Localization!
Given that it is our destiny to achieve a voluntary society, there are only two ways statism can end: a violent collapse or a peaceful transition. Current government systems are clearly unsustainable. If we do not start paying attention and facing up to our problems, we are headed for sudden failures of the very systems that many of us depend on. While it would be nice to be able to push a button and instantly end all coercion in the world, such a button does not exist. While pushing such a button would certainly make the world a better place, it would also have unforeseen consequences. Where there is revolution without evolution of thought, there is a power vacuum. Instead of provoking instability, we should encourage self-government to fill that void so we can have a peaceful, orderly transition to a world without governments. The way to do that is localization.
Localization is dismantling governments from the top down, first restoring power to local communities with the end goal of eliminating all organized coercion, and establishing a voluntary society based on self-ownership and universal nonviolence. In many places, governments provide the best means available to achieve this through existing subdivisions and the electoral process. In some places, localization will be most effective when central governments are simply overthrown, but it must be done with a clear rejection of any central government, not just to replace it with another.
Localization appeals to people who don’t quite support freedom, but simply want a greater say in how they are governed. The more local government is, the more relevant the voice of the individual. Under most governments today, even those with robust democracies, individual voters know their influence is usually insignificant. The global call to localize will unite people of all political persuasions, except for those who want global government.
Localizing has many immediately tangible benefits with universal appeal. Smaller local governments will be less likely to make war. Policies of social control will reflect local cultures more than the edicts of those in a distant capital. Natural resources will be used to serve local communities, rather than corporations controlled from far away.
Large central governments have proven to be great tools for consolidating wealth in the hands of the few and the enforcers are paid to keep it that way. Localization provides the opportunity for communities to reclaim unjustly-acquired property and make it more widely available if returning it to its rightful owners is not possible. This is especially important for land that has been sequestered, but can be made available for homesteading and other productive purposes.
The alternative to localization is to fight inch by inch, law by law. If we adopt this strategy, we will continue to lose ground as politicians pat us on the head for engaging in the political process while they laugh and take another mile behind our backs. We will not achieve a free society by begging governments for freedom. We will do it by demanding immediate restoration of power to our communities. The first places to embrace this strategy will lead the world toward freedom. They will be the most prosperous and the most secure. It is crucial to reverse the trend of consolidation of power as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more difficult it will be.
Localization starts by practicing localism – building up our communities and creating the organizations to make ourselves less dependent on central governments. We could even say that localization is inevitable, it’s just a matter of how. If we ignore the problems, we can sit back, wait for the collapse, and hope our governments spare us in their violent death throes as they cling to power. If we face up to these problems, we can begin a peaceful transition that will immediately yield positive results. It will most likely be a mix of both, as some would argue that the violent crackdowns against protesters around the world are already a sign of governments losing control. The sooner we embrace localism, the sooner we can end this violence and all the violence of statism.
I am the author of FREEDOM!, a book endorsed (I mean banned) by the US Department of “Justice.” You can get a copy here. I’m running for Not-President in 2020 on the platform of the peaceful, orderly, and responsible dissolution of the United States federal government. You can find out more here. You can find an event near you here. Whoever has the top comment on this post after 24 hours can claim a free signed copy of FREEDOM! by sending me an email at [email protected] with their address.
Powerful. All great things start at a local level and grow outward from there. I’ve heard of you on Steemit, and I’m now happy to be following you. I’ve run for local office before and I know the difference that can make. (Even though I didn’t win the election) you are doing brave and important work by exposing the tyranny and oppression that state power can impose. Bravo.
Thank you so much for the follow and the love!
My pleasure.
Absolutely, although in my life I am helping Adam in every way I can, I also meet with local people and discuss ideas. I am involved in my county LP. Big beautiful flowers start in the ground as seeds.
One of the best ways to practice localization is to bike to work. If you live close enough to work and shopping to bike or walk not only is it good for the community, it is also good for the planet. Also think before you import food products, is it really necessary to buy beer from halfway around the world when often local stuff is fresher?
