Democracy and the Common Wealth
Encyclopedia
Democracy and the Common Wealth: Breaking the Stranglehold of the Special Interests is a 2010 book by urban designer, policy analyst and artist Michael E. Arth
. Arth attempts to expose what he calls the "dirty secrets" of America's electoral system, and provides a list of solutions that he believes will result in a "truly representative democracy." This democracy would be led by effective, trustworthy leaders, who would be elected by a majority, and who would not have to spend their time raising campaign funds, or catering to paid lobbyists.
It also tells the story of the first year of Florida's 2010 gubernatorial race, from his point of view as an outsider, lacking in personal wealth or party backing. In the main text, and in the postscript, Arth writes about how he became an independent candidate for governor after being "frozen out" of the "undemocratic" Florida Democratic Party
for not having millions of dollars, and for suggesting that campaigns be about issues instead of money.
The first edition of the book has 480 pages including 72 illustrations and charts and was first published in both e-book
and print in May 2010. The e-book version also includes a postscript about the BP Oil Spill and energy policy, and a section on Arth’s switch to No Party Affiliation
.
" and make "a more perfect union" that creates what Abraham Lincoln
called a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." To do this, he writes, would require trading the winner-take-all
voting system for ranked choice voting in single member elections, and replacing single-member congressional districts for multi-member congressional districts, which would use proportional representation
and a form of ranked choice voting called single transferable voting. It would also require doing away with private campaign financing, paid lobbyists, and most campaign advertising; and replacing influence-buying and propaganda with highly regulated public campaign financing that would cost a tiny fraction of what is spent now. "Pre-voting," by the electorate, with publicly financed micro-payments during the campaign, would determine both placement and ranking on the ballot in order to simplify the process and get voters more involved in thinking about the issues.
to Pensacola
in the course of his campaign, and to bring focus to non-polluting energy self-sufficiency. The trip was at least half finished by early July 2010 and became the subject of Arth's ongoing blog and campaign web site.
Calling his hometown of DeLand, Florida
a “microcosm” of the rest of the country, he describes how problems in his own town have developed in the same way they have elsewhere. He tells the story of how he bought up 32 homes and businesses and cleaned up a slum neighborhood called “Cracktown," which subsequently was the subject of an award-winning 2007 documentary, New Urban Cowboy
. From his previous research, in combination with direct experience in rebuilding the slum, he became convinced it would take fundamental, institutional reform to solve most governmental problems.
. Having a full reserve system, in his view, could reduce the Federal Reserve to a check-clearing service and it could be integrated into the United States Treasury. Money could be spent by the Treasury into existence on non-inflationary, productive things related to infrastructure, energy self-sufficiency, social services, information technology
, rebuilding the cities, and creating jobs. He believes non-productive and destructive expenditures associated with the military-industrial complex
should be vastly reduced.
Under his plan, the budget would be balanced and the national debt would be retired, with the help of progressive taxation and a wealth tax on the super-rich, as Warren Buffet, Donald Trump
, and others have proposed. The trade balance would be restored with import certificates, which balances imports with exports, and would function like a tariff, but be based on supply and demand. Treasury securities would no longer be issued, because the government's own money would be spent into existence at a rate that would keep inflation at a low rate, and help prevent new debt from being created.
Arth also proposes a small securities tax and other measures to rein in high-frequency trading
(HFT), which is trading done with supercomputers using proprietary algorithm
s and a form of insider trading
called flash trading
. Over 70% of all trades are now done with HFT for the benefit of a financial elite. Arth blames governmental policies for allowing special interests on Wall Street to use the common wealth for their own private gain. He sees this as only one example of how plutocrats create and preserve unfair advantages, which could easily be regulated if we had a more responsive and representative democracy.
, something the author has intimate knowledge of as a result of living in a slum, and waging his own private war on drug users and dealers. Arth proposes legalization, regulation and taxation for a wide range of illegal drugs—especially cannabis
, for which there has never been a single documented overdose death. He compares drug dealers to fire ants. "You can get rid of them in one spot and they just pop up somewhere else," he writes. "In fact, we cannot even keep drugs out of prison, which is all the proof we need that prohibition
will not work, even in a police state."
