"What looked like maintaining ditches was actually maintaining an obligation to each other."
Yup, a really interesting perspective in this essay by #SethFrey. Lots to think about! Thank you for the link!
#SelfGovernance
«Once we have replaced the principle of equality with the idea that humans are unequal, we have granted approval to the idea of rulers and ruled. At that point, all any of us can do is to hope that no one in power decides that we belong in one of the lesser groups.»
#AbrahamLincoln #equality #democraxy #SelectiveEquality #SelfGovernance #NoKings
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/february-11-2026?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=ecpv
Courage is less about bold declarations and more about presence. Showing up to real conversations. Staying engaged through discomfort. Taking responsibility for one’s own regulation instead of waiting for rescue or clarity from elsewhere.
This is how self-government is learned — as a lived practice, built slowly in relationship.
Full reflection for this week here: https://emotus.substack.com/p/when-we-stop-pretending-part-ii
#WhenWeStopPretending #PracticedCapacity #RelationalInfrastructure #SelfGovernance #BenKadel
Part II picks up where disillusionment leaves off.
When old stories fall away, what’s left isn’t chaos — it’s the work of learning how to stand together. Self-government shows up not as ideology, but as practiced capacity: regulation, discernment, cooperation, and continuity built in small, durable contexts.
This is slower work. And it’s learnable.
Read Part II here:
https://emotus.substack.com/p/when-we-stop-pretending-part-ii
#WhenWeStopPretending #PracticedAgency #RelationalInfrastructure #CollectiveCapacity #SelfGovernance
Quote 2 from Yavor Tarinski's new book "Horizons of Direct Democracy":
"""
It can be suggested that by reconfiguring the architecture of power, direct democracy strives at the greatest possible justice. In this sense it seeks to allow for everyone to participate in deciding on matters up to the point where our choice impinge on others, but from there on, others should have their own self-managing say. This comes to ensure a universal opportunity for every person to take equal responsibility and active part in crafting the path their community is going to take. In short, it seeks to integrate political participation with everyday life.
"""
Book available at https://on-our-own-authority-publishing.square.site/product/tarinski-horizons-of-direct-democracy/JPILP5RW2LT2LQ25AUXYRMPO
Quote 1 from Yavor Tarinski's new book "Horizons of Direct Democracy":
"""
It is well known that citizenship in Ancient Athens (508-322 BCE) - where the concept is said to have initially emerged - meant something radically different from what we have today. Although the Athenian society of that time was plagued by slavery and patriarchy, with slaves and women being excluded from political life, it nonetheless underwent a revolution that saw the establishment of democracy, or self-management by the citizenry. For the Ancient Athenians such as Aristotle, there was a clear distinction between a democratic system and elections for representatives - the former was based on popular assemblies and sortition, while the latter was viewed as the building block of oligarchy. Although critical of democracy, Aristotle underlines its grassroots character:
"A democracy exists whenever those who are free and are not well off, being in a majority, are in sovereign control of the government, an oligarchy lies in the hands of the rich and better born, those being few."
This understanding of democratic politics as popular self-management continues throughout the ages. Eighteenth-century thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau were well aware of the difference between democracy and representation: for Rousseau, when a government lays in the hands of the whole people, or of a majority of them, then we have a democratic society, while aristocracy or oligarchy is when the government is restructured to a small number of citizens (i.e. representatives). Similar was the stance on the issue of other prominent figures of the period. Thomas Paine, too, made a distinction between representation and democracy, understanding that in its original form the latter stood for a "society governing itself without the aid of secondary means."
