[ESSP] Fwd: New Approach to Freedom

Tue Apr 20 09:28:44 EDT 2004

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>FYI
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>>Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 00:54:14 -0400
>>Subject: New Approach to Freedom
>>From: "E.F. Schumacher Society" <efssociety at smallisbeautiful.org>
>>To: <cdavanzo at hampshire.edu>
>>X-MailScanner: Found to be clean
>>X-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (score=0.2, required 8,
>>	DEAR_SOMEBODY, AWL)
>>Status: 
>>Dear Dr. Charlene D'Avanzo
>>
>>As a young man in the early 1900s,  Edwin C. Riegel was compelled by the
>>vision of a more just world for all human kind.  His private research led
>>him to two important insights:
>>
>>1. The central role of the monetary system in determining the conditions of
>>social and economic life; and
>>2. A recognition that it is the responsibility of every citizen to help
>>implement a sound, fair, and sustainable monetary system in order to create
>>a truly democratic society.
>>
>>In "Flight from Inflation," Riegel sought a separation between money issue
>>and the state.  He identified government's ability to issue money for debt
>>as the major source of inflation in the economy.  He proposed a system of
>>local, privately issued currencies which he called Valun.  Valuns would be
>>non-interest bearing and "backed" by the production of goods and services
>>for which they were issued.
>>
>>After his death in 1954 Riegel's work was saved from obscurity by his editor
>>Spencer MacCallum.  The clarity of his thinking on monetary issues has
>>helped to inform the current movement for local currencies.  The following
>>passages were taken from the forward of his book appropriately called, "The
>>New Approach to Freedom," privately printed by the author in 1949 and then
>>republished by the Heather Foundation.  The full text of Riegel's books are
>>available at www.newapproachtofreedom.info.
>>
>>Robert Swann, founding President of the E.F. Schumacher Society, understood
>>Riegel's arguments and was convinced of the necessity of creating a system
>>of community and regionally controlled money.  Honoring Bob and Riegel and
>>those other pioneers of the Twentieth Century who worked for a stable system
>>of local currencies, we are pleased to be offering the seminal conference,
>>"Local Currencies in the 21st Century," taking place June 25th-27th at Bard
>>College on the Hudson River of New York.  Bernard Lietaer, Margrit Kennedy,
>>Edgar Cahn and other leading scholars and activists in the field will offer
>>three days of talks and workshops.  Michael Shuman, author of "Going Local"
>>will sum up the proceedings with a closing talk, followed by a local food
>>festival featuring a performance by legendary singer/song writer/ community
>>advocate, Pete Seeger.
>>
>>Join us.  Become informed about the principles of community-based monetary
>>issue.  And then be a part of bringing the economic vision of Twentieth
>>Century social pioneers into reality, community by community in the
>>Twenty-First Century.  To register visit http://www.localcurrency.org or via
>>return email, request a registration packet ground delivery. If you are
>>unable to attend, arrange with others to sponsor a representative from your
>>community who can return with conference material, excitement, and a vision
>>for understanding money, renewing your community, and rebuilding your local
>>economy.
>>
>>Cooperatively,
>>The Conference Team
>>E. F. Schumacher Society
>>140 Jug End Road
>>Great Barrington, MA 01230 USA
>>(413) 5281737
>>efssociety at smallisbeautiful.org
>>www.smallisbeautiful.org
>>
>>*     *     *     *     *     *
>>
>>"Why is it that Human aspirations to freedom are thwarted in spite of all
>>the devices that man has thus far adopted?  To answer that question and
>>offer a new approach is the purpose of this book.
>>
>>Man has ever dreamed of a promised land of freedom and steadily pursued his
>>ideal.  Though ever dissatisfied with today's accomplishment, he has held to
>>his hope of tomorrow.  He has rejected the autocratic idea of government and
>>adopted the democratic.  But in his assertion of self-sovereignty he
>>has,through ignorance, abdicated his most vital inherent power.  He has not
>>only
>>permitted the state to pervert this power, but he has actually thrust it
