Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Governance & Income Inequality [ was Common house design, rooms, and room sizes?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Feb 12, 2015, at 5:51 PM, Elizabeth Magill <pastorlizm [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> Then there are a few outliers at the top, above
> the average, more in close to the average. This year is the first year
> we've SHARED that chart, it'll be itnerested to see if that changes
> the pledges of the outliers.

---- I understand all the answers to the following questions. I'm just raising 
them to spark examination of our financial practices-- the basis for the 
cohousing economy. Liz's message just  happens to raise the issues. The 
questions are not directed at her community.----

Why are cohousing communities secretive about finances? With shared ownership 
and risk, the community lives or dies based on economic as well as social 
participation. Yet few want to examine that in a way that actually distributes 
responsibility equally.

Why should anyone in a community have more information about the workings of 
the community than others? How is that decided? Why should the treasurer and/or 
the board know but no one else? 

Why should some people take responsibility for economic health and not others? 

Secrecy is the required precondition for abuse.

Knowledge is power. Why not share the knowledge? Why not share power? 

Knowledge is also a burden. Aren't we supposed to share it?

The three values of good governance, as identified by many including the UN, 
are transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness. They are also the 
foundation of sociocratic organization and governance.

Cohousing communities seem loath to govern -- to actually implement the 
policies they sometimes take years to develop. Or to be realistic about how the 
community is really being governed and by whom. Unless that happens are we 
really creating a new society?

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Sociocracy: A Deeper Democracy
http://www.sociocracy.info