It’s a paradox. Especially in modern societies. In modern societies, Traditional Capitalism particularly, but also any economy based on the exchange of goods and services for money, people are so busy trying to “earn a living” they don’t have time, let alone the motivation, to take action against tyrants. At least not until it’s too late.
The other paradox is one person’s tyrant is another person’s champion or hero. A minority on the Right, for example, sees President Obama as a tyrant. Though his approval level is dropping, and some number of his supporters may feel less supportive these days, the Left still finds him preferable to alternatives that come to mind. Prior to the Obama Administration, it was the Left who felt the then president operated tyrannically. Yet the Right felt he was doing a fine job generally speaking. It’s difficult to get consensus on whether a tyrant is really a tyrant, or a champion.
From our perspective whoever sits in the Oval Office is neither a tyrant nor a champion. He (or she) is at the mercy of much larger powers directing how things go. No we don’t believe in conspiracies. Nor do we need to. It is clear Traditional Capitalism acts as a force larger than all of us, even our leaders. Even our president. Even the 1%. And that force compels everyone to do its bidding. You, me, our neighbors, our bosses, we believe so deeply in the ideal Traditional Capitalism claims to offer, we support it with our very lives working, consuming, buying, selling. And so the real tyrant gets away with its tyranny by busying us into apathy and never delivering the ideal we so strongly believe in. Thus through our apathy we offer charity to the tyrant.
Here’s what you can do to make a difference
It’s really easy to shake the tyrant off your back. These two ideas will make your neighborhood a better place almost immediately. You might even feel better too.
Build a library. If you still have books in your house, consider building a free-book lending library (pictured left). Post the library on your property and fill it with books you have on your bookshelf. Post a note for passersby to take a book, add a book, or trade a book. You’ll feel good about seeing people using your mini library. You might even start a trend.
Build a poetry theater. You can also build a small poetry stage. Similar to the free-book lending library, the poetry stage is a box you construct and install in your yard, on a fence, or a post. You can fill the box with poetry for people to read, magazine articles you found of interest, cartoons or any other written material that you’d like to share.
These two small gestures are teeny examples of concepts underlying Copiosis Economies. Each of these activities in a Copiosis Economy not only makes your neighbors, your neighborhood or another person you may not even know better off, you would also be paid for the effort. In a Copiosis Economy, you earn income from being a good person. Being a good person simply means doing things that make human beings and the world around you better off, while minimizing activities that negatively impact people and the environment.
What’s more, because people don’t have to earn a living in Copiosis Economies, they have much more time to focus on things that matter in life: family, personal growth and doing things for others that make other people smile. Copiosis Economies reward people for making the world a more peaceful place. Those things are hard to do today given the system we have and the challenges we face as individuals, families, communities and as a nation.
Let’s break through our apathy by doing something cool for another person.