Welcome

Thank you for visiting Brotherhood of Man! I'm excited about your visit, and happy to greet you!

I'm Vincent Frank De Benedetto, philosopher, writer, and teacher. The ideas that you'll encounter here and elsewhere in my work are unique and powerful, and can dramatically change the world. I argue that they are just about the only ideas that can. This is good, just in the nick-of-time, in fact, because a look at the headlines of today, both national and international, clearly illustrates that it must be changed.

Before I begin, please note that if you really want to get something from this website, if you really want to start to understand the powerful ideas and agenda for unique and dramatic change presented here, I strongly recommend that you read every word at this site five times--yes, five times. Alright--at least three, but five is better. This is because the ideas presented here, or certainly some of them, will likely be new to you. And insofar as they're not new, the way they are combined here to form the Brotherhood of Man perspective and program for change will certainly be new to you.

Additionally, the content here is presented in a fairly intelligent style: it is extensive, and makes use of its share of "big words." Moreover, many people are simply not used to reading, whether material of a more sophisticated, or simpler style.

So again, please take your time over the next week or two, and read this entire website five times. Think about what you're reading. If you follow these steps, you should find the ideas starting to sink in. After reading, you may contact me for discussion or clarification.

Please note that this site is presently undergoing a long-term theoretical overhaul. The notion of a "Cooperative System," for example, which you will encounter many times on this page and elsewhere, is now superseded by the superior notion of the "Brotherhood of Man."

Health

Some people arrive at this website seeking health information. I do provide such information because I possess a knowledge of health and nutrition. Additionally, however, our present mode of social organization, capitalism, largely determines the state of health of both ourselves and our planet Earth, so health is a legitimate area of inquiry and exploration for this site.

For health information, in particular, therefore, I first recommend that you visit my substantive and comprehensive set of health topics contained in my Pick Your Issue section.

For those not specifically seeking information on health or the effect and influence of capitalism on health, please simply continue reading this home page, and the balance of this site. My health-specific content is always here for examination, later.

Exactly!

Introduction

Since many people skim what they read today, or are otherwise impatient for information, here is the powerful and incontrovertible message of this website, tersely sketched. It's a big claim. Almost every problem you've got--economic, financial, familial, marital, medical, occupational, and personal--indeed, almost every problem that humanity faces, is caused, directly or indirectly, by the combination of these two factors:

1. The normal operation of the global economic system of capitalism. Though we all live under capitalism every moment of every day, most people don't have a proper or detailed understanding of what capitalism is, how it works, and the numerous ways that it affects, and indeed determines, every aspect of their lives.

2. The other factor, or cause, of just about every problem we have is the "egoism" that capitalism generates in people, which in turn reinforces capitalism.

   By "egoism" I principally refer to the negative expression of "ego," meaning an inordinate or exaggerated focus on self, to the complete or wide exclusion of the needs of others.

If the two factors I've identified as the causes of just about every human problem are correct, the only way we'll solve the many problems of humankind is to replace capitalism and its culture of egoism with a seminal, historic, and far superior classless, moneyless, needs-based, love-assisted socio-economic system (C.M.N.L., pronounced "communal"). Only then can we realistically begin to build the revered and long-sought "Brotherhood of Man" (or "Brother-and-Sisterhood of Humanity," if you prefer), and bring humankind to its existential zenith.

Persons new to these ideas may desire an immediate "prove-it-to-me" explanation of my claims about capitalism. Were I presented with ideas and assertions that ran completely counter to my lifetime understanding of people and society, I might be impatient for clear-and-to-the-point explanations and answers, as well. Happily, the Learn the Issues section of this website will provide just such immediate explanations and answers.

Alternatively, those already familiar with the notion of a Cooperative Society/Economic Democracy should note that this site is targeted to individuals unacquainted with this idea, as well as seasoned persons such as yourselves. Both groups will find new, gratifying, and critical perspectives here! Seasoned persons, in particular, may want to immediately review my 12-Point Summary listing the reasons that I consider BOMA among the most advanced, progressive and, indeed, unique of existing revolutionary groups.

But I Want to Practice Love, Today

Some of you may want to learn what love really is, and how to practice it right now, today. You may wish to leave the larger discussion of using love to rebuild our entire global society, for later. If you are such a person, I invite you to visit and learn about my sister project The Agape Order. Agape (pronounced "ugg AH pay") is Greek for brotherly love. The Agape Order is devoted to the principle, and immediate practice, of brotherly love, or simply, Love.

You might ask, if the Agape Order is an important and desirable project, why does this project, Brotherhood of Man, also exist?

It exists because as you begin to seriously attempt to practice love, you're going to discover an impediment or obstacle to your full practice of love, indeed, to a full flowering of love in the world. What is this obstacle? It is the so-called free-enterprise system, or simply "capitalism" (KAH pit ul ism). Once you realize this, and want to begin discussing how to eliminate this obstacle, capitalism, and what to replace it with, you will then understand why the Brotherhood of Man project also exists: it is the project that addresses this larger question of capitalism, the major obstacle to love.

I would say that while The Agape Order is extremely important, it is ultimately not absolutely necessary. Brotherhood of Man, however, the project at this website, is both.

Introduction, continued

Before venturing further, please read this April 2016 article from the New York Times, describing in detail just how utterly horrible the capitalism of today has become. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" has never been more true. Our technical processes and technology may be ever-improving (or at least ever-changing, whether these changes constitute genuine improvement is another matter), but it's clear from this article, many other articles as well as books like it, and the jagged surfaces of our everyday work and personal lives, that what really matters--our embrace of just about the only principle worth embracing, Love, our relationship to each other, and the kind of world that we could build based on these superior occupations--remains woefully, and often fatally, deficient.

The latest version of capitalist values as described in this article (calculated separation between people, corporate dominance, profit preoccupation, economic anarchy, modern slavery) runs not only completely counter to the values advocated and prescribed by the BROTHERHOOD OF MAN project (brotherhood, love, loyalty), but likely comprise the worst iteration of capitalist values, yet.

After reading this article you'll have a pretty good idea of the kind of world that BROTHERHOOD OF MAN is fighting. It's the kind of grossly impersonal, money-and-profit-driven, economically and socially anarchical world that certain other individuals and groups are fighting, as well. Read through this site, however, for a picture of the unique and powerful social and economic structures that I propose in substitution, that no other individual or group has conceived as a unified political program.

Wisdom

The online Free Dictionary defines wisdom as:

"the quality or state of being wise; sagacity, discernment, or insight."

Merriam-Webster online defines wisdom as:

"ability to discern inner qualities and relationships : insight"

Memidex online defines wisdom as:.

"a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations..."

There are numerous web sites and pages on the Internet. How many of them contain words and perspectives of genuine wisdom? Though perhaps a grand claim, as the writer and researcher of this, and all my, websites, I assert that if you carefully read and consider every word and idea here, you will indeed read words and perspectives of genuine wisdom. This is as rare on the Internet as it is in general life. Please realize what you're getting here, and value and cherish it.

In the best of cases, please give thanks and show your gratitude for the wisdom you'll receive here by making a financial donation using the PayPal button at page bottom.

Young People

Persons under perhaps 45 or 50 years of age are at a disadvantage in assessing capitalism. This is because their relative youth means that they have simply not lived enough years under it to take the long view required to deeply and properly understand and assess it. Especially intelligent persons, however, can compensate somewhat for this limitation by extensive reading, listening, and ongoing critical consideration. Moreover, this site does have special sections for young people, such as For Young People, link at left.

The following recommendation is unconventional, but in addition to careful and continuing study of this website now, I advise young people to return to this site every few years to again review and study it. And do so throughout your life. The longer you live under capitalism, the more the perspective, analysis, and prescription of Brotherhood of Man will resonate. The more sense it will make to you. Capitalism is a difficult and unwieldy animal to get a grasp of; it can take a long time. Regardless of how long it takes, however, it is essential that young people across this planet do so, if we're to actualize, even prevent the destruction of, the human race.

Yes, young people--capitalism is that bad. Keep reading and learning and you'll understand.

Navigating & Viewing this Site

You'll quickly realize that this website is extensive, which is by design. Those who find its scope overwhelming should note the presence of "guideposts," which are links pointing to site pages containing summary or otherwise key information about BOMA, its perspective, principles, and program. You can begin with these pages if desired. These Guidepost links include:  About BOMA, 12-Point-Summary, Love, The Basic Roadmap, and BOMA vs. other Orgs. All these links reside on the navigation bar ("NavBar") that runs down the left side of every BOMA page. Even the home page, itself, that you are now reading, is a general summary or overview.

After reading this home page, you may wish to acquaint yourself with a particular topic or issue from the BOMA point of view. If so, there are several options: 1.) click a likely link from our Navigation Bar ("NavBar"), the separated vertical list of links that runs down the left side of each site page, 2.) read through the site either methodically or indiscriminately, and in doing so perhaps encounter your topic of interest, or 3.) jump directly to my Learn the Issues section, to see if your desired topic is treated there.