"""
The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 176 (1955)
More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/1915/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #action #autonomy #compliance #compulsion #freedom #liberty #selfcontrol #selfgovernance
Fulfilling #America's Unfinished Promise of Individual #Liberty: A Second #BillofRights
#StetsonUniversity College of Law Research Paper Forthcoming
90 Pages Posted: 13 Nov 2025
W.C. Bunting
#Corporate consolidation and the expansion of the #administrative state have created unprecedented concentrations of #power that threaten #democratic #selfgovernance. This Article argues that the solution lies not in novel #constitutional theories
SELF-GOVERNANCE
Becoming the Government We Desire
True freedom is not lawlessness — it’s the ability to govern oneself with awareness and discipline.
When we stop waiting for the government to act and begin embodying the values we seek, transformation begins from within. 🌿
#SelfGovernance #ConsciousLiving #Freedom #Mindfulness #InnerGrowth
Read Full Article:👇
What happens when 10k AI agents are left to self-govern in a virtual world?
#HackerNews #AIagents #SelfGovernance #VirtualWorld #TechInnovation #FutureOfAI
District of Columbia is suing #Trump, #AttorneyGeneral #Bondi, and others for #unlawfully taking control of the #DC #police under a #statute that only permits limited emergency assistance for #federal purposes. The suit seeks to block the takeover, arguing it exceeds legal authority, #violates the #Constitution, and strips D.C. of its #SelfGovernance https://substack.com/redirect/dffa7306-a784-46d3-9166-5a287150b464 #maga #DOJ #democracy #voting #martiallaw #dictatorship #fascism #nationalguard #fbi #civilliberties
Die Genossen von @Übertage haben eine sehr ausführliche, spannende und wichtige folge über den #Especifismo, eine anarchistische Strömung und Organisationstheorie aus Südamerika, gemacht. Der 3 St. dauernde Folge mit eine Genosse von Midada, eine relativ junge especifistische Organisation aus Bern, ist sehr unterhaltsam und umfaßt eine große Menge Themen angehende die Organisationstheorie des #Anarchismus und die Entwicklung davon.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6B9-i4EC7_E
#Anarchism #LibertarianSocialism #anarchocommunism #communism #socialism #municipalism #DemocraticConfederalism #SelfGovernance #Selbstverwaltung @perspektive_sv @BDiePlattform
The Self-Evident Truths of Freedom—and of Tyranny by Judge J. Michael Luttig
https://www.telos.news/p/luttig-the-self-evident-truths-of-freedom
Twenty-seven truths about America, our Democracy and Rule of Law, and our rights, freedoms, and liberties.
#US #Politics #Law #Constitution #SelfGovernance #Trump #Project2025 #Coup #TrumpRegime #Authoritarian #PoliceState
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzYUlIUcolI
How could the world be organized bottom-up?
We're so excited to hear from Swarna about what she learned from being the prime minister of the children's parliament in India - a massive project of 100,000s in empowered togetherness to shape their daily lives.
https://www.sociocracyforall.org/sociocracy-conference-2025/
#nonprofit #selfmanagement #selfgovernance #socialchange #governance #peoplepower
Our Laws Function as ‘Anti-Democratic’: Legal Expert on How Trump Weaponizes the Constitution
#Zeteo #MehdirHasan #ElieMystal #Culture #Constitution #SelfGovernance #Law #Politics #Project2025 #Trump #TrumpRegime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6RAbbo8K-E
Despite a Boycott Attempt, Tacuro Decides in Favor of Self-Government
DESPITE ATTEMPTED BOYCOTT, TACURO DECIDES IN FAVOR OF SELF–GOVERNMENT TACURO ANTAKUA VICTORY FOR TACURO! THE CHILCHOTA TOWN HALL TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND COMMUNITIES TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO AND MICHOACÁN TO THE MEDIA THE MEXICAN STATE Indigenous and Afro–Mexican communities in #Michoacán as of February 27, 2025. K’eri Kunkorhekua Iretecheri, the Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacán #CSIM, an autonomous and independent council of governments, political parties and religious institutions, made up of traditional authorities from 70 communities, we jointly state the following: The P’urhépecha community of #Tacuro, an ancestral village with hundreds of years of history, located in the Cañada