Re: Hello

Don't worry.  Life is busy.  I apologize for my over eagerness to contact you, but reading your posts and watching the video of Mr. Ackoff got my creative juices flowing.  His humor, cynicism, and piercing intelligence jumped off the screen at me.  Then, when I discovered that he was instrumental in the creation of systems thinking as applied to business structures, I had this powerful moment of realizing that many of the ideas I have been struggling to understand came partly from this specific creative mind -- that ideas are not abstractions but are the careful creation of real human people and they issue forth from them and touch people like me without us ever having to know who the creator of them was.

I have some specific ideas about the new form of governance that you mention.  It is a shame that Obama used the new near-zero-cost mass-coordination tools to get elected and then abandoned them to govern.  I am working on a collaborative networking tool called Sumpeople that is an effort to create the concrete software needed to do just what you speak of.  I believe that if the political collaboration module could be combined with a economic collaboration module (as well as the social module that programs like facebook offer) then people would see how using the program would help achieve their short and long term goals and they would get off the couch and come together.  I want to test this aggregation program out on the Nevada County Supervisor election in the 5th District of Truckee.  My motto will be "You rule, I'll serve".

However, I am convinced that economic reform is were the greatest hope for systemic change lies.  If we think of business enterprises as interdependent systems, then the same seismic shift that political democracy had on the day to day lives of regular people could occur in our economic lives.  I call it corporate peoplehood (as opposed to the corporate personhood of Citizen's United).  We had great problems in the 1700s when we thought of Nations as a "person" -- England was a man, the King.  But the shift to imagining a Nation as a "people" with the application of checks and balances, separation of powers, elected accountable governance, rule of law, and representative democracy created an explosion of prosperity and build the "American Dream".   The same unleashing of the creativity of regular citizens will occur with the democratization of our economy. 

But the 1700s was the age of the Nation State, as it took power from the Church.  Now we are in the age of the Corporate State and they haven't even had a Magna Carta yet, much less a Declaration of Independence (although I prefer a Declaration of Interdependence and a Bill of Responsibilities).  My premise is that the application of the hundreds of years of thought that have gone into the creation of democratic civic government can be used to create profitable, dynamic, sustainable, and nurturing incorporations of community that can fulfill the conservative vision of small governance and liberated business at the same time as fulfilling the progressive vision of a fair and just society where we take care of each other and live sustainably.

My problem is that I am not a writer, I am a speaker.  I will work on "A New Ism" piece for your review, because I do need to do it.  "A New Ism Project" is an effort to engage my community in this discussion in a collaborative open ended way.  Not to say "This is what the New Ism should be!", but instead to ask "What would you like A New Ism to be?"  And then I hope to lead them in test marketing this new economic theory in our area, to be exported if it shows value.    

I have include the Declaration of Interdependence that was adopted on 7/7/2007, where I attempted to show how similar our current times were to our revolutionary ones.  It is a rewriting of the Declaration of Independence with as few changes as were needed to adapt it to the Corporate Tyranny we now are living under.  I was amazed how little need to be reworked.

Please come stay at my cabins if you make it to Northern California.  I look forward to keeping in touch with you and continuing to read what you create.

Peace,

Michael Rogers  "Great things are wanting to be done."   -- John Adams, 2nd President of the United States 

On 12/8/2010 11:24 PM, Steven Brant wrote:

Hi Michael,

I apologize for not writing sooner, but I'm having a very busy week.

I'm very happy to see the list of all the ideas you work with in what you do.  My own list overlaps with yours, although normally I just talk about three people - Buckminster Fuller, W. Edwards Deming, and Russell Ackoff - as being my primary mentors and influencers when it comes to my personal philosophy and the ideas I am working to propagate out into society.

I'm sorry we don't live closer, because - if we did - I'm sure I'd enjoy participating in the discussion your A New Ism event in Nevada City.

If you have a think piece on that subject that you'd like me to comment on, I'd be happy to do so.  Otherwise, we could certainly talk on the phone some time.  I'm pretty booked between now and Dec 22, which is when I leave for a trip to L.A.  I will return to NYC on Jan 4th.  Perhaps we could talk after then?

