A Genuine Cooperative Society would mean a Beautiful World for All of Us

What we're saying to you is--if you care about improving this country, and the future for you and your family in this country, you have much to gain, and nothing to lose, by carefully reading and thinking about what we have to say. Please understand one thing, though: the basic logic, the basic idea of a cooperative society is very easy to understand, but still, "Cooperation" is a different approach. It challenges us to look at things in a new way. This is why--as with any new idea--it can take some time to really understand the idea, to really understand how all the pieces fit into place. This is not a problem, of course, for anyone who will take the time to give the idea some thought, discuss it, question it, maybe read up on it a little bit, ask more questions, and continue thinking and talking about it back and forth. In other words, just give the idea a chance.

Our group (and our movement) has spent a lot of time reading, thinking, and talking about the best way to realistically and completely solve this country's problems once and for all. We spend a lot of time looking at different kinds of solutions--all kinds. We've seriously considered everything from Republican and Democratic solutions, to supposedly "radical" solutions like democratic socialism.

The United States of America is one of the best examples of human progress and freedom in our world. The many strong points of this nation include, first, rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion; second, the fact that We The People, ourselves, choose who will represent us in government; and third, the fact that many Americans earn enough money to live a comfortable life--sometimes very comfortable. We honor this nation for many other reasons as well.

There are, though, a number of severe problems in America now. They include many basic things that should not be problems in a place like America, problems like homelessness; hunger; poverty; the hard struggle to survive for most of us; unemployment and underemployment; the lack of the good job opportunities for young people that their parents had; lack of affordable health care; polluted air, water, and soil; a cost of living for most people that has gone through the roof; no real security in our jobs--we can lose our jobs at any time, for any reason, and someone else decides how much money we will make; our feeling that even voting does not improve our lives; and a basic lack of trust in our politicians and government.

(By the way, one of the biggest reasons that it's so hard for most of us to make a living these days is that, according to government figures, even though we Americans have been working between 1% and 4% harder every year since 1972, our paychecks are worth almost 20% less than they were at that time, even taking our raises into account. In other words, even if your pay has increased since 1972, the amount of things you can buy with your pay has decreased. This is not true for the top 20% of income earners in America, though. What they can buy with their incomes has greatly increased since 1972. According to the New York Times, a typical income for people in this top 20% is $92,663.)

Anyway, as in life, when problems continue on and on without being solved, they eventually produce more problems--and this is just what we're seeing happen in America now. With our basic problems going on and on, year after year, unsolved, is it any wonder that other types of problems have started developing over the years? Things like widespread drug (and alcohol) abuse; out-of-control crime; large numbers of mentally ill Americans (29 million); depression; suicide; racism; discrimination; violence against women; feelings of hopelessness by many (not just poor people anymore); over one-half of all our marriages ending in divorce; difficulty in really living out the values of our religions; no sense of "family" or "community" among people; hostility and impatience toward others; and even difficulty in loving ourselves and others in general? And, under these conditions, is it any wonder that our American families are breaking up?

One thing is sure: these many problems have put the United States in a very dangerous position. They are crippling and corrupting this nation and it's people--us--economically, psychologically, politically, and spiritually. We feel that something must be done, and soon. What do you think?

Luckily, in our case plain old common sense and logic go a long way in helping us find the cause of these problems. For example:

• Why should we have up to four million homeless people in America, when we have thousands of construction companies in this country that could easily be building homes for every single American?

• Why should twenty-million Americans go hungry every month (it's true) when American farms produce so much food that they actually burn crops to get rid of them?

• Why should forty-million Americans be without health-care coverage when this country has more doctors and hospitals per person than most other countries on Earth?

• And have millions of American auto workers lost their jobs over the last ten or fifteen years because each of us has a brand-new car?

• Is our environment being destroyed because American companies don't have the technology to build factories that don't pollute?

• And have fifty-thousand people a year lost their lives on our highways because American car companies couldn't prevent it? (Air-bag technology has existed in this country for twenty years.)

We don't usually think about it, and some of us aren't aware of it, but the point is that America today already has all the factories, technology, skilled and unskilled workers, and raw materials required to meet everyone's needs, and to solve all of our problems! We've had this ability in America for many years now. These resources are held back from us, though, because under the profit-making part of our system, houses are not built, food is not grown, health-care is not provided, cars are not produced, and nothing that we need or want is made available to us, no matter how badly we need or want it, unless profits can be made. Because of the profit-making part of our system, for example, if you can't pay, you'll actually end up on the street before someone will give you a place to live, regardless of how many empty apartments or new homes are sitting around unused!

This is only one example, but you know from your own experience that everything in our society works like this. This is why our problems are just not solvable as long as the profit-making part of our system continues. The need to make profits constantly gets in the way of people getting what they need, even though the factories, technology, and workers exist to produce these things for them. And remember, "them" means us--you, me, our families and our neighbors. Now I ask you: is this way of doing things logical? Is it moral? At this point in time in America, with so much suffering and need, is this way of doing things still in the best interest of the great majority of we Americans? Common sense, logic, and morality tell us that it is not.

Further material pending.