Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Tragedy of the Commons

[E L Cobb (a_momcat]

What a great excerpt!  As if capitalism were responsible for the good of 
anything other than the enrichment of the people at the top of the pyramid .  
At least the author didn't dredge up the old myth about how grateful the 
Indians were for being included in the first Thanksgiving, and how noble the 
whites are.   the  mythology on which the U.S. is based, not
 the least of which is the one about Columbus as the discoverer of America, 
sure has staying power, doesn't it?

My hopes for cohousing, admittedly shared by very few, is that it be one of the 
ways in which small communities will continue to spring up all around the 
globe, taking away the raison d'ětre of the state, most of which 
(nation-states) are broken beyond repair and serve only to keep the bulk of 
wealth and resources in the hands of a very few -- which if you read much of 
Thomas Paine you know was on the hidden agenda of the founding fathers of 
*this* state.  As we continue to "act locally and think globally," continuing 
to use some cohousing land as common for orchards, farms, gardens, and 
community, while still having our own little plots, bartering and or selling 
needed produce to communities in the same area (all of whom are likewise 
loosely connected to communities around them), infecting others with the good 
sense of consensus decision-making, smaller-scale living, less reliance on 
automobiles, a sensitivity that includes seven generations after us,
 and work closer to or in the home, I believe we will be weakening the hold of 
governments over us...  never hurts to dream, eh?

E. Cobb
Potential co-houser somewhere in the Northeast

>>From Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, p 165:
>>...The Pilgrims had stumbled on the power  
of capitalism.  Although the fortunes of the colony still teetered  
precariously in the years ahead, the inhabitants never
 again starved.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Coauthor with John Buck of We the People
Consenting to a Deeper Democracy
A Guide to Sociocratic Principles and Methods
ISBN: 9780979282706
http://www.sociocracy.info

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