Cooperatives

The Cooperative Development Institute in Shelburne Falls, MA is among the best of the Coops that promote Cooperative Ownership. Their website is www.cdi.coop and their Guide to Establishing a Cooperative is at https://cdi.coop/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/start-up-packet-2015-web.pdf

The International Cooperative Alliance, ICA https://ica.coop/ is a good source of information about Cooperatives and their website is very useful.

Open Book Management

I first learned of Open Book Management from Inc. Magazine, which wrote enthusiastically about it and thought it would revolutionize business practices. I thought Dan Pink’s Drive would do something similar. That they haven’t means that the powers-that-not-ought-not-to-be are busy ignoring and denigrating both Open Book and the Purpose Economy.

The National Center for Employee Ownership did a study comparing 54 companies that practiced Open-Book Management with 54 very similar companies that did not and found a significant advantage in the Open-Book Companies. OneYou may read their article about it here: https://www.nceo.org/articles/open-book-management

And their article about What Is Ownership Culture? is well worth reading: https://www.nceo.org/ownership-culture

Just about every ESOP company desirewants to have employees who think and act like the employee-owners. Compelling research and decades of experience show that employee ownership is in fact a powerful tool to improve corporate performance – but only when companies have “ownership cultures” in which employees think and act like owners. That is a lot more than being nice to customers, cutting down on waste, coming to work on time, and even working hard on the job.

An effective ownership culture, the research shows, is one that generates lots of ideas from a well informed and highly involved workforce. Companies that have these high-involvement, idea-generating cultures, generate an incremental 6% to 11% added growth per year over what their prior performance relative to their industries would have predicted.

Creating an ownership culture involves at least these six elements:

Provide a financially meaningful ownership stake, enough to be an important part of employees’ financial security.
Provide ownership education that teaches people how the company makes money and their role in making that happen.
Share performance data about how the company is doing overall and how each work group contributes to that.
Train people in business literacy so they understand the numbers the company shares.
Often (but not always) share profits through incentive plans, profit sharing, or other tools.
Build employee involvement not just by allowing employees to contribute ideas and information but by making that part of their everyday work through teams, feedback opportunities, devolution of authority, and other structures.

Creating high engagement cultures is hard work. But it is work that pays off. We know of very few companies that backed away from these systems once they started them, although they are often changed. It’s common to start with one system, then find as people get used to that, their skills and confidence rise to a level where a different system is needed.

High engagement cultures have been repeatedly shown to be the most effective intervention a company can create to improve performance. But go to an NCEO conference and witness the enthusiasm and energy coming from managers and employees of these companies and one willyou’ll learn something else—they are also the most fun way to run a company.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-book_management

Open-book management (OBM) is a management phrase coined by John Case of Inc. magazine, who began using the term in 1993. The concept's most visible success has been achieved by Jack Stack and his team at SRC Holdings.

The basis of open-book management is that the information received by employees should not only help them do their jobs effectively but help them understand how the company is doing as a whole. According to Case, "a company performs best when its people see themselves as partners in the business rather than as hired hands" (Case,1998 as cited in Pascarella, 1998). The technique is to give employees all relevant financial information about the company so they can make better decisions as workers. This information includes, but is not limited to, revenue, profit, cost of goods, cash flow and expenses.

Stack and Case conceptualize open-book principles in similar ways.

Stack uses three basic principles in his management practice called, The Great Game of Business.[5] His basic rules for open-book management are:

Know and teach the rules: every employee should be given the measures of business success and taught to understand them
Follow the Action & Keep Score: Every employee should be expected and enabled to use their knowledge to improve performance
Provide a Stake in the Outcome: Every employee should have a direct stake in the company's success-and in the risk of failure

Similarly, in 1995, Case made sense of open-book with three main points:[6]

The company should share finances as well as critical data with all employees
Employees are challenged to move the numbers in a direction that improves the company
Employees share in company prosperity

In a company fully employing open-book management employees at all levels are very knowledgeable about how their job fits into the financial plan for the company. However, taking a company from "normal" to open is not as easy as just sharing financial statements with employees. Open-book management is considered to be a success when companies allow improvements on their financial numbers to come from the bottom tier of employees rather than pressure exerted by a traditional top-down management system. (Johnson, 1992[7] as cited in Aggarwal & Simkins, 2001[1]). While employees need to be trained to understand income statements and balance sheets; open-book management aims to achieve a level of understanding of company finances between all employees to the degree that they are able to report predictions to upper management.[5] In order to motivate employees to strive for change, open-book management focuses on a "Critical Number". The number is different for every company but it is a number that represents a prime indicator of profitability or break-even point. Discovering this Critical Number is a key component of creating an open-book company. Once this is discovered, a "Scoreboard" is developed that brings together all the numbers needed to calculate the critical number. The Scoreboard is open for all to see and meetings take place to discuss how individuals can influence the direction of the "Score" and therefore, ultimately, the performance against the Critical Number. Finally a Stake in the Outcome is provided which can be a bonus plan that is tied to Critical Number performance or it can include Equity sharing or both.

A short YouTube description of Open-Book Management:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdrXDfNPa-E&list=PLTXjlXwe8oegU-HFLdH8L8GEQAm_0TWgH

3. Notes and Certificates

These bills illustrate the evolution of the banking fraud since before the Great Depression - almost 100 years ago, when the Federal Reserve Note claimed to be backed by gold, then after FDR confiscated the gold it is no longer redeemable in gold, but then the deception is resurrected with the Silver Certificate and the true money of the Republic, the United States Note is ignored. You can look at the notes in your pocket to see what the current basis is.