Arth asserts that legalization would reverse the popular contempt for the law that results from prohibition; eliminate the 800,000 American gang members and global drug cartels; and reduce the incarceration rate in the U.S., which is now seven times higher than Canada. He cites a Rand Institute study that shows treatment to be seven times more effective than incarceration, but states that politicians are afraid to reverse the 40-year "war on the poor" that was started by Richard Nixon
as a "racist and cynical campaign ploy" to win over the white majority.
is an autonomous vehicle that can drive itself from one point to another without assistance from a driver. Arth believes that autonomous vehicles, which have already been extensively demonstrated in prototypes, have the potential to transform the transportation industry while virtually eliminating accidents, and cleaning up the environment. Arth claims, both in this book and elsewhere, that self-driving electric vehicles—in conjunction with the increased use of virtual reality
for work, travel, and pleasure—could reduce the world's 800 million vehicles to a fraction of that number within a few decades. He writes that this would be possible if almost all private cars requiring drivers, which are not in use and parked 90% of the time, were traded for public self-driving taxis that would be in near-constant use. This would also allow for getting the appropriate vehicle for the particular need at any time, subject to market demands. (For example, a bus would be much cheaper than a car for getting people from a football game). A bus could come for a group of people, a limousine could come for a special night out, and a Segway could come for a short trip down the street for one person. Children could be chauffeured in supervised safety, DUI
s would no longer exist, and 41,000 lives could be saved each year in the U.S. alone.
, the most decorated U.S. Marine in American history at the time of his death in 1940. Arth attempts to make the case that Butler was "swift-boated"
by privately controlled print media on account of his views that the military existed primarily as a corporate tool, and for testifying in 1934 about the Business Plot
to launch a fascist military march on Washington and a coup d’état against Franklin D. Roosevelt
. Butler subsequently renounced his role as a "racketeer for capitalism" and published a 1935 tract titled "War is a Racket
," which Arth believes still describes the military-industrial complex
(MIC) that President Dwight Eisenhower also warned about in 1961.
Subsequent chapters on Iraq
and Afghanistan
document claim that the U.S. went to war in those countries to further geopolitical ambitions, and to help American oil companies expand their profit base. The primary motivation for invading Afghanistan was to depose the uncooperative Taliban so that oil companies could build oil and gas pipelines from their Caspian Basin holdings in Kazakhstan
, across Afghanistan and Pakistan
, to the Arabian Sea
, in order to access growing Asian energy markets.
, in 1999. NP is based on completely separating cars from pedestrians and cyclists by putting them on two different networks. Cars are usually relegated to rear streets, while pedestrians and cyclists share a mixed use "pedestrian lane" in front. In this way, someone on a bike or walking could travel through a neighborhood and business district without having to interact with cars. The pedestrian lanes function like linear parks and greatly enhance public life and the common wealth.
Michael E. Arth
Michael E. Arth is an American artist, home/landscape/urban designer, public policy analyst, advocate for the homeless, futurist, and author. He was a candidate for the governor of Florida in 2009 and 2010.-Art:Michael E...
. Arth attempts to expose what he calls the "dirty secrets" of America's electoral system, and provides a list of solutions that he believes will result in a "truly representative democracy." This democracy would be led by effective, trustworthy leaders, who would be elected by a majority, and who would not have to spend their time raising campaign funds, or catering to paid lobbyists.
It also tells the story of the first year of Florida's 2010 gubernatorial race, from his point of view as an outsider, lacking in personal wealth or party backing. In the main text, and in the postscript, Arth writes about how he became an independent candidate for governor after being "frozen out" of the "undemocratic" Florida Democratic Party
Florida Democratic Party
The Florida Democratic Party is the official organization for Democrats in the state of Florida.-History:The Florida Democratic Party has historically dominated dodo Florida's state and local politics. Florida's Governor's Mansion was closed to Republicans from 1877 until 1967, when Claude R...
for not having millions of dollars, and for suggesting that campaigns be about issues instead of money.
