In order for us to understand why one would want to play G-Ball, not just as a pursuer of power, but as citizens, we need to understand what is being accomplished by playing the game. We looked last week at the 5 Power Plays, or levers of power, but what do these levers actually act upon? What do all the laws, court rulings, and executive orders do?
To answer this question we need to look at the game field in G-Ball. Baseball has the diamond, basketball the court, but G-Ball has three distinctive planes, or dimensions. These three play planes interact and inform each other. These planes are, the State itself, also known as the government apparatus. The second aspect is the Economy or the Market. The third is, Civil Society, which is all free-associations outside of state coercion, and market transaction pressures.
Civil Society is where life lives, in families, friendships, voluntary organizations, and any community associations like worship communities. Civil Society is the point of playing the game: we want to pull the levers of power in such a way that civil society is working well for as many people as possible. To think the State itself is the purpose is to move toward totalitarianism. To think the Market is the purpose is to turn everything into a transaction, a commodity, from human dignity, to romantic relationships, i.e. the “dating market”, or healthcare.
Now, many things operate at the intersection of all three of the planes, for instance, a public school fundraiser involves all three planes of the G-Ball field. The school is funded and regulated by the state, the free association of students, parents, and community members, is civic society, and market influence might explain why they are selling candy bars instead of collecting donations. A coffee shop is a market space, but it can also host Civil Society. A book club meeting, two friends catching up, someone journaling quietly, these are not economic transactions, they’re free associations. When I sit here to write, I’m inhabiting civil society, even though the Market and State (building codes, health inspections) are also present. The heart and soul of the coffee shop and civilization itself is Civil Society.
So we play G-Ball to make sure that the organized power of the State protects Civil Society, from the Market, lawlessness, disasters, foreign States, and potentially itself. The State can also conceivably be used to improve civil society, the creation of public schools, libraries, or parks.
If baseball players score points on a diamond. We players of G-Ball live on a Mobius Strip and we “score points” by shaping the Mobius Strip for the maximum amount of benefit for the maximum number of people. beneficial. Sometimes individuals, institutions, companies, the State itself and other forces shape the Mobius Strip to produce advantage for themselves, detracting from the other inhabitants. Our job as citizens is to track these plays clearly, understand how they are affecting our Mobius Strip world, and decide if we like the new shape that is being molded.
Stay Sharp
Stay Sovereign
Let the People watch the Game