Bacon's Rebellion

On 9 November we posted “WRONG SIZE HOUSE, WRONG LOCATION.

Subsequently, we promised to add a note in response to several comments. The original string is now 48 comments long, many of them not related to the core issue. So we will start over.

Groveton asked: “What makes a right location?” “Right location” is not determined by what any one person or Household does, it is determined by what everyone in the Community does to achieve Balance.

Groveton puts it this way: “… whether my house is in the right location seems to depend a lot on whether my job is in the right location.”

That is a start but it is not just the house and the job that matters.

It is Balance of J / H / S / R / A that matters. It is all the elements required to assemble a quality life. As many of the elements as possible that are needed to make you happy and safe should be “in the best locations.” As a backup there needs to be a shared vehicle system to get you to a few high value places that do not fit in the Village-scale station area or in the Community – say a job in the Zentrum, the Regional train station, stadium or concert hall.

Lets us assume one has a job and a home that are in convenient proximity. Next thing you know, children are on the horizon. The question that the partners must ask is not “where is the best school?”

The questionS are:

What can we do with those in my Dooryard and Cluster to crate the best environment for infants and toddlers?

What can we do with those in my Neighborhood to create the best environment and education for our grade schoolers?

What can we do with those in my Village to create the best environment and education for our junior and senior high schoolers?

What can we do with those in my Community to create the best environment and community Agencies and Institutions – including a Community college for all of us?

Ask not where to go to find a ________, ask how can we can create great ________s in this Community.

You say you move too often and change living patterns too often to make this work?

You may think you are still living in the past when burning through Natural Capital paid for a much wider range of choice and the level of excess which is reflected in the widening wealth gap, the financial crisis, food insecurity, energy dependence, etc., and, of course, dysfunctional settlement patterns.

In fact there never was a time when this “go where and when I want” strategy worked for more than a few at the top of the Ziggurat. It seemed like it a few decades ago but that was a temporary illusion driven by advertising and living off of cheap energy and foreign debt.

The Large, Private Vehicle Mobility Myth is that a Household can live where they want, seek employment where they want and then Agencies can provide a Mobility and Access system that allows everyone to go wherever they what, whenever they want and arrive in a timely manner.

Larry Gross asks again about “data.” We will get to data (again) in a further note as promised in UPON FURTHER REVIEW.

TMT said “As I understand the rule, if you take a job on the Hill, you should sell your house…”

Well that is a problem. Some will be able to do that, not everyone.

TMT, let us be clear the “Rule” is “pay the full location variable cost and you can do what you want.”

However, given humans – especially in the US of A – have burned through so much of their Natural Capital they will find the choices going forward are constrained by the market and by democratic processes – if humans are fortunate enough to preserve democracy and a market economy in the face of declining resources and growing demand by those who have been left behind by past actions.

If you think there are too many taxes now, just wait until you finally get around to costing out the true location-variable tab for the life style you espouse as a right.

The choice is intelligent and Fundamental Transformation or

Collapse.

Failure to prepare for the future and failure to reconsider traditional practices when conditions change is the prelude to Collapse.

As you may have noted, conditions HAVE changed.

It is depressing that Large, Private Vehicles and the Wrong Size Houses in the Wrong Location – places like Mountain Home – are the primary drivers of dysfunctional human settlement patterns. In spite of this reality, they have been used to “recover” from every recession since The Great Depression.

Now, when it should be clear to all that a new perspective is needed to achieve a sustainable trajectory for civilization, all the “leadership” is talking about is bailing out Detroit and propping up a flawed financial system exposed by the mortgage, derivative and default swap meltdown.

EMR

In late September and early October EMR posted four notes on the prospect of obtaining a sustainable trajectory for civilization. These posts generated an inordinate number of unfounded, negative comments. Since Jim Bacon has taken on new responsibilities, he no longer has time for comments such as “… I have been editing EMR’s work for X years and never once have I seen him suggest …” Without these admonitions, the attacks have become more pointed, more personal and farther from the topic of the post.

