One Human Family - Main Menu

	Q u e s t i o n s & A n s w e r s , i n D e t a i l Please select the section you wish to read. BOMA recommends you start at the beginning and read through every section, in order. This will provide you your most effective, powerful, and comprehensive understanding of the notion of a Cooperative Society, in all its richness, detail, and nuance. Several categories of material are not found in this Detailed Q & A, but are, instead, presented in their own easy-to-find sections, accessible from our navigation menu, at left, or from here. These sections include For Democrats, For Republicans, and For Young People.
	~ T H E P R O B L E M ~ PART ONE ~ T H E S O L U T I O N ~ PART ONE ~ T H E S O L U T I O N ~ PART TWO

	T H E P R O B L E M - P A R T O N E BOMA recommendation: read all topics, in order, starting from the first. Or simply pick-and-choose. What's wrong with society as it is? Suppose it's true our lives are controlled by capitalism. What's wrong with capitalism? But don't we already live in a "Cooperative Society"? Wow. Tell me more. How am I a slave as a worker? How can I be a slave as a worker? My company gave me a job. They give me money. They give me health benefits. When my work life is over, they'll give me a pension. Does a slave receive these things from their master? How am I a slave as a consumer? Yeah. Corporate crime has been all over the news in recent months, starting with the titanic fraud and misdeeds of Enron. I've never thought of our social problems comprehensively like that, before. I've never really put 2 and 2 together, to realize how so many of our problems seem to spring from the normal way capitalism works. OK, let's assume for a minute that our money-and-profit system, capitalism itself, is the problem. What do we do? You've mentioned the "love ethic" any number of times now. What is it, exactly? And why does it play such a pivotal role in the Cooperative Program? I'm beginning to understand the notion of a Cooperative Society. Help me further understand. Does BOMA have a program of "immediate demands," in other words, a set of social reforms and improvements it officially calls for, to benefit people now, while we wait for adoption of a Cooperative system? Why doesn't BOMA adopt official positions of support, as similar groups do, in favor of, for example, women's reproductive rights, gay rights, illegal immigrants rights, a raise in the minimum wage, immediate withdrawal from Iraq, anti-recruitment, or many other reform causes? Building a Cooperative system seems like a task that will take years--it's probably not something I'll ever see in my lifetime. Why should I even worry about it? Job Export and the Love Ethic
	T H E S O L U T I O N - P A R T O N E BOMA recommendation: read all topics, in order, starting from the first. Or simply pick-and-choose. In a Cooperative Society, if work no longer occurs in the context of profit-based corporations which control us, how would work be structured so that we control the economy, and thus we become the powerholders? How would a Cooperative Society work, in practice? What if free access to goods and services proved unfeasible? Interesting. How would we determine what goods and services people want? What if the majority democratically votes for a resource allocation which does not address the stated needs of certain people or groups? Isn't there a potential tension in trying to decide resource allocations and make social decisions based on democracy and need? Capitalism is lauded, in part, for its entrepreneurism, which is seen as a dynamic and necessary part of society, especially as a driver of economic activity. What will happen to entrepreneurs and entrepeneurism in a Cooperative Society? Since a Cooperative Society would be moneyless, what would motivate people to work? Under a cooperative system, will all work be voluntary? What are the benefits of this kind of system? Is anyone doing this, yet? A friend of mine is a Star Trek fan. Future Earth society, as represented on that show, is moneyless, and all human problems have been solved--sounds like what you guys are talking about! You're criticizing capitalism. But isn't capitalism the same thing as democracy? Don't you need capitalism to have democracy? What about our civil liberties in a cooperative system--freedoms including privacy, press, religion, expression, even the right to bear arms? Will my taxes rise in a Cooperative Society? Then how would those workers live? They'd have no money to pay their bills and expenses. What Is the relationship between a Cooperative Society, and religious belief? Will a Cooperative Society be a utopia? Is a Cooperative Society some form of socialism? Important: How will the transition to a Cooperative society actually occur?
	T H E S O L U T I O N - P A R T T W O BOMA recommendation: read all topics, in order, starting from the first. Or simply pick-and-choose. What makes the Cooperative program unique and powerful? In the ideal society that the OHF program envisions, how will we know if people are acting with love toward other people? Will there be some form of "thought police"? You write that a Cooperative Society does not involve a barter system. What's wrong with a barter system? What is the relationship of a Cooperative Society to the present-day "simplicity" movement? The Cooperative Society, as you've described it, really does sound great. Suppose a majority of people were persuaded, and decided to vote for the appropriate constitutional changes to actually make it happen. Isn't it possible the result could turn out disastrously? Is "anarchism" or "anarchy" the same thing as a cooperative society? I know that life can be difficult in capitalist society. But I'm working to overcome those difficulties, and it's making me a stronger person. I'm better for the experience. Rather than try and change things in the large-scale way you're advocating, what if I just withdraw into myself, perhaps through Buddhism or some other spiritual philosophy? Is Capitalism really that bad? I'm sort of doing OK. My friends are sort of doing OK. And there are a lot of people around who are doing well. Can I help build the Cooperative Society?
	~ Advocating Economic & Personal Change ~ One Human Family