You don't need to know that

Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.

(John Adams, second president of the United States)

This video came out two or three years ago, but it's telling on so many levels that it is worth looking at more than once. The reality is that it may be even more pertinent three years later. The mere “tweaking” of the system will not change anything.

Wealth Inequality in America

The U.S. is now the most unequal of all Western nations and has a lot less social mobility than Canada and Europe. In the 2014 mid-term elections the voter turnout was as low as the 1830 elections, where only white male property owners could vote. It is in the short-term interest of the plutocracy (read globally) to keep it this way.

Source: Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook

History of oil and gas on the Gulf Coast

What destination does our society want to reach, and how will it get there?
(Natural Capitalism, by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins)

At the present time there are about 4,000 gas platforms in the Gulf. For 40 plus years the oil industry has been in the region and is closely intertwined with the economy, the culture, and the politics of the region.

Numerous judges have had to recuse themselves from numerous cases involving the oil and gas industry because of their close ties to the industry. Eco-systems have been in serious trouble for years. Marsh grasses are disappearing and dead zones are expanding. Of course the question can be legitimately asked about who makes public policy in the region? Who in fact is in charge of the people's business? Who should be held accountable?

Gathering the Pieces

Of course there are reasons to be skeptical whether or not the traditional nation-state, at least the structure we've had for the past 200 years or so, will be with us by the end of the 21st century.

Climate change, resource scarcity, population increase, economic decay, superstition and ignorance, along with the growing influence of non-state actors across the planet are likely going to place huge strains on all nations, even the most powerful. The question of “legitimacy” could very well gather momentum among more and more people. But what could replace the traditional state?

The short answer is that we don't know at this point, but resilient communities, transition towns, tribal networks were, until quite recently, ideas espoused by only a handful of people, often on the fringe of society, but which is now no longer the case. The transition movement, for example is spreading across the globe. In the U.S. go to http://www.transitionus.org/ Transition United States.

John Robb of Global Guerrillas, who has written a lot on asymmetrical warfare and “system disruption,” has a couple of interesting pieces on resiliency. See
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2010/01/why-a-resilient-community-network.html Why a Resilient Community Network? As well read
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2010/01/journal-tribal-opportunity-space.html Journal: Tribal Opportunity Space.

As we slowly get beyond abstract ideas and put together specific proposals and detailed plans for a particular community or region, we will likely see a widespread interest in the development of alternative “states” of various types.