8. Gradual transition to Ergonocracy
8.1 Problems related with the implementation of an Ergonocracy Regime
One of the aims of Ergonocracy is to provide all citizens with equal political intervention power and to create one single class of workers who are simultaneously company owners.
Total equality is impossible to achieve, but it is maintained that it is feasible to create a society where there is only one social single working class, which will simultaneously aggregate capital and labour.
The road to Ergonocracy is not an easy one, and along the way there is always the risk of excluding certain groups of less fortunate people. This is why it is especially important to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate.
Although young people will probably constitute the frontline, Ergonocracy will also involve the elderly and make the most of the accumulated experience of all senior citizens. This can be seen, for example, in the Arbitral Council, whose members will have to be at least fifty-five years old. Also, in economic terms, the figure of the investor partner perfectly fits the profile of a senior citizen. This role is less operational, although the person is expected to strategically intervene. In this way, the older, more experienced members of society can use their acquired knowledge and wisdom while at the same time living a less stressful life with free time to devote to leisure and rest.
One important principle is that only those things that are known for certain to improve people’s lives, should be changed. If the benefit of a given measure is questionable, this means that it isn’t worth trying to change. Changing things just for the sake of it, is irresponsible and places the whole structure of Ergonocracy at risk.
It is in the context of this last paragraph that the social model advocated by Ergonocracy will operate. In other words, it will initially follow the principles and practices that we see today in the European social model and then evolve according to the resources and decisions of the Global Community’s citizens, always taking into account the balance between generations and its corresponding technical analysis.
There is no doubt that in the event that a nation’s citizens decide to adopt Ergonocracy, they should follow a gradual timetable divided into phases and designed to give citizens and institutions time to adapt to this new reality. For this reason, in a later chapter the three stages method, a pragmatic method that sets out the most critical steps in the transition process, will be proposed. If necessary, this goal should be achieved by a process of trial and error.
All Ergonocracy models function in harmony with the great issues that influence our times - an aging population, globalisation and new geopolitical movements.
In an era where information flows very rapidly, where people have become increasingly more demanding and aware of their rights, where all types of frontiers are being torn down, it makes sense that people take their destinies into their own hands. This is what Ergonocracy is all about.
Some people will see Ergonocracy as a dangerous regime that will kill capitalism; others will see it as the only way that capitalism can survive.
The most important notion is that Ergonocracy will probably be the safest radical way to conserve what is best in our existing world. In the next chapter we will examine the best strategies to follow in the struggle to apply Ergonocracy.
8.2 Strategies to diffuse and struggle for Ergonocracy - Pre-Ergonocracy
Finding its own path
Each country must find its own path and the most appropriate solutions for implementing Ergonocracy models. In effect, there is no foolproof recipe that can be successfully replicated in all countries, as each nation has its own idiosyncrasies.
First of all, the means that citizens have at their disposal to diffuse and struggle for Ergonocracy’s implementation should be looked at. There are certain requirements that may simplify or complicate the introduction of Ergonocracy, among which are the following:
Level of development: Each country that plans to implement Ergonocracy must have previously reached a minimum economic, social and political level. It is a stage at which most of the country’s population lives with a certain dignity - in other words, at the level of the average middle-class inhabitant of a typical western community. It will not be possible to implement Ergonocracy or any new model (for this sake) in a country where a substantial part of its population has difficulties in fulfilling their most basic needs; most developed countries already meet the conditions necessary for moving forward with the implementation of Ergonocracy.
Mobilisation of the population: This will drive the development of Ergonocracy and constitute the main force of this movement;
Agreement of the ruling classes: This is the most difficult requisite to secure, since current political leaders will not accept a transition to a system where they will lose a significant part of their power. Most powerful economic leaders will also be expected to disagree with the prospect of having to split a significant capital share of their companies with their employees.
How to overcome opposition by the ruling classes
Ergonocracy’s main opponents will be those who could stand to lose if the system is implemented. This crowd includes the wealthy, almost all politicians, friends of the system and everyone who benefits from the status quo and is afraid to lose privileges.
These extremely powerful people will in all probability mock and attack the Ergonocracy project, choosing to ignore the advantages that these models will bring to the majority of their fellow citizens.
However, they will also obviously recognise that Ergonocracy can provide them with opportunities. Former politicians will realise that they can still participate in political life as partners in a Concessionary Company that is competing for public tenders for the management of a Public Function.
Furthermore, all economic leaders will understand that they can keep their businesses and their companies, even though they may not like the idea of having to share part of them with their employees.
