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Joan Jaeckel's avatar

Well distinguished: separation of nation(culture) and state (government). This is a hard one. In conversations about freeing the educational system for state-mandated standardized testing, for example, people argue that the state must have some form of accountability - however imperfect - for the sake of "equality and equity". Taking a kind of "tragedy of the commons" stance, they assert that without the state, individuals would be too ignorant or greedy to work for the common good. Didn't the economist Elinor Ostrom show that when local people manage their own fisheries they take greater care and interest than if the fisheries are managed for them from a distance? That brings us to Steiner's other idea of "moral individual action" (is that the right term?) which supports Ostrom's values. "No social justice without mindfulness. No mindfulness without social justice" is how they put it at a Mind and Life conference about social justice in education. It's a big leap that you describe and we must make it in ourselves so we can stick together better.

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christoph meier's avatar

One of our fundamental problems is the overpowering of big money / corporations over the state. Our US constitution which originally is one of the best, (Switzerland has more successfully adopted it) has over the years been perverted by big money, and corrupted government and its institutions, as well as the cultural sphere (the main media in the hands of a few corporations). Fundamental changes in our capitalist economy have to happen: 1. Restoring the commons which are land, water, air and minerals which are not a commodity. 2. Eliminate the stock market, businesses are not a commodity. 3. Labor is not a commodity, instead of wages the result of production should be shared by all workers and management. As long as we do not tackle these fundamental issues changes towards 3 foldness will be nearly impossible, money is just to powerfull. So also the war in Ukraine should be seen not just as a ethnical problem, but as a proxi war since a very longtime instigated by the anglo-american empire against russia.

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