4. Larken Rose made a video about how to be a crook. It ends describing the banking scheme as the ultimate crime, the one enforced by capturing the law itself. See How To Be a Crook at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oHbwdNcHbc

5. BANK BALANCE SHEET

The way banks represent their accounts is as if the loans they make are their assets, same as people or any other business. What they call the loan is your promise to pay. It is your commitment to create value for the benefit of the bank. Our money in the bank is the bank's liability or what they owe us. When we borrow, the bank creates a “deposit” in our loan account, as their liability (what they owe us) and then they account for it as what we owe them? This is fraud!

Assets = Liabilities + Equity

Assets Owned

Liabilities Owed

Equity Owned

Cash

Deposit Savings accounts

Retained earnings

Loans

(really promissory notes)

Deposit Checking accounts

Demand loans

Loans from other banks

Computers and buildings, etc.

Payables, etc.

If we as a community chartered a public bank, we would also issue money with an accounting entry. However, we would have very different criteria for what is credit worthy, we would charge an administrative fee, not interest, and the repayment schedule would reflect reality and the profits would accrue to the community, providing widespread prosperity.

Authoritative Sources on Banking History

This history is a result of reading hundreds of books about money, it is mostly a distillation of the research done by:

1. Alexander Del Mar. Which books in particular? His books are full of references to other authors stretching back through history. https://archive.org/details/historyofmoneyin0000alex/page/n3/mode/2up

2. Stephen Zarlenga, The Lost Science of Money. This book is my main source for monetary history. https://archive.org/details/economics-nat-soc-federal-reserve-stephen-zarlenga-the-lost-science-of-money-the_202309/page/n7/mode/2up

3. Bernard Leitar, The Future of Money. This is my main source for understanding the nature of money. https://archive.org/details/fe_The_Future_of_Money-Bernard_Lietaer/mode/2up

4. David Graeber. Debt: The First 5,000 Years

This is the human story of the devastation of debt on society and why we need a jubilee and no usury ever again. See

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=David+Graeber%2C&crid=21UA5OTSB4LER&sprefix=david+graeber%2C%2Caps%2C62&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

5. Ellen Brown. Web of Debt, Public Banking Solution, and Banking on the People

She is a real hero of mine, and I rely greatly on her research and insights. Public Banking is realizable, we are almost there, but my strategy is much more ambitious than hers. https://ellenbrown.com/author/

6. Joseph Farrell, Babylon’s Banksters and Financial Vipers of Venice

APPENDIX 1 - BANKING

Money Creation

The Bank of England - From their publication “Money Creation in the Modern Economy. The whole article can be found in the link: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

This article explains how the majority of money in the modern economy is created by commercial banks making loans.
Money creation in practice differs from some popular misconceptions — banks do not act simply as intermediaries, lending out deposits that savers place with them, and nor do they ‘multiply up’ central bank money to create new loans and deposits.
The amount of money created in the economy ultimately depends on the monetary policy of the central bank. In normal times, this is carried out by setting interest rates. The central bank can also affect the amount of money directly through purchasing assets or ‘quantitative easing’.

Two misconceptions about money creation:

The vast majority of money held by the public takes the form of bank deposits. But where the stock of bank deposits comes from is often misunderstood. One common misconception is that banks act simply as intermediaries, lending out the deposits that savers place with them. In this view, deposits are typically ‘created’ by the saving decisions of households, and banks then ‘lend out’ those existing deposits to borrowers, for example to companies looking to finance investment or individuals wanting to purchase houses. In fact, when households choose to save more money in bank accounts, those deposits come simply at the expense of deposits that would have otherwise gone to companies in payment for goods and services. Saving does not by itself

increase the deposits or ‘funds available’ for banks to lend. Indeed, viewing banks simply as intermediaries ignores the fact that, in reality in the modern economy, commercial banks are the creators of deposit money. This article explains how, rather than banks lending out deposits that are placed with them, the act of lending creates deposits — the reverse of the sequence typically described in textbooks.

2. The abstract from Richard A. Werner’s article, “Can banks individually create money out of nothing? — The theories and the empirical evidence” published in Science Direct. Read the whole paper at the link below:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521914001070

He is from Centre for Banking, Finance and Sustainable Development, University of Southampton, United Kingdom???? . This is the professor Werner with tons of articles

This paper presents the first empirical evidence in the history of banking on the question of whether banks can create money out of nothing. The banking crisis has revived interest in this issue, but it had remained unsettled. Three hypotheses are recognised in the literature. According to the financial intermediation theory of banking, banks are merely intermediaries like other non-bank financial institutions, collecting deposits that are then lent out. According to the fractional reserve theory of banking, individual banks are mere financial intermediaries that cannot create money, but collectively they end up creating money through systemic interaction. A third theory maintains that each individual bank has the power to create money ‘out of nothing’ and does so when it extends credit (the credit creation theory of banking). The question which of the theories is correct has far-reaching implications for research and policy. Surprisingly, despite the longstanding controversy, until now no empirical study has tested the theories. This is the contribution of the present paper. An empirical test is conducted, whereby money is borrowed from a cooperating bank, while its internal records are being monitored, to establish whether in the process of making the loan available to the borrower, the bank transfers these funds from other accounts within or outside the bank, or whether they are newly created. This study establishes for the first time empirically that banks individually create money out of nothing. The money supply is created as ‘fairy dust’ produced by the banks individually, "out of thin air".

Author’s Note: John’s words

I need to point out that bank credit is not conjured like fairy dust out of nothing. It is always the amount the borrower promises to make valuable with their labor over the term of the loan. The borrower provides the value and the bank conjures the money as its liability. Money measures value, the value you promise to create. Issuing money is what the sovereign does to create the conditions in which the people live. Should banks completely control the money supply for their benefit? Should you create the money that you can make valuable?