Politicians should understand that they could still hold influential positions, though not exactly in the same way as they did before. From now on, politicians will have to perform their functions with transparency, which could naturally make their positions less lucrative. They could also lose important decision-making privileges, as citizens should always have a word to say. They will have to give up the practice of exchanging favours, comply with their programmes and keep their promises. None of these things may they be prepared to do.
Thus, there is no doubt that the main enemy of Ergonocracy will be the lobby of powerful politicians followed by the richest corporation’s business men. Citizens will have to clearly show these people what they really want. The degree of persuasion citizens will need to use, will vary in proportion to the degree of intensity with which these "leeches" cling to power.
It is important to involve everyone in this process, especially the ruling classes. But how will Proponents of Ergonocracy convince these individuals of the advantages of Ergonocracy? This is a question that should be answered by each country.
One fact that cannot be denied is that these powerful people could potentially be persuaded to embrace Ergonocracy, if they were made to realise that it is the lesser of two evils, the greater evil being none other than fear. What do privileged people fear most? The answer is simple. Powerful people fear losing their power and rich people fear losing their money.
It is common knowledge that in times of severe social unrest, such as those currently affecting Greece, Ireland, Portugal and other European countries, the future is highly uncertain and opens up dangerous avenues, notably the possibility of autocracies or even chaos. It is in this context that Ergonocracy should be viewed by all ruling classes as the least of all evils. Even though they will lose part of their power and money, they will not lose all of it. They will keep competing in the race and not have to fear for their safety and well-being.
Of course, in order to reach a point where Ergonocracy may be viewed by the powerful as a solution, social instability must reach a high level.
Therefore, there is no doubt that ordinary citizens will have to strive to ultimately create the conditions necessary for the implementation of Ergonocracy.
Ergonocracy should not be implemented by force
The undeniable difficulty in obtaining the consent of ruling echelons may lead many citizens to pose the following question: Can Ergonocracy be implemented by force, particularly through a violent revolution? The answer is unmistakably negative.
If an “Ergonocracy” revolution did occur, existing representative democratic regimes may end, but in their place we could have something that could not be called Ergonocracy.
This is due to the fact that a regime imposed by force also has to defend itself by force and will consequently not be in a position to implement a culture of dialogue, transparency and negotiation, which are fundamental Ergonocracy principles.
Thus, Ergonocracy should have nothing to do with future regimes imposed by force in which the will of some citizens supplant the rights of others.
What is the way?
Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela have walked this road and have prevailed. In the end, everyone realised that their ideas had value and these men were able to gain widespread respect for their moral superiority. They showed us the way through passive resistance. Proponents of Ergonocracy must learn to be patient and to plant seeds everyday thinking ahead to the future harvest they will reap.
Next, four basic phases in the process of developing the conditions in which Ergonocracy can be effectively implemented will be presented:
First Phase
This process will begin by raising social awareness, work that each Ergonocracy follower will have to perform; followers will need to take the initiative to inform, involve, and mobilise their circle of friends, acquaintances and family members in an effort to generate an ever expanding wave of support.
This may include organising meetings and conferences to discuss practical Ergonocracy issues in which everyone is invited to participate. The internet should be viewed as the most important resource for disseminating these new ideas, with people participating in forums, blogs, social networks, newsletters, emailing, etc.
Simultaneously, a committee responsible for creating an internet platform should be elected to work in a very similar way to the previously discussed Community Web Portal. After registering, everyone will not only be able to vote, but also present his or her specific ideas, proposals or complaints regarding the management of each Public Function. These ideas could then be perfected by working groups within the community, who could present them as bills to be voted on in parliament, if possible, or disseminate them via existing political parties.
This internet platform could initially follow a parliamentary agenda, putting up for member voting the same proposals that a parliament could vote on. All interested citizens will be able to participate and vote at the polls. At a later point, the internet platform could start to be seen as a statistical poll hub, as it will be presenting results a few hours before parties voted on laws in parliament.
Citizens could then compare the results of this sample popular vote with actual parliamentary decisions. There could most likely be huge discrepancies sometimes.
If this mission is accomplished and if an increasing number of citizens starts to join the internet platform so they can vote (each citizen, one vote), Ergonocracy will be achieving two important goals:
Second Phase
Soon, the legitimacy of the internet platform will unwillingly be recognised by its more fervent enemies – politicians - and we are talking about certain politicians’ interventions, in the Parliament or in the Media, when they refer to and comment on the numbers concerning people’s decisions about a certain theme, stated in the Internet Platform, in order to justify and support their own proposals.
At this point, the development of Ergonocracy will proceed into a second phase in which citizens will also be able to suggest their own law proposals, that is, the Internet Platform will start pushing its own political agenda.
