In the US (and not alone) we are seeing the problem of the weakness of culture, of a shared sense of how things are done, what makes us feel good about being alive as humans.

The history of this is unclear. From the breakup of European christianity in the 13th century to the nation-state, we are fragmented in our shared understanding. each nation claims to try to represent its citizenry but ends up representing its  power interests built on finance and corporations.

We have the problem that both socialism and capitalism create large organizations and that means differentiated roles and status and unequal wealth. What to do with this problem? We are dealing with basic organizations of society. For too long we have ignored political theory Plato to Augustine, Machiavelli, to Hegel and on. And we have ignored political history – how Rome was replaced by feudalism, how the nation-state emerged out of war and set the stage for wars., how fascisms (Hitler ad Mussolini), communists and the capitalists all were trying to solve the same problem: how to put together humans (primarily status) wealth and technology.

All three attempt have failed. Fascism denied the human need for freedom, communism lied about the need for bureaucracy, and capitalism denied the need for community beyond individual corporations. In short, thinking through politics is a big part of what GardenWorld has to be about, or we will deal with ideas without power, or power without ideas. We know much more about the history of technology than the history of social power. We like win-win situations and are not prepared to deal with conflicts. A good political culture should reach toward ideas and be able to cope with contingencies as they are in the present.

To get to GardenWorld we need a better politics, a better, economy, a better economics, and it all needs to be consistent with human nature on the one side and climate realities on the other, mediated by society.