Based on the tone and content of the comments it appeared useful to more carefully analyze the responses to the four posts: “Fundamental Transformation” (21 September 2008), “Toward a Sustainable Trajectory” (29 September 2008), “Obstacles on the Path to a Sustainable Trajectory” (3 October 2008), and “Worth Noting Again” (3 October 2008).

For reasons noted previously on this Blog, EMR does not read all the comments so did not have a full grasp of how far comments had deteriorated. A comment by comment analysis found there was no basis for many of the attacks and no indication that most commentors had tried to understand or even read the material posted and cited.

The majority – but not all – of the comments had the sole intent on discounting, discrediting and belittling. They included inaccurate summaries of web searches, links to sparky and irrelevant material and gratuitous diagnosis of psychiatric disorders.

A NEW APPROACH

SYNERGY is in the final stages of editing TRILO-G for publication. At this point there is a need for short sections and supplemental text to tie current events to the larger context – the exploration of the economic, social and physical ramifications of functional and dysfunctional human settlement patterns.

After a review of the comments following the four posts noted above it was determined that it would speed up the pre-publication editing process if unedited first drafts of TRILO-G material was posted on the blog.

The trial posts included “It is Elementary,” (10 October 2008), “The Role of the Media,” (11 October 2008), “Swift Boating the Mortgage Crisis,” (12 October 2008) and “The Bottom Line,” 13 October 2008). Other drafts material has also been posted.

Why would someone post these drafts?

This is the free market at work. Posting these drafts is the cheapest and fastest way to sniff out passages and topics that could become targets of intentional misrepresentations and distortions.

TRILO-G is being published with staff support and half a dozen colleagues who read and comment on the material in draft form. None of these reviewers can identify sentences and paragraphs that need armoring against unfounded criticism as fast as Bacons Rebellion commentors.

Posting the draft material is far more efficient than paying additional staff or hiring focus group managers to help sniff out material that is subject to unfounded attack. Bacons Rebellion commentors possess a well honed ability to identify statements that can be maliciously misinterpreted.

The results of the experiment have been spectacular! Thank you.

The statements that have been shown to be vulnerable to intentional misinterpretations and distortions have been and will revised / restated before the Beta draft appears. The content of the four posts noted above will become part of Chapter 29, in a section titled “It Is the Settlement Pattern, Stupid.” Other post will become parts of chapters throughout the text.

THE LARGER QUESTIONS

Having turned lemons to lemonade several larger questions remain. These questions are important if one is to develop an educational program to help citizens understand human settlement patterns and obtaining a sustainable trajectory for society.

What is the motivation for these attacks?

It this a problem with this Blog, with Blogging in general or with all media?

First, how can one be sure that many are intentional misinterpretations and distortions and not just statements of uniformed or misinformed personal opinion? A careful reading suggests that a few do not bother to address the subject of the post and almost no one addresses the core idea. Commentors most often pick a phrase or sentence and then attack. They appear to be sure anything EMR presents is wrong so any attack is justified.

EMR knows from direct feedback that many readers do understand but that is not what comes across in th comments. Some who understand say they do not want to be subject to slings and arrows of the flamers.

It is clear that Flamers desire a forum. There will always be 20 percent who claim the Earth is flat and they find a place to express their views in Blog comments.

In a larger context this “vocal minority” may be a root cause the He Said / She Said “journalism” of MainStream Media profiled in THE ESTATES MATRIX.

(Favorite quote of the weekend: “The public’s frankly gotten frustrated with the conventional of objectivity, the idea that you (journalists) have to present both side of the story, even if one side is completely bogus.” In WaPo Magazine “Onion Nation.”)

In response to the heap of negative comments there are a number of other observations that will be posted from time to time.

In the meantime, here is an example of a brief section of draft material that has been added to Chapter 3:

………………

STRAWPERSONS – RED HERRING EMPLOYED IN DEFENSE OF MYTHS

Beyond the three well articulated diversions noted above there is an avalanche of strawpersons; Red herring tossed up to divert attention from Myths.

