The Commons is a very hard notion for people to grasp, sometimes.  But think about the way people have an innate desire to share experiences, like watching a movie flicker on the screen in a dark theater.  DVD, VOD and the Internet have not spelled the demise of that experience, precisely because people go to the movies to be part of a common experience at least as much as they go to see a particular movie.

People want to connect and gather and be in commons.

But there is a lot of noise that distracts us.  Sometimes that noise distracts us from beauty so magnificient that it compels people to shell out lots of cash to go to a concert hall.  That's what happened when Josh Bell, world-class violinist, played a free concert in the L'enfant Plaza Metro station in DC a few weeks ago.  The "stunt" was organized by Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten.  Josh played, but roughly 1100 people passed by him without so much as a nod.  He collected about $32, and maybe 7 people stopped to listen.

The Metro has a rule barring buskers.  I lived in both DC and New York, and it was hard not to notice the antiseptic character of the Metro.  Now, I think I understand.  The NY Subway is a lively commons where buskers, hucksters, activists mix with everyone else on a daily basis.  I have found myself in conversation with strangers so often I cannot even count because a music performance or activist's speech got us talking.  Even more often I acknowledge my fellow commuters and they acknowledge me with a glance or a nod.  I would venture a guess that we all feel gratified by this connection in public.  In public space.

The Josh Bell story shows how much we can stray from our innate desire to buy in to the idea that we should prioritize privacy and our jobs over our human desire to experience each other and what we create, like the art of Bell's performance.  It's not that work and money and schedules aren't important.  But should then anesthetize us from our basic human instincts to connect, and wonder and imagine and enjoy?

You can find Gene Weingarten's article about Josh Bell's concert in the Metro at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con tent/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721. html

There's more...

I just finished reading "Capitalism 3.0: Reclaiming the Commons" by Peter Barnes.   I think the concepts and policies laid out in the book can help the Democratic party "upgrade" its worldview, its approach to public policy, and the language it uses (and its Republican opponents use) to talk about them to the American people.  

In doing so, it could also accelerate and solidify the political realignment necessary to implement real solutions to the problems that plague our country and the world.  At its core is the fundamental realization that "we're all in this together" and that our current capitalist system dangerously ignores that reality, as evidenced by the growing negative impacts it is having on our economy, environment, democracy and culture.

Below I've included an extended excerpt from the Preface of the book.  Before that, I'm provided links to a list of blog posts on this subject by Barnes, the Amazon page for the book, and an online pdf version of the book available under a Creative Commons license.  

In my view, anyone seriously interested in issues like global warming, economic fairness, healthcare and political reform, and in Democratic political strategy and political realignment, should read at least some of this:

http://onthecommons.org/peterbarnes 
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-3-0-Rec laiming-Commons-Currents/dp/1576753611
http://onthecommons.org/files/Capitalism _3.0_Peter_Barnes.pdf

The second-to-last paragraph in the Preface made me think that the book may be especially timely following the 2006 election:

Fortunately, corporations only dominate government most of the time; every once in a while, they lose their grip. So it's possible to imagine that the next time corporate dominance ebbs, government--acting on behalf of commoners--swiftly fortifies the commons. It assigns new property rights to commons trusts, builds commons infrastructure, and spawns a new class of genuine co-owners. When corporations regain political dominance, as they inevitably will, they can't undo the new system. The  commons now has safeguards and stakeholders; it's entrenched for the long haul. And in time, corporations accept the commons as their business partner. They find they can still make profits, plan farther ahead, and even become more globally competitive.

If we're at or approaching one of those periods in which there's an ebbing of corporate dominance--and I believe we may very well be--then Barnes' book is all the more timely and important.  I encourage you to read the excerpt below the fold and then go read the book and/or some of Barnes' blog posts.

There's more...