When this phase reaches its cruising speed, a significant part of the population will realise how inept their parliaments are.
Awareness of the need for change will be strengthened and, at the same time, the natural tendency to reject something that is untested will start to fade. This is the moment to propose the widespread implementation of Ergonocracy models.
Third Phase
This is when the third phase should begin, which aims to isolate politicians and offer them a deadline of four to five years for the beginning of the scheme for redeveloping the political system along Ergonocracy lines. It is important to give politicians enough time, as this widely increases the chances that they will accept the change. They will still have the advantage of benefiting from their traditional privileges for a period of time that is long enough to allow them to reorganise their lives and for many, to ensure a golden retirement, the primary goal of most politicians. As an added incentive, they will also be remembered in history as the ones who facilitated this change.
Fourth Phase
But what if politicians still resist and continue to cling firmly to representative democratic power?
In this case, citizens should step up their fight, though they should never resort to the use of violence, as violence will be then used by politicians to discredit the Ergonocracy movement. What are, then, the methods that we can suggest?
The driver to implement Ergonocracy must not only be political initiatives. Citizens who so desire can start other types of initiatives, as follows:
Let’s not forget, however, that fear is the key for both parties. Ruling groups will use fear to intimidate Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen and try to convince them that Ergonocracy is a terrible thing, a fearful unknown that will lead to chaos.
However, in the end it is fear that will convince these ruling groups that Ergonocracy is the least of many evils. Fear needn't be instilled. It will be the decadent systems of capitalism and representative democracy that will end up creating strong imbalances that will generate a powerful majority of natural opposition - and when this angry mob strikes, the ones who will lose the most will be the ones who have the most to lose. For these ruling groups, a simple phrase may make them think about their position: Ergonocracy is better than angry mobs on the streets ...
What to do after Ergonocracy begins to be implemented?
Ergonocracy will have to be formally implemented through a referendum in which a qualified majority of citizens has to decide if they want to proceed with this change of regime. This majority should be substantial in order to give political strength to the beginning stages of this change.
The referendum must be preceded by a long period of enlightenment and public debate. After the referendum, citizens will have to debate and choose the most appropriate types of models, with time frames and final objectives to be achieved. Simultaneously, the existing constitution will have to be formally abandoned.
In the next chapter the various phases of Ergonocracy implementation will be observed.
8.3 The three stage method - Pos-Ergonocracy
The three stage method relates only to the previously referred to Ergonocracy core models and may be defined as a pragmatic method that specifies the most critical steps necessary to change present reality into desired destiny - a fully implemented Ergonocracy regime.
Once again it is emphasised that this method should not be seen as a dogmatic guide, rather as a rough indicator which essentially aims to outline the most obvious steps for the gradual implementation of Ergonocracy’s various components.
With this three stage method, a gradual adaptation of all social, political and economical structures will be delineated, with three precise time frames for each phase. The final aim is to fully implement an Ergonocracy regime at the end of a fifteen year period.
For ease of understanding, t0 will be defined as the moment at which the majority of the country’s citizens have decided to implement Ergonocracy and the successive phases as t0 + n, where n is the number of years considered necessary to put the phase into practice. At each step the requirements to be fulfilled before the country is able to advance to the next step will also be specified.
During this first stage the country will still keep its power institutions, which could function in the same way as they always did. The main goal of this first phase is to prepare citizens for Ergonocracy changes, and will be reflected in the following elements:
o Creation of the Community Web Portal.
o Beginning implementation of online referendum via the Community Web Portal for all citizens who wish to participate, although these procedures will not be binding.
o Setting an RFP tender to establish one concession for choosing one company that will assume one chosen public function, to serve as an example and “case study” in order to settle a modus operandi.
o Introduction of the principle of transparency - all public processes should have to be made publicly available to all citizens.
o All court audiences would start to be recorded and publicly disseminated via the Community Web Portal.
o Defining maximum time limits for scheduling the beginning and the end of trials; at the same time, special task forces should be created to judge all backlogged cases as soon as possible.
o Creation of a specific channel in the Community Web Portal to produce the conditions and incentives designed to guide certain neighbourhoods towards focusing on specific activities.
o Implementing rules concerning shares and statutes for all new companies that are to be created. In accordance with the previous chapter “Examples of different ways to convert SME’s”, these rules should apply to all existing small enterprises and to all companies of up to twenty employees.
o Organisation of training courses to help companies and employees during the adjustment process.
o All larger companies at the end of this period should publish a conversion plan, setting out their conversion strategy, the number of new company groups to be created and the final number of members that each company will have at the end.
o In macroeconomic terms, insert the rules to institute tight control over all public budgets; politicians should be criminally responsible in case of non-compliance.
