voters and to subject the regulations of such third entity to the initiative and referendum process.

• Outlaw private armies. Blackwater is a private army authorized and funded by the U. S. Government. Their agents can commit murder with impunity. This practice must be absolutely prohibited.

• Social justice. Social justice requires that each government provide for a wide range of social, economic and political rights.

• Judicial justice. Reform our judicial system to provide for active oversight of the performance of all aspects of the judicial system, with independent funding and governance, not dominated by the judicial system.

The above list is not exhaustive nor as complete as one would wish. It is a start. We need to charge our worker cooperative think tanks to shift their focus from what has happened and finance the building of our worker-based economic and political systems. It is time to hit the “start” button.

Jim Miller

jimmiller5417@yahoo.com

March 1, 2008.