Posted by Editors on September 12, 2008 at 11:39:29:
In Reply to: Re: Help Build A Better World posted by Scott Wallace on September 07, 2008 at 19:23:40:
Scott,
In reading your reply, you begin by saying: "I agree" meaning we suppose(?)that you agree with our "Creeping Cooperativism" reply-- that small cooperative ventures cannot endure the competition of capitalist markets unless they exploit themselves even 'better' than capitalists! But you go on to subscribe to the possibility of their success...Please explain what you agree with? If cooperatives cannot succeed enough to encourage their 'spread' as a desirable model for others & eventual take over of capitalism, what purpose would they serve. If history is any judge, it won't work....even during earlier phases of vigorous, entreprenurial young nationalist Capitalism ---when more smaller-scale business models like local grocery stores & small farms--DID in fact exist ---they were decimated by what we have now, fully developed global Capitalism.
How could this model survive even a few months, nevermind years, to give 'heart' to those who would labor & exploit themselves on the HOPE that their model would lead to a systemic change?
Therefore, while we DO agree with all YOU SAY (Read Our Website for a Governance Model in which TRUE GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY IS PRACTICED, where we live/where we work) we are still unsure about how you believe giving energy to your cooperativist economic model would help us 'evolve' into a full-scale Economic Democracy for the 21st Century & beyond. If this were 1850, cooperativism might have appeal. In this vastly more complicated, technologically dependent & advanced, interconnected & industrially-based society/culture/economy...your concept of "microbreweries & small farms' while quaint, really seems to ignore the reality of how we live, what we expect of our lives, how we produce & survive. PLEASE
REPLY? Editors