One favorite from the realm of blogging is “The Pregnant Mother of Two” championed by Blogger Bob. This strawperson was put forth to justify Autonomobile dominated settlement patterns that would facilitate The Pregnant Mother of Two driving to a supermarket in a Large, Private Vehicle. If anything impedes the use of Large, Private Vehicles it would be a gross affront to civilized society in the view of Blogger Bob because it would make life miserable for The Pregnant Mother of Two.

Shall we consider the real world?

A far smaller percentage of citizens are pregnant at any given time than the percentage who are always isolated by near exclusive dependence on the autonomobile for Access and Mobility.

This reality becomes even more critical as the population ages. Even more important, the number who are isolated by Autocentric settlement patterns rises dramatically as the cost of Autonomobility rises.

Even the most rudimentary calculation of alternative settlement pattern costs demonstrate that it would be far cheaper a build a special environment for pregnant women to shop for necessities than to create millions of acres of dysfunctional settlement patterns.

One could design a Community-serving hyper*mart with isles wide enough to drive to car-window-accessible shelves. The subsidy to make this facility available to certified pregnant women would be paid for by the vast savings due to functional settlement patterns in the rest of the Community. The general public could shop in the Pregnant Woman Center if they paid the full cost. This would work just like the justification for HOT lanes. One can just imagine the opportunities for public private partnerships…

But wait, the Pregnant Mothers of Two can now shop by phone and have the goods delivered. And what is the responsibility to support the Household of the person who got her pregnant? Oh, right, he is so busy overcoming dysfunctional settlement patterns he has no time to help out.

The questions are endless but irrelevant when one understands that it would
be far more effective and far more efficient to evolve functional settlement patterns Community-wide.

A functional environment would be better for all women – pregnant or not – and for all small children – with or without a pregnant mother. The bottom line it would be better for everyone. This better alternative of functional human settlement patterns is explored in the “social impact chapters” (8 and 9) of The Shape of the Future and specifically in the discussion of “It takes a Village” in Chapter 9, Box 3. Also see “A Yard Where Johnny Can Run and Play,” 1 December 2003.

If Blogger Bob would bother to run the numbers, he would understand the need for functional human settlement patterns. Does he do that? No, he parades out The Pregnant Mother of Two who in his mind must be given the opportunity drive a Large, Private Vehicle to a big parking lot outside a store to get provisions for her family regardless of the cumulative consequences.

This is typical of the strawperson tossed up to obfuscate attempts to eliminate settlement pattern Myths.

……………

By the way, if you did not pass the Monday Morning Test you may not understand.

More responses in due course.

EMR

Google Map search for Mountain House, California and Waterloo, Iowa (Tks to Larry Gross for a great example)

Background: Mountain House is the new poster child of Wrong House, Wrong Location and underwater mortgages (90% or 95% depending on source.) Both Mountain House and Waterloo are in agricultural regions that are among the most productive on the planet.

If from these two maps do not make:

Clear Edge
Critical Mass
Balanced Community
New Urban Region
Mobility and Access Crisis
Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis
Helter Skelter Crisis
Sustainable human settlement patterns

very clear to you, please do not vote or invest until you have overcome Geographic Illiteracy.

Until a majority of US of A citizens can understand these eight concepts, political leaders will have no choice but to promise economic growth instead of sustainable trajectory for society.

EMR

WaPo has columnists who often see the world as it is: Warren Brown in one. Another is Steven Pearlstein who appears in the Business section. Today – 14 November – Pearlstein tosses a touchdown pass in overtime with “Toward a new International Capitalism.”

For anyone interested in the 20 nation-state “summit” about to launch in the Federal District or the future of Virginia’s economy needs to understand Pearlstein’s perspective.

For EMR the most important thought is buried in the next to last paragraph:

“While product and labor markets work remarkably well when they are left open and lightly-regulated, experience has now demonstrate that a different approach needs to be taken toward financial markets, which suffer from imperfect information, and abundance of moral hazard and a tendency toward herd behavior and speculative excess.”

