I thought of a idea for a Far Side like cartoon where God announces that he is giving a seminar on Evolution, the huge scary dinosaur says "Evolution, not interested, my fundamentals are sound", and the meek, cowering lemur like prosimian with big wide eyes says "What time is that going to be?"
I have been having some new ideas that have gotten me thinking and I was wondering if you have time to give me feedback. I think I will never be content simply writing, as I feel an urgency to get things moving now.
I was reading Obama's "Dreams of My Father" and came to the section on community organizing. His goal was to find an issue to organize around, and it almost didn't matter what it was as long as it brought people together. Then I was watching Bill Moyer's Journal with Donna Smith of the California Nursing Association about how Single Payer is not even being considered in the new health initiative. It is off the table from the beginning. Which is an outrage and a clear indication of the corrupting influence of undemocratic capital in our political system. Then I applied Incorporated Democracy to the issue and instead of fighting the corporate line I came up with an entrepreneurial idea of creating a 'Policorp" insurance company for the people of Nevada County. A $500 a month premium would generate $600 Million dollars to support the two county Hospitals, plus property tax dollars, medicare funds, workers comp dollars, and more funding sources. You could then eliminate every cost associated with billing and insurance and allow the hospital to treat any resident of the county free of charge. The hospital would then have a huge incentive to invest in preventative care. Also, some mechanism would need to be put in place to pass the costs on to those patients that refuse to stop smoking, drinking in excess, or over eating after every measure had been applied to help them correct their unhealthy behavior. Also, as end of life care accounts for up to 70 percent of health care costs, some kind of community consensus would need to be reached on how much we we spend on the last year or two of each of our lives (for instance the hip replacement for Obama's terminally ill Grandmother). Obviously big heady issues for a community to try and reach a decision on, but exciting in what is possible.
I then see creating a "Return to Common Sense" journal that is used to communicate and mobilize the community. And, if a community consensus did form and the existing Board of Supervisors and the elected Hospital Boards did not fully support its implementation, then a recall election could be done to move things forward rapidly. I see having a weekly meeting of an "Evolutionary Council" at Shinneyboo Creek to formulate information and strategy and a small monthly dues structure to aggregate capital and pay expenses. The dues could be covered by selling say 10 copies of the Return to Common Sense a month for those who can't come up with the dues. Then a version of a Network Marketing structure could be created not only to rapidly expand the base but also to serve as a method of aggregating judgment through a series of democratically structured organizational cells that make decisions and then pass them up series of levels to one large corporate governing body.
Writing "The Next American Evolution" seems so distant from making real change. I wonder if I could effect more immediate benefit by applying the concepts to the critical problems facing my community. I am reading "Harnessing Complexity" about science surrounding the concepts and mechanisms of Complex Adaptive Structures and I am excited by the possibilities of the application of this thinking. I am wondering if this type of organizing could give me practical experience that would inform and shape the writing I do later.
Thanks for your time. Your thoughts are appreciated.
With Hope and Determination,
Michael Rogers
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