Putting Our Citizens to Work: The ‘Century’ Approach to Creating Jobs

By John Paul Maynard, Harvard University

In 1932, right in the middle of the depression, John Maynard Keynes reminded us that “capitalism is so powerful that it can generate jobs for everyone who wants one .”  Forty five years later, in the midst of another collapse, Mika’il Gorbachev  stated “ every community in the world, no matter how remote, has something to give to this emerging global economy.” These statements I take as realistic challenges.

If it is theoretically possible to give a job to everyone who wants one, then why cannot we realize it?

One reason is that we tend to think in a binary way: public sector/private sector, Republican and Democrat, employer and employee, socialism and capitalism. This is not accurate:  a third force is required, always.

I take the atom as proof: electron, proton and neutron. The problem is that the 3^rd neutralizing force is often invisible. To make bread, one needs flour and water and heat. We don’t see the heat.

I have a book underway entitled Twelve Capitalisms. It goes back into civilized history, to outline how capitalism evolved in the Middle East, and the various ‘branches.’ First we have the early civilizations: Sumer, Babylon/Akkad, Assyria, Hatti, Peru, Greece and Rome. Then there are the great nomadic empires: the Persians, the Arabs, the Seljuks, the Mongols and the Ottomans.  A third group are the more modern  Euro-styled civilizations, the various empires:  British, French, Austrian, German, et al.

Curiously, one element these empires all possessed, was a way of organizing their populace separately from ethnic, tribal, political and religious divisions. Indeed, there was a practice to organize the population into groups of one hundred, in Assyria, in Hatti, amongst the Mongols.  The Romans called these  groups ‘centuries.’ Rome consisted of some 38 tribes, but some several thousand centuries.

Our ancestors organized their populations into such informal groups, not for conscription or for corvee labor, or for taxes, but for business development, and for mutual assistance, for medical purposes, and natural disasters, including drought and famine, and war relief. (The military had their own ‘centuries.’)

The great utility of the century organization is that it brought together, brings together, highly diverse elements in a group not too large or too small. The members of a century all get to know each other, not so much personally, as professionally. Members state exactly what they want.  The century may have a charter and even admission requirements, but no membership fees.  In order to find a good job, or to make one, i.e., start a business, one needs about one hundred people, all alert to each other’s aspirations and talents. Out of this come flexible, adaptive responses, to change and to need: individuals gaining employment, or starting new businesses, or developing new products, new technology, new medicine and new art. Because the proposed organs’ financial needs are almost zero, organizing our populations into ‘centuries’ is not difficult or far-fetched. Centuries seem to organize themselves spontaneously, at least in some cases.  Many already exist, though unnamed. Let me simply list what a century organ can do

A century’s benefits.    It is…

-          a large, powerful  job search and job prep organization, free of charge.

-          an incubator for new technologies, businesses and services

-          an easy way for businesses to tap into labor, skilled and unskilled

-          a way for immigrants to meet a lot of Americans

-          a way for the isolated and the distressed to find community (esp. the aged)

-          a political organization without ideological or party affiliation, flexible

-          a frame for informal study groups – a thousand different kinds.

-          medical monitoring and assessments, greatly assisting medicine.

-          emergency responses, quick time, for fires, tornados, flood.

-          a mass transfusion of all kinds of ideas, between members

-          an alternative for individuals in low-grade church-captive communities

-          help for troubled youth – “Hang with them, and you’ll become like them.”

-          exercise:  supervised group walks all over the place

-          focused communication between groups and individuals of other centuries.

-          a way of adjudicating local violations and complaints, through mediation.

-          a way of sharing scientific truths and questions, old and new.

-          a reduction of ethnic and class conflicts

-          an alternative to committing fraud and crime.

-          a way by which Republicans and Democrats can find common ground.

-          assistance for ex-cons in finding a place in society

It stands to reason that a correct solution would solve many problems at once.

The idea is not new, and not far-fetched.  It is not Utopian. Unless I am mistaken, this informal way of mobilizing larger numbers, is the secret to survival and economic survivability, not just to the various civilizations, but for towns, villages, corporations and individuals, world wide. For many, such centuries meant survival.  Anthropologist say that our common ancestors generally lived and functioned in groups of about one hundred adults.

