An Open Letter to Greece

Dear People of Greece,

I have been watching your troubles from here in America with interest and empathy for what your citizens are experiencing.  To the casual observer, and most likely to the leaders of the other Eurozone countries, your situation probably looks quite ominous and difficult to solve, but as I look around at the mess that so many countries are finding themselves in now, I believe that your country is in a most unique position to change your entire world with a few innovations that many people would not even think of in a world that revolves around money and the power of those who have managed to acquire large amounts of it.

I recently read that Australia has begun a program in which people are being given the opportunity to rent farms in the outback for $1.00 per week in cash strapped areas where communities are likely to collapse without an influx of people to work the land, repair and refurbish houses, and send their children to schools that are teetering on the brink of closure.  Australians are learning that some things are far more important than money in their country.  I have also read that there are some political figures (usually state and local leaders) here in the U.S. that do their jobs for no pay, as they are financially solvent enough to do the work that they are qualified for and care about without requiring a pay check to do it.  Certainly there aren’t many people like this, but that there are any at all is quite an amazing thing.  Your current situation of not having the funds to pay for pensions and needed services could be an open invitation to your citizens to go back to work and do their jobs as they always have without the exchange of money for doing it.  You have the ability to guarantee that no one will lose their homes or the electricity to sustain them by simply showing up for work every day in exchange for this.  You have farms and industry to keep yourselves solvent by simply guaranteeing these workers that they will not be put out in the street or left to go hungry because their continued work guarantees them that they will have the necessities of life simply because they are contributing to their community.  They will be required to maintain their homes.  They will not be able to keep them if they don’t.  It is all commensurate with giving and taking in everything.  The people of Australia are trusting that these families who are participating in the farming experiment will realize and appreciate what they are being given enough to do their part.  A guarantee of shelter, food and healthcare in Greece can be given to everyone who agrees to go ahead and do their jobs in exchange for these things.  Unless there are severe shortages of food and medical supplies and expertise there in Greece, these things can be maintained when everyone agrees that their country is more important than the dictates of the rest of the European Union. 

I understand that your country manufactures many things that would keep you self-sustaining such as petroleum, textiles, fruits and vegetables, aluminum, and electronics.  If you are capable of recycling, reusing, and re-purposing your current resources then you already have the makings of a self-sustaining country that can logically maintain a cashless society.  Many things are already managed in this fashion, such as social safety-net programs, in many countries. If your utility services and health care are government owned and operated they can be maintained and distributed by willing workers who share in the benefits.  It is only the illusion of being indebted and obligated to the wealthy that keeps the necessary basics of life available to us at higher and higher costs every year.

It all comes down to money – or more specifically, the power that money allows.  Money only exists because we have all agreed that it should.  Cash is just paper.  It has no value other than what we have agreed it has.  Gold is just a shiny metal.  It has no value other than what we have agreed it does.  Jewels are just rocks that look pretty, etc.

These bailout loans that are being discussed with severe austerity measures as their condition for approval can be turned around into programs that provide the basics of life instead of money.  You can also take the money and agree to the measures and then use it to build up your infrastructure so that you can become even more self-sustaining.  The austerity measures won’t matter because they are based upon the spending of money for debt, pensions, and so on.  All of those things only exist within a framework of capitalism.  If you do away with capitalism, you will also be doing away with the austerity!  Use the money to make your country strong again.

From what I can see, Greece is a country rich in resources and natural beauty. Historically, Greece was a strong leader and innovator.  The opportunity now exists (thought it may not seem so) for you to lead by example a way out of the many problems that the entire world faces with regard to the unsustainability of a planet that has forgotten that it is people who make a world, not money.  You need far too much of it now to continue as you have.  Redirect your energies, if you can, toward what your citizens can do if they want to. You have already shown that you have the solidarity to pick up what you have and keep moving.  Debt is a terrible thing but creating more debt is not the answer.  Realizing the power of the people is.  Be proud that you have a prime minister who listens to and respects the desires of his people. This kind of understanding of the people he represents is an uncommon thing in much of the world.  Realize where you are at this moment in time.  It is a place that can be a beginning and not an end.

Sincerely,

Tara MacLaird