Consideration of the Coopertative Enterprise.

Americans have been brainwashed into thinking of a bi-polar world with Economic Liberalism on the "Conservative" side and State Socialism on the "Liberal" side. In America, we have a plethora of ahistorical terminology that is nothing more than rhetorical fodder for political demagogues.  Our current definition of conservative and liberal, as anyone can see by exploring the embedded links, is a victim of this stupefying rhetoric. Toxic rhetoric endangers the integrity of the whole body politic.

I believe the real threat to American liberty to be the accumulation of power in the hands of an unchecked elite. As we accumulate economic and social power into large corporate structures, we are drawing power away from the people and toward a ruling oligarchy. The fallacy of economic liberalism is that somehow a continual upwelling of new competition will keep the oligarchy in check. In fact, the oligarchy holds out the promise of riches to the middle class while doing everything possible to establish barriers to social mobility. The poor, segregated from mainstream society both spatially and economically, tend to go to poor schools and have little access to jobs and housing in middle-class neighborhoods. The middle class
has increasingly found that the middle class sustaining employment has been moved overseas, access to capital is limited to those who come up with extraordinary ideas, and even then is still controlled by the venture capital elite. We have virtually closed the door to "self-made" men or women. In sheer desperation, we turn to models like Bill Gates, who though a college dropout was still the son of two successful Seattle are lawyers. Our American success story myths constantly ignore the role of upper-class networking in entrepreneurial success, as well as ignoring how the elevation by success inculcates the successful individuals into the elitist club.

The concept of "cooperative enterprises," which, in part, has its origins in Utopian Socialism, is a third social-economic-political way. Cooperative movements tend to be anti-State-Socialism and inhabit a political spread from right to left that includes John Stewart Mill and Alexander Herzen. Cooperatives can and do exist within traditional capitalist societies. One such successful example is the Mondragon Co-operative Federation which has had some ties with similar domestic worker cooperative movements. Domestic worker cooperatives are for the most part immune to outsourcing. Cooperatives in general compliment traditional American values regarding hard work and working together.

I have argued that we should be looking at "open" cooperatives to replace many of the elements of infrastructure that have traditionally been held by corporate monopolies. Electrical distribution systems replace with "open" cooperatives of electrical power producers, can decentralize power production and increase the diversification of power sources.  Passive Optical Ethernet Networks (POENs) established as "open" cooperatives of Internet Service Providers have the potential of eliminating both cable TV and telephone monopolies. If high-speed passenger rail infrastructure was built as an "open" cooperative, then multiple rail service providers could then compete for passengers. Cooperative infrastructures can be used to turn monopolized services into open marketplaces, increasing the quality and variety of services while maintaining downward pressure on pricing.

Power without checks and balances leads to tyranny

From the notes of James Madison, taken at the Constitutional Convention Monday June 4th, 1787

In regards to the discussion of the Executive:

Dr. Franklin ... The first man put at the helm will be a good one. Nobody knows what sort may come afterward. The executive will always increase here, as elsewhere, till it ends in monarchy.

The Polybian political cycle, mentioned below, is a continuous transformation of governmental power between political entities. Political power has regions of stability based on the people's acceptance of the current social contract. Instability occurs when the social contract is violated, or when it is perceived as being violated.

Polybius in writing about the Roman constitution under the republic, outlines a series of checks and balances between the branches of government. Between the time when Polybius wrote on the Roman constitution and the investment of Octavius as the first Principate, a series of political struggles ensued where individual violated the social contract embodies in the unwritten constitution. The intellectuals in Rome understood that the violations where occurring, but rationalized each based upon the necessities of the time. The abuses of power became ever greater over time until the Roman republic tore itself to shreds and collapsed into monarchy.