Great solution!
I agree and to add to that I think most of the time localized ideas are better enviomentally. We are the ones who care in our communities. The opposite can be seen as well. In the former Soviet Union they made whole swaths of land unlivable. This destruction will last for years to come. To me it is just common sense, local is better.
In business I worked for a local company that did quite well for itself. Communication was excellent and my employees were happy, not to mention the customers. Along comes Obamacare and they were forced to sell to a multinational company. ALL of that changed, I could not get product for weeks on end, my valued long term employees were denied raises after years of work, and the customers left in droves.
In every situation the closer those in leadership are to the people the better. I would take that further and say that the best way is to make the people the leaders.
I dig it, Adam! Resteemed. Volunteerism is the way forward to freedom!!
Thank you!
One way we can all improve our local communities and environment is to plant fruit trees when we go on hikes
Great idea!
I agree, I think localization is a good pragmatic pitch, and ultimately, once voluntary association is finally respected, shouldn't people be allowed to state, or live in a society without drugs or other arbitrary interventions if they really want to and they do not coercively and arbtirarly force others under their system?
"Localization is dismantling governments from the top down"
This seems self contradictory. The top is not going to want to dismantle itself, any such effort would have to be a bottom up effort.
Happy steeming 😁😀
There was a time when I was so fed up with the corruption in the county I live in, that I felt that the only possible solution to stopping the abuse they were perpetrating against the local people and families would be to have a larger entity (such as federal, or even UN, as examples) come in to knock them off their high horse and reign them in.
Over about the past 15 years I have (I've always been pretty awake, but underestimated the amount of evil in the hearts of man perhaps.)
On some level I was missing that they really are all working the same agenda. I could see the machine, but there was something missing from the picture I had available to me. And then I realized I did know the big picture, but there was a false 'overlay' which had been put in place in my mind by the BS school system which had diconnected the two pictures I had my awareness. It was like a cognitive dissonance of a sort. I no longer have this issue, lol.
From my own perspective, 'they' intentionally used the corruption of local govts to get people to cry out for the bigger entity to take over, thus getting us to permission our own further enslavement. (...starting a fire to sell a bucket of water...)
I totally get your message, and mosty agree, but ONLY if HHS and CPS and all of the pedophile networks and other corrupt local entities can be dismantled in the same movement.
I think it is often overlooked how integral these local govts have become to implementing the agendas of the larger entities. Entities which we definitly know via agenda 21 and 2030, etc which have been working for ages to gain total control of every thing in this world.
There have to be solutions that can be implemented on a local level and I think that will be more difficult than people are imagining because of the connections which have been formed via relations and secret pacts, and the fact that they have for so long felt they could get away with whatever they want because no one is really paying attention to them. (But really they are often very much intertwined with the federal govt through the corruption which many people also don't seem to realize.
About 20 years ago, there was a well educated, fairly prominent woman in this area who had written a book detailing connections between this local govt ,and DC. (I didn't get to read it.) She was never able to get it published.
I'd be interested in hearing you interview people with ideas about how to really deal with these issues with respect to your larger view if you have the opportunity to do so. :)
My approach is at this point to continue creating a Permaculture Food Forest Project. This project I hope will serve to educate, and get people more involved with forming local networks of humans that are working to create something better while becoming more aware of the importance of healthy food, healthy environment, etc. (There's more but this is my simple explanation.)
Most of what I talk about seems to really confuse people at the local level at this point because it's so contrary to the programs that they have been taught in schools. Lol. I dunno. I'm doing what I can to create a better reality with it anyway. Didn't intend to write a book, just sharing some thoughts that come to mind upon reading your post. :) Have a nice day, and thank you for doing what you are able to do!
It can be also called decentralization and I think it can become the hallmark of a true democracy in which people at the local level have more power than the central government. The central government can only deal with defense, foreign or other matters of interest.
Ugh, sry wrong button
The government will be in the public interest, but they never do it. People will choose him who will benefit from his own country and people.