de los Eleven Peoples in the Municipality of #Chilchota, today, gathered in the General Assembly, maximum authority of the primitive peoples, determined with 307 votes in favor and 0 against, to directly manage their resources, to be governed by uses and customs and to self–govern. This exercise of direct democracy, convened by the civil and communal authorities of Tacuro and protected by the historical, international, constitutional and state right that the indigenous peoples have to exercise their free self–determination, is totally relevant and historic, since it was held despite the attempted boycott by the Municipal President of Chilchota Alejandra Ortiz Suárez and his Secretary of the City Council Oskar Pake Gómez, who through a group of inhabitants of Tacuro, mainly employees of the City Council as well as their relatives, took the road Carapan–Zamora to try to stop the consultation, however, the people of Tacuro woke up, did not pay attention to the provocations and voted in favor of their autonomy. From the four P’urhépecha regions, the Hñahñú or Otomi region, the Matlatzinca or Pirinda region, the Nahua region and the Afro–Mexican region of #Michoacan, we congratulate the people of Tacuro fraternally and invite all the peoples and communities to undertake a State Day of Struggle in Defense of Autonomy and against President Alejandra Ortiz Suarez and Oskar Pake Gómez, enemies of the indigenous peoples who refuse to recognize their free self–determination and autonomy. From this moment, we hold the Municipal President Alejandra Ortiz Suárez and the Secretary of the City Council Oskar Pake Gómez directly responsible for any repression, arbitrary detention or criminalization that may be suffered by the comrades who are demanding self–government. To the peoples and communities members of the CSIM we ask them carefully and respectfully to prepare to attend the call to the State Day of Struggle in Defense of Autonomy that we are about to begin. The communities of the Cañada de los Eleven Peoples are not alone, it is time to collectively actualize. We demand that the City of Chichota approve the transfer of resources to the community of Tacuro! TERUNHASKUA K’OIA, ECHERI KA JURAMUKUKUKUKUKUU IAMENTU IRETECHANI JUSTICE, TERRITORY AND AUTONOMY FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES SUPREME INDIGENOUS COUNCIL OF MICHOACÁN #CSIMhttps://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=17257
#antiColonialism #Autonomy #Chilchota #CSIM #indigenousStruggle #mexico #MICHOACAN #SelfGovernance #Tacuro
Laws should not rule over people—they should empower them. Nomodynamy is neither archy nor cracy because it does not impose coercion. Instead, it identifies the structures that crowd out coercion itself. A system where capability flourishes, and control fades.
#Nomodynamy #Freedom #LegalTheory #Innovation #Decentralization #SelfGovernance
Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
[Welche Regierung die beste sei? Diejenige, die uns lehrt, uns selbst zu regieren.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Sprüche in Prosa: Maximen und Reflexionen [Proverbs in Prose: Maxims and Reflections] (1833) [tr. Saunders (1893), “Life and Characters,” #225]
Sourcing, notes, alternate translations: wist.info/goethe-johann/1658/
#quote #quotes #quotation #freedom #government #liberty #selfcontrol #selfgovernance
We have got to stop dignifying these hypocrites with the moniker "Conservative"!
Nothing these people have done over the past 60 years, remotely fits the definition of social conservative unless you mean conserving a class hierarch that depends on shredding the US Constitution, a return to gerrymandering the vote, a return to state-sponsored eugenics and racialization, a return to state policing of sexuality and gender essentialism, rule by those of great wealth instead of Democracy, government of and by common folk.
#Culture #SelfGovernance #Politics #Economics #Democracy #Authoritarian #Capitalism #TrumpRegime #Project2025
Vote for the ratification of the K'ómoks Treaty and K'ómoks Constitution on March 8, 2025. Enrolment is open until vote day to all K'ómoks members and eligibile members. Learn more here: https://komoks.ca/
This is a historic moment and I wish prosperity and success to the K'ómoks First Nation. Well done! 😊
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