Forming A Christian Left
It is possible to create an economy based on Christian Fundamentalism, which does not use money, which is not based on greed, which eliminates most financial crime and does not need a state to protect it in the way capitalism does. This is a system based on the free market and the protection of private property rights.
Economics is fundamental to the way God created the universe. If you consider the fact that God is all-powerful everything He does He does because He willed it; He is free of all compulsion.
God created the universe out of choice. Choices always reflect our values. Since God created the universe its creation was something He wanted to see exist. His other option was to do nothing. God called His creation good because His creation reflected His Will. It was as He wished it to be.
God created mankind and since this was another choice God choose to make we can be assured that we were a creation that God desired to come about. He choose us over all other created things because we were of greater value to Him. The thing that one values above all other things is said to be the thing one loves. Love is a measure of how deeply a thing is valued vis-vis all else.
God created us out of choice, by choice from choice and because of the way we were created we have choice. Choice is the fundamental constituent of the universe. Some people say the universe is made out of energy, but what is energy? Some say energy is the capacity for doing work as when we say: 'That person has a lot of energy'. But work is what a subject does, not what it is.
We are made out of choice and this is why we have choice as a house has bricks because this is what it is made out of. We see choice as the real things of the world. We are able to value these things God created because choice is about the expression of our values. A choice has structure. Choices have costs. A choice is not about choosing which breakfast cereal to buy; the choice is not made until the purchase is paid for. A choice has costs and if these costs are not met then the choice is not completed.
A choice is a transaction in that it always has a buyer and a seller. A transaction cannot be completed unless both buyer and seller concur with the terms of the transaction. In a transaction both the buyer and the seller gain because both buyer and seller obtain something they value more than what they gave, to fulfill the terms of the transaction.
Transactions always betray the treasures of our hearts because it is what we value most that determines what we will give to get what we desire more. People who love money will sacrifice everything in order to accumulate wealth, in the end everything God created will be deemed of less value than the monetary value that it represents. Because money is desired above all else greed is manifest. Greedy individuals do not wish to pay the costs of what they seek to obtain because to pay the full cost is to reduce the level of ones wealth, so greedy people tend to steal and cheat and act dishonestly in order to accumulate wealth.
By creating a super cooperative greed is eliminated. Wealth can only be obtained through a process of friends helping friends.
A super cooperative is composed of five to twelve people organized into a basic economy. A basic economy is the ideal number of people required to enhance the transaction capability of all. Fewer people would result in too few transactional opportunities and more than twelve people and trust issues start to emerge and you have to start introducing things like money, banks and the state and these are no Christian things.
Christian small groups are the ideal environment in which to set up a basic economy. Each family or member of the cooperative is treated as if they were a business and each business has a share of the cooperative of which they are a part. Each person is provided with an Asset Card and this records the transactions each person completes.
Each Asset Card has five columns, date, item purchased or sold, debit, credit, balance and a final column where the parties to a transaction sign each others card to confirm the details of the transaction. This eliminates the need for money. When money is not needed banks are not required. Because greed is not possible within a cooperative economy the state has no greedy people to protect so we can do away with the state. The administration of the system is done through the members of the cooperative. The cooperative economy is modular. Each level is identical to the level below, except it occupies a different geographical and administrative level.
The growth and organization of a cooperative based economy (CbE) is natural and organic. In its mature form all businesses are arranged into twelve sectors. Each Sector has an administrative body. The Sectors are Defense; Transportation; Technology and Science; Communications; Energy, Mines and Resources; Industry; Sales and Services; Construction; Health and Welfare; Education; Culture; Jurisprudence. Each Sector has its own executive and CEO. The CEO's of each Sector on each level form a council where they meet and discuss inter-sector issues such as purchases of goods and services from one sector by another. The Transportation Sector: city level purchases buses from the Industrial Sector: city level. Purchases and sales are all recorded on Asset Cards and are conducted on the level where the parties to the transaction work.
The CEO's of the councils on one level form the council of the next level. There are 12 different administrative levels
Because money is not used when Bill buys a car from Sue the value of the transaction stays within the group to be used by the group to benefit the group. Sue has earned credits from Bill, which prompts her to purchase goods and services from the rest of the group. Bill effectively has a debt with the group so they are encouraged to buy goods and services from Bill to eliminate the debt. What happens is credits are merely transferred from person to person as transactions are completed. Thus economic activity remains centered on the group benefiting all members equally.
The difference between this system and capitalism is that credits earned are not worth nothing until they are exchanged for goods and services with the group, there are no investments to make and no interest to collect. It not only benefits the group to buy and sell from each other it is the only way members can improve their economic position. As time goes on and new groups are formed groups can set up trading arrangements and buy and sell from each other. Regardless of how large the system becomes the books are always balanced, each group buying and selling equally from one another. This prevents greed.
It requires no money to start up a super-cooperative since the system uses no money. It is based on the principle of friends helping friends. It makes formal what is now an informal practice.
This economy is able to provide defense and jurisprudence services without the use of a state.
More will be added on these issues at a later time.