Reply #133: There are a number of small communes in the US

[Poor Richard Lex]

that are democratic. I visited one once for a class, it was an eye-opening experience. There were almost 400 people living on 500 acres, where they had a farm. THey also had a couple of side businesses that netted over half a million a year, after paying for health insurance for all the members (everyone carried a blue cross/blue shield card). If you ever shop at Pier One imports, check out their hammocks from "Twin Oaks." Those were made at this place.

When people went to live there they got their own room, a married couple would get 2 rooms (to sleep), this was a way to promote equality. They had lots of buildings with common areas, tv's computers (way back in 92), female only dorms, gay dorms, lesbian dorms etc.

Every person had a primary job and a secondary job. For example one guy might work on the soybean/tofu production area as primary, and in the dairy section as secondary.

Being the caregiver of a child was considered a primary job. imagine that.

One thing that struck me was the wholesomeness of their farm-grown food (it was great - they also had freezers and reefers packed with bought foods, several hundred cases of beer!)

The CHILDREN seemed so well adapted it was incredible. I ran into a pack of 8 or 9 10-12 y/os who came in to eat, they were polite, smiling, having fun with all these other kids. They told me about extended youth camping trips (woods for miles around) and other outdoor activities. THere was a school on the premises.

All religions were allowed, and there were worship services for all the biggies - christian, jewish, buddhist and hindu. No ideoogy was pushed or required - athiests were welcome as well

From that day forward I knew that communism works. It has never been accomplished on a grand scale, I think largely because it has always been used as the tool of a totalitarian state. This is wrong. THe commune I visited voted on everything.

Also later on I started thinking that cooperative farms like this could be the answer to homelessness and poverty, if they were organized in the right way (by the right people) they could form a safety net for the poorer citizens of the US.


cooperation works, and is required in society, yet we have been bombarded with the Gordon Gecko message "greed is good" and the US worships the rich.