Wait a minute!

While those comments are on target with respect to “financial” markets what about land markets, built environment markets and infrastructure markets? Taken together these three can be called “the settlement pattern market” because they shape human settlement patterns.

No one with hands on experience in these markets could claim they do not “suffer from imperfect information, and abundance of moral hazard and a tendency toward herd behavior and speculative excess.”

Is the real estate market just a side light? Is it not the mortgage sector of this market that is driving the Global financial meltdown?

What about Autonomobiles? Are they just “products” or are they right behind “Wrong Size House in Wrong Location” as a driver of settlement pattern dysfunction?

What a huge blind spot Pearlstein has exposed! We explore this blind spot that is common among economist in The Shape of the Future.

Pearlstein provides a useful context with which come to understand the importance and topography of the complex market that most directly impacts human settlement patterns.

At the federal, state and municipal levels Agencies have done an terrible job of managing the settlement pattern market. See “The Role of Municipal Planning in the Creation of Dysfunctional Human Settlement Patterns,” 23 January 2002.

Housing and Autonomobiles have been subsidized by Agencies to jump start the economy with every recession since the Great Depression. And every time the settlement pattern has become more dysfunctional as documented by the Mobility and Access Crisis and the Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis.

Why not evolve intelligent management of four markets: Labor, Goods and Services, Finance and Settlement Pattern? That will be important at the Global and continental scales but even more important at the Regional scale. The nation-state has a role to play but it is the Region where the rubber needs to meet the road. That has been the focus in the EU.

The folks governance practitioners that Jim Bacon calls Euro Weenies have been reluctant to harp on the dysfunctional settlement patterns in the US of A because the more sustainable patterns and densities of land use give the Euro’s a competitive advantage.

Perhaps in the context that Pearlstein outlines they will speak up over the weekend.

EMR

On 31 October CNNMoney.com reported that First American CoreLogic had found 7.5-million home mortgages already “underwater” and another 2.1-million that were on the brink. The International Herald Tribune story cited in EMR’s post “WaPo and IHT Housing and Mortgage Coverage,” 29 October on this Blog pegged the potential for underwater mortgages by 2010 at 19-million.

The CoreLogic report provides underwater numbers by state:

An astounding 49.8% of all mortgages in Nevada are underwater – talk about gambling…

An equally astounding 4.1 million underwater mortgages are in the top five states. These states include Florida and California, two jurisdictions that are often mentioned as leaders in the propagation of dysfunctional settlement patterns at Regional scale.

The two states with the lowest percentage of underwater mortgages were New York and Hawaii.

In New York State (4.4% of mortgages underwater) one factor may reflect Rockefeller administration concern for settlement patterns forty years ago – we did not call it that at the time but that is what was a primary concern as it had been in 1926. Modest rates of Regional growth over the past 40 years in most New Urban Regions that fall all or part with in New York State also helps. Hyper growth yields hyper dysfunction. (Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania which also have territory in the New York New Urban Region are also in the bottom 10 of underwater mortgages). Another factor is aggressive pursuit of mortgage, insurance and other venues for Enterprise fraud by New York State.

In the number two state, Hawaii (5.6% of mortgages underwater), the settlement patterns are nearly as useful as those of Western Europe for demonstrating the principles of intelligent settlement patterns. This is in spite of real estate churn and flux due to Asian investing. (If they could just get a robust shared-vehicle system up and running in the Oahu New Urban Region…)

EMR uses the terminology “Wrong Size House, Wrong Location” as shorthand for the Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis and the root cause of the mortgage meltdown. So far it has been ‘Wrong Location’ more than ‘Wrong Size House’ that has shown up in the foreclosure data.

The reason appears to be that a reluctance on the part of mortgagors to foreclose on Big houses in poor locations. The reason may be that in the current market they can not be resold. There are buyers for less expensive dwellings. Frequently the notice of foreclosure sale is followed by a notice of a resale for about the same price – some even higher than the foreclosure price.