>>upon the state, to the inevitable miscarriage of all his devices to conserve
>>freedom.
>>So universal is this innocence of self-power and this self-imposed
>>frustration in the pursuit of freedom that man is himself the tyrant over
>>man, and no imposing power exists to be overthrown.  Only a revolution in
>>the mind of the individual is needed to accomplish the greatest stroke for
>>freedom of all time.  The present perplexity induced by the world-wide
>>perversion of the social order is conducive to introspection as the
>>impotency of the state becomes apparent in its effort to free man from a
>>vice that man has imposed upon himself.  Man must free the state, not the
>>state the man.
>>When the earth was believed to be flat, the belief was based upon the
>>immediately obvious and hence was universal.  Until there arose thinkers who
>>dared to challenge the obvious, mankind remained oblivious of its
>>self-imposed physical, intellectual and moral limitations.
>>
>>So it is today.  The obvious must be challenged by reason.  A universal
>>misconception must be abandoned and replaced with the true concept to effect
>>the liberation of mankind-indeed, to save it from decline into another dark
>>age.  What is this universal misconception?
>>
>>It is the belief that money issuance is a function of the state."
>>
>>*     *     *     *     *     *
>>
>>"There are no black beasts or scapegoats in this treatise upon which the
>>reader can pin the blame for the evils from which we suffer and thus ease
>>his conscience or vent his emotions.  Where guilt is found, the finger
>>points straight at you, and there are no alibis.  There are no monetary
>>master-minds who have conspired to enslave or exploit society by imposing
>>the prevailing system.  All are as ignorant of the fundamentals of money as
>>you, though some are cunning enough to favorably align themselves with the
>>existing order, just as you would like to do.
>>
>>But since all responsibility is yours, so is all power.  Is it not a
>>satisfaction to begin the study of a problem that offers a solution within
>>your own power to realize?  For once you are not confronted with the
>>discouraging, if not hopeless, endeavor of seeking relief through political
>>action with all that that involves.  You are indeed sovereign, if you but
>>realize that your money power is you sovereign power.  You need no political
>>laws to liberate your power for prosperity and peace; you are the master of
>>your fate by natural law, if you but discover that law.
>>
>>Realize that the state's power of disservice as well as service springs
>>solely from your delegation of wholesome power and your imposition of
>>perversive power.  Money power is one power that you cannot delegate, nor
>>can the state usurp it.  It can only pervert it and thus pervert the whole
>>social order.  You and your fellows must exert it, for, unless you exert it,
>>this greatest of all social agencies lies fallow and human progress is
>>stayed.
>>As you scan the world scene with all its miseries, its drab outlook, the
>>discouraging prospect of a solution for humanity's problems by political
>>means, and the remoteness from you of the capitols through which promised
>>salvation is desperately hoped for, you are saddened by a sense of
>>frustration.  But if you realize that the citadel of power is your own home
>>and that yours is the majesty and sovereignty, sadness will be dispelled by
>>gladness.  To bring this transformation, you must comprehend the power of
>>money and that you are the money power.
>>
>>The world is not flat, as we now know, and the money power of the state is a
>>delusion.  The inherency of money power in man is a fact, as we shall learn.
>>This revolution in the minds of men will assure freedom, for freedom is
>>constituted in unrestricted power to exchange, which in turn means
>>prosperity and peace."
>
>--
>Charlene
>
>*******************************************
>
>Charlene D'Avanzo
>Professor of Ecology
>Dean, School of Natural Sciences
>Hampshire College
>Amherst, MA 01002
>
>Voice 413-5595569
>FAX 413-5595448
>Email - cdavanzo at hampshire.edu
>
>website: http://helios.hampshire.edu/~cdNS/
>TIEE: http://www.tiee.ecoed.net/
>Course website: http://ns.hampshire.edu/ns207/
>
>**********************************************


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