The Essentials of Survival or Where to Break the Egg.

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All life has a common dependency  on land, air, water.  The use of it is exclusive to no one. There is no birthright to possession with or without the contribution of personal labor. Not even your own labor is exclusively yours if another has the power to compel you to serve him with your labor.

 I am a son of the South and among my ancestors were men who owned slaves and never once questioned their right to compel their slaves to serve them for all of their lives and the lives of their children and their children's children.  Even their Religion and their Government told them that this was their Birthright to possess at will. 

Also among my ancestors were Native Americans who laid claim by birthright to the use of the land of their ancestors. But in the end superior power of the Invaders displaced this Birthright push my ancestor off their land and down the "Trail of Tears"  and now modern day American claim it as their right to possess by virtue of  Labor.  

There is no such right of possession in Nature.  It become possible only if the Community [which has power superior to the individual] grants the privilege of possession in return for a tax that is due to the community to provide for the common use of that community.  How the Common-share is used is determined by who holds the power of Community. It might be Democratic or Oligarch or Dictatorial, but it exist beyond the power of any single individual to resist.  

If the Community decides that a portion of that tax of the Commonshare is to be used for food, shelter, medical-care and skill training for some or all of the Citizen of the Community, the opinion of those who believe it is Philosophically wrong is an opinion of no consequence in the absence of Democratic Response or Armed Rebellion.

 It is not your or my  Philosophical Opinion that determines Absolute Right.  It is the will of those who hold the power to impose their will that determine truth of the moment.  It is only the willingness to evolve values by compromise that offers a pathway to change without violence. I for one embrace the privilege to possess wealth as reward for achievement of competition and for the contribution  to the common good.  I also am of the opinion that a community that guarantees that each and every citizen shall have food, shelter, medical care and education that is not predicated upon the need to satisfy a Bureau for Begging is a stable and productive community. 

 I am fully satisfied that a modern technological Society can easily do both without  a struggle  to satisfy the need to be Absolutely Right  about the proper Moral Behavior. Our present struggle over who will hold power, leads me directly to consideration of the Society of Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels. What does it really matter which end of the boiled egg you crack before eating. 

 Copyright © William Hodge 2012 

Commonshare is the Heart of Community

                                                           

I believe that the distribution of the essentials of life should not be tested by monetary need. I find the concept of a Bureau for Begging to be humiliating  in an era of abundance. I am a supporter of the concept of Common-share.  Land, air, and water are essential to all life in common and private ownership cannot go uncontested except at the will of the Community at large.  

When the Society grants the privilege of private ownership of any part of the Commons in the attempt to achieve efficient productivity or reward it, the holder of the privilege owes a share back to the Community of the personal gain he makes from holding title. It is this tax that comes from a share of private gain  that belong to the whole Community. It is ethically due in exchange for no one contesting the power of Community to grant the privilege  of private individual use of that which belongs to all.

It is this tax that provides the means for an efficient distribution of basic food, shelter, medical care and skill training, all of which are essential to life. The distribution should be to every citizen without regard to social status or wealth.  Every individual gets it,  be he Prince or pauper.  In an abundant Society that needs only limited 
labor, a persons labor that is not need should have no moral bearing on his right to receive the benefit of the 
common-share.

 Labor that is needed should be rewarded with a greater share of what is being produced.  It could be and would be given to those who make the free choice of  contributing his labor. It could be and would be done in the capitalist free market economic system. 

 The system of distribution could be done through the same Social Security System that is already in place to distribute the money for the life essentials of retires.  Retirement benefits would simply be added to the basic life  benefits when one reaches the age of retirement from one's freely chosen paid for labor contributions to society. That is the best way for all to start at the same line to both compete and cooperate in building our shared Community of Living

.  Copyright © William Hodge 2012