In my many travels in Eurasia, I sometimes ran into villages organized as schools and study groups. They are genuine ‘smart towns.’  Curiously, the best ones are, or were, in Afghanistan.  They had no books and no electricity, yet the village ran diverse businesses, like shipping their produce in their own trucks across Pakistan to India. We, too, have so-called ‘smart towns’ (like Amherst) but they define themselves in terms of data processing and energy tech. But to be really smart, requires much more.  

The century has no ideological baggage. It may be compared to Freemasonry.  Yes, the Freemasons had real answers: our beautiful big colonial houses here in New England, were built by Freemasons using mathematical laws (ratios, proportions) taken from the Middle East. That’s real wealth.

                And of course most of our founding fathers were…Freemasons.

                How can we possibly institute such a neutral, undefined organization of our many societies?

                From the bottom up. Yes, the various levels of government might have roles to play: publishing the idea, explaining the concept, in detail, and perhaps organizing the centuries across regions and within regions. But the century grows from the bottom up.

                I’m sure businesses will want to get in on this. Remember, a century is a mirror of the local population. It includes people with jobs and without jobs, business owners, professors, doctors, scientists and technicians, people who grow food and fight fires,  as well as housewives and students and ex-cons, plus the disabled, the retired, the wise child –  not just people looking for work.

Organizing ‘centuries’ is not hard simply because their purpose has nothing to do with ideology, ethnic identity, conscription, employment status, wealth,  age, sex or religion.  A century does not need money to get started, or outside supervision. It organizes itself from the grassroots up. Humans can easily do that.  

Our President is a community organizer, so he’s aware of what can be done, bottom up.

Careful scrutiny of disaster response reveals hundreds of humans organizing themselves, each with a specialty, in just a few minutes, and without leaders.

An objective examination of most any thriving community, reveals an inner group. They usually are not ‘business leaders,’ but socially-conscious individuals, activists, teachers and even, on occasion, clergy.

The Century Concept is not a mechanism for state control. The Japanese, for example, still maintain a neighborhood organization, for police purposes.  This is not what we have in mind. A century might get involved in police work, not in controlling it members, but in helping police prevent and solve crimes.

Look closely what the best police departments are doing. Here, in Amherst, officers are being assigned to represent, cover, specific neighborhoods, specific groups. The police and fire depts. organize courses for citizens, go into the schools, hold picnics for the elderly, receive foreign police groups for tours and seminars. They meet with ‘undefined centuries.’

No, it is not difficult to organize centuries. Hold a few block parties, distribute literature, dedicate a computer. Get the libraries involved: they have space and computers, and would be excited to help. They already do this, offering courses for immigrants, computer-novices, job-seekers, et al., freeing centuries to focus on their own role(s) in the economy. Community Colleges can start a few centuries and would love to do so. So also colleges, universities, even trade and professional schools. Some doctors and scientists might like to enlist centuries in studies, as they are generally mirrors of the population at large – a ‘control’ group which is not controlled.

Odd, perhaps,  but I have %100 confidence that people can organize more intelligently, more efficiently, by themselves, while many ‘formerly-prosperous’ business men and women, and clergy, say this could never happen. Governments don’t want to get entangled in yet another new program. But the jokes on them: organizing centuries doesn’t cost any money.

Our near-collapse in 2008-2010 would never happened if these self-advertising ‘financial/business experts’ studied a little economic history. Or read David Ricardo. We live in a culture of debility.  So-called responsible ‘experts’  fail, or just don’t get it. Technology, electronic devices, residential segregation, prescription drugs, adulterated food, chemicals in the home - all conspire against us.

Take the idiot box. I’ve talked to young women who spend their days watching soaps, and unemployed men playing very violent computer games with toddlers at their feet; then watching violent TV all night. They all hate themselves, secretly. All are, secretly, unsatisfied, desperate to get out of their ugly boring prisons.  The children are trapped. If they follow their parents, they’ll be just like them.

They say: “Life is about entertaining me.”  Of course real satisfaction cannot come this way. Only conscious struggle, the pursuit of excellence, and/or a need to serve, will satisfy the humans.  Add to this physical exercise.  Not long ago, Americans understood this. We were once a nation of hobbyists. Men and women, kids and old people, all had their beloved hobbies. They spent many hours working hard with no thought of financial gain. Some of them, artists, musicians, activists, inventors, scientists, ended up worth more than their weight in platinum, improving the lives of millions.  This is the real wealth, and anybody can get it, provided they can defer gratification,  hang out with disciplined, working folks, on occasion, and meet people older and different from themselves. Or put it this way:  the individual applying for work, must need to develop some objectivity, free of personal desires and day-dreams, in order to do any job well.

