Thanks for staying with me, FanBoxers -- and for engaging each other in the comments of these posts.
It seems that our cause has attracted some very smart people...
.... passionate & articulate intellectuals that appear to have what's necessary to lead us through the twists & turns that are headed our way.
This is good!
We cannot move forward without you, as it will take much thinking, discussion and argument to make the best decisions and find the most optimal path forward.
Let's summarize what we've discussed thus far:
In part 1, we discussed how it's time to move on to the next chapters of FanBox's evolution, including the installation of democratic features -- in order to continue on our path of becoming the world's first truly free online community -- owned and operated by the world's people.
In part 2, we reminded ourselves of what the PURPOSE of this free community is.... which is why we're here.
Our Mission is to:
Uplift humanity by enabling Opportunity
Uplift humanity by enabling Opportunity
In part 3, we then moved on to discuss how there are no prizes for being the first to think of an idea. In order to increase our chances of succeeding at our mission, we'll take a different approach -- that of careful research and discussion...
.... learning from what has worked and failed in the development of other communities: Countries.
(This strategy is called "Embrace and Extend")
In part 4, we discussed how it's important for our organization to have focus; to try and solve one thing - instead of trying to solve lots of things....
... and to accomplish our mission, that one thing for the FanBox community, is more money for our community members:
Virtually all our talents, time and resources will be focused on creating financial opportunities for FanBoxers - so they can uplift themselves.
And finally, in attempting to look at what has worked and what has not - in the area of financial opportunities for the community - we recognize that capitalism has been the best approach thus far.
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Capitalism, however, is not perfect.
If capitalism is perfect, then why is the gap between the rich and poor growing at such a rapid pace?
Take note of the top (blue) line.
As you can see, most of the new wealth is going to the top 1%...
… and not to the other 99%.
This graph is for the United States:
But if you take a look at almost all other countries, you’ll find very similar results are happening there too.
If you believe, like almost everyone does, that the strength and longevity of a society boils down to its ability to cultivate and grow its middle class…
… then clearly, something’s not right.
We’re headed to a very, VERY bad place:
As the rich get richer while the poor get poorer...
... and because the number of poor vastly outnumber the rich...
... at some point the poor will rise up and destroy the very institutions that society depends on.
The result might be that the military will need to get involved.
Martial law leads to tyranny, dictatorship and the very opposite of democracy.
And the world will have lost so much of the democratic systems and institutions that it gained in the last century.
In the earlier parts of this 16-part post, some of our citizens spoke up about capitalism.
They seem to all agree that:
1) it’s the best system that has come up thus far, but2) it needs to be tweaked to work properly.
The bottom line is that, like all complex systems, capitalism needs some optimizations to work more effectively.
Without such optimizations, small minorities of the strongest and luckiest are tempted to modify the system to benefit themselves.
Those modifications can result in more strength for the strong; and less opportunities for the weak.
Over time, even more modifications (designed to benefit themselves) are added to the system, by those most capable of financing such adjustments.
This cycle continues until there is hardly anything left but two classes: the strong and the weak.
In other words, the irony of it all is that unfettered capitalism ultimately results in exactly what we have come to know as fascism, tyranny, dictatorship or communism.
Let’s start over!
Wouldn’t it be great if your country could “start over” – from the beginning – and create a better version of capitalism – using all that we have learned over the last hundred years?
Great news!
As a new community, at FanBox, together we DO have the opportunity to “start over”!
Next, let’s discuss how to fix capitalism -- by looking at what the core of the problem is.
