Is Capitalism Dead? If it is - then what? - Boyd Conference 2008

In the 1930's many thought that Capitalism was the problem. Many looked to Communism as an answer.

As the economy crashes around us some are questioning Capitalism again. We also know that Communism did not work either.

So what to do?

Walking the dogs today - my main process for thinking - I had a bit of an aha.

Was not communism not really an extreme form of what Capitalism has evolved into?

Communism wrapped itself in the language of the People and the Public Good. Large companies tell us that they serve us. They tell us that they are good stewards. If they are pushed, they tell us that they act for their shareholders.

Communism made all the key decisions in huge central bureaucracies. No power was allowed to escape to the edge or to the local. Planning and power control at the centre was everything. Is this not the same for large companies today.

Communism was in effect Bureaucratism. Decisions were divorced from the reality of life as it is lived and were taken only in the context of what is right for the bureaucracy - that it that all must defend the institution and its top leaders. Is this not the same for large companies today.

While communism used the language of community, comrade and the patronym, the elite lived a completely different life from the people. In large companies the same us true. The CEO maybe called Fred or Bill but he is an autocrat and he lives like a king.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1989 because such a system could no longer cope with the complexity of the modern world - it could not deal with its energy needs and keeping up with the military spending of the west. The disparity between the rhetoric and the performance of the elite became too much for the people to accept any more.

Is this not ironic - we have become them!

I think we are close to that point now in the west. The disconnect is just too great.

Worse it is now clear that the large businesses control most of our political processes. The bailout helps whom?

So now what? In 1989, the answer was clear - democracy and capitlaism. But now we can see that these ideas have been captured by a Soviet of large companies.

So what would be a legitimate alternative?

This is what we will be talking about at the Boyd Conference on PEI on Dec 6-7.

The big idea - that a networked and decentralized alternative is possible as an economy where most of what we need, we produce locally and that we cut our dependence on the Central/Soviet system.

That we can use a new model based on networks for the core organizing principle.

A model close to the model of the Founding Fathers of the US!

That a place like PEI could be largely self sustaining in energy and food. That working to be that will create real jobs that can stay here and that can be taken by regular folks.

That a local energy and food system will be the foundation of an entirely new way of living that will reconnect our natural resources to us again and put many back to work. That all sorts of local activity will grow from this.

That we might build out from the strong credit union base where most of our savings are used locally.

That the big business in cars and trucks can be their service. Most dealers make all their money here already. Maybe the new new car model will be more like Ikea flat packs with the assembly localized and a standard chassis offering up a platform for mass customization? The Open Source Car?

That our media will be based on a truly local model without a central corporation sucking the cash flow out of it. Public Media in the US is just catching a glimpse of this.

That our health system will focus more on health than fixing. That our educational focus will shift from the institution of the school to the family.

That PEI will be connected to all the other communities via the web making up a rich and diverse continent.

That the national government will limit itself to that that serves the nation. That we redefine Defense to fit the challenge of the world as it is rather than try and be ready to re fight WWII.

That our taxes be reversed. That where we live gets the most and that the state gets the least.

That our governments and our organizations be as transparent and particpative as we can make them.

In the 1500's, a group of rebels could see that that the ethos of Chritianity had been captured by a self serving bureaucracy. The heart of the Reformation was a return to the original words of the Gospel.

I wonder - is this our work today? Is it to look back at the response of a group of people to a government system that served not the people but a disconnected elite?

The ideas of the Founding Fathers are waiting for us.