~ ~ Balancing Communities ~ ~

Much can be said about grassroot politics and local application of policies.  At those roots, societies can experiment and evolve new concepts; though, the  varied natures of people must be considered to prevent conflicting associations.

In considering the nature of people, regions, nations and stellar colonization; we must interlace varied means to protect communities, as well as prevent corruption of decency.

It has been shown over and over again throughout history how neighbors can come together to help others when devastations take place.  At times such as earthquakes, flooding and other crises, people band together to help neighbors. Such assistance is admirable, though wanes within a few days.

As the need to rebuild after devastating events go on, people drift back to their personal lives, seeing they have done enough.  That’s when further, long-term efforts from higher authorities are needed.

Even during early days of devastating events, authorities at all levels must act immediately, engaging resources to ensure response and assistance are applied to the fullest measure; and those resources must be available for the entire need of recovery and restoration, no matter how long it takes to bring all affected people back to thriving abilities, even if it is at new locations.

In considering all events in the past, as expressed already, abilities of local people to assist each other wears thin after a few days.  Furthermore, there comes a time when the needs of some rapidly outstrip abilities of neighbors and local governments; and higher resources are needed.  That is why – in the United States – national disaster resources are available.

Unfortunately, many of those resources are held back for a variety of reasons, such as what occurs during many hurricanes; including Katrina and Maria, and the devastations left behind in New Orleans and Puerto Rico (2005 and 2017).  Considerable problems occurred during, and after, those and other events, where long-term recovery was never implemented effectively.  Many people lost the ability to thrive, never to recover. Those persons became burdens to society, never becoming strong contributors again.

History has shown that decency of people has limits; and when those limits are reached, they say, ‘Enough is enough. I’ve done all I can.’

Then there are the tremendous number of people who lack the ability to recover on their own, due to all sorts of conditions.  Many of them didn’t or couldn’t prepare for possible devastations; situations that place considerable burden on themselves, as well as communities. Because of that, overall societies suffer.  Further burdens on society come from those who feel other people or agencies must bail them out of inconvenient or dire situations.

For the few who had collected resources to weather more devastating situations, others feel those persons are obligated to provide everything for those who did not plan ahead, even when warnings had been issued.

Throughout the world, people have been warned to have resources accumulated in case of emergencies; water tucked around their home in sealed containers; nonperishable food to last weeks; possession of first aid kits; blankets; ready cash in case banking systems are disrupted; portable lights; batteries; and so on.

People must be prepared, so authorities at all levels have the time to act. It takes time for society authorities to respond and engage resources, and local emergency services can only handle so much.  That’s why neighboring communities, as well as county, state and federal resources are to be engaged quickly, without having to be called upon.  Such resources are to ensure local authorities have resources and guidance to handle stabilization, restoration – or even relocations.

Since delays compound problems; national – even global – authorities are to act, deploying all means needed to establish stabilization and restoration, even relocation.  In preparation for stellar colonization, means for reactive interlacing of various authorities will also be needed.

During devastating situations, coordination of resources is to be adjusted as higher authorities arrive to affected areas.  Local authorities are to guide higher authorities in relation to unique regional qualities and aspects, yet accept broader guidance, knowledge, expertise when concerning application of resources brought to the situation.  This also includes the application of long-term resolutions.

In relation of various authorities acting in response, oversight agencies are needed to ensure authorities are acting responsibly and decently, and ensure resources are provided as needed to all unique people who are in need.

Those oversight agencies – and there must be several to prevent gaps and corruption – are also to ensure people don’t misuse resources or take advantage of situations, such as claiming losses they did not accrue.

In response to devastations, governing authorities and resources are not to be parceled to those having higher affluency over less affluent populations.  Such unbalanced dedication of response, assistance and resources is prevalent in the United States and other nations; and people of societies are to ensure balanced response beyond personal economic stations.  In recollection of hurricanes Katrina and Maria, many resources were not allocated in balance, and many upon many people suffer.

Time and time again, it has become clear; lesser affluent communities and regions have not gained suitable resources to recover from devastations.  Those lesser affluent areas have less means to handle recovery and need greater assistance from higher authorities.  Those same lesser communities and regions also lack the means to prepare for troublesome events, due to greater discrepancies of resources and monies. This includes access to insurances.

There are widespread notions that communities know better than higher echelons when it comes to handling local affairs.  To some extent, there is validity in those notions.  However, each time problems crop up, it becomes apparent how those notions have limits, and unprepared communities fail under pressure.

Those failures are rooted in the unbalanced nature and application of resources. Communities with higher incomes are able to provide greater preparation and infrastructure.  Communities having lower incomes lack such abilities.