A Century Can Take Many Forms –

Some centuries are already functioning, if not formed or ever mentioned. Many centuries will need be formally established.  Some grow out of neighborhoods, like an inner city project, while others are not defined spatially: they cut across regions, becoming more specialized. Some centuries might be associated with schools, or even churches, if they “are humble men and women who have died to themselves,” i.e., if they are real Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Wicca or shamans.

All kinds of institutions can help found century organs.  Many would love to participate.

A century might be organized in detail, with everybody having a job. Or it might be more informal, allowing things to develop by themselves. Start as a block party, or a monthly social. Then ask participants to define what they need, what they want and how they would like to contribute. Publicize these, so all members know all members. This is because humans have the ability to care and think of each other, with no fuss or comment.

Take one of top leaders. Admiral Mike Mullin, or the later Hilary Clinton, John Kerry, or the man with steepest learning curve of all, President Obama. They all have developed minds resembling the US Aegis radar platform – able to track 400 incoming missiles at once. We all have those deeper possibilities. The brain is eminently malleable, like silly putty. It’s what you make of it.

This is not new idea or far-fetched idea. Century-organization is well within human capabilities. As I said, most societies have them functioning already, or in emergencies. Even if the US creates only 10,000 centuries, they’ll demonstrate all the above. By themselves, with little direction from above, they will begin to specialize in such a way to form, basically, new professional associations.

Some centuries may form around specific technologies, and/or scientific domains – they provide a focused, level-headed understanding of tools and devices and various scientific, medical and government programs.  This is why businesses and scientists will want in.

What about the Republicans? What about the Democrats? The Republicans will get behind the century concept. I’ve already talked with a few (smart) Republicans, and they like the concept. The Democrats – they’re a bit hidebound.  They think of improving life for everybody in the country, but don’t know that somehow, we must trigger in the ‘underclass,’ something more than ‘An American idol.’  Our minorities, Blacks, Hispanics, are being eaten alive by pop electronic media.

Afro-Americans have generated five (5) world class musical traditions: spirituals, the blues, jazz, Motown, Black folk music. But what is taking over? Rap. My black friends hate it. Here is what they said: “In rap, you don’t need to play an instrument.”  “There’s no melody, so it’s not music.”  “The beat is the simplest, the most boring, 4/4 or 2/2.”  “The lyrics are threatening and debased.”  “We don’t like this culture of macho violence and women-hating.”  “BET is racially targeting Black people.”  Of course the big record companies, Warner Records, Viacom, BET Corp., M-TV et al, are all exploiting this ‘rush to the bottom.’   Who are these media masters? Can they be shamed? We are creating people who think the purpose of life is to be entertained. 

No government (s) can afford this new, huge, emerging underclass. Many teenagers never have a chance to get a job – or will not prepare for it – such a loss in incalculable. Our sedentary, very narrowly-defined lives,  is causing such high medical costs, that the country will go bust.

The American people cannot afford not having century organs. All successful societies seem to have them. If the underclass grows, if discontent grows, yes, we will see action on the streets. Just yesterday, Texas police almost gunned down non-violent demonstrators. How many demonstrators need be shot dead before the United States breaks up? We’re already talking about a ‘United States of Canada’, our northern tier, while the American south can call itself ‘Jesus land’ (and, led by business interests, link up with northern Mexico and assorted banana republics.)

No, realistically, we see the Quebecoise voting for independence, cutting Canada in two, in which case we here in New England, will extend an invitation to the Maritimes, who are culturally identical, almost. These Canadian provinces  are all in the ‘red’ and in need of economic help, which rich New England can provide, not for glory, but just to survive. Very few native New Englanders think the purpose of life is to be entertained.

With secessionist organizations in 38 states, no, it is not hard to see the break-up of the big dinosaur, into the ten nations of North America: New England (incl. the Maritimes), the Rust Belt, Quebec, the Bread Basket (Mid West), Dixie, Miami and the Caribbean, the Empty Quarter (extending up through Alberta, Mex-america, Ecotopeia (N. California up through Alaska). The tenth is, of course, Nunavut and all the Indian reservations. They are their own nation, for sure. Indeed, I see a time when native Americans, Inuit and the First Peoples, will teach us again to live lightly on the land.

I am of course using Joel Garreau’s book The Nine Nations of North America (1991).

