1mo ago

Are most people here left-wing?

199 comments

I'm a left libertarian. I embrace decentralization, collectivism, freedom from corporate and central government tyranny, and want to maximize individual liberty and progressive values as we ideally move towards a society like the Culture series by Ian M. Banks.
I'm not Anarchist because it's too chaotic and unrealistic, and I'm not ML because I don't like State authoritarianism and central planning.
- Can you give some examples of how that works? Like, who pays for roads, who handles environmental regulations (or are there any), who establishes education standards (or are there any), etc. I'm not trying to argue, it just seems like on the internet people referring to "state authoritarianism" and "central government tyranny" ranges from "adults can't be transgender" to "I have to pay taxes and the government won't let me own slaves."
  
  There's a few ways to handle, but for example:
  Roads: large towns and cities would mostly handle their own road maintenance. Roads connecting towns would probably be joint ventures. Projects would be funded and contracted by the towns and financed by town income tax. Rural areas would be underfunded, but that's partly intentional - dense population centers are more sustainable.
  Environmental regulations: handled at the level of impact. for example, water quality standards for a river bind everyone who accesses the river. restrictions (e.g. standards for heavy metal levels) would be passed by minority vote - if 40% want a standard, that's enough. carbon credits would be administered at the Federal or World levels, by a combination of central government and treaties.
  Education: probably pretty devolved, mostly a choice by municipalities in what they offer/teach. there'd likely be standardized tests that most places agree on for transferability (e.g. how the SAT works today.) religious schools could exist in religious communities, or you could have a Montessori program in your secular socialist Kibbutz.
  Slavery: illegal at the Federal/World level. same with indentured servitude and coercive contracts. one of the most important functions of the central government is to protect the civil liberties of individuals.
  So the principles are mostly:
  Externalities are handled at the level of their impact.
  More power locally, less power centrally. City governments are more like micro-nations bound by a sort of EU.
  Cities largely have a lot of direct democracy with some representatives. Critically, city governments wield lots of power over the businesses that operate in the city. This is critical to check corporate power.
  Federal government exists as a backstop to safeguard fundamental rights and for truly national concerns.
  
  i like what you are saying, just a few modifications I would make:
  -Water control and regulation should be based on watersheds. all organizations operating in a given watershed are beholden to the laws of that watersheds own regulator. this would allow for actual management of the resource and protection from exploitation.
  -there would need to be a strong incentive to work together with other municipalities and not be antagonistic. I am unsure what that would look like, but when you reduce central power, smaller powers can attempt to oppress others more easily.
  
  Thank you for this. It seems more in keeping with the original idea of the US, a federation of states.
  
  It doesn't work.

199 comments