Townships, counties, states and nations create separation of affluency as part of the notion that people have the right to form local and regional governance as they see fit, including what sort of people should live in their neighborhoods and regions.

No matter how people understand the need for wide variety of people and vocations—doctors, law enforcement, attorneys, manufacturers, managers, janitors, entertainers, cashiers, and such—as well as a broad scaling of income—people become segregated based on incomes, forming a mosaic patchwork of neighboring communities.

With segregation of incomes, comes discrepancies between communities and regions when considering available resources.  Those discrepancies of income and resources are also present between states and nations. Some states and regions have more resources than others due to geology and affective enterprises, as well as how much outside corporate headquarters leech monies from communities and regions.

In those discrepancies; regions – and populations living in them – are unable to handle downturns and devastations in the same ability as more affluent areas.

Applying means for all unique peoples to thrive requires layers of interlaced agencies and decent higher oversight.  It may seem straightforward; however, there are many who would object, saying, ‘Why should I spend more because others are not able to do things on their own?’

That is a hard statement to counter when thinking all application of resources must be infused at the rates of affluency, or at least in equal measures for all entities, per capita.

To be balanced to all unique peoples in interlaced societies, we have to accept that ‘those with higher privileges are to ensure those with lesser privileges have the means to thrive.’  This does not mean each person must gain the same income; though it does mean that those at lower echelons are to have the means to thrive, and are not being forced to labor under unsuitable, substandard conditions for meager means to survive.

Each person has the right to thrive in suitable, safe and decent conditions, as well as being fully treated with dignity, no matter their unique aspects, circumstances and lifeways.

This consideration also goes for where people live. As each person and family seek to thrive, many move to regions and communities they see as being better; having advanced schools, safer neighborhoods, better public transportation, responsive police and aide force, cleaner parks, decent health facilities, clean environment, better community services, decent hospitals and medical clinics, restaurants, entertainment, and so on.

When people move from less viable communities to somewhere better – or even to more viable states from less viable states – what happens to those who cannot afford to move?  How selfish is it to leave others behind – leaving friends, acquaintances and family relations to remain in less hospitable areas, instead of improving those areas into something livable and viable?

How do we make better places out of less viable communities, and do so without pricing people from those areas?  How do we make life better for all unique people?  How do we decide when an area is unrecoverable and must be restored to nature?  How do we relocate people to more suitable places, when it becomes necessary?  What is to be done with those who refused to go, then complain they are not being supported at that unsuitable location?  Those questions and many more have plagued populations and authorities for centuries.

In the past—before it became so much simpler for some to move on—neighbors had to function together more cohesively.  They had to make the area they lived in more livable and hospitable – or wallow in despair as a group.

Even in these decades of greater transportation, there are many who cannot move from suffering communities, no matter how bad it becomes.  They become trapped; locked in their inability to depart, having meager means to improve their community and lives, or funds to afford living at another location, even if they could move.  They’re trapped in a spiraling decline.

This is a problem for many communities; and those communities will never be able to prepare for devastations, let alone improve general, local economies.

This is also a problem for self-determination.

Lesser communities slide backwards because many who were able to depart, taking what wealth they had with them, leaving less affluent persons to wallow in despair.  That’s the nature of selfish-liberty many people seek.  People who can depart for better places will do so instead of actively making their prior community better. They see no point in staying, when they might find greener pastures someplace else.

The liberty of packing up and leaving a community, township or state – or even a nation – depletes the ability to make areas more livable for others who cannot leave, an effect formed as wealth becomes drained away.  Without outside, higher authorities and assistance, those areas will never be able to recover.  History shows how many communities and towns simply ‘dried up and died’ because resources were not available. That leaves impoverished persons with little to exist on, let alone depart and thrive.

For areas that become economically dried up for whatever reasons, relocation of residence will be necessary, and resources are to ensure that ability.  Leaving people behind when others depart with their wealth is cruel and must not be tolerated.

Infusion of resources to prop up areas found to be unsuited for restoration is wasteful for societies, and such areas must be fully restored to natural environments.

For areas suitable for restoration, careful application of economic undertakings must take place to ensure suitable and viable advancement; and such progression are to be instilled in balance by higher and lower authorities.  Local authorities lack the ability and resources to accomplish what broader authorities can bring forth.

In any application of infusion, authorities at all levels must ensure resident populations are not victimized by circumstances or unscrupulous people – including developers.  Many depleted communities of the past, even weakened neighborhoods, have become purchased by developers. Such developers have purchased properties far below reasonable value, doing so to gain extreme profits at the expense of other persons and families who suffer from unfortunate circumstances.  Developers have claimed they purchased properties at ‘fair market value.’  However, considering local deflation, that statement becomes grossly false and manipulative.

