About living simply -- no, I don't live really simply, but at least I try -- I ride my bike to work when I can, grow my own vegetables when I can take over gardening space, and I plan to play the guitar when I can develop an audience (and the big city here is lonely, there isn't one yet). So in important ways I'm in the same boat with you.: Well, to get to the topic of this post, we've got a better opportunity than ever
: today to improve the system. Can you say "Internet"? Sure you can!!! We can put
: together a real "quality work circle". With donations from concerned citizens,
: we can build a Web Site, and then we can gather ideas on making the system work
: for all of us, on EACH wrung of the ladder.
I agree with the above strategy, but it wasn't my goal to "make the system work for all of us" so much as I was interested in empowering myself and my community regardless of what happens to the system. If "the system" is based on ripoffs, then improving our position relative to "the system" might mean that we join it and become a bunch of assholes, or it might mean that we create a new thing for ourselves.
: A flat tax rate with less bullshit red tape and paperwork is a good place to
: start. God only requires 10%, and I see no reason why Washington can't be as simple.
The problem with taxes is not that the system of tax collection is too cumbersome but that Washington feels obligated to spin a web of illusion about what the tax monies are being spent on, and what their sum total effect is, in order to protect the cozy relationship between politicians, the rich, and lobbyists. For instance, half of each dollar you send to the IRS (as of 1994 at least) goes to a military establishment that even the Pentagon claims is overweight, but your politicians are telling you to blame taxes on things like AFDC, which claims .8% of the Federal Budget.
: Accountants can submit some ideas on that. We can assemble these ideas
: together, and then one way or another submit them to Capitol Hill. Space on
: this board doesn't permit me to go into specific details.
: As for Tenants Union, well let's call it Residents Association. I hate the word
: "union". Again, the power of the 'Net will come in handy. Resident organizations can
: be created on either the State, County, or perhaps City or community level. Here, we
: refer to Hurst, Euless, and Bedford collectively as "H-E-B", one big happy community.
: Using the Internet for this is a safe method, because most apartment complexes have
: rules against soliciting, that apply both to outsiders, and residents. If you go door-
: to-door, you run the risk of a tattle-tale neighbor turning you in to the
: management. Again, I want to make this short as possible, so my suggestion in setting
: up these unions, er, associations, is to do it by chapter, using the apartment
: complex names for the chapters. Once there are enough neighbors who have joined online,
: they can go out on the property en masse (There is strength in numbers.), with printouts
: of the ideas, and distribute them to each unit. The manager can't evict everyone, after
: all. Then the neighbors can come up with a final petition, and present it to the
: management. Once these associations gain strength, they can become effective tools for
: negotiating rent, and the landlords will no longer be able to just add or change any rule,
: cancel any amenity, or change any policy without first getting our vote. If there are any
: apartment managers or owners reading this, hey! We are customers, and we have a right
: to specify how we want to be served!!! To close this idea, this is better than anything
: mandated by the State or the Feds (State rent control is NOT the answer!).
The above ideas can be made to benefit us. I'm sure you'll find that most of the communists and anarchists that haunt this "debating room" are not interested in the existence of a State, either. But, more pragmatically here and now, you may need the State in your current situation -- rules against "solicitors" that prevent you from organizing a tenant's association also infringe on your Constitutionally-guaranteed First Amendment rights, and if it came to a court battle you may want that little fragment of the State (the Bill of Rights) on your side. Best of luck to you.
: As for all other businesses, including McD's, consumer groups can be organized on the Net,
: and ideas (and grievances) can be submitted to the Corporations. Remember! There is strength
: in numbers, and if we get together, then we can hold the companies accountable for
: the quality of their products and services.
The best way of "holding companies accountable" is to make them less necessary. If they aren't necessary, then we are free to reject them if we find their claims to our lives, our money and our souls to be an impediment.
None.
