Sunday, September 09, 2012
Good Government
As the governments of the United States and Mexico clamp down on Indigenous community projects to reinvigorate good government, it might be a good time to ask why it is that the central powers would want to prevent Indigenous governments from providing for their people. Have the modern states of Mexico and the US become so perverted that they see universal housing, health and education as evil? Or is it just the notion of people working together and sharing the wealth for the benefit of all that disturbs these federal powers?
Perhaps good government doesn't scale. Maybe it can only take place at the community level. If that is so, then devolving federal powers -- including taxation -- to the local level is a matter of survival.
As Indigenous peoples take the lead on re-establishing good government as a human institution, they will need civil society support to protect them from the wrath of modern states founded on theft. As they once informed the nascent American government on the principles of democracy, Indigenous governing bodies might now help guide the trajectories of social movements like #Occupy. With the possibility of reciprocity, generosity could become the leading light in democratic social renewal.
Perhaps good government doesn't scale. Maybe it can only take place at the community level. If that is so, then devolving federal powers -- including taxation -- to the local level is a matter of survival.
As Indigenous peoples take the lead on re-establishing good government as a human institution, they will need civil society support to protect them from the wrath of modern states founded on theft. As they once informed the nascent American government on the principles of democracy, Indigenous governing bodies might now help guide the trajectories of social movements like #Occupy. With the possibility of reciprocity, generosity could become the leading light in democratic social renewal.