The first edition of the book has 480 pages including 72 illustrations and charts and was first published in both e-book
E-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
and print in May 2010. The e-book version also includes a postscript about the BP Oil Spill and energy policy, and a section on Arth’s switch to No Party Affiliation
No Party Affiliation
No Party Affiliation or NPA is a term used to apply to those voters or politicians who do not hold an affiliation with any particular political party. Another term which is often used in place of "NPA" is "Independent".In the U.S...
.
Summary of Part I: Restoring Democracy
The first sixteen chapters are about how to break up the "oligarchyOligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
" and make "a more perfect union" that creates what Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
called a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." To do this, he writes, would require trading the winner-take-all
Winner-take-all
Winner-take-all is a computational principle applied in computational models of neural networks by which neurons in a layer compete with each others for activation...
voting system for ranked choice voting in single member elections, and replacing single-member congressional districts for multi-member congressional districts, which would use proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
and a form of ranked choice voting called single transferable voting. It would also require doing away with private campaign financing, paid lobbyists, and most campaign advertising; and replacing influence-buying and propaganda with highly regulated public campaign financing that would cost a tiny fraction of what is spent now. "Pre-voting," by the electorate, with publicly financed micro-payments during the campaign, would determine both placement and ranking on the ballot in order to simplify the process and get voters more involved in thinking about the issues.
"Biking Mike"
In this chapter, Michael “Biking Mike” Arth wrote of his plan to bicycle from Key WestKey West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
to Pensacola
Pensacola
Pensacola is a city in the western part of the U.S. state of Florida.Pensacola may also refer to:* Pensacola people, a group of Native Americans* A number of places in the Florida:** Pensacola Bay** Pensacola Regional Airport...
in the course of his campaign, and to bring focus to non-polluting energy self-sufficiency. The trip was at least half finished by early July 2010 and became the subject of Arth's ongoing blog and campaign web site.
Part II – Restoring the Common Wealth
According to the author, “Part II is a step-by-step guide to the kind of equitable and rational policies we should expect following electoral reform.” In researching this book, Arth drew from 16 years of research from his two-volume work-in-progress, The Labors of Hercules: Modern Solutions to 12 Herculean Problems, his experience rebuilding an inner city slum, and his 2009-2010 run for governor of Florida.Calling his hometown of DeLand, Florida
DeLand, Florida
DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006...
a “microcosm” of the rest of the country, he describes how problems in his own town have developed in the same way they have elsewhere. He tells the story of how he bought up 32 homes and businesses and cleaned up a slum neighborhood called “Cracktown," which subsequently was the subject of an award-winning 2007 documentary, New Urban Cowboy
New Urban Cowboy
New Urban Cowboy: Toward a New Pedestrianism is a 2008 documentary film, and DVD release, about American artist and urban designer Michael E. Arth, his New Pedestrianism movement, and his efforts to rebuild the cities, beginning with “Cracktown,” an inner city slum in DeLand, Florida...
. From his previous research, in combination with direct experience in rebuilding the slum, he became convinced it would take fundamental, institutional reform to solve most governmental problems.
Monetary reform
Over several chapters, Arth gives a survey of economic policies and theory and concludes that we should probably end the fractional reserve system, which has created boom/bust cycles and contributed to the highest combined private and public debt-to-GDP ratio in U.S. history—now twice as high as 1929, just before the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Having a full reserve system, in his view, could reduce the Federal Reserve to a check-clearing service and it could be integrated into the United States Treasury. Money could be spent by the Treasury into existence on non-inflationary, productive things related to infrastructure, energy self-sufficiency, social services, information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, rebuilding the cities, and creating jobs. He believes non-productive and destructive expenditures associated with the military-industrial complex
Military-industrial complex
Military–industrial complex , or Military–industrial-congressional complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them...
should be vastly reduced.
