To make all these suggestions concrete we all ought to be taking a good hard look at what Sweden is doing right.

Fantastic list, I would only add, for myself, something on Local-food movement and Media reform, but more importantly....

I see a brave new world where anyone who fancies themselves a 'progressive' or whatever can and would rattle off the SAME 10-15 list. Would give it even more weight, huh?

These are the non-partisan, world citezen things that really embody our Ongoing Experiment

Great list Harvey. There will always be suspicion and competition between countries that will lead to arms proliferation unless we spread direct and decentralised democracy with the use of online means and other technologies. A good start in ridding ourselves of nukes would be to turn all nuke weapons and sites over to the UN to run.

If we go straight to #7, we can get right onto the other 9.....um...err.....what was I saying?....damn I'm hungry.....are the cartoons on?

"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats

To Restore Democracy, We Must Restore our Commonwealth, the foundation for our Democratic Republic.

Harvey is talking about real change, systemic change, and confronting the non-sustainability of a national energy policy forged behind closed doors out of reach of the American people.

There needs to be pressure for the new administration to revisit the impacts of privatization and outsourcing on all areas of the federal government, from the privatization of our foreign policy, our national defense and intelligence functions, to the privatization of prisons, AMTRAK and the National Park Service.

Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley are no longer with us to defend the ravages of privatization, but the neo-liberal ideologues who have emerged in their wake continue their war on The Commons.

We are in the midst of the collapse of Wall Street and the private equity firms and banks, the result of reckless deregulation over the past thirty years. There is still an emphasis on privatization and outsourcing of government jobs.

Close to a trillion dollars have been appropriated from "the people" and we have not heard one word about jobs creation through a public works program to rebuild our state and national parks, our national railway system and properly fund AMTRAK to immunize it forever from the threat of continued privatization.

Red State Rebels are standing up and providing leadership from the grass-roots in rural areas all over America. In Oklahoma, we are standing up to the reckless imposition of the Oklahoma Demonstration Lakes Project which threatens to commercialze hundreds of thousands of federal Corps of Engineers shoreline wildlands at over 20 of our flood control lakes, in the name of economic development.

The Friends of Lake Texoma State Park are drawing a line here in Southeastern Oklahoma. We challenge the Obama Administration, Secretary of Interior Salazar and the Senate Committe on Environment and Public Works to hold public hearings and investigate the ongoing illegal sales of our federal shoreline wildlands for private commercial development.

Senator Jim Inhofe has paved the way for the sale of these federal lands with his sponsorship of the Oklahoma Demonstration Lakes Project with passage of the 2007 Water Resources Development Act.

Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey K. McClendon and Chaparral Energy CEO Mark Fischer, the owners of Pointe Vista Development, are a politically-powerful duo for which the Oklahoma state Land Office and Tourism and Recreation Department have purchased and illegally transferred (privatized) Lake Texoma State Park.

Pointe Vista is going for another 1,000 acres of prime lakeshore property on which to build an exclusive high-end residential and commercial development, while ignoring the park conversion guidelines of the Land and Water Conservation Act, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act. This is bad, bad public policy and stands to be exported to other states and threaten other publicly-owned shoreline wildlands if they are allowed to succeed in their taking here.

Senator Barbara Boxer and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar can stop this public ripoff if enough people stand up and let them know that we want our state and national parks properly funded, and our federal laws enforced.

Let Lake Texoma State Park become a national test case for President Obama and Secretary Salazar, providing them a great and timely opportunity to stand with the people and reject the corporatist, radical privatization threatening our state and national parks.

Stephen Wills
Friends of Lake Texoma State Park
www.FriendsofLakeTexomaStatePark.org

Mr. Wasserman, that was a fantastic list. Thank you.

Finally, thank god a wise environmental writer ties Cannabis to the solutions needed. Don't let the anti-pot peebrains such as "joehope" bully you. A big ding ding ding on #7 !

With respect to Mr. Wasserman's "Ten Commandments":

1.) Instead of "revising the corporation", transition from a Capitalist Economic System to an ecological socialist one...See "Reforming Financial Systems" - Essay #1, to follow.

2.) OK, though I think transitioning to an economic democracy is more important...

3.) Definitely

4.) Definitely

5.) Agree, and rid ourselves of nuclear electricity generation, eventually.

6.) Don't be ridiculous - see essay #2 to follow, "Demand Side Management and Transportation Planning".

7.) Convert alcohol and tobacco land to food, fiber, and biofuels (within the context of comprehensive demand side management plan) as part of larger agricultural reform agenda (see essay #3 on Agricultural Reform, to follow).

8.) Agree. See my work on Health Care Reform on my web log.

9.) Burp. Political system is a sham regardless if it is electronic or paper. We need to evolve to an economic democracy.

10.) Education needs to be part of a larger Ecological Economic Redevelopment Plan based on peace, equity, humanity, sustainability, and quality of life.

Mike Morin
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com

Essay #1 - Reforming Financial Systems

Reforming Financial Systems

With respect to the "nature of wealth", I think that the "quality of life" paradigm in lieu of the "standard of living" paradigm needs to be stressed.

