Is there much difference between our social and economic system today with taxes on wage and property? If Steemit is going to be truly revolutionary it will have to find a new way of distrupution. I see this not happening right now, no matter how hard we try, our good intentions fall back into the roles we have played for centuries. I do not expect much from this system right now. I am very curious on its evolution though. I did make $38.00 on my last post. I had some weighted curation behind some votes....
Let's say the minnows gain power in mass, who's to say they will not start acting like a king? Lots and lots of philosophy, experiments, books, and articles written about this kind of human condition. Right now I am following the model given for success on Steemit. I am a horrible writer and a beginner artist with talent so I don't see any big time rewards coming my way unless I improve my skill set. I loathe handouts and crave mentoring. There is a lot of mentors to be found on Steemit. Don't know if that will help the distrupution of funds though. I am just beginning to understand crypto currency and block chain.
I want to set up a store with Steemit, that's got me excited!
We need more curators, right now I haven't marked any post down. I suck at editing and I still don't understand the roles being played here. We need whistle blowers without the trolls. We need honest curation, if I understand the role correctly, that votes up or down for the community and the individuals worth.
What I've noticed dealing with our conditioning we act according to the role we take on from past experience. We need to let go of the past while learning from it, most of us can't do that in our own lives, let alone in our jobs and places in our community.
I thought of the potlatch society whilst reading this post, giving away ones wealth as a status symbol and power. "The word “potlatch” is the English version of the Nootkan word “p’alshit'” which means “to give.” Material wealth is important among the Indian nations of this area, but by giving things away at the potlatch, families and individuals gain status. The potlatch functioned as a means for passing around among the members the surplus wealth of the society; the only thing that changed was the status of the individuals. Some people feel that the potlatch was the functional equivalent of taxation in modern society. Vast amounts of goods and wealth were distributed through the potlatch." http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/631
I also have read serfs and peasants of the feudal system were better off than the people are today. They also had more time off than us modern folk...
"During Europe’s Middle Ages even the lowliest of serfs had their own plot of land with which they could use for just about any purpose... This access to land acted as a buffer, providing security for peasants who otherwise were mostly subject to the whim of their “Lord.” Not only could they grow their own food, or hunt in the relatively plentiful forests which were still standing in that era, but connection to the commons also gave peasants territory with which to organize resistance movements and alternative economies outside the control of their masters.
[Land Enclosures laws in Europe in the Middle Ages] were a process by which land was taken away – closed off by the State and typically handed over to entrepreneurs to pursue a profit in sheep or cow herding, or large-scale agriculture. Instead of being used for subsistence as it had been, the land’s bounty was sold off to fledgling national and international markets. A new class of profit-motivated landowners emerged, known as “gentry.”
... The chief creation of the [Land Enclosures laws in Europe in the Middle Ages] was a property-less, landless working class, a “proletariat” who were left with little option but to work for a wage in order to survive; wage labor being one of the defining features of capitalism." Rebel Witches and the Creation of Capitalism book review of 'Caliban And The Witch: Women, The Body And Primitive Accumulation' by Silvia Federici, 2004 by Alex Knight .
Crypto currency is taxed as property? I don't know, I haven't looked into that, but taxation on property means we don't really own what is taxed. Bureau Of Land Managment has been confiscating commons, look up the "Bundy Ranch." I grew up herding cattle on commons land, which is now locked up and clear cut or mined, natural resources owned by transnational corporations and the Federal government.
These are some fascinating ideas - thanks.
For me, feudalism, whatever the apologists might say, left the world in the middle ages. When the system collapsed we left it and the enlightenment commenced.
Trapping ourselves in self-limiting social relations is the problem and the weakness for the platform at present.
Real progress started for societies when we pursued concepts of substantive equality, including in equality’s operation in the sphere of freedom.