Under his plan, the budget would be balanced and the national debt would be retired, with the help of progressive taxation and a wealth tax on the super-rich, as Warren Buffet, Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
, and others have proposed. The trade balance would be restored with import certificates, which balances imports with exports, and would function like a tariff, but be based on supply and demand. Treasury securities would no longer be issued, because the government's own money would be spent into existence at a rate that would keep inflation at a low rate, and help prevent new debt from being created.
Arth also proposes a small securities tax and other measures to rein in high-frequency trading
High-frequency trading
High-frequency trading is the use of sophisticated technological tools to trade securities like stocks or options, and is typically characterized by several distinguishing features:...
(HFT), which is trading done with supercomputers using proprietary algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s and a form of insider trading
Insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
called flash trading
Flash trading
Flash trading, otherwise known as a flash order is, according to industry trade publication, Traders Magazine, defined as “a marketable order sent to a market center that is not quoting the industry's best price or that cannot fill that order in its entirety...
. Over 70% of all trades are now done with HFT for the benefit of a financial elite. Arth blames governmental policies for allowing special interests on Wall Street to use the common wealth for their own private gain. He sees this as only one example of how plutocrats create and preserve unfair advantages, which could easily be regulated if we had a more responsive and representative democracy.
War on Drugs
The longest chapter, "Prohibition Failed!," is about the War on DrugsWar on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
, something the author has intimate knowledge of as a result of living in a slum, and waging his own private war on drug users and dealers. Arth proposes legalization, regulation and taxation for a wide range of illegal drugs—especially cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
, for which there has never been a single documented overdose death. He compares drug dealers to fire ants. "You can get rid of them in one spot and they just pop up somewhere else," he writes. "In fact, we cannot even keep drugs out of prison, which is all the proof we need that prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
will not work, even in a police state."
Arth asserts that legalization would reverse the popular contempt for the law that results from prohibition; eliminate the 800,000 American gang members and global drug cartels; and reduce the incarceration rate in the U.S., which is now seven times higher than Canada. He cites a Rand Institute study that shows treatment to be seven times more effective than incarceration, but states that politicians are afraid to reverse the 40-year "war on the poor" that was started by Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
as a "racist and cynical campaign ploy" to win over the white majority.
Self-driving cars
A self-driving, or driverless carDriverless car
An autonomous car, also known as robotic or informally as driverless, is an autonomous vehicle capable of fulfilling the human transportation capabilities of a traditional car. As an autonomous vehicle, it is capable of sensing its environment and navigating on its own...
is an autonomous vehicle that can drive itself from one point to another without assistance from a driver. Arth believes that autonomous vehicles, which have already been extensively demonstrated in prototypes, have the potential to transform the transportation industry while virtually eliminating accidents, and cleaning up the environment. Arth claims, both in this book and elsewhere, that self-driving electric vehicles—in conjunction with the increased use of virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
for work, travel, and pleasure—could reduce the world's 800 million vehicles to a fraction of that number within a few decades. He writes that this would be possible if almost all private cars requiring drivers, which are not in use and parked 90% of the time, were traded for public self-driving taxis that would be in near-constant use. This would also allow for getting the appropriate vehicle for the particular need at any time, subject to market demands. (For example, a bus would be much cheaper than a car for getting people from a football game). A bus could come for a group of people, a limousine could come for a special night out, and a Segway could come for a short trip down the street for one person. Children could be chauffeured in supervised safety, DUI
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
s would no longer exist, and 41,000 lives could be saved each year in the U.S. alone.
War is a Still a Racket
This chapter tells the story of Major General Smedley ButlerSmedley Butler
Smedley Darlington Butler was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, an outspoken critic of U.S. military adventurism, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S...
