Plenty of people give this a try. They open hippie businesses run on HR and pay principles that they find congenial. Fine with me. I respect all who make the attempt, and some of them succeed. Others venture into larger collective or communal housing and work arrangements, and some of these go on for years. Here and there, one can find alternative communities that have met the test of time. I'm not sure that the Salt Lake City Mormons any longer qualify -- too mainstreamed by now -- but from their pioneering era well into the 20th century, they provided a classic example. One could point to the Amish and Hutterites today, and there are many smaller alternative communities, most well out of the public eye. As long as they pay their own bills and don't disrupt the neighborhood, more power to them.
The basic problem with the politicized socialists in OWS (and the political left generally) is that they don't themselves intend to ever perform any actual work. That's why they perceive a political path to be essential: they want to seize control of the existing wealth and productive capacity of the society, install themselves as part of the managerial class, and impose their vision on everyone else. They need to be tossed out of their tents and told to go open a socialist bookstore or bakery, and build their new world on the basis of their own labor, not theft and compulsion. They of course won't do this, because they are lazy and because they are driven more by resentment than by idealism.
Alternative community types who actually go out and build something have my respect. They also quickly learn something about the weaknesses and limits of their vision, and quickly settle for more humble aspirations -- i.e. living a quiter life in a more fulfilling way, which probably won't appeal to most other people, and that's fine. At the end of the day, you have the leftish small businessperson who may talk radical but is probably a pretty good neighbor.
I grew up in Southern Indiana and learned early about the Rappite and Owenite communities in New Harmony. They are wonderful examples. Both communities failed (the Rappites because, as a celebate community, they died out, after returning to New York). But one can learn valuable lessons from the failures, not the least of which is that people of a radical disposition are perfectly free to give it a try, if they will step back from their political addiction, roll up their sleeves, and actually do some productive work.
Great post. Some of these S0r0$ funded media strange attractors should go Che, learn Spanish and move to Cuba.
What a great post. Do you mind if I copy it and spread it around my own little circle of friends?