Sample Bylaw for Jural Assembly Communities

The following sample By-Laws for Jural Assembly Communities is intended to demonstrate how a community could create their own.

They are a Google document which can be assessed here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KQcldK1qEVErVw9fKVRT4nLkg9Kh02l3_Pw7awvEu90/edit

For instructions on how to weigh in on the following document, see Google doc instructions.

Sample ByLaws for the Natural Law Society for the Common Good (or Good of All, or People at Large, or to Benefit Everyone, or a better name)

A Private Benevolent Association, or a Private Membership Association, referring to IRS Code 508c1a Congregation, your choice, but always Private!

Table of Contents, click on an item to go there.

1. DESCRIPTION 3

1.1. The name of the organization 3

1.3. Legal Structure: 3

1.4. Values, Principles/Tenets, Standards, and Core Philosophy 3

1.5. Purpose or Aim, Vision, and Mission 3

1.5.21. Create Jural Assemblies 6

1.5.22. Develop guidelines 7

1.5.24. Economics 7

1.5.26. Education 8

1.5.28. School of Good Governance 8

2. GOVERNANCE 9

2.1.1. Active Consent-based Governance 9

2.1.4. Circles 9

2.1.5. Selection 10

2.1.6. Decision Making 10

2.1.7. Double Linking 11

2.1.7.1.6. Meetings 11

2.1.8. Resources: 12

2.2. Monetary System 13

2.2.3. The Replik Bank 13

2.2.4. Resources: 14

3. MEMBERS 14

4. FACILITATORS CIRCLE 15

4.8.1. Governance Circle 15

4.8.2. Culture Circle 15

4.8.3. Members Circle 16

4.8.4. Education Circle 16

4.8.6. Marketing Circle 16

4.8.7. Administration Circle 16

4.8.8. Sovereign Money Circle 16

4.8.8.1. Aim: Understand the effects of Production and Distribution so Consumption is sensible. 16

4.8.9. Finance Circle 17

4.8.10. Media Circle 18

4.8.11. Real Estate Circle 18

4.8.12. Website Circle 18

4.8.13. Delegates 18

5. MEETINGS 19

6. AMENDMENTS AND REVISIONS 19

7. DISSOLUTION 19

8. SCOPE OF the Natural Law Society for the Common Good 20

9. ADDENDUM 20

9.1. CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 20

9.2. INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION POLICY 21

9.3. QUALIFIED ELECTOR OATH 21

1. DESCRIPTION

The name of the organization
is Natural Law Society for the Common Good, NLS in this document.

Legal Structure:
1. Natural Law Society for the Common Good is a private organization with the by-laws created by each Jural Assembly Community registered in each Town and County wherein it has an active Jural Assembly Community.
2. Appropriate notice shall be effected to establish the de Jure status of the Jural Assembly Community and its access to the Courts of its County.
3. It is understood that this will be increasingly effective as the membership in the Jural Assembly Communities grows.

Values, Principles/Tenets, Standards, and Core Philosophy

Resources:

Opening Overview

Motto, Values, Tenets, Standards, and Core Philosophy of a Union of We, the People at Large

Purpose or Aim, Vision, and Mission
1. The strategy and activities of the Natural Law Society for the Common Good will be directed toward realizing its Purpose, Vision, and Mission.

Resources:

Executive Summary and Overview of a Union of We, the People at Large

Purpose and Vision Statements of a Union of We, the People at Large

Mission Statements of a Union of We, the People at Large

The Ideal Universal Society

The World We Know In Our Hearts Is Possible

Purpose:
The Purpose of the Natural Law Society for the Common Good is to create a lawful, de Jure, “bottom up”, “active consent-based” Natural Law Society for the Common Good capable of issuing money. In so doing, we align Justice in Governance, Collaboration in Economics, and Freedom in Culture.

Vision:
Our vision for this “Natural Law Society for the Common Good” is for the Common Good.
Justice in Governance and Collaboration in Economics gives us Freedom in Culture.
The dream inspires us to associate with and participate in a growing group of educated people who comprehend self-governance and the nature of money and who therefore know how to issue money, marshall resources, and create projects that result in a society that benefits everyone.
Our society that benefits everyone is based on recognizing the problems created by the struggle for existence that makes egoism the primary motivator and recognizing that we are all desiring to be altruists, acting voluntarily as inspired because we are in a position to pursue our life’s purpose -- that transcendent purpose we choose to serve with all our heart and soul to create the society that benefits everyone.
Our society to benefit everyone aims to empower every individual to understand their life purpose, and develop their capacity to realize it, as they desire.
Our society that benefits everyone recognizes that everyone has a mutual right to their equitable share of the CommonWealth and everyone has a mutual right to the credit/capital/money, free of debt, interest, and taxes, that they can use productively in accomplishing their life’s purpose.
We co-create the context wherein we live together by actively consenting to the conditions that govern our lives. Fostering healthy relationships with one another and with nature, we learn how to create what we agree would be good, namely a society that benefits everyone!