Many of you are likely new to the BOMA thesis that our many and varied human problems all share one root cause: the normal operation of the money-and-profit system of capitalism. My Learn the Issues section presents a growing list of these problems, and a specific and concrete explanation of how the money-and-profit system, typically in concert with human egoism, causes each one. If you read nothing else at this website, please read through your topics of interest in Learn the Issues, so you begin to develop an understanding of the accuracy, veracity, and power of our claim that capitalism is the root cause of virtually every human problem.

Additionally, the BOMA Discussion Forum is another superlative resource. It contains its own ocean of information and perspective from many people, turning theory into possibility. For amplification and elaboration of the main body of material presented at the BOMA site proper, for discussion of breaking news and other current events from a BOMA perspective, and for delightful and sometimes challenging colloquy with like-minded persons, this area is essential. I recommend, however, that you read as much of the site, proper, as you can before dipping into the Discussion Forum, for content and conversation there sometimes presumes a minimal knowledge of the relevant basic concepts of BOMA.

This site was designed under Windows XP. To view it properly you must have the font Tempus Sans ITC installed. It is simple to determine this.

For persons with compromised reading or comprehension due to maladies such as dyslexia, or other reasons, please ensure that you have the above-mentioned font installed. Additionally, I offer a live telephone conversation to assist you in learning about BOMA and this movement. Please see next section.

Telephone Conversation Available

After completing the above Guidepost pages, you may proceed to a careful read of my Detailed Q & A. I have found that, as a picture is worth a thousand words, so loosely is a website, meaning, as strenuously as I attempt to engineer and present a coherent, comprehensive, and conclusive body of argumentation within the walls of this website, the most efficient, enjoyable, and indeed effective colloquy and communication often occurs during an actual live conversation. Indeed, it is often only through the dynamic and real-time medium of live talk that even basic ideas, meanings, and distinctions can be understood, or in the case of some of these, can begin to be understood.

Thus, for persons deeply and especially interested in, and committed to, learning the differences amongst the perspectives, principals, and programs of the various organizations working for dramatic social change, I invite and suggest your email requesting the scheduling of a telephone conversation (or online chat) with me.

Online Guide To Dramatic Social Change

I recently realized that OneHumanFamily.net, this online resource, is of sufficient length, and, I believe, originality of thought, that it can be variously considered a website and book (albeit with content presently organized in website form). As a book, it is probably draft or revision #2 of Volume II, of my 2-volume set (publisher sought).

Revolutionaries, whether seasoned, or new, or for that matter any concerned person, especially having been thrown into a time of social tumult, can consider this book an online guide to revolution, among other things. And not just revolution, because this word can mean almost anything, but indeed the most desirable kind of revolution: peaceful, loving, and democratic in both means and ends, based on the unique and powerful two-part BOMA program for dramatic social change.

Read carefully through as much of this website as you can, and encourage your friends, comrades, and compatriots to do the same. I recommend a wholesale adoption of the BOMA program, as its dual-character is what provides its power, more, I believe, than any other revolutionary program. However, if desired you may also pick-and-choose ideas from these pages, as well, as this body of work contains a number of ideas of significant power and utility in their own right.

Is the establishment of a new society what you seek? A society based explicitly and realistically on cooperation and indeed love in all spheres of activity:  personal, social, and economic? Then you seek the BOMA program for dramatic social change.

Free Book

Is this online book free? Strictly speaking, yes, in that site visitors who fail to make a donation to assist my work can still read the book, and are encouraged to do so.

In the larger sense, however, this online book is not free. It comes with my expectation that you will:

1. Read every word of the material.

2. Make a genuine and good-faith effort to fully understand the material, even if this requires rereading.

3. Insofar as you accept my thesis that capitalism must be replaced with the Brotherhood of Man, work to this end. Do something in your life even if merely a moderate effort, to help bring about this change.

Copyright

Please note that copyright law states that the publication of a work legally protects the work. Thus, this online book is already copyright-protected. The entire content of this web site is copyright (c) 2015, Vincent F. De Benedeto.

I authorize, and encourage, you to reproduce of any of the content of this site, providing two conditions are met:

1. You make no changes, whatsoever, to the content.
2. Full attribution is made to Vincent F. De Benedeto at www.OneHumanFamily.net.

Why would someone assert copyright who is aggresively advocating creation of a society characterized by brotherly-love and free goods and services?

Because we're not there yet! We do not yet live in such a society. We're still firmly emplaced in the capitalist system and each of us is thus required to earn a living, under penalty of poverty and eventual illness and death. It is my belief that this online book will eventually be formally published and may, at that time, become a vehicle for the generation of income. Such realpolitik does not reflect unfavorably on the content of the book or on my own political beliefs, which are stated truthfully, accurately, and explictly here.

Please Consider a Donation

It probably won't require much time spent at this website to realize how profound its themes and concepts, and how extensive its content. Of course, such work does not happen by accident. It took me a long time and a fair amount of money to build the large-scale site at which you now reside, and I did it by myself. It took time and money I really didn't have.

Accordingly, as you read through this site please seriously consider a cash donation to assist me: to offset money already spent and that to be spent. Every moment I've spent on this website over the last ten years has been a moment I did not spend on my family or myself. It was a sacrifice.

I have little doubt but that you will come away from this site cheered, informed, or resolved. Assuming so, please later consult my further content on cash donations, and the PayPal donation button, both located at the bottom of this home page. Thanks. Now, let's move forward in learning how and why profit and ego are our chief problems, and what to do about them.

Why Change Society

Must we change society?

Without question. But why?

We must change our global society because 1.) virtually all the problems that we're experiencing right now, or will experience later in life, are absolutely unnecessary, 2.) the gravity of human suffering is such that it is immoral, hence unacceptable, to allow human beings to suffer unnecessarily, and 3.) there is the small matter of the very survival of our species. The capitalist-generated phenomenon of global warming, for example, may have already doomed our planet if it can't be sufficiently reduced within a specified period of time--and some analyses assert that it can't be. And if we're lucky enough to overcome this particular problem, as colossal as it is potentially catastrophic, we may not be so lucky next time, when capitalism generates its next potentially human species-terminating crisis. That it will, or indeed can, so generate another crisis is about the only thing of which we can be sure if capitalism continues, for the paradigm of 'as much production as possible as fast as possible,' damn not just the torpedoes but human health, safety, and welfare, themselves, cannot help but create a kind of context of anarchy that comprises hospitable soil for the germination, growth, and flowering of such crises.

Most of our problems are, and will remain, economically-related, meaning they revolve around the difficult, complex, and interminable concerns of jobs and money, which themselves reduce to the question of ownership of industry, which itself reduces to the singular question of the nature and operation of capitalism. Herein lies the answer to our question, the solution to our problem, and the key to unlock our chains: economic, financial, personal, social, familial, physical, psychological, emotional, and indeed existential.

We humans live for about 80 years, if we're lucky. Why shouldn't we structure this world so that those 80 years are as deeply and genuinely happy as they can be?

Yet, how do we accomplish this elusive and magical task? There are two related steps, which in their most fundamental form are:

1. Abolish capitalism

2. Learn love

You probably have some idea of what love is, but you may not have a real understanding of what capitalism is. If these ideas cheer and intrigue you, read this web site carefully and thoroughly to learn the details!

Change Organizations

BOMA is not the only revolutionary "change" organization that exists. A critical reality to understand is that 1.) there most certainly are differences between the various revolutionary groups, 2.) these differences are often substantial, and thus 3.) they are extremely important explicitly and implicitly for the way we get to the new society, its character, specific operation, longevity, in other words, whether it will last, and finally, how you will be treated, now and later, by the particular group that you elect to join or affiliate with that purports to work toward building that new society.

Accordingly, it is critical that you 1.) read, and come to fully understand both explicitly and in implication, the "fine print," as it were, for each group, meaning the details of each respective political program, and 2.) become acquainted with the culture of each group, with specific regard to the sensitivity and respect each shows to people, especially members, an area in which many groups fall down on the job. Yet, this latter endeavor, determining how a given organization treats its members and others, is as difficult as it is important, which I discuss in my critique of this movement.

This issue of sensitive and respectful treatment of people is the "dirty little secret" of movements for change. You will likely never read about it in the promotional or other informational material, digital or analog, of any organization save BOMA. Needless to say, Brotherhood of Man does not treat people this way:  as a member or affiliate of BOMA you will never have the rug pulled out from under you emotionally. This is partly why we can talk about this issue, when others can't.

Do you feel your head hurting already? Good--this means that you're beginning to develop and flex political and intellectual muscles that you didn't even know you had!

