A Tale of Two Towns

As a mental exercise, imagine two communities: one which is hierarchical and revolves around currency and one which does not. Let's call them Stuckton and Brightville.

Part I: Stuckton

Stuckton was once a town of small farmers and craftspeople who lived in a dynamic balance. The farmers, ranchers, hunters, and fishermen raised enough food for the townspeople to eat well, with enough to spare for trade with other towns. There were enough doctors, blacksmiths, mechanics, engineers, and so forth for everybody's needs to be met. Each family owned the buildings and land they lived and worked on.

There was an elected Mayor and Town Council, who were people from the community who chose to run for office. Anybody in the town could express their concerns to them, and they largely strove to respond to the needs and wishes of the people who elected them.

Like in any capitalist community, they used currency in their exchanges of goods and services. At one time, people set their prices so that they could make a living. For a while it worked. Most were self-employed. People pretty much interacted as equals.

Then one year, the Thompson family farm had a calamity. Half the family members came down with something that made them sick for months. When planting time came, there were not enough hands to plant enough crops. Come harvest time, most of the sick had recovered, but there was less than half of the harvest that they needed; and the family owed the doctors quite a bit that they couldn't pay.

Going into winter, the Thompsons found they couldn't afford firewood, meat, milk, warm shoes, or even electricity. They had sold all of their harvest to cover their medical bills and had no bumper crop to plant in the spring. As the first frost sparkled the ground, they realized they probably wouldn't survive the winter.

The Jensons, their neighbors, had had a particularly good year. They had currency to spare from the sale of their bountiful crop. The Jensons offered to buy the Thompsons' farm, so that the Thompsons could buy supplies to survive the winter. The Thompsons saw no choice but to accept. From then on, the Thompsons worked for the Jensons, were paid by them for their work, and in turn paid rent to the Jensons.

The same thing began to happen among residents of the town itself. The blacksmith, Evans, was injured and couldn't work for a while. The mechanic, Rogin, offered to buy Evans' business. The fisherman, Bellows, sabotaged the boats of all the other fishermen during a storm, making it look like storm damage. By the end of the season, Bellows had bought out all but a couple of the other fishermen.

Within a generation or so, Stuckton had changed dramatically. All farmland was owned by Jenson Agricultural Corporation. All skilled crafts were under the control of Rogin Enterprises. Bellows Holdings controlled all fishing, hunting, and milling. Five families controlled everything in and around the town. They lived in unabashed opulence yet had long forgotten the skills and crafts over which they now ruled.

The quality of life declined in other ways as well. Craftspeople had once taken pride in making products built to last. But the manufacturers realized they could make more money doing otherwise. Why make shoes that last a lifetime when you can make shoes that fall apart in a few months and keep selling new ones?

A new business appeared in the center of town — a bank. The bankers became the wealthiest controlling interests in the town, more wealthy than the Five Families. They produced nothing of value or benefit to the community, yet they vastly increased their own power and influence.

The mayor and town council were still officially elected by popular vote, but when a member of one of the Five Families or bankers wanted something, they nearly always got it. While there was still enough food, wood, water, and other materials and skills for everybody to live well, most people did not. The only ones who thrived were the ones who controlled currency, land, resources, and the lives of those who provided the brains, skills and muscle power.

Part II: Brightville

Now let's turn our attention to the town of Brightville, which took a different turn early on.

In Brightville, currency was never conceived of or used. Even barter was never formalized as a medium of exchange.

There was specialization, to be sure. There were skilled hunters, fishers, farmers, weavers, potters, electricians, carpenters, engineers, welders, plumbers, doctors, software and hardware engineers, herbalists, boatmakers, barbers, and all the others.

There was no city council and no mayor. Whenever decisions affecting the community needed to be made, the residents would meet, discuss, argue, research, and ultimately come to a consensus.

There was a powerful sense of cohesion among the diverse inhabitants. Through a distributed database updated by everyone as necessary, the farmers knew how much wheat, potatoes, corn, squash and tomatoes were needed for everybody to get through the year with plenty to eat. The hunters and ranchers knew how much meat was needed. The millers knew how much flour was needed for the bakers.

The carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other skilled construction professionals would check the database online every day. "Oh, Farmer Smith's barn burned down. Let's get out there and build them a new one." The doctors' offices were always open during normal hours for anybody who needed them. Patients came in, were seen, treated, and sent home as necessary.

Nobody kept track of who did or provided how much of what to whom. Everybody knew what was needed and did what was necessary to make sure it was provided.

True, there were lean years and calamities. There were 3 years in a row when early, harsh, long winters cut the growing season short. During those times there were long, difficult town meetings; but solutions were found. A couple of recipes from those years even stayed in the town's culinary lore as delicacies after the crisis passed.

One year, the same scenario that impacted the Thompsons and the Jensons in Stuckton happened to the Quaigs and the Diaz family. The Quaigs all came down with the same sickness that hit the Thompsons. When planting time came, there was no problem for the Quaigs because everybody turned out to help them plant, irrigate, fertilize, and harvest. Every day, Diaz family members were over at the Quaigs, helping out, cooking chicken soup, doing laundry. With no need for currency, at least one doctor visited the Quaigs daily.

