Deepening Democracy Action Steps

The word “democracy” comes from the Greek words “power” and “people”.  Deepening Democracy is a movement taking place all over the world.  Deepening democracy in the financial sector brings greater wealth for all.  Deepening Democracy is not against corporations or against the wealthy. Empowering people is the purpose of democracies.  Cooperatives are about empowering people.  Deepening Democracy is about everyone thriving, everyone benefitting.  It is about abundance for all.

For hundreds of years there were kings and queens, royalty and serfs or peasants. The royalty controlled most of the wealth. Remember Robin Hood, even the animals in the forests belonged to the king.   In those days the serfs and peasants barely had enough wealth to clothe and feed themselves while royalty feasted. We inherited this system. Today there are full time workers who do not earn enough to feed themselves, and cannot pay their bills while CEO’s and stockholders feast. People are losing their homes while their pensions which the company promised them disappear. Just as in those olden times, those at the bottom are proportionally taxed the most.  This system is not democratic.  It does not support the power of people.

A democratic solution to our financial inequality today is cooperative action in the financial sector. There are many forms of cooperatives. A wonderful example of cooperative enterprise is the successful Mondragon Cooperative in the Basque region of Spain. Mondragon is the 10th largest corporation in Spain with 289 companies and cooperatives, 800,321 people and 15 technology centers. There are many companies in the United States which are successfully implementing cooperative practices. Southwest Airlines is an example of a successful employee ownership culture. My local grocery in Seattle includes the customers in its cooperative governance and profit sharing.  Our Silicon Valley geniuses set up companies with employee centered cultures. Cooperatives are a sign of economic wisdom and even brilliance.  The heart of cooperatives is respecting and valuing workers.

The beauty of cooperatives is that we can start them ourselves. Cooperatives can be worker owned and managed businesses. Cooperatives are a method for creating fairness in the distribution of financial wealth.  In the Basque Mondragon Cooperative the workers hire the CEOs of their enterprises and determine their salaries. The workers select the board of directors. Workers decide what products to manufacture or services to provide. They create the policies which will best serve their intentions.

Cooperatives increase social and environmental responsibility. Because the workers live in the community, they are most likely to choose policies which are for the benefit of the community and the environment. The shift toward worker responsibility becomes a shift toward greater product quality and financial equity, healthier work conditions and thriving community and environments. Enthusiasm and pride in accomplishments increase when workers are the ones making the decisions.

The government can encourage cooperatives through incentives and favorable legislation. For instance when a company decides to close its operating facility to move somewhere else, local governments can have in place legislation which supports, promotes and facilitates the use of the abandoned infrastructure for and by the employees. Such legislation benefits the employees as well as the health of the entire community.  It is important to elect persons who support cooperatives.

We have tremendous genius and power among us. We can create a beautiful healthy peaceful future for all.  Deepening democracy into all aspects of our lives is a key to greater loving caring and sharing, health wealth and happiness, abundance prosperity and riches for all.