Mission:
Our Mission is to:
Align Justice in Governance, Collaboration in Economics, and Freedom in Culture, using the social technologies of consent-based self-governance (Dynamic Governance) and community-created credit.
Include a self-actualization process so we effectively and synergistically co-create the communities and world we know in our hearts is possible.
Establish Jural Assembly Communities in all 3,143 Counties of the United States, in Every Nation-State, Bio-Regions, in the Provinces of Canada, and in every Native American Tribe, and eventually in every political body throughout the World.
And to:

Educate
the public and the Jural Assembly Communities about the social and technical advances created by numerous enterprises such as:
1. De Jure vs de Facto Governance
2. Natural Law, Maxims of Law, Maxims of Equity, and the Common Law of the land
3. Historical Insights and Truth Telling
4. Active Consent-based Governance
5. Sovereignty and Money, the primary tool of the Sovereign
6. Public Banks
7. Community-created Credit, e.g. Common Good Payment System
8. Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives
9. Open Book Management
10. Navigating the Matrix (the public and the private)
11. Relations and Justice
12. Non-Violent Communication
13. Private International Administrative Process
14. Restorative Justice
15. Regenerative Environment
16. Net Zero Living
17. Organic and BioDynamic Agriculture
18. Permaculture. Resource: Bill Mollison
19. Industrial Hemp and other
20. Regenerative Building Materials
21. The Circular Economy
22. Apprenticeships and Guilds
23. Benevolent Associations
24. Natural Medicine such as
  1. Herbalism
  2. Diet/Nutrition
  3. Macrobiotics
  4. Homeopathy
  5. Anthroposophical Medicine
  6. Ayurveda
  7. Acupuncture, QIgong
  8. Chiropractic
  9. Reiki and energy healing
  10. Sound Healing
  11. Prayer/Meditation
  12. Laying on of Hands
  13. Med Bed, Magic Wand
  14. Etc.
25. Self-Actualization/Personal Integration and Universal Synergy/Collaborative Wholism

Resources:

Overview on Exploring Personal and Community Effectiveness

Thoughts and Reflections; Questions to Ask Ourselves

Home Education, Unschooling, Waldorf and Montessori education, Parent-run Charter Schools/Coops - all funded, independent, value-based, no strings attached
Open source manufacturing of tools and equipment, including cars, trucks, tractors, and farm implements. https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/

From these educational efforts, find the people in every County who desire to join together with other self-governing, mission-aligned people to create profitable businesses and viable social structures that create community and honor Nature so that everyone can say: “The Community is as it should be and I am doing my part to make it so”.

Create Jural Assemblies
1. with Qualified Electors and a Notary, Secretary, Commissioner, Constable or Sheriff, Community Builder, Leader, Delegate, and Assistance of Counsel. Resource: Jural Assembly Roles
2. Qualified Electors are educated in Law and Equity and understand the proper role of the Grand Jury (Indictments and Presentments) and the Petit Jury (Facts and Remedies)
3. Only Qualified Electors participate in Jural Assemblies (see the Addendum for the oath of office for Qualified Electors)
4. The Notary understands how to assure lawful procedure and authenticate Affidavits and maintains the records for assembling Juries and educating them in lawful proceedings.
5. The Secretary oversees the process of Jural Assembly Meetings, may act as the facilitator, and keeps the records, makes the notes of meetings readily available to the members, and keeps track of proposals and projects and when they are to be evaluated.
6. The Commissioner is responsible for administering the financial affairs of the Jural Assembly.
7. The Sheriff or Constable is tasked with keeping the peace and carrying out the instructions of the Notary.
  1. Should there ever be a need to assemble a militia or a posse, the Sheriff or Constable may select and deputize the people needed to volunteer.
  2. The Militia or posse is selected for one specific purpose and is disbanded on its completion.
  3. The Militia or posse has no standing establishment, equipment, or base of operations, all equipment being provided by the people who volunteer.
8. The Community Builder is tasked with recruiting and educating new members of the Jural Assembly.
9. The Leader or Presider is responsible for the overall functioning of the Jural Assembly and for representing the more general concerns of the Assemblies in their Jural Assembly.
10. The Delegate represents the more specific concerns of their Jural Assembly in the next more general Jural Assembly.
11. Assistance of Counsel is learned in the law, the venerable tradition of the Common Law, the Maxims of Law, the Maxims of Equity, and the Law of Nations (Treaty Law), and helps the-innocent-until-proven-guilty navigate the process to ensure justice is served.

Resource: Judicial Functions and Private International Administrative Process

Addendum: Jural Assembly Roles

Develop guidelines
for the proper functioning of society including, but not limited to:
1. The Jeffersonian Ward Republic
2. Benevolent Associations
3. Establishing Parity (fair prices for raw materials and dealing with scarcities that may arise)
4. Preventing monopolies
5. Restraining governance to being the shield and not the crown
6. Establishing standards and principles rather than policies and procedures
7. Parameters of “voluntarily as inspired” (i.e., commitments; reliability. Do no harm.)
8. Issuing money
9. Managing the money supply
10. Celebrating the differences
11. Creating community-building events
12. etc.

Economics
Base the economy on an appreciation of the problems created by extraction and externalizing costs onto Nature and Society and emphasize sustainability and regeneration.
1. Develop Multi-stakeholder Cooperatives of the means of production to assure the wealth is distributed equitably according to our sense of justice, and not concentrated in a few wealthy families.
2. Develop appropriate life-empowering ways of owning and managing raw materials and agriculture.
3. Develop all the ways Industrial Hemp and other sustainable/regenerative materials can be used to restore a proper relationship to nature and provide most of the materials needed to sustainably create all the modern conveniences we are used to, including such things as organic food, holistic medicines, free energy (solar, wind, water, and geo-thermal), and biodegradable, recyclable building materials, fuel, and plastics, regenerative vertical agriculture, artificial leaves for hydrogen production, etc. Perhaps include the Paulownia Tree through responsible farming in these considerations.
4. Limit the scale of farming and use Organic, Biodynamic, and Permaculture methods to regenerate and maintain a respectful, even reverential, relationship to mother nature.