, the most decorated U.S. Marine in American history at the time of his death in 1940. Arth attempts to make the case that Butler was "swift-boated"
Swiftboating
The word swiftboating is an American neologism used pejoratively to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The term emanates from the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth and its widely publicized, then discredited, campaign against 2004 US Presidential candidate John Kerry.Since the political...
by privately controlled print media on account of his views that the military existed primarily as a corporate tool, and for testifying in 1934 about the Business Plot
Business Plot
The Business Plot was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow United States President Franklin D...
to launch a fascist military march on Washington and a coup d’état against Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. Butler subsequently renounced his role as a "racketeer for capitalism" and published a 1935 tract titled "War is a Racket
War is a Racket
War Is a Racket is the title of two works, a speech and a booklet, by retired U.S. Marine Major General Smedley D. Butler. In them, Butler frankly discusses from his experience as a career military officer how business interests commercially benefit from warfare.After he retired from the Marine...
," which Arth believes still describes the military-industrial complex
Military-industrial complex
Military–industrial complex , or Military–industrial-congressional complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them...
(MIC) that President Dwight Eisenhower also warned about in 1961.
Subsequent chapters on Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
document claim that the U.S. went to war in those countries to further geopolitical ambitions, and to help American oil companies expand their profit base. The primary motivation for invading Afghanistan was to depose the uncooperative Taliban so that oil companies could build oil and gas pipelines from their Caspian Basin holdings in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, across Afghanistan and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, to the Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
, in order to access growing Asian energy markets.
New Pedestrianism
This chapter describes how one of the "most primal and comforting images" for humans, enclosed gardens, and community-based villages, should be the basis for cities built for humans. Arth founded New Pedestrianism (NP), a more ecology and pedestrian-oriented version of New urbanismNew urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
, in 1999. NP is based on completely separating cars from pedestrians and cyclists by putting them on two different networks. Cars are usually relegated to rear streets, while pedestrians and cyclists share a mixed use "pedestrian lane" in front. In this way, someone on a bike or walking could travel through a neighborhood and business district without having to interact with cars. The pedestrian lanes function like linear parks and greatly enhance public life and the common wealth.
Other subjects
Other subjects include:- Achieving zero population growthZero population growthZero population growth, sometimes abbreviated ZPG , is a condition of demographic balance where the number of people in a specified population neither grows nor declines, considered as a social aim....
through birth credits - Solutions to equitable taxation
- Why capital punishment is wrong
- Gun controlGun controlGun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
- TerrorismTerrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
- Ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflictIsraeli-Palestinian conflictThe Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
- How to clean up the environment and stop the increase in greenhouse gases
- How virtual reality and other developments will transform the world
- Reducing meat consumption
- Solving the energy crisis and becoming energy self-sufficient
- National Health InsuranceNational health insuranceNational health insurance is health insurance that insures a national population for the costs of health care and usually is instituted as a program of healthcare reform. It is enforced by law. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector, or a combination of both...
- Why the Two-Party duopoly should be dismantled
- How to solve the homeless problem efficiently and compassionately
- Where we are going as a species
See also
- Michael E. ArthMichael E. ArthMichael E. Arth is an American artist, home/landscape/urban designer, public policy analyst, advocate for the homeless, futurist, and author. He was a candidate for the governor of Florida in 2009 and 2010.-Art:Michael E...
- New PedestrianismNew pedestrianismNew Pedestrianism is a more idealistic variation of New Urbanism in urban planning theory, founded in 1999 by Michael E. Arth, an American artist, urban/home/landscape designer, futurist, and author...
- New Urban CowboyNew Urban CowboyNew Urban Cowboy: Toward a New Pedestrianism is a 2008 documentary film, and DVD release, about American artist and urban designer Michael E. Arth, his New Pedestrianism movement, and his efforts to rebuild the cities, beginning with “Cracktown,” an inner city slum in DeLand, Florida...
- Driverless CarDriverless carAn autonomous car, also known as robotic or informally as driverless, is an autonomous vehicle capable of fulfilling the human transportation capabilities of a traditional car. As an autonomous vehicle, it is capable of sensing its environment and navigating on its own...
- HomelessnessHomelessnessHomelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...