"Quality of life" includes personal happiness for self, family, friends, neighbors, and all others. It includes ownership opportunities for all and everybuddy having the things they need, including health, healthy and loving relations with family, friends, neighbors, and all the people of the world. It includes peace on earth, and it includes a future for all the children of the world.

"Standard of living" implies maximizing the consumption of things.

The current Capitalist dominated system is dysfunctional both from an equity/fairness and economic and natural resource sustainability perspective.

The dominant paradigm in Capitalist financial business operations uses something called the discount rate which assumes that money will be worth less (eventually worthless) in the future, thus creating a necessity to extract profits exceeding a "hurdle" rate leading to unfair and unwise exploitation of both workers and natural resources, and to rampant inflation.

The use of credit is not a good business or personal practice. In business, it should be discouraged because creditors have first claims on net revenues and hold liens on real property and capital assets. For "consumers", the use of credit is unwise because the system is set up to extract profits from interest thus assuring that when consumers use credit that they are losing money relative to inflation. Certainly the current foreclosure crisis in the USA is ample evidence of the inflation and the unfairness and unhealthiness of the mortgage lien process.

Credit Unions and Mutual Insurance companies are in theory attempts to institute non-profit economic democracies for their respective industries. However, because of the need to compete for customers, both of these relatively progressive financial service organization types are forced to play the same game that is basically destructive to individuals, families, communities, and the natural environment. Ideally, credit should only be used as a last resort, much more preferably not at all. We should replace all aspects of the extant financial system with an Equity Union. In some ways, a mutual insurance company is similar to an equity union. However, because such companies are required to realize profits in order to compete for "policy holders" (really investors), the companies that comprise the portfolios of the mutual insurance firms cannot be not-for-profit, can not be mutual organizations themselves.

In a not-for profit Equity Union financial services system based on principles of mutuality working in concert with ethical, wise, knowledgeable, and intelligent community, inter-community, inter-regional, and worldwide planning there would certainly be an important role for financial service workers.

A major impediment to such an Equity Union would be the competitive advantage of the current financial sector and the fear of the friction of change to those individuals and organizations. Dealing with this sector of "the" economy, it would be more feasible with regards to Capitalist resistance and more humane, to orderly and peacefully transition to an Equity Union, coordinated with ecologically sound economic planning.

I am writing and talking about transitioning slowly, methodically, and with the minimum amount of friction and hardship from a dysfunctional financial system, based on self-interest, to one designed to benefit everybuddy.

At risk of understatement, it will take a huge amount of work to educate folks to the need and benefits of such change and to communicate the basic Plan. Transition Planning will also be a very difficult process, but I see no alternative to the current, impending and worsening global economic, political, social, and natural environmental collapse.

The Peoples' Equity Union concept is designed to be a grass roots, popular choice "movement". I am organizing with individuals, workers, and shopkeepers in my neighborhood, adjoining neighborhoods, and through the inter-net to whomever I can attract an interest in the concept.

The focus is primarily local, yet global at the same time. It is my dream, not a hope yet, to encourage a critical mass of people to organize locally around a unifying mission, unifying principles, unifying strategies, and unifying tactics in order to minimize the amount of executive administration at the regional and global levels.

The theory is that neighborhood locales, the neighborhood community/worker hybrid association will have maximum autonomy and will be guided only, in their inter-community and inter-economic sector relationships by regional Planning Boards and a Global Policy Committee.

The goal is to be a true economic democracy: of, for, and by the people.

Mike Morin
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com

Essay #2 - Demand Side Management and Transportation Planning

(abridged due to website restrictions on number of words - see my web log for entire essay).

I would like to address the supply side scenario for energy production based on assumptions of economic growth requiring an increase in the use of energy.

The trouble with focusing on supply side economics and energy is that they both ignore demand. In relation to economics, the lack of effective demand for the plethora of consumer products will prove to be the downfall of this past generation’s experiment with supply side economics. With respect to energy, we must recognize that demand side management is critical to any possibility of a sustainable future. Liberal economics (laissez faire, the so-called free market) cannot deal with the problem(s). We need a planned economy to effectively retrofit the infrastructure and to rebuild our communities to be walkable, therefore eliminating the terrible daily waste of oil/energy resources for transportation purposes.

I have to differ with rosy scenarios regarding the contribution that photovoltaics can make. I’m not an electrical engineer or an electrician, but it is my understanding that PVs don’t have the oomph (be it voltage, amperage, and/or wattage) to contribute very significantly to the current and recommended increased usage of electricity. Sure, PVs and wind might be able to contribute to lighting applications and a few very high efficiency appliances, but they can not power our transportation, industrial, business, and home heating and air conditioning, hot water, agricultural inputs, refrigeration, drying, and cooking needs.

We could go full throttle to the building of nuclear power plants, but I am highly leery of their toxicity and safety issues. Even if we pursued the path of electrification with the maximization of nuclear power, it will require a tremendous overhaul of our transportation infrastructure, and other applications currently met by oil products, coal, and natural gas.