Education
Explore the ways education through apprenticeships and the establishment of Guilds can help orient society to empower individuals and their purpose and orient individuals to serve their communities.
1. Self-Actualization - our individual growth, development, and fulfillment

Resource: Exploring Personal and Community Effectiveness; Self-Actualization

Universal Synergy - our collaborative and synergistic way of being together that inspires our individual and community development

Resource: Exploring Personal and Community Effectiveness; Universal Synergy

Develop best practices in education and assure that it is always the responsibility of parents
1. and never the prerogative of the Jural Assembly or any other form of authority.
2. Parents work together to create the education they desire for their children.
Cultivate an understanding of education as the value inculcating process and capacity building process, not the conveyor of the “official story”.

Resources:

https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book-standardized/part-iii-history-urantia

Explore how to develop the ideas of “home-educating”, “community schooling”, “unschooling”, and “personalized educare”.
Explore the ways to educate the Trivium and the Quadrivium (the seven liberal arts).
1. The Trivium is particularly important for self governance being Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric.
2. The Quadrivium is particularly important for understanding the world being arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music.
Explore how to teach history and herstory.
Explore Historical Insights and Truth Telling.

School of Good Governance
Establish the School of Good Governance to discover and promote best practices for realizing the Vision of the Natural Law Society for the Common Good
1. Establish a Department of Common Law, Maxims of Law, and Maxims of Equity to develop our understanding of human nature and justice.
2. Establish the Department of Social Relations and Threefolding
  1. Freedom in Culture
  2. Justice in Governance
  3. Cooperation/Collaboration in Economics
And all other such things that will promote the development of a society that benefits everyone.
And any other moral ethical and lawful activity not yet thought of to promote the development of the jural assemblies.

GOVERNANCE
1. Natural Law Society for the Common Good shall be governed by its members using Active Consent-based Governance, NonViolent Communication, a Private International Administrative Process, and Restorative Justice.
  1. Active Consent-based Governance
  2. is a set of Principles and Tools that ensure equivalence; that power is shared, and decisions are based on the consent of those affected.
  3. In the Natural Law Society for the Common Good:
    1. Everyone is oriented to achieve the aim of their association.
    2. Everyone’s voice matters.
    3. The people doing the work decide how to do the work.
    4. Leadership comes from all levels of the organization.
    5. Meetings are well ordered and efficient.
    6. Education and continual improvement are valued.
    7. Transparency and Accountability are structural elements.
  4. Circles
    1. All decision-making takes place in circles.
    2. Circles are large enough to accomplish their task and small enough to be efficient in accomplishing their aim.
      1. The ideal size of a circle is 12 or 13
      2. 3 is the minimum and 40 is the maximum.
    3. Each circle has:
      1. An Aim or Purpose that orients the members of the circle and
      2. Each role has a term and evaluation criteria.
      3. A Leader is selected to convene the circle and assure that it accomplishes its Aim.
      4. A Facilitator is selected to assure meetings are well run and satisfying to the members and all voices are heard.
      5. A Scribe or Historian is selected to assure the decisions of the Circle are readily available and followed up on.
      6. A Delegate is selected to represent the circle to more general circles.
      7. In general, the Agenda is always subject to a consent round at the end of each meeting.
      8. In general, the Leader, the Facilitator, and Scribe ensure the agenda for the meetings.

Selection
1. Choosing the best person to fill a role
  1. Rather than having an election when a role needs to be filled, the best person for the role is selected by the members of the circle.
    1. The Facilitator asks each member to write the name of the person they believe is the best person for the role on a piece of paper and hands it to the facilitator.
    2. The facilitator then decides how to proceed.
    3. Generally there will be a round whereby each person explains their selection.
    4. Then there is a change round to see if anyone desires to change their selection.
    5. The Facilitator may then propose the most obvious person, including the term and evaluation criteria, and end the consent round with the selected person for their consent to being chosen.
  2. The Secretary assures, on the Agenda, that at a stated time, there will be an evaluation of how well the person filled the role.

Decision Making
1. All proposals, whether they be people, projects, activities, principles, guidelines, etc. are consented to by each member of the circle in a consent round.
2. There are specific processes that are used to develop a proposal and its dimensions that can be consented to.
3. Unlike consensus, objections are treated as opportunities to improve the proposal, however
4. Any proposal may be blocked by a paramount objection.
  1. A paramount objection may not be a personal preference.
  2. It must be presented as a rational argument capable of being understood by every member of the circle.
  3. It must be amenable to development so as to strengthen the proposal.
  4. Generally speaking, paramount objections are about unforeseen consequences and can usually be managed by
    1. Modifying the proposal and/or
    2. Strengthening the evaluation criteria and
    3. Shortening the time when it will be evaluated.
    4. A proposal can be consented to as good enough for now, safe enough to try if
    5. the criteria by which it will be evaluated are stringent enough.

Double Linking
1. The Natural Law Society for the Common Good is an organization with a hierarchy of double-linked circles.
  1. Each Circle is made up of:
  2. the Leader, selected by the circle with the more general responsibility, who leads a circle with a more specific aim, and
  3. the Delegate, selected by the circle with the more specific Aim, who represents the aim in the Circle with the more general aim.
  4. Double Linking has the effect of dramatically increasing the transparency and accountability of an organization because there are always two perspectives, the leader and the delegate, in every circle. The top down hierarchy is for efficiency, and the bottom up representation is for inclusivity and resilience.
  5. Double Linking also makes it much easier for leadership to be recognized and promoted throughout the organization.

Meetings
Meetings are well facilitated, based on rounds (hearing from everyone).
Members develop policies and proposals they can all consent to.
Each Proposal has a method of evaluating it and a timeframe when it will be evaluated.
Each Circle has the right to call a special meeting of the Facilitators Circle to deal with any controversy that may arise.

