All leaders betray their people in one way or another. This is a simple fact of life that we must keep in mind when we talk about politics. Both history and current events demonstrate this. It is why we should never be starry-eyed about politicians. Doing so is a departure from reality, and reality always returns to us no matter how far we stray. The farther we move away from reality, the more unpleasant reality usually is when it reasserts itself.
Recently we read that some members of the U.S. Congress were talking about exempting themselves and federal employees from the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare). That came as a surprise to tosoc.org because we thought that the ACA had already created a three-tier system, with federal politicians and employees enjoying the best healthcare, union members getting second best, and the rest of us getting the leavings. We apologize if we were mistaken. We also want to point out that these misunderstandings happen when "laws" become 2000+ page tomes that nobody actually reads until a decision has to be made.
This illustrates why we believe in the principle that "leaders go first." Politicians and bureaucrats are all too prone to grant themselves exemptions from unpleasant provisions that they want to impose on the rest of us.
It would be best to make them obey their proposed laws first, even before the laws apply to any of the rest of us. Societal leaders should have to lead from the front.
However, since they are the lawmakers and regulators, it is hard see how to use laws and regulations against their will. To align their loyalties with the interests of their people, they would have to agree to limit themselves. At the same time their instincts are about increasing their own power. It seems it would take very unusual circumstances to establish a serious "leaders go first" system using laws and regulations.
It seems more likely that we could arrange an alignment of financial interests.
That is why one of tosoc.org's proposals for multiple exclusive currencies and markets requires politicians and bureaucrats to use and own only an internal currency, or assets denominated in that currency. It is a powerful way to keep them interested in the value of that currency. If they want to be "international," so to speak, let them choose another career path. On the other hand, if they want to lead our nation, then let them link their financial futures with ours.
In this case, politicians and bureaucrats would only have to give up the possibility of abandoning the U.S. for greater wealth elsewhere. Since most of them so far want to stay in the U.S. anyway, it would not be much of a loss.
In return they would gain more stable wealth. Being tied to the international dollar is a problem for them, too.
Finally, it provides them with greater scope to do their own jobs and increases their areas of responsibility. Government implementation of tosoc.org's plans would require a great increase in laws, regulations, personnel, and equipment. It would be a trade off with advantages for both sides, and that is the kind of change that can work.
It would be nice if people in general would act in the general interest rather than their own, but often they will not and do not. It just does not work to try to force them to act against their own interests. Like trusting politicians, that is also a way to lose touch with reality.
Far better to work in everyone's interests, and that is what tosoc.org's proposals are designed to do. There is a lot to be done to create internal currencies and markets, and some of that work is just the thing for the government to carry out. For example, a whole new banking system (the internal one) will have to be created. These are things that politicians and bureaucrats should be happy to get into, and at the same time, they will be helping their own people.
The way capitalism should be.
Socialism for the socialists and capitalism for the capitalists.
TheOtherSideOfCapitalism (admin@tosoc.org)
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