Tapeinocracy: Building a Better Society

Welcome!

Here you can find an introduction to tapeinocracy, an explanation of its main concepts and how it would exist in society. The navigation provides more information on particular topics and if you have any queries they might already be answered on the frequently asked questions page. Should you take more of an interest in this model then you can buy the tapeinocracy book that goes into far more detail of solving society's main problems through the use of government data, logical reasoning and definitive solutions.

What is Tapeinocracy?

Tapeinocracy is a new societal model that improves politics, economics and society at large through the use of logic, morality and pragmatism; meanwhile rejecting ideology and established dogma. It translates to "rule by humility", derived from the Greek word for humility ταπεινότητα (tapeinótita), due to its core features:

• Accept reality as it truly is, rather than what we want it to be
• Use a scientific approach to solve all problems
• Continual feedback and refinement; keep what works and discard what doesn’t
• Aim to improve society one small step at a time
• Humans are irrational and can’t handle power
• Keep ideology and charged emotions away from decision-making

As a result, the systems in tapeinocracy are designed to mitigate or entirely resolve problems that occur throughout society in a way that’s realistic, achievable and doesn’t result in absurd outcomes that are so prevalent in ideological systems. More importantly, tapeinocracy is flexible because it focuses on what works thus it’s the polar opposite of inflexible ideology. It could be described in simple terms as pro-logical and anti-ideological.

How Does Tapeinocracy Function?

The use of a scientific process doesn’t care what people feel or believe as it focuses on whether or not something is true and the scientific method is probably the greatest tool that humanity possesses; such a tool can be applied to everyday society. This is in complete contrast to current societal models based upon stagnant ideology whereby underlying assumptions are made that must be followed without question or deviation, even when proven disastrously wrong.

Socialism, corporatism, religion, autocracy, bureaucracy; these are all examples of broken systems that rely upon faulty fixed assumptions and persist with catastrophic consequences. In tapeinocracy there isn't a static assumption and instead the cause of any specific problem must be figured out so that a correct solution can be implemented. Even the above list of core features could change in the future if a better hypothesis is presented. For a society using tapeinocracy: if something works properly then it's kept, if something has a correctable problem then it's fixed, if something doesn't work at all then it's removed.

Existing models suffer from hubris and decay; tapeinocracy embraces humility and progress.

Summary of a Country Using Tapeinocracy

Other pages will go into further explanation on various topics while a basic summary of a country using tapeinocracy is the following:

Government

• A principled unalterable constitution is the supreme authority providing the limitations of power
• Local government is the primary political power set at the county level
• Central government is limited and subservient to local governments
• Central government only provides minimal core functions for the continuation of the state
• No central political figures exist
• The country can never be subservient to any external law, organisation or nation
• Politicians are elected by a sortition of citizens that apply as candidates and pass screening tests
• Politicians can serve for a maximum of two years and are accountable for their actions
• Each piece of legislation has a time limit of ten years after which it automatically expires
• Legislation applies to the whole country and it can contain variable elements that can be defined independently by each local government

Public Finances

• A land value tax replaces all existing taxes as the primary source of tax revenue
• A deed-driven variable corporation tax and a market share monopoly tax are created to steer positive business behaviours
• Central government continues to use money creation for its departments that's balanced by taxing local governments
• Central government's annual budget is determined by a vote from all local governments with a constitutional minimum value
• Local governments can't create money and require tax revenue from residents prior to spending, with tax revenue serving as a strict limit on public spending
• Public spending can only be on public sector wages and assets
• Money creation beyond central government functions is limited to emergencies such as war or natural disasters
• Central government can loan money to a local government: costed projects must pass a national vote and money can only be used for productive projects, never general spending
• Central government must maintain a sovereign currency that can never be replaced or superseded

Private Finances

• Banks lose the legal right to create money; it becomes a criminal offence
• Companies can apply for a productive business loan through a bank; if successful, the central government creates money and deposits it with the private bank
• All other loans, including mortgages, must use existing money
• Large-scale creation of small local banks that serve people and companies within a small radius; these banks legally can’t be bought out or merged

Public Services

• Central government consists of the military, intelligence, police, law courts, statistics, foreign relations and treasury; national in scale
• The constitution prohibits expansion of central government’s role in society so it can’t create new departments
• Local governments set the annual budgets and objectives for central government departments but the departments’ daily operations are independent
• Every local government can make its own decisions about public services within its responsible region and has the flexibility to change through votes

Societal Behaviours

• Promotion of personal responsibility
• Promotion of good parenting and parents are automatically accountable for their children’s actions until those children reach adulthood
• Promotion of personal charity and altruism
• Assistance prioritised for people that are worth helping
• Authoritarian ideologies, such as religion or collectivism, are strictly confined to private life by the constitution and can never be part of public life

Please view the relevant pages for more information or buy the book if you really want to delve into each topic.

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