Populism refers to an approach to politics that advocates on behalf of small institutions, grass roots associations, and local communities. It holds that the interests of these groups are threatened routinely by the tendency of the national government, government bureaucracies, and large business corporations to seek dominance over them.
Productive families and their institutions are vitally important to populism, as well as to the health of democratic politics. Productive families enrich local communities by giving their members the skills and habits necessary for participation in local, democratic politics. They maintain the stability of local communities, helping them to represent their interests effectively in relation to government bodies and business corporations.
Thomas Jefferson argued that people could best protect their interests and participate most effectively as democratic citizens if they owned land and produced goods from it for themselves and for sale to others. The family was not a threatened institution during his time. Therefore, he did not write directly of productive family institutions: He likely assumed that the small farms and businesses that he was defending would in most cases be family enterprises.
Things families can do to strengthen local democracy:
1. Start with your own habitat; hold planning discussions about how to make it into a productive enterprise.
2. Devise and carry out an action plan for transforming your habitat (home, land, garage, shed, other linked structures that you might share in a multi-unit development) into the productive place that you desire.
3. Hold discussions and identify how your family needs the support of local government to help realize its goals. Learn about local zoning codes, community plans, school district rules, tax regulations, and other government actions that either help or deter you.
4. Identify how your productive habitat not only enriches you as a family, but also the lives of your neighbors and your community. Consider the "goods" (or good things) that your productive habitat enables you to give, barter, or sell locally.
5. Join local commissions, councils, and boards, and participate in election discussions informed about your interests as a producer, as well as the goods you bring to the community as a productive entity.