Those developers are seeking extreme profits at the expense of people who became victimized by circumstances of poverty.  We, as the many populations, must not allow such bullying, shark-vulture behavior to victimize others.

Though, in nature, sharks and vultures have key, beneficial roles; in sapient-human societies, such persons are damaging to synergetic harmony amongst people and must not be tolerated.

To bring thriving stability to people and areas, infusion of resources for restoration of depleted areas – as well as creation of local enterprises – must benefit those already living in the area, especially those who have been in residence longer.

Such considerations are not suitable for all areas or towns.

Should a region be determined as unsustainable for sapient-human populations – and there are many regions that should be returned to natural settings – residents are to be fully supported in their relocation as a community, retaining people together who wish to remain together.  Any forced separation of persons or families would be cruel in practice.

There will be people – no matter how deplorable their situation becomes – who will not desire to move. Those persons must not become a burden to societies – or damaging to wildernesses.  All considerations must be applied; however, if incentives are rejected, other means may become necessary.  Areas being restored to natural environments are not to have people living there.

With the need to reverse past trends of sapient-human intrusion into wildernesses, restoration of lands to nature must take place; and populations must see the need for harmonious, synergetic existence and separation from wildernesses on Terra Earth, as well as future worlds.  Protection of wildernesses, including seas, must never be jeopardized, and enabling people to thrive away from wilderness must be instilled within all societies.

For weakened and depleted areas found suitable for restoration away from wilderness, viable infusion of resources are to lift people from despair, providing better places for them to live, or to provide opportunities to relocate and thrive within other communities.  Harmonious balancing of wilderness restoration and town-community advancements is needed throughout all the nations, as well as colonies beyond Terra Earth.

Areas found suitable for restoration are to include those still in the area, and the livelihoods of those people and families are to be improved substantially as incentives to become part of the improved communities. Any form of development must never press people from communities, and considerations are to be applied in decent measure.

Developers must never gain obscene profits at the expense of residents, especially those who live in the area longer.  Government construction agencies—something reflecting the Army Corps of Engineers—are to develop areas as needed, including construction of apartments, condominiums, shopping and entertainment plazas, and such.

When improving areas – and there are a great many areas in need of improvement – infusion of resources and monies is to elevate those already in the area, including support to create enterprises owned by local persons with assistance from higher societal authorities.  In all that, having oversight is needed to prevent broader takeovers and shark-vulture behaviors – or misuse of infused resources.

Long-lasting, progressive elevation of less affluent communities must benefit long established residents and families, even kithavilies (synergetic kith and family relations); enabling them to thrive and improve their situation, as the community prospers, including enterprises owned by them.  That prosperity must enable development of local legacies to benefit future generations, and not be for short-term profiteering by unscrupulous persons or companies.

We must always prevent bullying, shark-vulture behavior of developers and companies.  Prosperity must include those who have resided in the communities before development; and interlacing of resident people to thrive, flourish and advance must continue; including further advancement of local enterprises, so regional residents can all prosper and help improve the community.

This does mean each person must understand the need for proper leadership from those who are truly capable of innate guidance, whether local or from higher echelons.  We all must also be wary of motivations of leadership and not allow those having bullying, shark-vulture behavior to benefit at the expense of others.  True, innate, noble leadership enables all within communities to thrive as their nature and abilities dictate – a principle of chivalry.

Local improvements require cultivation to ensure heister-like people don’t take advantage.  Such heisters must not deprive other people of prosperity.  Special consideration must be afforded long-term residents. That’s what higher echelons and agencies are to ensure, as they guide interlaced communities to thrive and function in synergy.

Furthermore, the greater the problem, the higher such assistance must arise from.  Higher authorities are to act before problems in communities become overwhelming for resident populations; and those higher authorities must ensure long-lasting solutions.  Applying a bit of monetary infusion without proper oversight for the future corrupts the handling of the situation.

Even worse; lack of proper oversight and guidance enables unscrupulous persons to take advantage of those who are less capable of protecting themselves.  It is the nature of chivalry to ensure those of lesser position, station and affluency are protected from those who would profit unduly at the expense of others.

Whether handling disasters, refurbishing depleted communities – or relocating communities and restoring land to nature – proper infusion and guidance must come from higher echelons; otherwise, the many communities, townships, county, shires, states and nations will act chaotically, in willy-nilly manner; all under the guise of liberty, self-autonomy or sovereignty, feeling their ability to thrive is more important than the livability of others.

Let us all be kind to our neighbors in all their unique aspects and lifeways, elevating all unique peoples, families and kithavilies to their grandest potential.

BCW-JZ 

© December 2023

>> Also see Economics of Hardships.