That fact indicates special impacts on Households with low Institutional Capacity. Foreclosures of cheap houses in poor locations appear to have an especially big impact on minority homeowners. In the Subregional press, Hispanic surnames are much more frequent in foreclosure notices than in the population in general. Antidotal evidence suggests flight from the inhospitable environment created by Prince William County resulted in imprudent debts.

Prince William’s target may have started out to be ‘illegals’ but the impact appears not to be confined to illegals by any stretch.

Of the 25 counties with the highest rates of increase in Hispanics from 2000 to 2007 in the entire US of A six are in the Virginia portion of the National Capital Subregion. Three are adjacent to Prince William County and two others are not far away.

EMR has stated that those components of urban settlement where SYNERGY has identified high percentages of foreclosure are orphan subdivisions in dysfunctional locations vis a vis Jobs / Services / Amenity.

The pictures used to illustrate MainStream Media coverage of the mortgage meltdown look like poster children for settlement pattern dysfunction but that is not a statistically valid guide.

State-wide and municipal / Planning District data can misleadingly mask what is happening in the organic components of a New Urban Region.

Here is an exercise for those who have any doubt about the Wrong Location part of the Wrong Size House / Wrong Location paradigm:

Locate Cluster-scale, Neighborhood-scale and Village-scale urban agglomerations with high percentages of foreclosures. Then determine, based on Google Maps or other resources, if these places are in components of urban settlement that have any chance of becoming contributors to the evolution of Balanced Communities.

EMR

In response to several Emails requesting clarification, EMR sets the record straight:

There are fewer degrees of separation between EMR and the President-Elect Barack Obama than with any occupant of the White House since Jimmy Carter. In this case it is not understanding Carters time in public office – especailly as Governor of Georgia – but the context in which Obama grew up.

Sen. Obama graduated from Punahou School. It was two graduates of Punahou (Class of ‘59) while attending the University of Montana who convinced EMR he should consider going to the University of Hawaii.

EMR was studying philosophy, mathematics and architecture at U of H when Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife there. Hawaii in the 1960 was not a comfortable place for Africans or African Americans. It was in some contexts a more tolerant place for children of mixed heritage but not for inter-racial marriages, especially involving Africans or African Americans.

In Hawaii published in 1959 , James Michener had glorified the racial equanimity of Hawaii. In the Fall of 1960 EMR met Michener at a small party and observed that EMR had found extreme racial profiling and tension as a student, a construction worker, bar tender and as a consumer in the Aloha state.

It was a small party and Michener seemed to take this input into serious consideration. As we all know, Michener who had moved his permanent home to Hawaii, later repudiated the cosmopolitan “golden man” idea because of the treatment his Asian American wife recieved. He moved to the Phildelphia New Urban Region.

The relevance of this? Growing up in Hawaii gave Barack Obama the perspecitve, social skills and mental toughness that could not have been obtained growing up in the oft cited crucibles of the civil rights movement. This background prepared him for the path he has taken and will serve him well in the future.

Our time in Hawaii included working as the house and yard man (not “boy,” please) for a very prominent member of the medical profession (Punahou Class of 1927) and forming friendships with a range of individuals. An inquiry or two would yield a single degree of separation.

The more important thing is that after living in Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia EMR can still say it was in Hawaii where Barack Obama grew up that race and color were the most important economic and social parameters. (Living in Mass. Mont and Calif only provide perspective :>)

By the way, the Hawaiian Islands provide incredible lessons on human settlement pattern too – if you know where to look and what you are looking at.

Obama was the best qualified person running for president in 2008. We hope that 100 years from now he is considered the best President the US of A has ever had. Given the magnitude of the problems he faces, he has that opportunity.

But the HYPE is not going to help. Hype, frenzy and in-your-face celebration as well as “we will beat the crap out of those that are aganist us next time” declartions attracts nut cases like the one who shot the President who was elected in the year Barack Obama Sr. met his future wife.

