Tim Ferguson

Operation Abigail. @OPLAN_abigail. #operationabigail.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

Operation Abigail adapts the classical republican prohibition on enclosure of the national commons to a modern capitalist republic. Elevates middle-class primacy to the highest national priority to preserve the republican model of government.

[Jawad Mian @jsmian]

They knew a very long time ago that history repeats itself.

Aristotle and Polybius described the rise and fall of regimes as recurring and baked into human nature. Polybius used the word anacyclosis to capture the rotation of political forms as they move from chiefdom to kingship, kingship to tyranny, tyranny to aristocracy, aristocracy to oligarchy, oligarchy to democracy, and from there to a final stage until the cycle starts again.

This framework maps seamlessly onto the American experience, and I write about it here: https://t.co/yN3YIkwZST

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[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@SocRepProject We need to reassert classical republican principles to the modern economy. We need to adapt agrarian limitations on extreme wealth concentration to the digital age. The restoration of an independent middle class takes precedence. Everything else takes the back seat.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@Timcast Republicanism.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@LPNational @EdKrassen @mises Not even close. We need to reassert classical republican principles.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@elonmusk @DefiantLs George Washington wisely said to beware the impostures of pretended patriotism. Nowhere is that more important to remember, than on this social media platform.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@elonmusk @DefiantLs Was Thomas Jefferson being envious when he drafted the Virginia constitution to grant a 50-acre viritim to every eligible citizen? Or did he simply understand the first principle of republican government: to have a commonwealth, the commons must have the wealth.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@scottsantens @UBIToday @PeterDiamandis But I do applaud the search for historical parallels and the effort to invoke and adapt agrarian-republican logic because the question of whether there has been an unauthorized enclosure of the commons is essential, even if the so what branches off into different policies.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@scottsantens @UBIToday @PeterDiamandis Paine was the closest founder to UBI. But not real UBI. He advocated youth seed funding and old age protection. The old age pension is not a new idea though, it was known in the Han Dynasty. But at any rate no. It wasn’t UBI. His bigger concerns were defeating enclosure.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@ericweinstein Correct. UBI is a per diem. If you want to fix America’s cap table you need to raise a rival to the prevailing market incentive of maximalist apex accumulation. That rival is the median net worth. Tether the top to the median at an efficient ratio and watch the median rise. LTIP.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@scottsantens @ohryansbelt @ericweinstein @joerogan Some form of dividend might help stabilize households but they don’t change the incentives which promote runaway apex accumulation. To fix outcomes you have to change incentives. UBI doesn’t change incentives so while it may have palliative value it is not corrective.

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@ohryansbelt @ericweinstein @joerogan Median top tethering as through a scaled up long term incentive plan.

https://t.co/dSySKFbaGW

[Steven Irby @StevenIrby]

Did you know ancient Greek philosophers predicted our politics almost 2,000 years ago? The theory is called anacyclosis. It's a theory that all societies follow the same predictable pattern and cycle.

The US is predictably in the same cycle they predicted long ago. Is history repeating itself?

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

https://t.co/IyfPg9M3E7

[TB @Iamnottommyb]

What Is Anacyclosis? - Anacyclosis Institute https://t.co/QhQuKkf1uq

[Izabella Kaminska @izakaminska]

@coolranchkid1 It is a cycle as old as civilisation https://t.co/cl0Gnp6VcA

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@DRolandAnderson @izakaminska @coolranchkid1 Re cliodynamics the model as I understand it - admitting I’ve not kept up - has predictive power for political entities connected to Eurasian steppes but I’m not sure how well it relates to entities experiencing wealth diffusion (middle class) hence power diffusion (democracy).

[Tim Ferguson @TimRFerguson]

@DRolandAnderson @izakaminska @coolranchkid1 👋. Though I do remember Izabella mentioning an Ouroboros during the logo creative process. The idea of using the Ben Franklin snake seemed apropos.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

I'm surprised that @TimRFerguson's "Rationism" proposal isn't part of the debate.

It suggests a 100% tax on wealth above 10,000x the median household net worth, thus anchoring the outcomes of the top households to the fortunes of the middle class (as measured by the national median).

If they want to get richer and keep the surplus, their actions need to simultaneously benefit the middle class too (e.g. in the form of higher wages that raise the median net worth).

Simple, elegant, and incentive-aligned for the common good.

https://t.co/3z3lvEMqfO