Ideas For Democracy:  Goal #4

Build a cooperative relationship between private industrial and commercial enterprise and the labor force.

 

Citizens who want real democracy will actively support this policy and vote for trustworthy candidates who actively support this policy.

 

IFD - policy:  The functional relationship between business and government in a democratic society begins with a separation of the people's free-market economy from the government.  However, it proceeds through history as a record of demonstrated needs for regulation of commerce for the public good and separation where separation is required to minimize the negative impact of selfish business interests' common attempts to control the government in place of the citizens who are the source of government power and authority.  A set of rational economic and social principles must be identified in order to assure that the economy is the possession of the people and the purpose of the economy is to meet the essential material needs of the greatest number through a just allocation of labor and then the rewards of labor. 

 

Here are the most essential principles to guide a democratic society that wishes to maintain a free-market economy:

1)  In a money economy that is not an agrarian economy, it is neither practical nor just to consider the individual citizen to be a person who is in the business of selling his or her labor for a profit.  On the contrary, the individual who needs work in order to earn money in order to purchase basic needs must be gainfully employed in order to be included in the economy.  To be unemployed is to be banished from the paired human activities that are the source of human civilization:

            A)  making one's contribution to the labor of the society and the community;

            B)  enjoyment of a matching share in the wealth of the society that is the fruit of   the sum of all productive work.

 

2)  To the extent that the public power of government is exercised in a manner similar to a business, then the government should not take responsibility for losses, damage, harm, or any restoration of lost value that was not caused directly by the government itself.

 

3)  If the society allows or encourages the incorporation of business entities, it must be understood that the original purpose of incorporation of a business entity was and is to provide for a public demand or a human need.  If and when investors exercise control over a business corporation and if they change the purpose of the corporation to primarily the goal of producing a monetary profit, then that corporation has changed its purpose to a purpose directed toward monetary profit alone and discarded or diminished the original purpose of meeting a human need.  The commitment to monetary profit alone, history shows, can become so extreme that a business entity can produce and sell goods that are dangerous or toxic and extremely harmful, even permanently harmful, to people and the natural environment that sustains life on Earth.  Government that is instituted by the people to protect and promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of liberty must exercise the governing power to provide for at least two types of profit-earning corporations:

            A) The corporation that remembers its original purpose to provide a public good by satisfying a social and economic demand, or the social alliance corporation;

            B)  The corporation that operates for profit only, or the investors corporation.

 

4)  To the extent that a free society wishes to avoid assignment of labor roles on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity, and pursue the assignment of labor roles on the basis of merit, character and abilities, then the governing power must seek to impose a system that is fair to all involved: employers, employees, majorities and minorities.

 

5)  The money economy and the technological progress of our society has led to a persistent process of replacing human labor with machine labor.  We have developed an "economy of abundance" where the supplies that meet human needs are available in abundance but the drastically reduced need for human labor excludes large numbers of citizens from participation in the economy (employment).  The reason citizens arrive at a state of "unemployment" in an industrial and technological society is because of a principle that is no longer applicable, the principle that the only legal way to obtain money in a money economy is "to be hired by a business entity in the private sector."  Business has used every form of technological progress since the 17th century to reduce the need to hire human labor.  We have reached a point where the "Industrial Revolution" has succeeded and we are faced with the problems of the "economy of abundance."  We have an abundance of capacity to produce and distribute goods but with a poorly functioning system for the distribution of human labor and the matching capacity to buy what is produced (purchasing power).  So long as we strictly uphold the doctrine that only those who work can have money, we have to face the reality that this principle places full control of the lives of citizens in the hands of private business entities.  We have traded the historic slavery on the medieval manors of nobility for a modern slavery at the hands of investors.  If government is to serve the people as opposed to serving the sentimental preservation of a privileged class, the individual citizen cannot be required to be employed in order to have money.  A new system intended to support inclusion of all in the economy, including those citizens who are turned away by the private business entities that do not need and do not want human labor, must be created and tested and perfected so that we can adjust to the new realities that have come to us in the package of changes and affects that we call "modern technology." 

 

6)  To the extent that business entities want greater freedom to hire and dismiss, they should be granted that freedom.

 

7)  To the extent that the people want the economy to be managed by their government for the public good, they should be granted that wish.

 

We need to adopt plans, projects and legislative programs to address the tangle of economic and political problems that have arisen from technological change and the destructive motives of some investors who use their powers and unethical practices to obstruct government.

 

Guiding Principles: 

1)  When a corporation is controlled by investors, it is subject to significant changes that place the personal and selfish goal of higher profits above the public benefit goals of high quality in products and services. 

 

2)  Elected legislators at all levels of government are representatives of individual citizens and only individual persons, and they may not at any time represent the alleged economic or financial interests of a business entity.  The opinions of citizens, including persons who are self-employed or who are the owners or managers of a business entity, or of any type of financial services organization, may be communicated to an elected legislator only as the views of an individual citizen or a group of citizens, but not as the views of an actual or theoretical business entity or corporation.  The practice known as "lobbying" for a business entity or business interest shall be illegal and punishable by law.

 

3)  Money or monetary value shall not be considered a form of speech or increase an individual's access to an elected legislator at any level of government.  All speech shall be equal before the law and shall be evaluated by legislators in accordance with content and the intellectual honesty and integrity of the source, but no additional validity shall be assigned to a citizen's viewpoint based on having originated with a person employed as a business entity or employed by a business entity or corporation.

 

4)  The knowledge and experience of a person who has been in business varies greatly and must be evaluated carefully in order to distinguish those with valuable understanding and advice from those who know only their own selfish desires for wealth and power.

 

5)  Political commentary should be organized by standards regarding identification of the source and category.  The people and legislators should give serious consideration to producing a legal definition for "manipulation" of the electorate and provisions for reducing and or punishing acts of manipulation by candidates or elected officials.

 

6)  Taxation and government expense issues:  It should be illegal for any candidate for legislative office to proclaim a plan, legislative resolution or desire to "reduce taxes," and all candidates should be required by law, when making a statement about taxation, to identify the specific types of government expenditures being discussed and why and how they should be reduced or increased or remain the same.

Legislation defining corporations:  The two types of corporations need to be defined by new legislation, including the processes of incorporation, duration of the grant of incorporation, the relationship of the corporation to government and any eligibility for or prohibitions of benefits provided by the taxpayers through government operations, including but not limited to tax provisions, employee education and training, and information available from government research projects.

Legislation defining lobbying and the public will:  Legislative programs to prohibit and prevent lobbying, and penalties thereof are needed.  Government support for practical and effective communication of all citizens' opinions, concerns and advice is needed.  Meaningful standards for polls and surveys, and frequent referenda on important issues, should be supported by legislative programs to assure the political process identifies the will of the people and how it shall be implemented.  The published results of polls and surveys should include publication of the specific structure and content of the poll or survey and or the research design.