Resources:
Many Voices, One Song by Ted J Rau and Jerry Koch-Gonzales and their organization SociocracyforAll.org
1. Many Voices One Song is a detailed manual for implementing sociocracy, an egalitarian form of governance also known as dynamic governance. Sociocracy means governance by those who associate together. This book is based on the Sociocratic Circle-Organization Method (SCM) developed in the Netherlands by electrical engineer Gerard Endenburg, based on earlier work of educator Kees Boeke. Many Voices One Song includes step-by-step descriptions for structuring organizations, making decisions, and generating feedback. The content is illustrated by many diagrams, tables, examples, lists, skits, and stories from the field. The book includes a glossary and index, and an appendix summarizing processes in easily reproducible form. The book covers four major areas: Sociocratic organizational structures based on linked teams (circles) that distribute authority from the top of organizations to the most frontline teams that are appropriate. These teams are linked by both top-down leaders and bottom-up delegates to ensure that influence and power are shared in a circular rather than linear hierarchy. Organizational diagrams illustrate different ways to structure organizations in an egalitarian way. Decision-making by consent is defined as no one having an objection to a proposed decision. Consent is a participatory and inclusive approach to decision-making, in contrast to win-lose voting and most forms of consensus. Decision-making steps (understand-explore-decide) include proposal generation and the proposal to a consent-based decision-making process. The book also outlines the steps for selection of people to roles in open dialog processes. The insights of compassionate communication (Nonviolent Communication/NVC) are integrated into the context of decision making. Meeting format and design, including facilitation skills and processes, ensure that all voices matter in decision-making. Feedback processes for evaluating the effectiveness of meetings, policies, workflows, and role performance support an ongoing learning cycle and continuous improvement, not just in production and delivery but in the embodiment of equality itself. The intent of this book is to contribute to the spread of sociocracy by making information available. Egalitarian self-governance needs to be simple enough so everyone can share power in a healthy way.
Dynamic Governance Resources

Dynamic Governance Overview

https://www.sociocracy.info

https://www.sociocracyforall.org

The video at https://www.sociocracyforall.org/content/ explains in 20 minutes how "consent-based self-governance; dynamic governance" can work.

Dynamic Governance Graphic

Monetary System
1. The Natural Law Society for the Common Good shall use the Replik as its monetary system.
2. The Replik is:
  1. Community-Created Credit and
  2. Is issued debt, interest and tax free, to pay for what the Jural Assembly Communities agree would be good.
  3. All funds are received and disbursed by the Commissioners of the Jural Assemblies.
    1. The Commissioners are responsible for recommending how to regulate the money supply and
    2. The Jural Assemblies are responsible for implementing the recommendation.

The Replik Bank
1. During the early development of the Natural Law Society, before it has made the existing system obsolete,
2. the Replik is integrated into the de Facto system through owning a bank.
  1. Owning a bank enables the seamless transfer between Repliks and Federal Reserve Bank Credit, and Federal Reserve Bank Credit and Repliks
  2. The Natural Law Society for the Common Good advises the officers of the Replik Bank as to what to invest in, what to lend for, and how to handle the return on the investment.
  3. The Replik Bank stays within the limits of its charter and decides using conventional criteria what to invest its capital in and who, specifically, to lend to.
  4. The NLS is guided by the example of the Common Good Payment System and the Common Good Bank
  5. The Replik Bank is the NLS doing business (commerce) as the Replik Bank.
    1. This assures the sovereignty of the NLS.
    2. Being integrated into the existing system means that it is not a direct challenge to the powers that be.

Resources:

CommonGood.earth, JustAbundance.org, http://www.credittothepeople.org

A Sovereign Treasury and Treasury Entities Purpose, Vision, and Mission Statements: “PVM of a Sovereign Treasury and Treasury Entities”

The Nature of Money: Comprehending Money

Common Good for a Sovereign Republick

MEMBERS
1. Everyone who is qualified as an elector and is a member of a Jural Assembly is joining this Association as a member.
2. Members agree to support the Purpose, Vision, and Mission of the Natural Law Society for the Common Good.
3. Members are in good standing when their conduct is congruent with manifesting the Purpose, Vision, and Mission of the Natural Law Society for the Common Good.
  1. People apply for membership through the Jural Assembly closest to where they reside.
  2. When ready to become a member
    1. Fill out the membership application on the website and include an indication of your skills and interests.
    2. Make a donation in the currency adopted by your Jural Assembly that seems appropriate given your interest and financial circumstances.
  3. The application is accepted after an interview with a member of the Members Circle.
  4. The Members Circle is made up of those people chosen by the Facilitators Circle based on their people skills.
  5. Members are expected to open an online account with the Repliks Bank and receive a payment card so they can receive and spend Repliks.
  6. Members whose activities endanger the Purpose, Vision, or Mission of NLS will be referred to the Members Circle.
    1. The Members Circle may use any number of techniques such as Non-Violent Communication, a Private International Administrative Process, and Restorative Justice to heal the tear in the fabric of the community caused by the activities of a member, and develop appropriate remedies for harms done.
    2. The Members Circle will make a recommendation to the Facilitators Circle which has the final say in disciplining or removing a member.