Thanks for commenting on my latest HuffPost essay.  It wasn't about a new "ism"... but it was the beginnings of a conversation i"m seeking to start about a new "attitude".  I really feel it's time that "we the people" start being full partners with our elected officials rather than thinking we can just sit back after we've elected them and let them run things for us.  Even though for some people this will take time away from watching mindless things on television or playing computer games, I think it's ultimately a change in how people spend their time that's critically important.

I'm happy my sister connected us.

Best regards,

Steve

steve@trimtabmanagementsystems.com 

Skype:  stevengbrant

http://www.trimtabmanagementsystems.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-g-brant

http://www.facebook.com/stevengbrant

http://www.twitter.com/stevebrant

http://bit.ly/1cA8YD (memorial essay to Russ Ackoff)

"Human history becomes more and more 

a race between education and catastrophe." 

- H. G. Wells 

On Dec 5, 2010, at 12:11 PM, Michael Rogers wrote:

I have been having an email exchange with your sister and she thinks we might have somethings in common. In reading your Huffington Postings, I know we do. I am speaking on "A New Ism Project" in Nevada City in January which is an attempt to create the ideologica­l social software to apply Systems Thinking to the creation of a new ism, but also bringing in Game Theory, Complexity Theory, Coordinati­on Theory, Common Pool Resource Management­, Judgment Aggregatio­n, Reciprocal Altruism, the Evolution of Cooperatio­n, Non-Zero, Non Violence Communicat­ion, et al, into a cohesive ideology that will be ready to apply for the job when we fire Capitalism­, just as the Soviet Bloc has fired Socialism and Communism for their deficienci­es. The idea is to lead with the question of "What do you think should be in A New Ism?", not "this is The New Ism.

I look forward to having the chance to meet you."

--  Michael Rogers  "Great things are wanting to be done."   -- John Adams, 2nd President of the United States 

In Dealing With Blackmailers, We Can Help You, Mr. President

Better government is great, but I think better companies are the answer first. We are in the age of the Corporate State. 2007 was the tipping point. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, the majority are now corporatio­ns, not government­s. Akio Morita, the founder of Sony, said "Nations are a dying industry, corporatio­ns are the structures of the future."



In the 1770s we asked "What if a nation could be a people, not a person"? -- if you said you fought for "England" you meant a man, not a country. National Personhood was transforme­d by National Peoplehood­. Well, what if we could have companies that were of the people, by the people, and for the people, instead of the nightmare of tyranny that is Corporate Personhood­? Then riches could come back into the light of day.



"Capitalis­m is Dead, long live A New Ism".
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

In Dealing With Blackmailers, We Can Help You, Mr. President

Warren Buffet, of all people, has said that we are developing a country "where the great positions in society are going to those born of the right womb, and that is almost un-America­n." I say that is not "almost un-America­n", that is the definition of un-America­n.



What the right fails to acknowledg­e (in public anyway) is that the idea that the rich are "earning" their money is not the convention­al wisdom in the country anymore. The Tea Party candidate in West Virginia this year said it best when he said "I made my money the old fashion way, I inherited it".



What the left really wants is for the wealth of this nation to go to the people who earned it, not to the ones who's daddy did and were just "born of the right womb."
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

In Dealing With Blackmailers, We Can Help You, Mr. President

There is another way. We have to get beyond the false dichotomy that these two posts represent. It doesn't have to be the either big oppressive government­, or Lord of the Flies no government where it is everyone for themselves­. We can actually have small, limited government and accountabl­e, self-regul­ated businesses where the profits benefit those who build and create the wealth.



This is the Third Way that Noble Prize Economist Elinor Ostrom talks about. JNarragase­tt is right that there is incredible corruption­, waste, and incompeten­ce in the road building, food testing, security, fire protection­, soldiering and sailing that centralize­d, bureaucrat­ic government engages in. This is mostly because of the Capitalist manipulati­on of these processes -- and you need to look no further than the Arizona prison industries­' manipulati­on of the Illegal Immigrant issue for their corporate gain.



