What We Believe, Part 1

The idea of this blog is to keep the conversation going all the time, not just at our monthly meetings. Using this method and the new media and technology that supports it, is the only way that our ideas and the movement that we promote to achieve its goals more quickly than past movements. Folks in Glasgow have come together in support of a cause in the past. For example the Glasgow EPB was created by just such a group of people who came together to form a movement.

That group first started meeting in 1958. They had a simple belief, just like we do, that low cost and ubiquitous electric power was too important to the life of a community to allow it to be provided to Glasgow by a distant, privately owned corporation. That belief became a movement and the movement became a political force that finally resulted in the creation of the EPB in 1962. Thus, it is possible for a group of folks, who share a strong belief in a community and the things that can make the community stronger and a better place to live, to make very big things happen. In 2008 it is possible to accomplish big things in a much shorter time.

The founders of our group believe that our community should have a sustainable economy. More particularly, we believe that our sustainable economy should start with the creation of a sustainable food economy. We think our need for food is too important to allow that need to be met exclusively by three distant corporations: Wal Mart, Houchens, and Food Lion (Delhaize America, Inc.). We think that, since Glasgow is surrounded by productive farm land, we can figure out a way to get local producers and local consumers together to exchange goods for money in a sustainable fashion. We think that encouraging local producers to produce for local folks and hire local folks as part of that process makes infinitely more sense than using our tax dollars to build buildings and other infrastructure for distant corporations who have no interest in Glasgow other than using our citizens for cheap labor in support of profits for distant stockholders.

If any of this rings true with you, join in the conversation and help us figure out how to move from great idea to working infrastructure. Invite others to join in this conversation and movement. Come on along and we will get this done quickly. We can solve this problem for ourselves. Obviously, as evidenced by our present economic situation and the foolishness of our political leaders on the national scene, no one else is going to solve our problems for us.