Part III: When the Two Towns Meet

It was almost inevitable that representatives from the business empires of Stuckton came to Brightville looking for expansion opportunities. They asked to speak to the Mayor and City Council about potentially "lucrative business opportunities that will benefit both our towns." They were thoroughly confused when told that there was no mayor or city council, but they were invited to speak to the townspeople at the next meeting.

At the meeting, the businesspeople from Stuckton began by expressing "sympathy and dismay to see the level of poverty here in Brightville. Nobody here has any money. Frankly, we can't see how you even manage to live. But we can change that! We can make some of you very rich, and bring you democracy, teach you how to elect proper representatives to govern you."

That statement was met with uncomprehending silence. Nobody in Brightville had any idea what they were talking about.

Finally someone asked the emissaries to explain what they meant by "money," "poverty," "rich," "democracy," and "representatives."

"Well, money is what makes the world go round. It's what facilitates the flow of goods and services. Poverty is what y'all have, because none of you seem to have any money. Rich means having a lot of money. Democracy means you elect politicians to act as representatives who decide what laws you will live under and how much taxes you pay. That's called freedom."

After the laughter died down, one of the doctors spoke up.

"Are you sure we're speaking the same dialect? I guess by money you mean the angular momentum of the earth that keeps it spinning, though how that facilitates stuff getting done is beyond me. And for that matter, what are 'politicians,' 'pay,' 'rent,' 'buy' and 'taxes?' And what do you mean by 'freedom?' In Brightville it means you can go about your life as you please as long as you aren't interfering with somebody else's doing so. Sounds like it means the opposite in Stuckton."

Jack Jenson, CEO of Jenson Corp, reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and handed some shiny pieces of currency to the engineer. The engineer passed them around.

The blacksmith examined one: "Oh yeah, this is somnambulum. It's a pretty good conductor. We use it for a lot of things. But are you seriously saying that this is what you mean by 'money?' Do you mean, you folks carry these little somnambulum trinkets around in your pockets instead of using the metal for what it's good for, and you have to give them to these Five Families or Banuks or whatever you call them, to get things you need? How do you folks manage to live?"

After more laughter, the Stucktonians grew defensive. "You don't have to teach us anything! We know how to build better phones, cars, and clothes! We don't build them as well as we could because if we did, if they never broke down or wore out, there'd be no market, the economy would tank, businesses would close, jobs would be lost!"

Uproarious laughter, again lasting nearly ten minutes.

"I know what y'all are! Y'all are some kind of theater troupe! You're here to entertain us!" said a fisherwoman, rising to shake their hands. "This is some of the best improv I've ever seen!"

Everybody clapped, laughing, having realized the true nature of the Stucktonian's presentation.

Except for the Stucktonians. In a fit of indignation, they drove off.

A few months later, another delegation arrived with a platoon of soldiers. They repeated the original offer, adding that if the Brightvillians were unreceptive, Stuckton would intervene and "civilize" them, "for your own good."

This delegation was greeted with fanfare and joviality as a repeat performance. At a word from the Jenson delegate, soldiers fired shots in the air. "We're not kidding! We will civilize you and open up this market! Nothing must stand in the way of Business!"

That was the first moment when the citizens of Brightville realized this was a serious threat, not satirical theatre, and responded accordingly. The delegation was sent back to Stuckton on foot naked, barefoot, and shaken but otherwise unharmed to deliver one simple message: "Grow up and leave us alone!"

When the Stucktonian military arrived, they discovered that the Brightvillians, while good-natured and easygoing, were quite fierce guerilla warriors when attacked. Within less than a day, the Stucktonians were sent home the same way. Wounded Stucktonian soldiers were treated and nursed back to health, then sent home as soon as they were well enough.

Unbeknownst to all, however, a seed had been planted. Among the Stucktonian soldiers who ended up spending some time in Brightville, new ideas began to sprout. They had been terrified that they would be beaten, brutalized, tortured, even killed. Instead, they found that they were treated with dignity, humanity and respect. They had a chance to experience life with no need for money, with goods and services freely flowing, with abundance and respect for everybody, even for captured enemies.

The returning wounded and captives shared their experiences with friends and family, who scoffed at first but gradually came to question the order of things. Within a decade, growing numbers of Stucktonians began to question the inevitability of currency, the 5 Families, Banks and the dual existence of privileged and disenfranchised in the same community.

When the 5 Families and the Bank learned of this, they went to the media to spread propaganda: there was a nefarious dictatorial evil Communist conspiracy in Brightville to corrupt the youth of Stuckton, destroy the economy and make everybody poor, hungry and downtrodden. Of course, most of the people in Stuckton were already poor, hungry and downtrodden.

Eventually there came a day when things abruptly changed. Throughout Stuckton, everybody showed up for work and performed their jobs but stopped asking payment for goods and services, and stopped paying for anything. In the stores nobody asked for payment. Craftspeople performed their jobs and did not ask for payment. The bank was peacefully shut down. Nobody paid for anything, but they all kept working.

When the power elite tried to enforce their dominance, they were defended against efficiently, disarmed, restrained, and placed out of the way. Within a month, Stuckton changed fundamentally. Representatives went to Brightville asking to learn how to function without currency and hierarchy. Within a generation, Stuckton shared the vibrant well-being and good-natured thriving lifestyle of Brightville, but with their own culture, slang, recipes, musical styles and culture. The two communities then enjoyed a long era of friendship and cultural exchange.