Three Groups

It is essential to first understand that planet Earth can generally be divided into three groups of people:

1. Those who are unaware that there exists a gargantuan and extremely pressing set of global problems, including unemployment, low wages, and poverty, as well as a separate but related second set of problems that flow from the first group. This group including addiction, crime, physical and mental illness, homelessness, and violence. Because individuals in this group are unaware of these problems, they see no particular need for redress. They are usually children or young people, or persons who for one reason or another are un-or-mis-informed, or apolitical.

2. Those who are aware of this set of global problems, who believe that the system can be preserved if it is sufficiently "reformed" (i.e. fixed or improved in a piecemeal fashion without touching its fundamental nature) in one way or another. There is an extremely large body of such persons representing almost every point on the political spectrum, including Tom Friedman, William Greider, Jesse Jackson, Barack Obama, and Ron Paul. Such persons advocate and work toward reforms of "the system" of one sort or another; for example, Jesse Jackson seeks greater civil rights for African-Americans and others and higher wages for workers, while Ron Paul seeks a radically smaller government and unrestricted civil liberties.

   All these goals, whether politically left or right, constitute "reforms" of the existing system of capitalism and its culture. They do not seek to replace the system.

3. Those who are aware of this set of global problems, who have concluded that our present system cannot be reformed but must be completely replaced, because:

   1. Every problem of humankind is caused directly or indirectly, or exacerbated, by the normal operation of capitalism, especially in concert with the culture of egoism that is engendered by, and itself reinforces, capitalism. Any economic system that, through its normal operation, causes the raft of human problems that capitalism does, represents a retrograde system.

      In other words, these problems are structural in nature, meaning they find their root in the basic framework of capitalism, not its changeable periphery. Thus must the solutions be structural, which is to say the structure, itself, capitalism, must be replaced.

   2. Capitalism is notoriously difficult to reform successfully: reforms enacted are never enough to fully address problems, and insofar as they are addressed, improvements are often impermanent, and disappear or are weakened, as markets, governments, and/or governmental administrations change.

      You'll never reform the "business cycle," for example, although Economist John Maynard Keynes gave it the ole' college try, with his theory of government spending to bolster the economy. In another example, in the United States the Republican party continually works to reverse the gains made by the Democratic Party, and vice-versa.

   3. It suffers it's own internal contradictions and other crippling limitations. A key contradiction, for example, is that under capitalism, for businesses to survive and indeed flourish they must keep costs down. Yet their biggest cost is labor, meaning you and me, or more specifically, the wages that they pay you and me. This is why businesses are always desperate to pay us less, rather than more, money. Yet in paying we workers as little as possible, we can't afford to purchase much of their product, which in the end depresses their sales, anyway.

      Understood broadly, capitalism can't survive without constant sales. Yet, as a class, we're too poor to purchase back the mountain of goods and services that we, ourselves, produce. This insufficiency in sales causes a slowdown in the economy called a recession (a kind of "mini-depression"), or intermittently when severe, an actual depression. In fact, there have not been one or two, but NINE depressions in American history so far, and countless mini-depressions.

      This illustrates one of the crippling limitations of capitalism, suggested above: it is an unstable system. This instability wreaks havoc not just on business, but concretely on the lives of all of us, all the time.

   4. The fact is that capitalism was never designed to meet human needs, anyway, which is what the present global moral imperative now demands. The best our Founding Fathers could do for us, which for that time represented a genuine social advance, was craft and draft a document that would permit us the "pursuit" of happiness, the opportunity to pursue happiness. The economic system, which has now grown so dominant, overarching, and decisive, was not designed or conceived to lend us a helping hand in any concrete way. This is one of the broad, general reasons that the present system has to go.

   Required, then, is a complete transformation of society, a complete and total conversion to the completely different kind of economy that is an integral part of the Brotherhood of Man. Attempting to "reform" this or that problem would be an extremely ineffective, piecemeal approach, which would not bring the kind of dramatic change humankind deserves, and indeed now requires.

   Proponents of this revolutionary position include Erich Fromm; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the Venus Project & its mirror organization The Zeitgeist Movement; People For a New System; Karl Marx properly understood; and of course Brotherhood of Man, at whose website you now reside.

   Accordingly, these people and organizations advocate and work toward a radical, dramatic, or "revolutionary" change in human society, in "the system." BOMA belongs to this group, and this entire website seeks to persuade you of this dire need for dramatic social change. Please consider carefully with an open mind and heart!

Capitalism

If you're a young person, we urge your special attention and especially open-minded posture as you acquaint yourself with the message of this website. Indeed, you will be living in this world for many years to come, and its imperfections, small, large, or worse, will be your imperfections as you move through your life and attempt happiness. Moreover, there are no doubt one or more problems you are experiencing right now in your life, as well, some of which you may not even be aware of, and our perspective and program will assist you, here, too.

Indeed, for many years to come, you will suffer the effects of any problems that exist in this world. Brotherhood of Man presents a message of critical importance as well as a plausible and substantive message of hope, that no Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, or other conventional leader or politician will ever--or can ever--give you. They cannot, because they are simply too tied--financially, ideologically, emotionally, and personally--to the existing economic system (called capitalism) and attendant social system that it reinforces and which, in turn, reinforces it. Yet it is the normal operation of this system that is both the direct and indirect cause of just about every problem humanity faces, and every problem you face now, and in your future.

Leaders and other proponents of our present system are too busy tending to the existing garden to realize that, in fact, a new set of seeds is desperately needed.

If you are unacquainted with this word and concept, "capitalism," become acquainted with it. In other words, learn it. Begin studying it. Commit it to memory. Because capitalism is the cause of all human problems whether personal, social, or economic. It is the cause of your problems. Often you will hear the phrase free-enterprise instead of capitalism, but they refer essentially to the same thing.

The BOMA thesis and perspective, again, is that we must eliminate our present money-and-profit system called capitalism, because virtually every problem humanity faces is caused, directly or indirectly by 1.) the normal operation of capitalism, especially in concert with 2.) the egocentric culture that capitalism necessarily engenders. This culture ubiquitously and routinely includes the nonloving personal attitudes and behaviors that overwhelmingly characterize human behavior and comprise human society.

For example, on a broad economic scale, if the people running corporations loved you, they wouldn't be so quick to develop and market products that harm you. Moreover, inter-personally, or socially, if your fellow humans loved you they wouldn't lie to you, insult you, or engage so readily and thoughtlessly in the manifold other transgressions that erode your happiness, equanimity, and mental health. Nor would we similarly transgress against them. And in love of self, were this capacity better developed we'd be less willing to subject ourselves to injury from others, and from the injury, abuse, and lack of respect we often heap upon ourselves.

Thus are the three existing gaps in the human reality that we as a species have forged thus far. Were they eliminated, as they would be under a cooperative system, I fail to see how our world could be anything but nearly perfect.

Let's Begin

What would you say if someone told you there exists a political program, embodying a unique and powerful approach to people, society, and economics, that virtually guarantees the solution to just about every problem humanity faces, those that neither Democrat, Republican, nor Libertarian can ever seem to solve?

There is such a program--it is the "Cooperative" program of Brotherhood of Man.

Adoption of this program would immediately eliminate many of our most pressing problems--hunger, homelessness, lack of health care, poverty, unemployment, crime, addiction, many kinds of physical and mental illness, global warming and other environmental destruction, war, and others. In regard to remaining problems, adoption of the Cooperative program would remove every existing obstacle to their solution, allowing for the free and ready flow of creative ideas and proposals of a type that our present structure of society simply does not, and cannot, permit.

On a more immediately personal level, our "Cooperative" political program, if implemented, would create a whole new way of living, working, and understanding and relating to people--and to yourself.

"How can this be," you might ask. "How can one political program solve all the varied problems of humankind?"

It's true that the problems of humankind are varied--however, careful examination and analysis reveals that these many different problems have just two root causes. They are all caused by just two things.

Any political program, therefore, that eliminates or otherwise permanently redresses those two root causes will automatically and of necessity permanently resolve the various kinds of problems caused by those two roots. The Cooperative program does this, neatly, logically, uniquely, and powerfully.

Think about it. Take the United States as an example. The overwhelming majority of the problems we suffer in this country exist in every city, state, and geographical region; they are not limited to any one area of the country, are they?

So, whatever is causing these problems must, itself, exist in every part of this country. Now ask yourself--what one thing exists across this entire country, in every city, state, and region?

There's only one answer to that question:  capitalism!

The entire United States is capitalist (and so is most of the rest of the planet).

This use of simple logic is one way--though by no means the only one--that we can deduce that capitalism is a root cause of the problems of the United States. The principle holds firm across the planet, as well.

Yes, these are grand claims. But we believe that the more you examine, and reflect upon, the BOMA Cooperative program, the social and economic realities that make it necessary, and the way capitalism actually operates, the more you will realize, to your own amazement, that we're not exaggerating. For a list of our various human problems, and a concrete and specific explanation of how the money-and-profit system, typically in concert with human egoism, causes each one, please see the Learn the Issues section of this website, link at left. If you read nothing else at this website, please read through your topics of interest in Learn the Issues. All we require of you is a genuinely open mind, and a willingness to carefully learn.

