In July of 1993 I joined with a team of parents to chaperone a 5-day conference for our teens. Imagine 500 teens descending on a hotel for a week, participating in activities, competitions and plenary sessions to set policy and elect officers. The culminating event was a dance—a grand celebration for the teens and the much-anticipated finish line for exhausted chaperones.
The Dance
Standing outside the ballroom on the night of the dance we witnessed four or five teens approaching. They peered into the room, checked out the music, food, mood and left, proclaiming, “There’s nothing going on here!” Another small group materialized. Like the first, they surveyed the room and then left. Fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty-five minutes passed. Group after group, small in number, approached and left. The clock ticked closer to the hour designated as their curfew. We began to wonder if the decorations, food and DJ would be wasted. Apparently, the small groups felt inadequate to start the event and had no patience to wait for others to join. The scene was humorous but also sad.
Finally, a huge crowd of two hundred or more formed in the lobby. Moving slowly toward us then pouring into the ballroom. Some entered dancing, then exploded into full party mode. But nearly an hour of potential fun time had been wasted. Had the first group simply waited until subsequent groups joined them, the good times would have rolled much earlier.
Thinking of this night, I considered how groups in our community can move to construct change. We need a new socio-economic party. Notice I didn’t say a political party. Ours will be set in a ballroom which supports the practices, goals and ambitions of responsible people living together in community. To set the scene, let’s review two basic truths uncovered by my studies of the history of money and the history of human nature.
Truth #1.
The nature of money changes over time as new technologies develop. I discovered that gold is considered the oldest monetary technology, by examining a little nugget tucked into one particular scripture.
“A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. The gold of that land is exceptionally pure:” Genesis 2:10-12
This text penned by Moses in about 1500 BC, incorporates knowledge from the Egyptian culture which probably dated back to the very beginning of written history. These cultures recognized gold as money, and they had a technology to determine the purity (value) of gold.
Fast forward to the 7th century B.C. The Lydian, a powerful and affluent kingdom in Persia, using another new technology produced the first official government issued coin—the Lydian Stater. Advance next to Athens, where the more practical silver coins were the mainstay of their economy rather than gold. Around 406 BC the Peloponnesian War created a financial crisis and Athens resorted to minting bronze coins plated with silver as an emergency measure. This use of yet another new technology became the first record of a government deliberately devaluing its own currency. Technology today has given us paper currencies, digital currencies, crypto currencies and authorized government officials can “print” currencies with a login and a few keyboard clicks.
And the nature of money keeps changing.
Truth #2.
The basic nature of human beings does not change. From the earliest city-states until modern times, the elite (ruling classes) and the hoi polloi have behaved in consistent and predictable patterns. However, technology has provided new lenses through which we can look back through history to analyze these patterns. Utilizing new tools of science and technology we can avoid mistakes of the past as we plan the future. Modern science is beginning to document that we all want the same things for our lives, and that by bringing our positive energies together we can create what we all really want—peace, prosperity and opportunity.
Ancient people worshipped many gods, trusting them to provide happiness and prosperity. Judeo-Christian cultures look to only one deity. But many in modern times place government in the role of securing our happiness and prosperity, a task it is not equipped to handle regardless of who’s in power.
Starting Our Own Party
What if we got our own party started. Rather than asking our government to solve the unemployment problem, we can start business to hire ourselves and others. Social problems created by poverty and sickness were once handled by churches and benevolent organizations but now have been relegated to the government. What if we mobilized our churches and formed non-profits to provide medical solutions and resources to minimize poverty. If the government is struggling to balance the budget and repay the national debt, we the people can help. Finding political candidates who have the right strategies is not our only option. Balancing our own family budgets and eradicating personal debt will make a major impact. We can educate ourselves on the nature and history of money and the causes and cures for inflation. Operating first in small groups who then ban together to implement sound financial strategies, we will have a ripple effect on the nation and the world. Acquiring sound money (gold, silver, maybe crypto) and durable assets will diminish the impact of inflation.
By mobilizing the best of human nature and deploying the gifts of new technology, we can gather with well-motivated and like-minded members of our own economic community and get a new party started. We may feel inadequate to find enough good, informed people to make a difference. But I am proclaiming that this feeling is not a fact! If our numbers seem small, let’s just stay the course and wait for others to join us, rather than leaving the scene.
Yes, I have only one string on my fiddle these days and only one message. Let’s get this party started!
Read more of Gail’s article on Plaid or connect with her on her website.
