Recap on transitioning from capitalism to P2P

In this IPS thread an American cannot grok how we can move from capitalism to P2P. My response follows, a recap of previous posts and comments:

Are you American by any chance? It seems you cannot see beyond its borders. Have you seen that the northern European countries are the happiest (and here) and the most democratic, and both related to their democratic socialism. Indeed, this form of socialism is the next step toward a kind of communism, but not the kind pilloried by US regressives.

Have you read Christian Arnsperger? He's an integrally-informed economist that was all the rage for a time with the kennilinguists, his essay "integral economics" appearing at kenwilber.com. I did a thread on him here, which also has a link to his website, Eco-Transitions. I've also referenced him extensively in the progressive economics thread. He is also of the opinion that several transition steps are necessary to move out of capitalism, but move out of it we must. Following are a few samples of his comments from the above threads:


From this post:

"It might—to take a hard and sensitive issue—show us that along certain lines of moral or psychodynamic development, Soviet Russia in the 1960s, or Cuba in the 1970s, was clearly superior to the United States of the 2000s in the sense that, for instance, Soviets and Cubans had developed a more communal attitude in some sectors of social life (though by no means in all…) and also that communist principles implied that basic social provisions, lodging, health care, etc., were to be provided freely to all citizens, regardless of their ability to purchase these things on markets—something the less evolved US mentality makes unthinkable.”

From this post:

"Along some lines of moral or psychodynamic development, Sweden in the early 1980s was clearly superior to the United States of the late 2000s. For example...social-democratic principles implied that  basic social provisions, housing, health care, etc., were to be provided freely to all citizens, regardless of their ability to purchase these things on markets—something the less evolved U.S. mentality makes unthinkable” (4).
I'd add that applies to Sweden today as well, from the looks of their happy democratic socialism.

From this post:

"I propose the implementation of three kinds of ethos. First, an ethics of willful simplicity, a return towards a much more frugal conviviality ... The second ethos: a radical democratization of our institutions, including our economic institutions, proceeding to the democratization of companies ... And third: an ethos of profound equalitarianism, going so far as 'a universal allocation,' that is, an unconditional base income paid to all citizens."

From this post:

"The general idea is that we must recreate a critical conviviality. Each person must personally conquer his autonomy; each person must do the work of de-conditioning himself; perform a self-critique of his own complicity with the system. That occurs through an anchoring in the locality and in power-sharing, in an ethos that I call neither communist nor communitarian, but rather a 'communalist' ethos that leads to willful simplicity and radical democratization that result in a relocalization of the economy."

See the referenced links and his blog for much more. Perhaps we can see why his bromance with the Lingam was short-lived, since he is not a conscious capitalist.

I'd also suggest that Rifkin is making this transition happen as well and further suggest his latest book The Third Industrial Revolution for the details, discussed in this IPS thread.