You are about to embark upon the most revelatory, and wildest, intellectual, political, economic, and indeed personal ride of your life!

Brotherhood of Man is an advocacy organization with a singular mission:  promotion of our unique and powerful "Cooperative" political program, the beautiful idea of a "Cooperative Society," and associated and supporting concepts. We are headquartered in the United States, but our program and principles are critical to the entire planet. We were founded in 2005.

This web site is far more extensive than just the home page you are reading right now. We request that before drawing a conclusion or making a judgement about our Cooperative program, you carefully and thoughtfully read, at the least, this entire home page. We believe that only after providing yourself this basic level of acquaintance with the BOMA program and world-view will you find yourself properly able to decide whether you wish to read and explore further.

Give Yourself Time

Having grown up in a society based on money, marketing, profit, advertising, and selling (these are all aspects of the "capitalist" system or "capitalism"), this is all we've ever known. Thus, it often takes time to develop, and then deepen, an understanding of how radically different and better a cooperative society would be, and how imbalanced, lacking, and actually pathological capitalism is.

As your grasp of these realities deepens, however, you will begin to see the necessity for both parts of our BOMA tagline:  "Advocating Economic & Personal Change," and the power and profundity in our unique and seminal two-part program for dramatic social change.

The Cooperative Society

Brotherhood of Man, through its "BOMA" or "Cooperative" program for social change, seeks a historic transformation, occurring democratically, from our present money, profit, and ego-based system of capitalism, toward the establishment of a classless, moneyless, love-centered "Cooperative Society." This new form of society, and its economy, would be controlled by all the people, together, in the interest of everyone, not just by a small group, in its own interest, whether that group was the tiny corporate "ruling class" of the capitalist nations, or "the party" of the totalitarian nations (Cuba, China, North Korea, former Soviet Union, etc.).

The notions of love and cooperation are deceptively simple, yet they are actually and ultimately extremely powerful principles when properly understood and applied. This is why the great teachers, leaders, and thinkers through history, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dr. Erich Fromm, taught and lived them.

There is an understandable malaise, cynicism, and resignation amongst many of us, as we watch a continuing parade of political and religious leaders; commentators; activists; thinkers and scholars; writers; entertainers, and others--many of whom are absolutely sincere and well-intentioned--attempt to trace the roots of, and design a path around, the many, varied, and serious problems of modern life, and indeed, the alienating nature of modern life, itself. Yet, there is no real or permanent success in any of these endeavors, because none of these analyses have accurately isolated the real nature and cause of these problems.

A solution to a problem can only be as good as a correct identification of its cause; there is no question but that BOMA has correctly and accurately identified the cause of the problems of our species.

In Other Words

Here's another way to understand BOMA and its mission:

BOMA, through its program for existential change, seeks a historic transformation in the way our species conceptualizes, and hence organizes and conducts itself. We humans presently see ourselves, and essentially are, a global population of individuals disconnected, unrelated, and unconcerned about each other; this view unfolds, is manifest in, and reinforces and is itself reinforced by, our personal, social, and economic structures and relations. BOMA wishes to transform this view, this understanding of, and presumption about, ourselves to that of its opposite: a global population that sees itself as connected, related, and concerned about each other, with the attendant and requisite changes in the three aforementioned spheres of our existence. We wish, in other words, to transform ourselves into a global population that is, and is aware of itself as, Brotherhood of Man.

Imagine a world where each of us actively cared for the other.

...Personally, socially, economically!

The creation of this world is why BOMA exists--and we have a unique, powerful, and plausible program to do it.

Why?

In years past, voting for a political representative such a mayor, congressman, senator, or president, was more-or-less sufficient to ensure our democratic power and the representation of our interests as citizens. Indeed, a politically-oriented (i.e. "political") form of government with democratic representation by geography comprised a full order of magnitude of human progress, a huge step up, over every social system that preceded it. Under a political form of government we vote for people who represent our geographical area--for example, in the United States we vote for the mayor of our town, the senator for our state, and the president of our country.

This political-democratic system worked reasonably well for hundreds of years. It was certainly a monumental step up from feudalism, the social system that immediately preceded it, under which feudal lords owned the land and serfs worked that land, in exchange for the right to keep some of the product of their labor. Thus was the genius of the Founding Fathers in fashioning the new constitution, and the new democratic system that it specified.

For quite some time now, however, as the modern United States and global economy has grown, in size and importance, especially in its decisive power over every aspect of our lives, political power in reality has taken a back seat to economic power. What is important in our lives now is economic power, covering such issues as wages, employment, benefits including health care, cost-of-living, working conditions including workplace safety, product quality and safety, and many other issues that profoundly affect our lives every day. In short--who owns what, and for who's benefit? Yet in all these key areas we have little or no power--because under our present system, democracy does not extend to the economy. Democracy is still tethered to political representation, only.

Thus, today our principal and most important form of democratic control--if democracy is to retain its credibility and remain a meaningful system--should be control of our economy. However, as we know, under our present, old-style money-and-profit system of "capitalism" we do not possess this form of control; in fact, economic control rests completely in the hands of a very tiny group of owners, that class of people who own all the industries. In the United States, for example, this tiny "ruling class" that owns and controls all the corporations, and thus the entire economy, is a mere 10% or less of the entire population. The rest of us, having nothing to sell but our labor, are forced to toil day-in and day-out for this tiny elite. This outdated, obsolete way of doing things is little more than a system of friendly, glorified slavery

Here we see one of the great limitations and fatal flaws of our current system:  democracy stops once you walk through the front door of your workplace. When you walk out that door again at the close of your workday democracy returns, although even this is not actually true, since today so much of our "non-work" lives is determined by our job, specifically, and the activity of the economy, generally.

In other words, what the world has now is political government. But what it actually needs is economic (or "industrial") government. Happily, the Cooperative program would extend democracy to the workplace and the economy, and in doing so would effect the greatest expansion, and realization, of democracy ever known to humankind.

And, in fact, because the mode of social organization of a society has such a profound influence and effect on every aspect of life, especially today in our money-based modern world, the issue of concern here--the operation and character of that mode of social organization--is not merely a political issue, but in fact a transcendent issue--one that moves beyond and supersedes all that is superficial or external--one that gets right to the heart of our existence as human beings:  what that existence is like, and consequently, what it means to be, and live as, a human being.

In a Cooperative society, the proposed model for production, social relations, and life itself, would be based on the famed principle of Louis Blanc: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." The program is partly predicated on the socio-existential assertion that all people are brothers and sisters in one human family, and should treat each other accordingly in all areas of human existence, including what we now understand as the "economic" sphere. The Cooperative program is one of "revolution," not reform.

The Problem is Capitalism

The Cooperative program, and the basic Cooperative posture, begins with the assertion that the principal cause or root of most or all social problems is economic in nature (with human ego a secondary, or sometimes exacerbating, cause). In some cases these economic roots merely exacerbate a given problem; in most cases, however, they actually cause a given problem; indeed, almost all problems. Moreover, sometimes these economic causes occur in a manner that is relatively easy and straightforward to identify, whereas in other cases they occur in a manner that is subtle, complex, or otherwise more difficult to discern.

If it is true that just about every social problem humankind faces has economic roots, as is argued in detail throughout this website, we must point a finger at the economic system of capitalism as the first and actual underlying cause, since capitalism is our present economic system. Thus, the economic roots of our present-day society can be nothing but the roots of capitalism.

This thesis, and the reality underlying it, also easily explains why no matter which traditional political party is in power, Republican or Democratic, and no matter which individual politician is in power, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, or anyone else, and no matter how good and sincere the intentions of the individual politician, the social problems of the U.S., and the world, never, ever seem to go away, nor even experience any sort of dramatic and permanent amelioration--much less achieve a permanent solution. They simply can't go away until capitalism is replaced, since, as just alluded to, it is the normal operation of capitalism that is the cause of just about all these problems.

This is a thesis alien or unknown to most people. The capitalist-controlled media and educational systems certainly do not promulgate it. Yet it is the stark truth, and our efforts to permanently solve our many social problems will rise or fall in direct accord to our embrace or rejection of this reality. Therefore, allow us to repeat the thesis:  it is the normal operation of capitalism that is the direct (or sometimes indirect), cause of just about every social problem the world faces.

Read it, re-read it, study it, speak it aloud...imprint it on your forehead if you want to. For it is a reality that will simply never go away.

Even without a studied grasp of how capitalism, capitalists, and capitalist markets work, when you're really intellectually and morally honest with yourself, can you actually and realistically envision zero poverty anywhere on the planet, under the money-and-profit system of capitalism?

Can you actually and realistically envision zero hunger anywhere on the planet, under the money-and-profit system of capitalism?

Can you actually and realistically envision zero homelessness, anywhere on the planet, under the money-and-profit system of capitalism?