Resources

Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/

https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/aboutnvc/4partprocess.htm

https://www.cnvc.org/

Non-Violent Communication, A Language of Life, by Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD

NVC - Overview

Judicial Functions and Private International Administrative Process

Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice Overview

http://restorativejustice.org/

FACILITATORS CIRCLE
1. The Facilitators Circle is the Circle with the most general or broadest responsibility for accomplishing the Purpose, Vision, and Mission of the Natural Law Society for the Common Good.
2. It is similar to a Board of Directors in that it represents the NLS to the world, and its aim is to serve the Assemblies that appoint its members.
3. The Facilitators Circle is made up of the leaders of the circles with more specific aims and the delegates that those circles choose.
4. The Facilitators Circle will always include a few members from the professions, such as accountants, doctors, engineers, professors, etc. who shall make their expertise available to the organization.
5. All of whom will need to be learned in the law
6. The Facilitators Circle will select appropriate people to fill the positions of President, Treasurer, and Secretary for the Association and will define their duties and responsibilities.
  1. The positions will have the authority of their role, but no more authority than any of the other members of the circle.
  2. The members will guard against the exercise of undue authority at all times.
7. The Circle organization will be continually revised so that the Facilitators Circle remains a manageable size, somewhere between a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 25 members.
8. The Facilitators Circle will select Convenors/Leaders for the various circles needed to carry out the work of the NLS. Such as:

Governance Circle
1. Aim: Stay abreast of all governance issue that arise.
2. Mission: Make recommendations and/or offer hands-on support and education.
Culture Circle
1. Truth
2. Beauty
3. Goodness

Members Circle
1. Aim: Cultivate harmonious relations among the members.
2. Mission:
3. 1. Facilitate the membership onboarding process.
4. 2. One on one education and encouragement.
5. 3. Manage a grievance procedure.

Education Circle
1. Aim: Develop and teach the NLS Purpose, Vision, and Mission.
2. Mission: Prepare and facilitate the educational meetings.

Universal Language Circle

4.8.4.1. Aim: A language that reflects Universal Synergy and Collaborative

Wholism

4.8.4.2. Mission: Develop a glossary and new memes of a universal language

that reflects Collaborative Wholism (vs. Rivalrous Tribalism)

Marketing Circle
1. Aim: Recruit members.
2. Mission: Prepare written materials, podcasts, videos for the website, and prepare in-person presentations for existing groups, such as churches or benevolent associations (for example Rotary, Elks, or Veterans of Foreign Wars).

Administration Circle
1. Aim: Develop and teach Responsive and Transparent Administration.

Sovereign Money Circle
1. Aim: Understand the effects of Production and Distribution so Consumption is sensible.
2. Mission: Bring Production and Distribution into the realm of the healthy judgment of the human being
3. We do this by determining what to issue money for and how to regulate the money supply
4. The most essential functions of sovereign money are unit of value and means of exchange.
5. The unit of value makes everything available in the economy commensurate (comparable) so that they can be exchanged fairly.
6. The means of exchange is the system we use to effect payments.
7. When we issue money, we will issue the exact right amount of money to facilitate the exchange of the goods and services we make available in our community (or nation).
8. We will issue the right amount of money and we will regulate the money supply (increase or decrease it) to keep the price level stable. No inflation and no deflation. Stable money is a practical science.
9. In order to keep the money supply properly representing the value of the goods and services that are actually valuable and in demand, we keep three variables in balance.
10. 1. The money stock (the amount issued)
11. 2. The circulation velocity (how many trades each money stock is facilitating), and
12. 3. Savings (how much of the money stock is just storing value and not circulating).
13. The volume of trades must not be limited by a lack of money nor stimulated by a surplus of money. For example, if the savings rate goes up and/or the velocity slows, more money stock will need to be issued to keep the price level stable. Or, if the savings rate decreases and/or the velocity increases, then some money stock will need to be taken out of circulation.
14. The money must always properly represent the value of the goods and services. Regulating the money supply is the science of money.
15. The social technology exists for we, the people, to issue money to fund what we desire! It is called Community-created Credit!
16. Common Good is a community created credit system that makes use of a local payment card that not only facilitates the exchange of goods and services within a community, but creates a funding pool for the shared dreams of a community, which could include assuring our basic needs, capitalizing what our capacities warrant, implementing parity, and funding worthwhile projects, such as renewable energy, small business development, food systems, social justice, wholesome education, the arts, etc..
17. What shall we issue money for? What are the values we desire to manifest? What do we desire our Community to look like? What is important to us?
18. Let us imagine together.

Finance Circle
1. Aim: Educate the Commissioners and
2. develop best practices for Financial Record Keeping.
3. The initial Fiscal Year shall begin November 1.

Media Circle
1. Aim: Revendicate a free and responsible press
2. Mission:
3. 1. Develop standards for publishing.
4. 2. Encourage and advise Jural Assemblies on how to publish a daily Newspaper, a weekly news magazine, and a monthly and annual journal.
5. 3. Publish a Proceedings of the NLS called: The Society that Benefits Everyone as often as warranted.

Real Estate Circle
1. Aim: Investigate and recommend suitable properties for the activities of the Natural Law Society for the Common Good
  1. Especially Court Houses and Post Offices
  2. Community Centers and meeting rooms
  3. Benevolent Association buildings
  4. And physical infrastructure projects, for example:
    1. Dismantling dams,
    2. Hydropower without dams
    3. Sustainable/Regenerative Forestry
    4. Historic places interpretation
    5. Parks and Recreation, etc.
    6. Beautification Projects
Website Circle
1. Aim: Keep the Website up to date, and solicit feedback at least weekly.

Delegates
1. Each circle will choose a Delegate to represent it in the Facilitators Circle.
2. The Facilitators Circle will then consist of the leaders and delegates from the task circles
3. and the representatives of the larger community chosen by the Facilitators Circle for their expertise.

