Aug 07 2009
Are Cooperatives a Possible Solution for Distributists?
In discussing Healthcare in a forum I belong to, the subject of cooperatives (or co-ops) came up as a possible alternative to the proposed government, or socialized, solution. This has gotten me to wonder if co-ops may be part of the solution to the development, implementation, and success of a Distributist type economic model.
For those who are unfamiliar with cooperatives, they are:
An autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. It is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.
A couple of the more familiar types of cooperatives are credit unions and agricultural co-ops.
Now I know that under some types of co-op systems, one is not independent but worker-owners of the cooperative. The best known example of this type of cooperative is the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation.
This, however, is not the type of cooperative that I am looking at. The Utility cooperatives, Agricultural cooperatives, Cooperative banking, and Business and employment co-operative can best describe the types of cooperatives I am looking at. In these types of cooperatives, individuals pull their resources to either provide goods or services to the members (i.e. energy or banking) or allow individual business to group together to market their goods and obtain raw materials needed at better prices that they would of gotten by working independently. In addition, these type of cooperatives can also supply new and/or start-up businesses with needed capital and resources. In the case of the latter, they could be considered associations as well as cooperatives.
What I am saying is co-operatives would allow like minded people to come together, pool their resources, and gain a level of buying and/or selling power while essentially keeping their independence in true Distributist fashion. Essentially, gaining the power of larger businesses while staying as small or family businesses.