This phase will start immediately after the 1st phase ends and is designed to last 5 years. This stage will involve more profound changes, although the country will still keep some of its conventional power institutions that could function the same way they always did. This will be a transition phase in which both traditional structures and Ergonocracy organisations should work together simultaneously.
o All general (transversal) laws voted on by citizens in Community Web Portal referendums will start to be put into effect. However, sectoral laws should still be decided by the existing parliament.
o Set a rule stipulating that a certain previously determined minimum number of citizens should be entitled to put up for referendum vote any law proposal they wish.
o Set all necessary RFP tenders to establish concessions for the choosing of companies that will assume all Public Functions.
o At this stage the established government should continue to exist, but only to assist and guide these Concessionary Companies; any disagreements will be decided by the government.
o During this stage a mixed model will exist; the separation of civilian courts and criminal courts will be implemented.
o Have all necessary RFP tenders establish concessions to choose the companies that will assume the functions of managing all civil courts.
o Create and acquire all means needed for the functioning of the Ergonocracy security model and rigorously test this model.
o Redesign the prison system in order to allow the separation of convicted criminals according to crime type into four separate wards and start the testing phase for all programmes designed for therapy and rehabilitation processes;
o Support all local communities of common interest whose citizens have decided by majority to operate under this statute.
o Implementing of rules concerning shares and statutes to apply to all companies of up to two hundred workers.
o Publicly discuss the conversion plans for medium-sized companies of up to five hundred workers and suggest reformulations if necessary.
o Eliminate money in its physical form (cash), relegating money to its digital version.
By the end of the first year of this phase, all traditional power structures should be finally erased and the four remaining years should serve to test the new structures, to make adaptations and address all weaknesses:
o Abolition of the parliament.
o All laws, general and sectoral, voted on by citizens via the Community Web Portal referendums, should start to take effect.
o Abolition of the government, leaving each Concessionary Company the task of assuming its respective Public Function on its own.
o Implementation of the Ergonocracy security model in all its facets.
o Setting of all necessary RFP tenders to establish concessions for choosing the companies that will assume the functions of managing all criminal courts.
o Creation of the “prison of no return”.
o Give autonomy to all local communities of common interest to create their own laws and rules of social coexistence.
o All Local Communities should be invited to submit candidates to the Arbitral Council.
o Implement the rules concerning shares and statutes to apply to all companies, including larger companies.
o Support the most complicated cases and monitor all possible exceptions, which should always have to be validated by referendum.
o Gradually implement all features specified in the Macroeconomy Ergonocracy model.
At all stages there should be a monitoring committee for each component mandated to identify all points of failure in these models. This committee should also be responsible for recommending changes.
At the end of the third stage, the Ergonocracy model should be fully operational and assimilated by the majority of its citizens and stakeholders. However, it must be noted that the spirit of this regime implies ongoing development, always with the aim of improving and adapting human surroundings to meet people’s needs.
The first and second phases of the three stage method will probably be the easiest to implement, with both regimes working simultaneously and the Community Web Portal partially substituting parliament. Many countries may choose to postpone the decision to move to the third phase, which is clearly more radical. During these first and second temporary stages, the adverse effects of traditional government action can be minimised if citizens regularly have the opportunity to give their opinions about each minister’s performance. This kind of plebiscite could be extremely effective, as it will be binding and could lead to the replacement of weaker ministers in certain predefined circumstances.
However, there is no doubt that while there is a traditional democratic government, there will always be occurrences of corruption, power abuse and general management that does not coincide with citizens’ interests.
The cornerstone underlying all processes of democratic development has always been the principle of separation of power. In practice, however, governments, or the executive power, tend to manipulate legislative power, as we can see in the following:
It is for all of these and other reasons that traditional political structures, including parliament, the president and all governmental positions should be dismantled during the third stage of the three stage method.
Of course, parties could continue to exist. If they so desire, they could restructure and form political associations that could continue to hold influence in the public life of their countries.
Some of these politicians may participate in Public Function Concessionary or Sub-concessionary Companies, while others may become mass media analysts, “opinion makers” or act as proxy voting representatives.
In fact, these Public Function Concessionary Companies should be composed of members with many different profiles and could probably be constituted by a combination of unemployed politicians, all kinds of technocrats and a new group of ambitious young men.
For the last decade, scientists and climatologists have been telling us that our survival is at risk. Therefore a key issue in the world today is the sustainability of our planet. However, it is important to understand that our planet is irremediably doomed in the very long run. It is simply a matter of time. If we survive all biological threats, our capacity to destroy ourselves and all geological and meteor impact risks113, there is one deadline t