First of all, nuclear is not a “free market” technology. Government programs paid for most of the resources for development of such. Then, there is the waste issue. Is it not the Federal Government who is going to or proposing to pay for the waste depository at Yucca Mountain (Nevada)? Also, there is the issue of bringing back the so-called Price-Anderson legislation. This was legislation in which the Federal Government provided insurance for nuclear power plants and related operations. No private insurer would underwrite the risks, thus the Feds had to step in.

Perhaps a better scenario could be realized if we started very soon with a planned economy that focused first on economic and energy demand side management and also retrofitted infrastructures with respect to very scarce and relatively clean (I view carbon resources, if appropriately used, to be cleaner than nuclear) energy applications.

The potential for solar thermal hot water is immense. Imagine all hot water demanding properties on the planet equipped with such devices. Imagine all the (community/worker owned) jobs involved with the production, installation, and distribution of these units. I list distribution last, because all efforts need to be made to maximize the localization of such production and installation, as well as any other products for which going towards relocalization may be possible (e.g. food).

With respect to electric vehicles, my thoughts are that they may be a small part of a longer term solution and probably restricted to rebuilt/walkable urban and suburban neighborhoods for the use of the elderly and/or infirm. The top priority with respect to fossil fuels and other energy resources is demand side management. The chief priority in planning the role of the automobile is to reduce automobile use by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years. We are currently burdened by a terrible oversupply (including owned and overstocked inventories at factories and dealerships) of fuel inefficient and poorly designed internal combustion vehicles. If these vehicles weren't so poorly designed, there could be a significant opportunity to convert them to hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. But they are very poorly designed. Perhaps the current population of vehicles should be deconstructed and parts reused or recycled. New vehicles should be exclusively, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric, except maybe for long-term transport and work vehicles..

There could be tremendous amounts of work generated by the reconstruction of neighborhoods and the rearrangement of production, distribution, and communication systems to make them neighborhood friendly. In addition, a great potential for work lies in the field of deconstruction of transportation and related infrastructure adaptation. Parking lots could be torn up and converted to community gardens. Streets (and rail systems) could be torn up and converted to walking and bike paths and others altered to be less wide, restoring the liveability of housing located on these very noisy busy passageways. Parking garages could be torn down and replaced by mixed use developments. Highways could be dedicated mostly to bus travel, long distance transport, and perhaps some, if not many, of them torn down and reclaimed as natural and agricultural land. For automobile usage, it would be optimal to encourage the development of car-sharing cooperatives. All vehicles left in use must be quiet, and slower (with the exception of busses and long range transport). With respect to transport and distribution systems (and production systems) relocalization and neighborhood telecommunications (including teleconferencing facilities) should be the major goal, greatly reducing the need for long-range transport.

Mike Morin
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com

Essay #3 - Agricultural Reform

Agriculture and Food Issues

Hi Folks,

Since being the catalyst and one of the principal organizers of a four day conference, "Towards Self-Sufficiency", on local, regional and world food issues in 1976 (in the Amherst, MA area), I have had an interest in what you are now calling "food security".

I expand the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the idea of regional/local community/worker hybrid cooperatives or at very least cooperating independent businesses. We need to vertically and horizontally integrate all down the line and across business sectors, with respect to growing, distribution, recycling organic wastes and educating about the need and benefits of relocalization, including equity and humanity with respect to workers and humanity with respect to animals, and responsibility with respect to the environment, with respect to eating healthily, and with respect to minimizing packaging. We also need to diversify risks relative to other necessities and our overall plans to rebuild our neighborhoods to make them walkable.

If we can't get direct cooperation and friendly participation from Capitalists who can be arrogant, self-serving, and dishonest about their historic and their perception and presumption of continuing "competitive advantage", then we surely need to be aware just how severe the competition will be, and we all better pull together with great solidarity, one way or another.

With regards to rice, are you aware that by flooding and farming wetlands to grow rice, we destroy the areas where FISH, birds and other critters spawn and sometimes make their home? Food for thought (pun intended)!

Also think about the use of planting/harvesting greasy machinery or defecating beasts and the use of any sort of fertilizer and competitive species control, be it non-organic or mythically organic, and their effects on the wetlands and associated riparian and ocean environments.

If you're one of these "back to human power" warners or advocates, think about just how hard that labor is/would be...

I suggest that we advocate the ingestion of "dryland" grasses (e.g. wheat, corn, rye), excluding alcohol products, minimizing processing, and packaging, and IF we make all the other necessary demand side management and transition away from tobacco and alcohol and corn syrup beverages THEN we should consider the use of biofuels as a small part of our supply side energy program.

Mike Morin
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com

Public financed elections should be number one to limit the power of corporations and enact the rest of this great list...It is a sick system that requires so much money to win a Congressional Seat...or a nomination for President..

Great list --- for starters!!

The return to US Constitution based rule of law is most important.

But I could be wrong !