Let us hope the Agency employees hired to protect the President are better qualified than those hired to protect citizens of the Gulf Coast – “Heck of a job Brownie.” See “Katrina Yet Again” 8 September 2008.

The HYPE also attracts readers and viewers and sells advertising. It does not make the job of achieving a sustainable trajectory for civilization any easier.

How hard will that job be? Check the Business section of today’s WaPo – “The New President and the Economy” or yesterdays and today’s GVI (aka, the Dow Jones Gambling Venue Index).

And who will be helping him? See the bottom of the page the Business section. Obama’s inside advisors will include Jason Furman who says Wal*Mart is “a progressive success story.” See “Learning from Big Boxes” in THE PROBLEM WITH CARS.

Hope that clarifies EMR’s perspective.

EMR

Two years ago today, Jim Bacon wrote a column titled “Elections, Shmelections. Nothing has changed.”

That column deserves to be reread with care. From the perspective of the long term trajectory of civilization, NOTHING WAS CHANGED by yesterday’s election except the level of hype.

Barack Obama could be the best president the US of A has ever had and that would not change the current trajectory on contemporary society.

The future is not about what President Elect Obama – or any other President – can or will do. The future is about what citizens and their Organizations have already done, individually and collectively, and will do, especially collectively and primarily at the New Urban Region scale.

This is true whether or not Senator Obama is able to implement his agenda. Check out the Obama platform on taxes and spending, housing stimulus and the bailout, retirement security, trade, foreign policy, access to health care, offshore drilling, climate change, immigration, education and the culture war issues. They are great pre-1973 ideas but will they really result in “change” much less yield Fundamental Transformation to a sustainable trajectory?

To be fair with the Elephant Clan promising pre-1973 “growth and prosperity” had the Donkey Clan been more realistic, they would have been hammered by the voters. That is because the vast majority who went to the polls believe in Big Rock Candy Mountain.

And why do they believe in Big Rock Candy Mountain? That is what both Clans have been promising for 35 years.

In neither Clan’s platform were there substantive proposals for Fundamental Transformation in governance structure to reflect economic, social and physical reality. There was not even the call for a Balance of individual rights with community responsibilities that was in both the Bush I and Clinton platforms of 1992.

There were no proposals that would result in a Fundamental Transformation in human settlement pattern.

Both Fundamental Transformations are necessary to preserve democracy with a market economy.

An ‘historic’ election? The only historic aspect is that finally citizens MAY have put aside prejudices that were contrary to the principles upon which the US of A was founded 233 years ago – slavery and racism.

On 5 November citizens and their Organizations are faced with the same human settlement pattern they had on 3 November – the Helter Skelter Crisis. That crisis has resulted in:

The Mobility and Access Crisis, and

The Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis

The later of which has triggered a Global financial meltdown.

Reversing the Helter Skelter Crisis is the only path to shrinking the ecological footprint of humans, reducing energy consumption and dependence on foreign petroleum as well as enhancing personal and food security along with other key elements of a sustainable trajectory for civilization.

Although they make important observations, there is something profoundly frustrating about the posts “A Few Pre-Election Thoughts,” (3 Nov) and “Va, Welcome to the Real World,” (5 Nov) by Peter Galuszka and “Democracy in Action,” (4 Nov) Jim Bacon. These posts imply that who gets elected and which party they represent (note: “which PARTY they represent) makes a difference. Political party monopoly is bad, the current political party duopoly is worse.

In the ESTATES MATRIX we document why MainStream Media has abandoned the Fourth Estate. Watching the election coverage on the ‘major’ networks and cable channels last night and then reading the election coverage in today’s press makes it clear:

MainStream Media is dependent on political party duopoly is pseudo “competition” for revenue.

“Let’s you and him fight” political ‘coverage’ is a huge contributor to MainStream Media’s bottom line. According to WaPo the two parties spent over $375 million dollars on “media and advertising” for the top of the ticket from June trough election day.