This history of the Roman Republic illustrates my concern with the abuse of executive power under Bush and Cheney. Prior usurpation of citizens rights by the executive occurred in times of a congressional declaration of war or during the Civil War. A declaration of war acts as bookend, holding in the usurpation of political rights and marking the period with a clear beginning and ending. Our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, indeed the whole "war of terror," are extra-constitution, that is to say; done outside the framework of the constitution.

To give o the executive the monarchical powers; to examine the conversations and correspondences of citizens without judicial warrant; to declare any person the enemy of the state; to imprison individuals without the right of Habeas Corpus; is tantamount to tyranny.

Dr. Franklin spoke the truth, without limitation on executive power, "The executive will always increase here, as elsewhere, till it ends in monarchy."

Chaney has argued that the executive has "monarchical powers." This is true if you accept the argument that the executive is sovereign, but it is not. The executive derives power from the Constitution, therefor it is the Constitution that is sovereign, it is the Constitution that is the State. We can only maintain our Republic if the Constitution is obeyed, both in letter of the law and in spirit. In our Republic, it is the constitution that must remain sovereign.

Is this stamp set a political commentary?

Polybius - an American hero

Polybius was a Greek statesman and historian who lived between 200 and 118 BC. After the defeat of Macedon by the Roman Republic in 168 BC, Polybius was removed to Rome for an indefinite detention. In Rome, he befriended the young Scipio Aemilianus, a member of an influential Roman Patrician family, and the son of the conqueror of Macedon.

This was the zenith of the Roman Republic. The city of Rome had become the nexus of Mediterranean culture. The Patrician families, awed by the wonders of the freshly conquered Hellenistic world, absorbed and incorporated its literature, art and philosophy. The influential Scipio family became Polybius' patron, and gave him unprecedented access to the inner circles of power.

Polybius began to muse on the nature of Roman power and success. Following in the footsteps of Greek historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides, he crafted a history of Rome and created a historical political theory to explain the success of the Roman Republic. In part, his political theory is reflected in a story told by Herodotus of a debate between Darius, Megabyzus, and Otanes regarding the best form of government. Otanes argues for Democracy, Megabyzus for Aristocracy and Darius (the absolute ruler of Persia) for Kingship.

Polybius postulated that the three forms of government, Kingship, Aristocracy, and Democracy, formed a continuous cycle, each with a high form and each with a degenerate form. His theory can be summarized in the following chart:

General Form:	Rule by one.	Rule by a few	Rule by many
Noble Form:	Kingship	Aristocracy	Democracy
Degenerate Form:	Tyranny	Oligarchy	Mob Rule

The three forms of government form a continuous cycle. Kingship degenerates into Tyranny. When the Tyranny becomes intolerable to the rich and landed people, they overpower the Tyranny and establish an Aristocratic form of government. The Aristocracy degenerates as the rich and powerful factions become a repressive oligarchy. The people (some being exiled Aristocrats) become upset by their exclusion from power and thus engage in a Democratic Revolution. Democracy eventually degenerates into Mob Rules, as politicians take advantage of the public's fickleness and engage in Demagoguery. From the ruins of the democracy rises a single leader, a dictator who offers to restore order, in effect a new king, and thus the cycle comes full circle.

Polybius attributed the success of the Roman Republic to the nature of the Roman constitution. He described the Roman constitution as three centers of power, each exerting checks and balanced against each other. These three centers of power or branches align themselves with the three forms of government.

General Form:	Rule by one.	Rule by a few	Rule by many
Roman Form:	Consuls	Senate	Assemblies
American Form:	President	Senate	House of Representatives

Polybius fell out of fashion after the Roman Republic was replaced by the Roman Principate. The political concepts developed by Polybius lay dormant for centuries until the Enlightenment. Fortunately for the American Republic, Polybius was read by an influential French nobleman, Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu. Montesquieu's close reading of Polybius is clear in his work, Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline. Montesquieu became the Enlightenment's conduit between Polybius and the founding fathers, thus influencing the nature of the American experiment.

In future posts, we will explore comparing the Polybian theory of history with other historical-political theories.