Freedom from Monopolies. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson proposed an Amendment explicitly prohibiting monopolies? Why don't you know? Jefferson wrote to Madison, "...which calls for a bill of rights. It seems pretty generally understood that this should go to Juries, Habeas corpus, Standing armies, Printing, Religion and Monopolies."
Well, it is implicit in the 1st Amendment. Extortive power of any supply/demand imbalance erodes the equal and inalienable rights of those with less "choices". An ideal government would ensure the capitalization of competition against the relative few on the short side of the market "balance". Unfortunately we have been saddled with an unConstitutional "Federal Reserve" which a corrupt judiciary has overlooked.
We should have competitive banking with capital available for those who intend to produce, but we don't. We have Monopoly. At this point, particularly at the City level, we can choose to empower competition to the short side of market supply in a few important areas, UNTIL the private sector gets adequate competition, at which time the Government should "get out of the business". It may sometimes be appropriate for a City to own a business, run by democratic principles, with individual equal rights guaranteed. For instance, a Free Arcata Energy Company.
Being that there is strong energy to curtail monopolies' exploitation of the many, Arcata had come up with Measure F several years ago, which sort of went by the wayside, watered down to prohibitions against chain restaurants, while there are many locally owned restaurant business who do already compete. But Media? Etc.?
The last kind of person the Monopolies want in public service such as this is someone who is a Constitutionalist free enterpriser and who is proud of what some of the folks in Earth First! are doing in peaceful active ways. There are many other areas who are also interested in this grass-roots effort and we will network internationally.
Go back to Dex Anderson, INDEPENDENT candidate for Arcata City Council in 2002 main page.