Can you actually and realistically envision zero difficulty accessing health-care, by anyone, anywhere on the planet, under the money-and-profit system of capitalism?

Can you actually and realistically envision zero (or even near-zero) mental illness and addiction anywhere on the planet, under the ultra-stressful, dog-eat-dog, money-and-profit system of capitalism?

You get the idea.

Friends:  if you want a different flower, you simply must plant a different seed.

As long as we remain mired in a traditional Republican-or-Democratic framework, we are simply not going to solve our problems. Tinkering around the edges of the system, which is all the traditional parties do, or can do, always produces proportionally (and predictably) weak results. Give your poodle a different haircut--she's still a poodle. Colossal and completely determinative corporate power is now part of the very definition of our 21st century hyper-capitalism. Corporations and companies call the shots today, and they do so in their own money-and-profit interests. They own the chess board, the pieces, and they occupy both playing positions;  the rest of us, affluent and poor alike, are their pawns. They move us around the board strictly according to their profit interests. And as the great mass of continuing unemployed know, they also readily remove us from the board when their profit interests dictate.

Capitalism -- the real  inconvenient truth!

Survival of Our Species

In fact, the necessity for the transition to a Cooperative system is even more dire than we have presented it, so far. The new mode of social organization increasingly presents itself as a mandate, an absolute necessity, not an option. If you remember nothing else from this Internet resource, remember that it is imperative that we replace capitalism because it continually generates hyper-crises, any or all of which could literally wipe out the human race, or at least cause large-scale death or other large-scale devastation. I'll delineate and briefly review each in a moment, below.

Our organization into Brotherhood of Man will not solve every single problem of humankind. We'll still have earthquakes, volcanoes, and hurricanes; human beings will still make mistakes in their various individual and social endeavors. But there is no question humans organized and living as one human family will have far fewer problems, and the few remaining ones will be the problems we should be working on in the first decade or so of the 21st century--and herein lies a fundamental and potentially catastrophic problem.

Believe it or not, as a global society in the continuing context of capitalism we're still beating our heads against the wall trying to figure out how to feed, cloth, and employ everyone! Given the abundance of resources in this world at this point in history, we are presently working on the wrong set of problems--in that these are obviously things we could have, and should have, solved many years ago. These problems include such things as hunger, homelessness, unnecessary physical and mental illness, and alienation from, and hostility toward, work generally or a specific workplace or work environment.

This is the troubling and overarching reality, the real problem:  while we're expending our resources--time, energy, and money--on the problems that should no longer be problems, a real, new, and genuinely threatening set of problems is on the horizon that we are not addressing, or not properly so, or that have become so severe that there simply is no redress. For example:

1. Global Warming. The phenomenon of global warming is now considered so advanced and severe that humankind may simply be unable to escape its catastrophic effects.

   Years of global industrial production, vehicle exhaust, and other pollution-causing processes and activities has created a thick layer of pollution that is enveloping the world. This envelope is trapping heat in the atmosphere, and slowly raising its temperature. This is a huge problem that is seen as leading to a plethora of catastrophic environmental and social effects, including:

   • The melting of the global ice caps, which will itself lead to the flooding of major American cities.

   • The desertification of the breadbasket of America.

   • Etc.

Here is how the Union of Concerned Scientists briefly summarizes the effects of the problem:

"Global warming is already having significant and harmful effects on our communities, our health, and our climate. Sea level rise is accelerating. The number of large wildfires is growing. Dangerous heat waves are becoming more common. Extreme storm events are increasing in many areas. More severe droughts are occurring in others."



2. Mass Extinction. As reported in the June 22, 2015 online edition of The Washington Post, in an article entitled "Earth is on brink of a sixth mass extinction, scientists say, and it’s humans’ fault," scientists and researchers continue to assert based anew on a study just published in the journal Science Advances, that the Earth is now undergoing its sixth mass extinction.

   Unlike the five previous, however, this one is very different, because:

   1. Past extinctions were caused by natural phenomenon like asteroid strikes or lava floods, while the present extinction is clearly caused by the activities of man.

   2. Human beings now populate the Earth. If the present mass extinction continues, the human species will be eliminated along with most other species.

   3. While previous extinctions took many thousands of years, occurring in "geological" time, the present extinction is occurring in record time.

   Paleobiologist Jan Zalasiewizc wrote "...we are now living through one of those brief, rare episodes in Earth history when the biological framework of life is dismantled..."

   The Post reports:

   • "In 1998, an American Museum of Natural History poll of 400 biology experts found that 70 percent believe the Earth is in the midst of one of its fastest mass extinctions, one that threatens the existence of humans as well as the millions of species we rely on. In his 2003 book “The Future of Life,” noted Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson calculated that Earth would lose half its higher life forms by 2100 if the current rate of human disruption continued."

   • "...species these days are not living under normal conditions... Forests are vanishing. Animals are hunted for their tusks and teeth and fur. Toxins are leaching into streams and lakes and the ground beneath us. The global climate is changing, and habitats around the world are changing with it. ... And, as in past mass extinctions, even the “fit” have been unable to adapt."

3. Moon Drift. Most people are not aware that the only reason planet Earth spins on its axis in a stable manner in space is because of the countervailing gravity from our Moon. In other words, the gravity from the Moon keeps our Earth spinning in a stable and regular manner. The problem? For some time now, scientists have been charting the outward travel of the Moon--in other words, the moon is moving away from Earth at about an inch or so each year! The further away the Moon gets, the more pernicious change we will notice--most notably in our climatic conditions: heat, cold, snow, hail, rain, all these conditions will begin to change, slowly at first and then wildly, uncontrollably, and unpredictably.

   We will see a profound effect on the climactic conditions of this planet, and on our existence herein.

   What are we doing to more deeply study--and resolve--this potentially catastrophic problem?

4. Asteroid Collision. Every year brings asteroids hurtling toward Earth. Scientists at present are monitoring these cosmic projectiles to the best of their ability, given their present level of funding. But how prepared are we, in fact, to properly identify and monitor all incoming objects, and successfully destroy or divert those that may strike the Earth? Believe it or not, the fact is that the U.S. government spends a paltry 4 million dollars a year attempting to locate and track asteroids or other NEO (near Earth object), and presently spends ZERO on efforts to address those objects we may discover are hurtling straight toward us.

   In fact, believe it or not, scientists estimate that only 40 percent of kilometer-or-larger asteroids near Earth have been discovered! The remaining 60 percent are still presently unknown--an information gap that may spell the end of our species.

   As we know, a massive and catastrophic asteroid strike is generally accepted as the reason, or a principal reason, for the extinction of the dinosaur population across the planet. This writer is not prepared to similarly abdicate the existence of his entire species simply to keep capitalism alive, as it continues on its merry way diverting resources away from essential projects such as asteroid or other NEO (near Earth object) monitoring.

5. Alien Attack. No, I'm not kidding. Adults of maturity and life experience know that commonly, in life, what one fears often does not come to pass, while the worst in life often appears undetected, and unanticipated, seemingly out of nowhere. Indeed, as it is noted, life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans. Regarding the possibility of attack or other injurious action toward the human race by another race unknown and alien to us, it is the very perception of improbability, even unreality, and consequent inattention to this possibility, that makes it absolutely imperative that we ignore our tendency to ignore. That we ignore our tendency to ignore or steeply discount, likely with an incredulous chuckle, this possibility, and prepare for it. We fail this objective at our peril, this peril including the possibility of the actual demise of the human race, and perhaps planet Earth, as well.

   We simply must take preparatory action as a global community, a step that will likely never happen as long as our international relations, like every other human relation, are governed not by love, but by 1.) class interest, typically the accumulation of profit, such that the resources of the Earth remain allocated not to the common interest of humankind, but to the Swiss bank accounts and other coffers of the owning class, and 2.) the negative expression of human ego, which produces in regard to this subject a raft of obstructionist behaviors ranging from lack of willingness to cooperate with international partners, to a close-minded and perhaps arrogant summary rejection of the very possibility of alien attack.

   Take me to your leader.

6. AIDS. Moreover, in a further example, who knows whether the AIDS epidemic would have occurred, had we, as a planet, used our resources cooperatively and emplaced, for example, pathology monitoring stations (i.e. disease "listening posts") around the globe, prior to the outbreak of the disease.

   We've seen mad cow disease; what other diseases are now germinating or even spreading that we are not aware of? When humankind disobeys the laws of nature there are oftentimes nasty surprises in store. Just because the human race is still here, does not imply that it will always be here.

   Just because AIDS treatment has greatly advanced, now spares its sufferers a nasty death, and thus appears not to be the cause of the destruction of humanity that it once was is ultimately irrelevant, because as long as capitalism continues, the resources of humanity, owned and thus controlled by the ruling class as they are, will continue to be channeled in every direction that holds profitmaking potential. Some of these directions will likely pose further direct threat to our species, while the threat from other of these directions will be indirect but remain key to our self-destruction because they will rob us of the direction and resources required to meet and overcome whatever our newest humanity-killing challenges are.

