common good uses
There are many promises that are made when they the old gets ripped down to put up the new? How much better it is going to be for you and your neighbours? The experts come round and explain how it is all going to work. How you are consulted? Are the ideas that you are consulted with already finished? If at the end the project doesn’t work to plan, it is usually to late to do anything about it
Why cant we use the common good fund to employ our own experts – Or to put pressure on planners concerning community planning that part of the budget for community projects is allocated to the community to employ their own “independent” advisor. Someone who can properly inform the residents of how different projects will impact on their community.
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People usually only understand responsibility when they are given some. Our young people are constantly browbeaten into being responsible for things they don’t even understand. They can be over educated in specialisation, or bypassed completely by the education system and very rarely allowed to express what they feel, or use their inert skills on how they would go about things.
We learn life skills by understanding through responsibility. We best do this through real things. One use of the common good could be to. Set up and allow young people to run their own institutions.
Architecture
Parents send young folk to drama class, art classes, dance class, why don’t we send them to architecture classes, environment classes. Few of them will end up as dancers, actors or artists – but each of them live and will work bring up families in the built environment – and will live in houses most of their lives.
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The common good fund should be used and available for grants that serve the common good and allow the people in our communities to celebrate through street parties and events what they hold and think is important – thus allowing the true diversity and flavours of our cities, towns and countryside to flourish – rather than the image of generic corporations and mega events that constantly flood our streets and green space
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Example 500 years of Common Good
In Scotland the common good is 500 years old, represents the generosity of probably millions of people, is is write large through our culture, is something everyone rich, poor, old, young, black, white, stranger, neighbour, can share in. The common good is proof of the friendliness and open armed welcoming nature of our country (that tourism is always eager to highlight)
The common good should fund the 500 year celebration of the commonality that is both unique and makes our country stand out in that our culture belongs to everyone?
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Protecting the common good is protecting democracy. Democracy is not fast track. Democracy is sometimes slow and as in life can be awkward, pernickety, and painful. Democracy is not about winners and losers it is about finding consensus and trying to keep as many people happy as possible – whether you agree with them or not. The common good should operate along these lines to.
We should a ask your political representative what their take is and what they know about the common good and do they know it is in danger of being privatised. If individuals are self serving they will not want to open the democratic can of worms that is the common good – If they “do” know about the common good – shouldn’t something of such value to the public be part of their remit to protect?
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So much of our work and lives are controlled by computer technology to the extent we can not operate without it. (Well not without the loss of millions of lives) The early inventors of this technology worked towards a “Knowledge Commons” and an “open information highway” – meaning knowledge available and shared by everyone. e commerce is superseding and progressing towards crushing and installing tolls on the “open information highway” through the spread of proprietary software. There is a choice though.
The “common good” of computer technology is still open and free to all. The tools of source code that created the open information highway are still there and used by many. Open Source awareness is like common good awareness – it can offer more freedom and choice – if people know about it.
Open Source Initiative