Political candidate and party ads plus the ‘issue’ ads intended to generate bail-out proceeds, defense contracts and to obscure responsibility for the Global financial meltdown (and other hot air issues) make up the majority of ad revenue. The prime drivers of dysfunctional settlement patterns – Large, Private Vehicles and Dream Homes – ad revenue is in the tank along with the advertisers.

In a democracy there is no sustainable path to Elephant Clan recovery. That is because the Clan would have to convince 50.5 percent of the voters in key states that they are enjoying to fruits of “growth and prosperity.” That is not possible when the “growth and prosperity” they tout has been subsidized by burning thru natural capital that has been and / or is being exhausted.

This is not just the problem with oil but with all resources from blue crabs to top soil, to potable water. The natural capital is not completely gone yet but it will be more inaccessible and much more expensive in the future. Resources will be affordable only by those at the top of the economic Ziggurat and they do not make up 1 percent of the voters, much less 50.5 percent.

Oh yes, there is a way to lower the cost – a recession. A depression works even better. But that does not make those voters at the bottom of the Ziggurat happy.

Culture War issues are no longer a viable refuge for the Elephant Clan. Concerning the Culture Wars the op ed “Last of the Culture Warriors” by Peter Beinart in the 3 Nov 2008 WaPo is a must read.

In a democracy with a market economy there is no sustainable path for the traditional platform of the Donkey Clan either. The only option is rabid populism because there are not enough resources to support continued Mass OverConsumption, especially with dysfunctional human settlement patterns.

The favorite weapons of the Clan wars and also not available. Derogatory labels are not only useless – as the results from yesterday’s election show – hurling misleading epithets at the other party is ineffective and probably counter-productive. Calling someone a fascist, ultra conservative, right wingnut, center right, center, center left, liberal, ultra liberal, left wingnut, socialist, communist – and all the other labels – is meaningless.

Scaring citizens by suggesting that the other party wants to take away their ‘freedom’ or ‘taxing the poor to support the rich’ is will not work. Neither will using ill defined terms like “limited government,” “free markets” or “rule of law” when those in public office violate their responsibility to protect community interests.

Party labels have been stretched and distorted to include at least 50.5% of those who come out to voter. (By the way, “Donkey Clan” and “Elephant Clan” were not invented by EMR or Jim Bacon. EMR first heard about them from a political scientist who describes himself as a “recovering Republican.” The Clan designations have a useful ‘tribal’ ring and have been adopted into the SYNERGY Lexicon.)

Where to from here?

“Politics is broken.” Partisan two party competition is a dead end. Bipartisan ‘cooperation’ is worse and a nonpartisan agenda not much better. Bipartisan and nonpartisan catchalls mask the need for Fundamental Transformation. How about an Antipartisan strategy?

Drop the superficial political spectrum labels – call them all Core Confusing Words.

Spell out principles such as those in The Shape of the Future with respect to human settlement patterns or those dealing with managing the economy in the “IT IS ELEMENTARY” post of 10 October 2008 on this Blog.

Define objectives using clear, well defined terms within a comprehensive Conceptual Framework.

Spe
ll out the strategy to achieve the objectives and seek broad agreement on the tactics to achieve the objectives. With respect to human settlement pattern, SYNERGY lays out a Three Step Process in HANDBOOK.

The Antipartisan approach is to create a broad consensus based on agreement of the vast majority of stake holders with the level of decision being the level of impact.

The biggest problem for some will be that an inclusive Antipartisan process will “slow things down.” Slowing things down in a society where speed has burned through natural capital and atomized society is a good thing, not a bad thing. Small is beautiful and Regional is the new Global.

Note on Vocabulary:

Google and Webster, Third Edition indicate that “Antipartisan” is a new word so we capitalized it. Antipartisan.com is an available domain name. Jim Bacon’s “Elections, Shmelections, Nothing Has Changed” column drew a suggestion from Groveton concerning a new “third” party. Perhaps what is needed is an antiparty?

EMR