   In stark and utter contrast, under a Cooperative economy simple, pro-active safety for people and society would be an absolute priority. Thus, we would devote significant resources before disaster strikes, to learning how to prevent or mitigate the effects of natural disasters or communicable diseases, unlike the continual game of catch-up that we play under our present system, one that focuses obsessively on the private accumulation of money and power, to the great and unforgivable detriment of the wider society.

7. Energy. This world runs on energy. When it's gone, we're gone. Happily, however, believe it or not, a technical consensus now exists asserting that very-large-scale use of solar technology, especially in large expanses in the deserts of the world, can readily supply the energy need of the entire world! If we don't find a way to supply this need, humanity is going to face yet another crisis.

   "The sun that reaches the Earth's surface delivers 10,000 times more energy than we consume," said Ted Sargent, an electrical and computer engineering professor at the University of Toronto ... If we could cover 0.1 percent of the Earth's surface with [very efficient] large-area solar cells," he said, "we could in principle replace all of our energy habits with a source of power which is clean and renewable." (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0114_050114_solarplastic.html)

   "Indeed, every year, each square kilometre of hot desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts world-wide, this is nearly a thousand times the entire current energy consumption of the world. The cost of collecting solar thermal energy equivalent to one barrel of oil is about US$50 right now (already less than the current world price of oil) and is likely to come down to around US$20 in future." (http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/resources/CSP_in_brief1.pdf)

   (Also see the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energies Technology Program)

   Such a master stroke of good fortune would be of epic and existential proportion, freeing us from the complex and often dangerous ramifications and consequences attached to our present use of every other energy source, especially coal and oil, and happily, would strangle the struggling baby nuclear its cradle.

   As suggested above, this scientific consensus further asserts the relatively low operating costs of solar energy utilization. Given this near-utopian scenario for energy production, whence the glacial pace of implementation?

   As with essentially every other problem humanity faces, it is the normal operation of capitalism that is the culprit, slowing and even blocking solutions to problems, and in many cases causing the problems in the first place.

   In the case of research, development, and manufacture of products and services, for example, corporations do not readily develop and adopt better methods and technologies when those already existing and in use are producing adequate profit. Or, corporations will use research and development as a big stick, a weapon to be deployed only when forced, as when the technology and processes of manufacture utilized or embodied in existing products and services no longer produce sales sufficient to meet desired profit quotas. Only then do we read in the papers that General Motors, or Exxon Mobil, or Boeing, or any of thousands of corporations and businesses of all sizes, are introducing this or that new technology into the marketplace.

   Until then, society--us--will have to suffer along with what exists. And if what exists produces global warming or other pernicious effects for society or individuals, well, that's simply the price we pay for "progress." Or, to put it more accurately, it's the price we pay for the progress of the ruling corporate class, over the interests of the rest of us, the great mass of people on this planet.

   Regarding the penultimate promise of solar power, the feasibility of this option has itself been left to wither in the desert because of cost, estimated at over $70 trillion dollars to implement the requisite amount of solar collectors and related equipment in the deserts of the world.

   As in the problem of health care, however, this perceived "problem," that of "cost," is an artificial one, only existing under capitalism, since it is within the unforgiving constraints of this system that money is used, and feasible social improvements such as better energy technologies are realized only when corporations can make profits--and not just any amount, but certain specific levels of profit.

   God help the capitalist and corporation that does not do whatever is required to produce profit sufficient to satisfy shareholders, or their own perception of how much money they "deserve" to make.

   Such is the anti-social nature of capitalism, that its benefits to people and society are merely incidental to its principal mission: profit. Alternatively, a cooperative economy, organized around our status and relationship to one another as brothers and sisters in the human family, would operate in exactly the reverse manner!

   Were we to realize our essential relationship to one another as brother and sister in the human family, we would be anxious to improve the lives of one another, and new and better technologies would be developed and introduced as quickly as possible, consistent with rigorous and meaningful safety testing. And neither would such introductions be roadblocked by cost, since the elimination of profit as an incentive, combined with free access to goods and services by working people, would mean that social improvements such as solar energy equipment would cost nothing. We all would all work in love and good faith for ourselves, our community, and our world, indeed, for the benefit of every one of our brothers and sisters in our human family.

8. Nuclear Weapons. The human race has now seen the development and large-scale introduction across nations of a class of weapon that literally could, for the first time in history, wipe out, we, that race.

   Therefore, it is imperative that we convert to a mode of social and economic organization, and interpersonal behavior, markedly different from our present one, given its track record of escalation of conflict which could lead to another instance of use of nuclear weapons. They have been used, as most people are aware. The only such mode is that of the Brotherhood of Man & Woman, as advocated by OHF.

9. Nuclear Power. Capitalist society has proven that it is too immature to properly and safely utilize nuclear power. Profit considerations and the generally sloppy way that capitalist society is run has proven, through disasters like Chernobyl and now Fukashima, that as a species we are simply not ready for energy technologies like these, that require the very highest standards and attitudes of maturity, sobriety, and wisdom, dictating behavior in regard to all aspects of nuclear power that does not sacrifice safety for profit-driven compromises.

10. Regular Economic Devastation. As anyone from a hard-core Marxist to a first-year business student can tell you, capitalism is an economically unstable system, continually generating crises euphemistically referred to as the "business cycle." This up-and-down, boom-and-bust cycle means that for a period of time economic activity sustains itself on something of an upswing, but then falls on the downward part of the cycle. It is during this downward swing that economic activity slows or ceases, causing the shutdown of factories and other workplaces, the mass layoffs of workers, and a resulting poverty even greater than when the crisis began. Because so many more workers are poor or otherwise suffer even worse buying power, even more factories and businesses must close or severely downsize their operations, facilitating or further gathering the downward strength of the spiral.

    Needless to say, this described pattern wreaks havoc with society generally and our lives, specifically, since, among other things, it makes it very difficult to earn a substantial, predictable, and consistent living. When relatively mild the downward swings, which can last for years, are called recessions. When severe, as they have sometimes proven to be, witness the 1929 and related periods, they are called depressions. Depressions can comprise large-scale, very grave economic and human devastation, with highly unpredictable results for individual, families, and society.

    The business cycle and its attendant economic carnage is one of the worst aspects of capitalism, and is simply unacceptable in any economic system that would want to be considered acceptable in the modern age.

11. Genocidal Violence. The rise, on the one hand, of groups like ISIS/ISIL, individuals acting with primitive, merciless, and genocidal violence toward not a single victim but entire groups of them to eliminate as many as possible as part of a strategy of human depopulation through medieval barbarism, and on the other hand, homegrown actors like the shooters responsible for the almost-daily firearm slaughters such as those of Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and most recently the June 2015 mass slaying of nine African-American bible study participants in South Carolina, illustrates categorically that a new kind of violence now exists, existential in implication.

12. Insanity. The entire global population is slowly but steadily heading toward complete psychosis, as every year sees millions more added to the rolls of dementia and Alzheimer's sufferers around the world. And yet, why wouldn't the global population slowly become insane? Between the high levels of stress chemicals such as cortisal coursing through our veins so much of the time now, the toxic elements present so ubiquitously all around us now in products, especially food and beverage products, as well as in soil, water, and air, much of which ends up, of course, inside us, and last, considering our stress-and-misery fueled overconsumption of food and beverage, taxing our bodies and brains in many ways, why would we expect anything other than a global population whose bodies and brains are unable to resist the mounting attack? And are thus going slowly mad, in what could certainly and relatively easily spell the complete and categorical end of our species?

    In regard to mental illness and many other social and economic problems, such as the June 2015 murder of nine African-American bible study participants in South Carolina, most people ask in confusion, dispirit, and desperation: "Why did it happen?" Yet the truth, and any social and personal liberation that could come from this truth, requires a discreet shift in perspective to enable the questioner to realize and ask the proper question: "Given our present inferior and thus inadequate mode of social organization, why wouldn't it happen?"

    "And why wouldn't it happen again? And again?" And of course, it will.

The inescapable reality, then, is, if we want to assure our survival as a species, we simply must end this system of world competition, all against all, fighting each other tooth-and-nail for every imaginable resource--jobs, money, food, water, development, contracts, oil, markets, and everything else--and begin working together, in earnest, as a planet and a species, on the new set of problems now staring us dead in the eye. Problems like those just described above.

Accordingly, it is imperative that we immediately cease our counterproductive and wasteful mode of existence, and begin to pool our resources cooperatively. As a global population, we are more-or-less sleeping through our existence on this planet. If we don't begin preparing immediately, together, God help us when the alarm clock rings.

Indeed, events ranging from global warming, to the massacre at Virginia Tech in April 2007 in the United States, in which 32 people were senselessly massacred by a lone, apparently disturbed gunman, suggest that the alarm clock has already gone off.