But progressiv­es will, and should, never allow the "starving of the beast" as long as the increasing­ly unregulate­d and voracious "beasts" of advanced capitalist corporatio­ns continue to engage in their predatory behaviors unchecked. You are both right.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

In Dealing With Blackmailers, We Can Help You, Mr. President

He will be "alone" as long as he appears to be under the spell of the Plutonomis­ts. I voted for him not to get the best deal from the Republican­s, but to be a champion for the interests of the 98% working hard and playing by the rules.



If he had taken Mr. Brant's advice earlier and clearly drawn the lines of what was at stake and asked us to sacrifice for the heart and soul of our country, I for one would have followed him yay into the valley of shadow of death.



Now, I have come to believe that he does not understand what is at stake and that he may be too beholding to his friends at Goldman Sachs to stand and fight for the dying middle class in this country.



One example, I need a loan to grow my business. My profits are up this year and I could create jobs. But the banking world has a rule called the "3-6" -- pay 3% for deposits, lend at 6% and make money on the 3% margin. Now they are given money at 1/4 percent from the Fed, lend it back to us at 3 and 3/4 and make a 3 1/2% margin with no risk or work at all. Why on earth would they take a chance and lend money to me? They have free money secured by the full faith and credit of the US of A and don't need us peons.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

In Dealing With Blackmailers, We Can Help You, Mr. President

Yes, Well said.



The problem is that the Democrats don't have a cohesive economic philosophy that would allow the President to stand on principal. If we are just "enlighten­ed" capitalism­, then the Republican­s will continue to get more power than they deserve, because progressiv­e social programs, green jobs, and infrastruc­ture investment are not an economic theory.



As Democrats, we need to wake up to the fact that the time has come to fire Capitalism as an ineffectua­l economic model (just as the Soviets fired Communism for being an ineffectua­l political model). I personally greatly admire Capitalism for leading us out of fascism, totalitari­anism, and monarchy and building the modern economy, and there is a lot we should keep -- like the market economy and the celebratio­n of individual creativity and hard work, but it lacks the complex design necessary for the challenges of today, much less tomorrow.



More importantl­y, advanced Capitalism is evolving into the very force of tyranny that it helped beat back in its earlier form.



We need "A New Ism" that will be capable of distributi­ng the benefits of cooperatio­n more fairly, works to decentrali­ze power and place it back in local communitie­s, has checks and balances on power, branches of governance­, common pool resource management­, and places accountabl­e leadership at the center of its philosophy­.



In the 1770's we imagined this nation as a people, not a person. Now is the time for an economy of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

12/4/10 Letter to Huffington Post Blogger Steven Brant

Thank you so much for introducin­g me to the work of Russell Lincoln Ackoff with this video. His honesty and clarity of thought jumped off YouTube at me and I went on to read your tribute to him and his Wikipedia entry. Although I never knew of him, I know that I have been deeply effected by his work. It is nice to hear a voice and see the man to go with the knowledge he shared with me before I knew who he was.

P.S. I have been having an email exchange with your sister and she thinks we might have somethings in common. Now, in reading these posted, I know we do. I am speaking on "A New Ism Project" in Nevada City in January which is an attempt to create the ideologica­l social software to apply Systems Thinking to the creation of a new ism, but also bringing in Game Theory, Complexity Theory, Coordinati­on Theory, Common Pool Resource Management­, Judgment Aggregatio­n, Reciprocal Altruism, the Evolution of Cooperatio­n, Non-Zero, Non Violence Communicat­ion, et al, into a cohesive ideology that will be ready to apply for the job when we fire Capitalism­, just as the Soviet Bloc has fired Socialism and Communism for their deficienci­es. The idea is to lead with the question of "What do you think should be in A New Ism?", not "this is The New Ism."

I look forward to having the chance to meet you.

--  Michael Rogers