One way to introduce century organizations is to start with…Massachusetts. Where else? Who else always comes out on top in math, English, science, and/or foreign languages every single year?  Mass residents are second only to Colorado in (low) body weights.  We are number 4 in health. We have the lowest rate of divorce in the country: one might argue that Mass residents best enjoy social solidarity. But New England is a melting pot that doesn’t melt: Massachusetts may be the most ethnically diverse state.  One of our governors, a Republican, instituted universal medical coverage, a first.

Massachusetts regularly fields presidential candidates. The most Democratic or ‘blue’ of states, we don’t hesitate to elect a Republican if it suits us.

I know my home town best, so let me conclude with concrete experience.  Many educated people, worldwide, associate Amherst with E.D., the finest women poet in the entire English-language tradition.  Amherst was also the home of the young Paul Nitze.

Of course, as a ‘smart’ town, we tried to incubate new technologies, but alas, as soon as these companies got on their feet, they left for Boston and Zurich. There are many small innovative proto-companies associated with UMASS. But they contribute surprisingly little to us town folk.

Amherst has the smallest police department per capita of any Massachusetts municipality. The main reason is that we are poor. Amherst can only tax a third of its land and properties. We have two colleges and a large state university . And 27 conservation lands, with trails, open to the public. Plus 13 successful farms (because we don’t tax their land).

Another reason for the ‘mission impossible success’ of our police ‘against superior numbers and firepower,’ is that about half our officers are combat vets from Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq. They have to be tough as nails to deal with 34,000 students, half inebriated on the weekends. All weekend the police respond aggressively to loud, drunken students. We only have 48 officers. One out of ten are usually recovering from injuries sustained in the line of duty. Many young men don’t hesitate to assault the police. Or drive cars into them. Why? Alcohol is the main factor, but there are others.  Let us just say, we are in decline…

My point is that our police departments will be big supporters of Century Organizations – but not for surveillance.  Japan still supports a neighborhood police organization of its communities; though these organs serve several purposes,  surveillance seems to be the top priority. Of course this kind of organization of society is very un-American. Our police understand this.  

Amherst also run its highly successful ‘leisure services’ i.e., a school with diverse classes and programs. It also has a very active senior center, with additional classes. Its high school has long taught Russian and Chinese. To top it off, Amherst has received a constant stream of immigrants and minorities, the children of whom are educated at $20,000 a head.

So I ask you, how possibly can we possibly end up with a $2 million surplus? But we just did.

Tomorrow, Amherst is having its first town-wide block party. The whole downtown will be closed to vehicles for 4 hours. Over 60 restaurants and craftspeople will set up booths. Artists will display their paintings, musicians will play. Hundreds of outsiders will try to crash it, so our businesses are sure to make money.  Some of us are talking about instituting an annual ‘Venetian Carnival’, which is different from Marde Gras, Trinidadian and Brazilian carnivals, being a masquerade, with sartorial flourishes, in the manner and style of the Most Serene Republic.

Many Americans societies are already participants in centuries, though they don’t know it. Let us fine-tune the process that is already underway. You might use Amherst (and other ‘smart’ towns) as a test case. Every other year, Amherst residents elect 236 Town Members, each tied to an undefined ‘century,’ be it a neighborhood or an interest.

People joke about the Town Members - they can be rowdy. The real estate agents and the developers do not like them, generally, for reasons relating to zoning.  But the extraordinary (if modest) economic success of Amherst, owes much to the ‘limited growth’ preferences of leftist Town Members. Amherst preserves its forests, its farmland, its historical heritage, keeping home values up, even during the recent bubble-collapse. We often have more tourists than we can handle.

People come from all over the world to walk our streets and study in our schools. Very high-quality individuals are drawn to us, like a magnet. Over the years, I recall my many Chinese, Arab, and Indian friends, all citizens of this town (when they were here). We came up with this precept:

“Real socialism cannot exist without real capitalism” (too many folks marginalized). “And real capitalism cannot exist without real socialism. “ (government needs money to fund its programs). In other words, the two require each other. They go together.

The author is a legal anthropologist specializing in the Middle East, the Balkans and Central Asia. He is the moderator/instructor for the on-line discussion group ‘Islamic Civilization,’ hosted by the Graduate Alumni Office of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University. He can be reached on-line at johnpaulmaynard@post.harvard.edu. Or by telephone at: 413 549 7726

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