Are we finally prepared to wake up--or just hit the Snooze bar yet one more time?

Celebrated Advocates of a Cooperative System

The principles, perspective, and program of Brotherhood of Man are unique. However, some of these positions and assertions are not specific to Brotherhood of Man--many figures well-known to history share or shared them. Individuals who are (or were, while alive), adherents of the idea of a Cooperative Society in some form (though often not our specific form) include:

• Albert Einstein, world-renowned scientist

• Susan B. Anthony, women's rights advocate

• Margaret Sanger, women's health pioneer

• Jean-Paul Sartre, philosopher

• Erich Fromm, philosopher

• Ed Asner, actor

• Pete Seeger, musician

• Billy Bragg, musician

• Nelson Mandela, Freedom fighter; African National Congress leader

• Dr. Benjamin Spock, pediatrician; author

• Paul Robeson, Jr., political activist; thinker

• Helen Keller, handicapped persons pioneer and activist; political revolutionary

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights advocate and activist; social activist

General Introduction

1. Destroyed the maintenance and further development of ubiquitous, high-quality mass transportation systems across the planet, including and especially in the United States. It is a fact, for example, that in the United States, earlier in the last century, General Motors purchased mass transportations systems such as trolley systems--and then shut them down. This forced, accordingly...

2. ...a wholesale public dependence on the resource-intensive manufacture, purchase, and use of automobiles, creating an equally categorical dependence on foreign oil.

3. And most disturbingly, this particular failure of capitalism delayed the development and implementation of alternative energy sources for so long that we may now find it simply impossible to adequately and safely meet the greatly increasing world demand for energy, without resorting to implausible energy sources like nuclear. As you may know, traditional coal-based energy sources are running down and it is becoming increasingly urgent that other sources be found. This problem is becoming something of a crisis, as evidenced by the fact that some environmentalists, traditionally opposed to development and use of nuclear power, are advocating just that.

   Forgetting about cheaper, cleaner energy alternatives for a moment, the oil industry did not even see fit to improve the energy efficiency of the problematic fuel gasoline, produced from oil, and the cash-cow of their industry. At least one industry leader has acknowledged, uncharacteristically, that a more efficient, cleaner-burning form of gasoline had been available for a long time, but was not brought to market because so much profit was being made selling the older, inferior formulation (New York Times citation pending).

   Now, disturbingly, there is a renewed global corporate movement underway toward nuclear power. The irrevocable reality that there is simply no place to store the deadly waste produced by nuclear production seems merely to be "a challenge," or something we must "study carefully," but which should not prevent nuclear production from moving forward!

Conceptions of Family

In positing family as a political model, its wide-ranging, sometimes disparate nature, ranging from benevolent, loving, and close-knit to authoritarian, patriarchal, and impersonal, must be acknowledged.

While a family can be many things, its conception as embodied in the BOMA program sees a unit of persons who, fundamentally:

1. Feel a connection with their other family members. This connection is usually, though not always, ground in a blood relationship, which is consistent with the latest research in evolutionary genetics, reported by National Geographic News:  "...by analyzing DNA from people in all regions of the world, geneticist Spencer Wells has concluded that all humans alive today are descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago."

2. Generally view, or are disposed to, other family members with love or a similar close and positive sentiment, different than the way non-family members are viewed. There is usually and generally a concern, whether active or passive, with the affairs and welfare of other family members. Family members are generally viewed in non-economic terms (at least in societies where the general distributed resource base is sufficient to allow for such a view).

3. It is the behavioral implications of these elements that are important. Family members will generally extend themselves to other family members, no matter the area of life, in ways they would not normally do for non-family members.

   Writ large, why can't I care actively for my brother or sister in Senegal, or Taipei, or Milan, or Des Moines, or Tikrit, in a manner approximating my care for my brother or sister sleeping in the next room?

When the above three elements are present in sufficient measure, we speak positively and affirmatively of "family." BOMA asserts that there in no reason this socio-conceptual overlay cannot be applied to our global population, i.e. our species, forming a key part of the historic restructure of the human race.

SPECIFICALLY

1. There are root causes, two of them, for just about all of the problems of individuals and the world:  1.) the money-and-profit system called capitalism, and 2.) human ego, the impulse toward egoism that is a natural concomitant of capitalism.

   These two roots are often the direct cause of our human problems, though sometimes their role is more indirect, or as an exacerbating factor.

2. A society based on money, profit, marketing, advertising, and competition, called capitalism, is not our only choice to organize our society, and our world. A viable alternative is a cooperative society. A Cooperative Society, under which the economy would be democratically managed in an organized fashion by all the people, is a far superior alternative, and indeed the best one, and the one BOMA advocates.

3. The replacement of capitalism with such a cooperative system would be extremely beneficial to humankind. It would solve many problems which simply cannot be solved in a society whose chief focus is money and profits, not people.

4. Under a Cooperative system, people--us--not capitalist business owners, banks, or other business interests, will control industry:  work, production, jobs, hours, working conditions, etc. This is critical.

   Right now under capitalism, our current system, we have political democracy (we can vote for politicians every few years), but we do not have economic democracy (we have no control over our jobs or the economy). This is a key inadequacy of capitalism, since most of the concerns we have in the modern age relate to the economy: jobs, pay, benefits, working conditions, cost-of-living, and other economic matters. Only a Cooperative system can, and will, extend democracy to the economic sphere, since under such a system we will control the economy. Once we do, we will finally have full control over our society, and thus, finally, full control over our own lives.

You will no longer be a slave to a boss, manager, owner, company, industry, or the impersonal "market."

5. Under a Cooperative System, people will democratically self-manage their respective industries, according to the production decisions made collectively by society.  Society--us--decides what to produce, and the industries will produce it.  For use, not profit.

6. We will produce goods and services cooperatively, in accord with the idea of Louis Blanc: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

   Production will be for use, not for profit; in other words, production of goods and services will occur to fulfill the needs and wants of all of us, instead of to enrich the small class of owners, as under capitalism.  There will be no further need for markets, or money.  Everything will be free!

   Once we control our jobs, and we no longer require money to live, we are no longer slaves!

   (Note: there is still legitimate theoretical debate regarding whether free access to all goods and services will be available immediately after the revolutionary change. If not, it is generally agreed that essential means of life such as food, housing, health care, and education will be immediately free. This question is explored more fully here.)

7. As stated above, a factor concomitant with, or secondary to, capitalism in the creation and continuation of our many human problems is egoism. Thus, the moral and ethical infrastructure in a Cooperative System will consist, in whole or part, of the "love ethic" (also called brotherly love or agape), defined loosely as an active concern for the needs and welfare of others, in approximate proportion to our concern for our own needs and welfare. Implied are active behaviors and attitudes like respect, tolerance, courtesy, patience, charity, generosity, sensitivity, concern, compassion, and empathy.

   Specifically, this notion of the "love ethic" will play an important role in the new society: 1.) as a counter to human egoism, as well as 2.) to guard against the possibility of a kind of "sterile" revolution that might occur if selfish or impersonal impulses persisted despite the change to social ownership and operation of the economy; this, to maximize the general chance for success of the revolution, 3.) to maximize the chance that the new society will indeed embody the historic and longstanding desideratum of the "brotherhood of man/humankind," and last, 4.) to help ensure the success of the key BOMA principle "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

   The BOMA program calls for the new society, if possible, to operate according to this famed principle, above. The sentiment embodied posits a shared, cooperative society where all people work in peace, harmony, and love for all, broadly sharing what they have, contributing what they can in good faith, and taking, in equally good faith, what they need or really feel they want.

   However, without the Love Ethic, this idea cannot work--it implies the love ethic. Indeed, I am not going to work harder than you, knowing my remuneration may be the same as, or less than, yours, unless my actions and perspective are informed by love; unless my mind and heart are resonating to the sound of an ethic of "brotherly love." Unless I care about you. Unless I love you.

   The failure to address, and apparently even recognize this critical point, appears to represent the great omission in the movement for, and history of, the Cooperative project, at least among those who adhere to the above principle. Auspiciously and uniquely, however, the BOMA program is attempting to redress this oversight.

   And the power, range, and flexibility of the love ethic does not stop there! The love ethic has great potential utility before the revolution, as well. The fragmentation and diminutive size of the present Cooperative movement, itself, and many of the various parties and other groups that comprise it, is probably due as much to the proffering of personal slights, insults, and insensitivities, deliberate or not, as it is to genuine theoretical or other differences. Were the Love Ethic adopted now, it would inform intra-party and extra-party interpersonal relations, thus preventing or dramatically reducing conflict, enmity, infighting, insult, and undue, ego-based criticism, attack, and insensitivity. The powerfully spiriting result would be a movement of far greater cohesion, unity, and cooperation, which itself would help us clear a path to a Cooperative Society that much faster.

