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Let us now turn to Point Four: The Principles of Systemic Response that have a high probability of making the Transformation positive.

These principles are scale-invariant, meaning that they apply equally to individuals, households, enterprises, communities and nation-States.

1. Engagement. Democracy is a feedback loop that requires active engagement. Democracy and the liberties it protects cannot be sustained by any "launch and forget" mechanisms. Setting up a regulatory system does not mean no further input is necessary; concentrations of capital and power will eventually capture or co-opt any State structure. That is the nature of concentrated-power Elites and the nature of State bureaucracies.

The majority of citizens are disengaged from participatory democracy. Barely 40% can rouse themselves to vote, never mind serve on committees, lobby local government, contact their representatives, etc. If a people get the government they deserve, then disengagement deserves devolution and collapse.

It is insightful to understand democracy as a series of feedback loops. The Elites will always have access to the State decisionmakers--this is a feedback loop. As their power becomes more concentrated, then they can purchase ever more influence over the State and thus funnel an ever-larger share of the national income into their accounts. This is a positive feedback loop.

The feedback from the citizens is weak to non-existent and thus it has to date offered little resistance to the positive feedbacks of the Elites and State. Even though introducing (or re-introducing) citizen feedback seems to have no effect, the Pareto Principle suggests that a mere 4% of the citizenry can greatly influence 64%.

As the interests of the Elite and State have diverged from the common interest, a profound political disunity has emerged. As we have seen from the example of Rome, the Elites will fight to maintain the status quo even as the Empire collapses around them. No estate, no matter how well-defended, can escape the consequences of devolution and collapse.

This disunity/disharmony is the inevitable result of Elite/State over-reach. The ultimate goal of an engaged citizenry is not to "save" the self-destructive State and Elites from the consequences of their over-reach, but to establish the foundation of what I term The New State which can only arise from the ashes of the failed plutocracy/Savior State. This will require transparency and robust feedback loops from the citizenry to the State.

If the citizenry are not already engaged, then there will be no foundation for a New State to emerge.

Advocacy--that is, demanding a larger slice of State spoils--is not engagement, it is lobbying. If we begin by asking cui bono, then the difference between engaging in participatory democracy for the common good and for private profit becomes clear.

We can summarize engagement thusly: add a feedback loop or strengthen an existing one which has been allowed to wither or decay.

2. Transparency. As I have described above, transparency is anathema to crony capitalism and the State Elites, for the truly profitable looting, embezzlement, profiteering, price-fixing, State-mandated monopolies, public pension gaming, etc. can only occur in secrecy or purposeful obscurity. I have also noted that it is the nature of capitalism to establish cartels, oligarchy and monopoly as the most profitable alternatives to competition, and to cloak or mask these structures behind facades of free-market capitalism.

The State also has a tropism for secrecy, as all the partnering of the Elites and the State gives the lie to the separation of powers, free-market capitalism, and all the rest of the intellectual framework which supports the status quo.

On a household level, transparency can take the form of an accurate household budget. Without this transparency, then prudent planning is impossible. This holds true for households, enterprises, towns and nations.

The primary goal of an engaged citizenry is thus public transparency