I’ve delved into Tribal Politics a bit with the blog and with this entry I’m going to take it one step further. Let’s say all hell has broken loose. The shit has really hit the fan. It’s a few weeks down the road and scanner traffic reveals nothing but random chaotic traffic which leads us to believe that the LEO/EMS radios are no longer in the authorities hands and TPTB have probably gone to protect them and theirs. We’re on our own.
But we’ve done our homework and legwork and have been planning to defend our AO and now it’s time to consolidate the tribe. History has proven that any group is much stronger with some form of formal leadership organization. A leadership organization not only gives structure to any effort but it can also ensure that there is unity of that effort. In this case we’ll say that effort is the survival of our tribe. So how/what do we put together? I’m going to put one example out and give you a few historical references. Ultimately it’s up to the tribe what kind of leadership organization forms. Note I’m not going to go into processes (how things get introduced, decided on, etc.) too much here – that’s material for another entry.
I’m rather partial to the the idea of a “Tribal Council” composed of an adult leader from each family within the AO. It doesn’t necessarily have to be completely Patriarchal either. Quite the opposite the council must have female representation as well. The difference in physical thought processes (it’s been documented) is valuable when it comes to developing and shaping cultural policy. That is one reason that in the Cherokee tribe the men weren’t allowed to go to war without the consent of the Councils female members. Tribes have been led by Women – i.e. Wilma Mankiller (former Chief of the Cherokee Nation) and in Africa there are several Matriarchal tribes and cultures. The complementary thought process of men and women are what make couples that communicate effectively stronger. And it’d be kind of dumb for us to ignore that fact rather than exploit it.
So we have each family designate one adult to represent them. And among those adults they elect a primary “Chief/Mayor/Spokesman” (don’t get hung up on gender here) or whatever you want to call it. Now among this group we also need some representatives for critical aspects of tribal life. So we designate one person to be in charge of those areas like Medical (got Doc/Vet/PA/LPN/RN?), Security (former LEO/.mil?), Communications (Ham guru?), hell even Education (if you have wee ones). These aren’t the inclusive areas – I’m sure folks will come up with others but let’s keep it simple for now. So for the sake of argument let’s say we ended up with ten adults representing the ten families with four of those members representing critical areas – Security, Medical, Communications, and Education. Don’t sweat it for now – I’ll be touching on processes in a later entry.
Also remember – we’re working with an example here. Historically small councils or leadership entities have been built along familial (Clan), religious (sect), or even ethnic lines (caucuses anyone?). For our example I’m sticking to geographic proximity. Use what works for you and yours.
Anyway those ten adults now have the responsibility of dealing with everything relating to the security, health, and welfare of the tribe. By designating an adult representative those families have bought into our concept of a “Micro Representative Republic”. But what good is a republic without laws? The answer is it isn’t – it’s pretty worthless actually. And the next entry is where we’ll go into the concept of Tribal Laws and Processes.
By the way – the gent in the pic is the Emperor Norton the 1st. Rather an interesting and humorous read.
The Lizard Farmer 