   As we hope is becoming increasingly apparent, a love-centered social and economic model arguably comprises our best, highest, and most evolved and desirable conception of a Cooperative Society (or any society), and is also a powerful tool for enhancing the efficacy of the means we use to reach this beautiful end!

   The notion of the Love Ethic is further explored here.

8. The money-and-profit system cannot be reformed (i.e. improved piecemeal without touching its fundamental nature), but must be completely replaced. This is because 1.) the problems caused by the normal operation of this system are extremely severe, and because 2.) this system is notoriously difficult to reform successfully; reforms enacted are never enough to fully address problems, and insofar as they are addressed, improvements are often impermanent and disappear or are weakened as markets and governments change.

   Required is a transformation of society, a complete and total conversion to a Cooperative system. Attempting to "reform" this or that problem would be an extremely ineffective, piecemeal approach, which would not bring the kind of dramatic change humankind requires, and deserves.

9. Such a new system must be brought about by peaceful, democratic means, at least in nations with democratic mechanisms. Nations without such means must be approached and assessed on an individual basis.

   Nations with viable democratic mechanisms, such as the United States, must make the transition to a Cooperative Society peacefully, via the ballot box. Article V of the United States constitution provides for this (indeed, Thomas Jefferson recommended a people conduct a revolution every 20 years). Nations without such mechanisms must try, strenuously, and in good-faith, to develop them, and then use them for a peaceful transition.

   Violent revolution is extremely frowned upon, and might be conditionally condoned only in nations:

   1. Genuinely lacking a democratic mechanism, who have tried, strenuously and in good-faith, to develop one without success, or for whom such a development prospect is widely and authoritatively considered categorically impossible, typically because of a repressive existing state structure.

   2. With a democratic mechanism, who find business or other interests using violent means to block or attempt to block the democratic decision by the people to transition to a Cooperative System, even after the people have attempted to avoid such violence by occupying and locking business interests out of the factories, offices, and other "means of production."

   Even under such conditions, a strategy of passive resistance/civil disobedience is generally considered superior, and is to be fully and seriously considered; the onus during such consideration will be upon those rejecting the strategy to successfully argue its inapplicability. Negotiating such social turbulence must occur in a balance between the right of society to see its democratic will respected and its democratic decisions implemented, and the meaningful application of love by that same society toward those who seek to thwart the will, and derail the decisions.

10. The new system we advocate is a yet-untried Cooperative system, with little, if anything, in common with the Leninist or Maoist systems of China, Cuba, North Korea, or the former Soviet Union. In other words, a Cooperative System is an untried approach, never having yet existed anywhere in the world.

11. The particular governmental mechanism or structure by which we will control and manage our society and economy is called the Cooperative Industrial Framework. Such management will embody the most evolved form of democracy ever known to humankind, and will occur in a planned, organized, and rational fashion.

And Last:

• Unlike many advocacy organizations, in promulgating this program we pledge to interact with our fellow BOMA members, activists, and citizens, in a manner that is considerate, courteous, respectful, and sensitive, which is to say, in a manner informed by the love ethic!  We will never take an individual, or group, or their interest or participation, for granted!

  Individuals who have experienced shabby treatment at the hands of other organizations working for dramatic or revolutionary social change will find much joy in working with Brotherhood of Man!

• BOMA has pioneered the concepts of Moral Consciousness and Responsible Revolution, both discussed here.

The above summary is an overview, albeit a detailed one, of the Cooperative program, principles, and social analysis. However, the body of information, above, is most certainly not  adequate to present, explain, and explore the great richness, breadth, and depth of a Cooperative Society, including fundamental guiding concepts, and important details of operation. For this, please read the balance of this home page, then see my Detailed Q & A, link at left.

Brotherhood of Man

Brotherhood of Man (BOMA) is, and since April 2005 has been, the formal and official organizational carrier or vessel for the notion of a love-centered Cooperative society. However, the idea continues to evolve and develop and suggests with increasing clarity and strength a theoretical and organizational form that, if not better, is certainly complementary, and can facilitate a deeper, and more clear and thorough understanding of the new kind of society we're proposing, as this form presents our new human paradigm from a somewhat different conceptual standpoint. Arguably, seen from this different perspective or "angle," the core or essential structure can be more fully perceived and understood.

This different conceptual standpoint is the assertion of our status and relationship as brothers and sisters in one human family, acting toward each other in the personal, social, and economic sphere in a manner befitting this status.

The BOMA site can be understood as a huge puzzle which, when every piece is emplaced, will present a complete, overwhelming, and conclusive body of argumentation both theoretical and practical against capitalism, its priorities, and its attendant culture, and in favor of the organization of our species into a Cooperative global system, indeed consonant with, and embodying, the wonderful reality of our status as Brotherhood of Man.

Arguably, in fact, the site here already contains enough of these puzzle pieces to form the core of this argument. The puzzle image alluded to, above, is one of all of us across this planet united as brother and sister, working cooperatively to provide for each other's needs, in a society where brotherly love characterizes all relationships and interactions between people, and money is no longer required. Though I'll continue to emplace this or that remaining puzzle fragment here at this website, this beautiful tableau is largely defined and visible, already, for those who wish to perceive it.

Please Donate

This website, OneHumanFamily.net is a free website, as are my other related projects, such as the Agape Order. However, it is difficult for me to continue this work without your donation. If you see value in this work, in all or even some of the ideas presented at this website and the social project that it seeks to build, a radically new society of cooperation and love, please do your part to help ensure that I can continue.

Many people are unacquainted with what goes into the existence of a website like this. All they know is, they perform an Internet search using Google or another search engine and up pops links for many websites, some of them better than others, but all free for the taking. These websites aren't created out of thin air, however; human beings create them, often using their own time and money to do it. My time and money are extremely constrained yet here I am doing this work. Here is a brief idea of what goes into the creation and continuation of websites like mine:

1. Time spent online researching the material. This includes finding, visiting, and reading through web sites. For sites like mine that greatly concern themselves with accuracy and completeness, this usually amounts ultimately to hundreds and hundreds of hours.

2. Time spent offline researching the material. This can include reading books and other print publications of various kinds, listening to radio interviews, and conducting telephone calls intended to gather or clarify information. In the case of this website, in fact, my 30 year status as a participant in the movement to establish a Cooperative society implies all of the above work tasks and so very much more--and YOU, each and all of you, are the beneficiaries. Again, with a mandate of this importance, sites like mine that greatly concern themselves with accuracy, completeness, and integrity of information and perspective can easily require many, many hours of time to create, maintain, and update, as well as significant amounts of money spent, over time.

3. Time spent thinking about the material gathered: what is important and how it should be presented.

4. Time spent building the infrastructure of the site: coding the pages, and then uploading them. Learning new web design skills, and locating and learning new software tools as necessary. Time spent ensuring that each page uploaded arrived successfully and displays properly onscreen. Time intermittently spent testing navigation and indeed all aspects of the site.

5. Money spent, a regular monthly fee, to pay for the web host for the site. The host provides the computer server where the pages that comprise the site reside, so your computer can then retrieve them for display on your screen.

6. Money spent, another monthly fee, to pay for the internet service provider used to upload the files to that server.

7. Etc.

And opportunity cost is such that all the time (and money) spent on all of the above is time and money that cannot be spent on family, bills, recreational activities, medical care, and simply everything else that modern life requires of each of us. The whole endeavor is that much more taxing for individuals like myself of insubstantial resource (i.e. little money or time).

The Nature of Donation

Individuals who have been around the block a few times, perhaps those in or approaching middle-age, know that the work of life never ends: between working for a living, assisting with the care of young adult children or older adult parents, and negotiating one own's health and other life issues, there is commonly little, if any, time to maintain a serious commitment to ideas, such as are exemplified by, recorded, and indeed promulgated at this website. This difficulty is such that the diversion of what little free time, if any, remains, to the research, creation, maintenance, and support of sites like this one comprises a real sacrifice. Yet the reality is that, especially in this harsh capitalist culture where acquiring even the basic means of life is often a struggle, persons like myself making this sacrifice will not be able to sustain it forever without help--and YOU are that help. Yes, YOU. If you find political, intellectual, or emotional stimulation, solace, cheer, or resolve by the ideas presented at this website, then you have benefitted and I thus request a cash donation.

Alternatively, if you realize the value, indeed the necessity, of maintaining or indeed establishing a social tradition of "thinking outside the box," as it were, you may also wish to donate to this site even if you don't necessarily agree fully, or perhaps at all, with its ideas, simply because you realize that it's ideas clearly indicate that someone is attempting to think thoughtfully and independently (and to benefit humanity, not for personal gain), a mode of idea creation that is vital to our society. If you appreciate my work here on these grounds, again, you are benefitting and I thus request a cash donation to assist me.

In either case, then, please: click the PayPal button, below, and give as much as you comfortably can. And please do it right now while you're reading and thinking about it. Suggested minimum donation is $20.

If the PayPal button does not appear, simply refresh or reload your page.

Thank you!

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