Environment
Justice
Health
Relations
Infrastructure
Culture: Science, Arts, Education/Spirituality/Religion

MEETINGS
1. There shall be weekly education meetings
2. There shall be a weekly meeting of the leaders and delegates from the Jural Assemblies to the County
3. A weekly meeting of the leaders and delegates from the counties to their Nation-State and
4. A weekly meeting of the leaders and delegates from the State Assemblies to the Regional Assemblies
5. A weekly meeting of the leaders and delegates from the Regional Assemblies to the National Assembly.
6. And, in the not too distant future, weekly meetings throughout the Nations of the World.
7. There shall be an annual membership meeting open to all members during January at a time and place to be determined, including, if necessary, on video conferencing.
8. The membership will be given ample notice as determined by the Members Circle.
  1. This meeting of the members shall receive the Annual Report prepared by the Facilitators Circle and the Financial Statements prepared by the Finance Circle, and may pose questions to the Facilitators Circle and the Finance Circle for clarification.
  2. Any controversy shall be referred to the Members Circle for resolution.
9. There shall be meetings of the members close to the Spring Equinox or Easter, the Summer Solstice or St John’s Day, and the Fall Equinox or Michaelmas. It is expected that the Winter Solstice and Christmas will be entirely private affairs. The aim of these meetings is to reconnect us to the seasons of the year and to deepen our connection to Nature and God / Spirit.
10. Any member may submit items for the Agenda and Activities, but the Members Circle shall determine the Agenda and Activities for the meetings.

AMENDMENTS AND REVISIONS
1. These ByLaws may be revised at any time by consent of the Facilitators Circle.
  1. The Facilitators Circle shall strive to keep these ByLaws up to date so that they accurately reflect the way NLS is functioning.
  2. Any Circle may recommend an Addition, Amendment, or Revision of these ByLaws to the Facilitators Circle.

DISSOLUTION
1. In the event that Natural Law Society for the Common Good ceases operations, any assets remaining after liabilities have been paid shall be distributed to a similar organization promoting the revendication of Common Law, intentional community, or the use of parity or hemp.
2. The Facilitators Circle shall make the determination and assure the assets are going to a benevolent association with at least a somewhat similar aim.

SCOPE OF the Natural Law Society for the Common Good
1. Natural Law Society for the Common Good aims to be the lead organization promoting the establishment of Jeffersonian Style Republicks and the reinhabiting of the Common Law Jurisdiction.
2. The NLS recognizes that it is recommending and modeling the kind of organizational structure that it believes will best serve to create a society that benefits everyone.
  1. Every Jural Assembly Community in the effort to restore a republican form of government is a worthy collaborator with the NLS
  2. And may choose whatever form of governance will best serve its members.
3. The NLS is a not-for-profit benevolent association (unincorporated association in de Facto terms) and
  1. While its role is primarily educational, it may be given or buy an equity stake in any of the for-profit projects
    1. that it establishes
    2. or in any NLS-inspired business
  2. to provide a reliable source of revenue for its educational and coordinating efforts.
  3. The Natural Law Society for the Common Good philosophy and writings published or on the website are proprietary with a creative commons license and may only be used to further the Purpose, Vision, and Mission of NLS.

ADDENDUM

CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
1. To be developed by a Circle convened for the purpose by the Facilitators Circle.
2. It is expected that there may be considerable conflicts of interest as normally understood because most of the members will be benefiting from the activities of NLS.
3. Transparency, rather than confidentiality, is a core value of NLS so the circle will need to develop the appropriate understanding of what constitutes fraud or self-dealing.
  1. It is currently recommended that all personal information will be kept in strictest confidence, not accessible from the internet, and therefore all members must provide their full names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses by snail mail to the Secretary of their Jural Assembly.
  2. The Replik Bank shall also keep confidential the personal information of the members using state of the art encryption and firewalls.

INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION POLICY
1. To be developed by a Circle convened for the purpose by the Facilitators Circle or the Members Circle.
2. It is expected that the Qualified Electors Oath will include a commitment to use the process developed to resolve interpersonal conflicts.
3. Criminal matters will be dealt with by a notice of complaint to the Notaries of the Jural Assemblies the parties in conflict belong to.
4. Resource: Judicial Functions and Private International Administrative Process

QUALIFIED ELECTOR OATH
1. This is the main point of departure from what we are used to.
  1. Not everyone needs to be a qualified elector, however, only qualified electors may be Jurors or fill a role in the Jural Assemblies.
  2. Every member has a right to become a qualified elector
  3. Participating in the activities of Governance requires that one be educated in, and honorable, regarding one's responsibilities.
2. The Facilitators Circle shall appoint a Convenor to organize a Qualified Elector Oath Circle to recommend an Oath to the Facilitator Circle
3. Which, when adopted by the Facilitators Circle, shall then be ratified by the entire membership of the association in every Jural Assembly.
  1. Once the Oath is established and consented to by each Jural Assembly
  2. and there are less than 5% of the Jural Assemblies expressing doubts or not consenting
  3. the Oath shall be administered by the Notary who is
  4. required to be a Juror or fulfill a role in a Jural Assembly.
4. The Oath shall be evaluated as to its effectiveness every year over a period of a week on the anniversary of its adoption in each of the seven years after its adoption.
  1. Each Jural Assembly shall devote, at a minimum, a usual meeting to their evaluation of the Oath.
5. The questions are:
  1. Are we able to affirm the oath in good conscience?
  2. Are we sufficiently motivated by the Oath to hold each other to account when we perceive someone is not honoring it?
  3. Are we aware of improvements that would make the Oath a more powerful motivator?
  4. Can we make the Oath more precise or briefer without it being diminished?
  5. Any other questions that arise!
6. Thereafter the Oath shall be evaluated every Seventh Year using similar or new criteria.