A community is an organization, system, or collection of people who "want" to live and work together; it is NOT DEPENDENT on money to function or maintain. (To be clear: though we will not be dependent on money to function or to maintain our community at the local level; we will still be generating income taxes for the state & the federal level. This is accomplish through community cooperative business ventures that generate income for the members of our community, who in turn pay federal & state income taxes. And when members of our community spend those money on goods and services, such as when they travel to visit other places in America, or on luxury goods, or on specialized tools and machinery that we can't make ourselves, they will help to generate additional tax dollars for the state & federal level.)
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,”
-- President John F. Kennedy
[They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him. -- Mark 12:14 ]
In other words, a community is any organization, system, or collection of people that is fully self-sufficient and self-sustaining. The product of their labor (be it intellectual or physical labor) directly improve their community and their local environment, which in turn enhances their quality of life. Many so-called communities are not a community according to this definition, but are in reality a collection of individualists cohabiting the same area for business/economic sake. When that economic source is removed, the people leave and their town/city collapse. The numerous abandoned mining towns since the Western days of the U.S. are examples of this. When the mine dried up, the miners left and all the business that cater to these miners also left and the town collapsed; which tells us that the people did not come there to live together in the first place. They came for the money, for the economic opportunities. If you analyze all the modern abandoned cities & townships, you will see they follow the exact same pattern; remove the economic source and they collapse. Why? Because they were never a community to begin with. If the economic source was to be removed from a true community that is not dependent on money to function or maintain. Not only will that community not collapse, but instead the people will work together to create a new different economic source for their community.When we examine the Mayflower colony, we see that they fit our project's definition of a community. The colony was formed by people who wanted to live and work together. With the help of Native Americans they acquired the necessary local knowledge to adapt and thrive in a new environment, allowing them to create a fully self-sufficient and self-sustaining system; which ensured that everyone were fed and sheltered. The fruits of their labor were re-invested back into their community to help improve their quality of life. Every year across the U.S. we celebrate Thanksgiving and remember the Mayflower colonist, but yet not a single school teach the young generation the wisdom behind their success. The wisdom of having a fully self-sufficient & self-sustaining community, composed 100% with people who want to live and work with each others.
