Why New Rules?

Because the old ones don't work any longer. They undermine local economies, subvert democracy, weaken our sense of community, and ignore the costs of our decisions on the next generation.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) proposes a set of new rules that builds community by supporting humanly scaled politics and economics. The rules call for:

• Decisions made by those who will feel the impact of those decisions.
• Communities accepting responsibility for the welfare of their members and for the next generation.
• Households and communities possessing or owning sufficient productive capacity to generate real wealth.

These are the principles of "new localism." They call upon us to begin viewing our communities and our regions not only as places of residence, recreation and retail but as places that nurture active and informed citizens with the skills and productive capacity to generate real wealth and the authority to govern their own lives.

All human societies are governed by rules. We make the rules and the rules make us. Thus, the heart of this web site is a growing storehouse of community and local economy-building rules - laws, regulations, and ordinances - because these are the concrete expression of our values. They channel entrepreneurial energy and investment capital and scientific genius. The New Rules Project identifies rules that honor a sense of place and prize rootedness, continuity and stability as well as innovation and enterprise.

Click on any of the sectors listed and you will be taken to a web page that contains a list of categories of policy tools appropriate for that sector.

Questions and Answers
About the NEW LOCALISM

Isn't it unrealistic to expect communities to be self-sufficient?
Yes, it is. Localism does not mean self-sufficiency. Nations are not self-sufficient, and neither are communities. But nations that are self-conscious and self-determining are stronger because of it. The same holds true for communities.

But aren't there economies of scale?
Yes, but empirical evidence has shown us that in many important areas--education, health, manufacturing, farming, the generation of power, for instance--it is not globalism and bigness, but localism and smallness that are more cost-effective, more profitable, more environmentally benign, more democratic, more enduring. The only thing that smallness lacks is power, the power to make the rules.

Doesn't localism pose a threat to those who are not in the majority? Doesn't it allow those with means, or power, to secede from responsibility for the whole, leaving the powerless behind?
If localism were absolute, yes, it would do that. But it is not. Localism is an approach that allows us to sort out which roles are appropriate for which levels of government. Guarantees of basic rights must come from the federal level. Higher levels of government appropriately should set floors--e.g., a minimum wage or a minimum level of environmental compliance or minimum guarantees of political rights-- but not ceilings. They should not pre-empt lower levels of government from exceeding those minimums (as international trade agreements do, for instance.)

Why would localism guarantee efficient, environmentally benign development?
It doesn't. There are no guarantees in a true democracy, because power rests with the citizens. But it does create the possibility. And without localism, we are guaranteed the opposite: rootless corporations with no allegiance to place, other than to the place with the lowest wages and least environmental restrictions; long lines of transportation, which are inherently polluting; and out-of-scale development that wrecks neighborhoods and destroys habitat. By its very nature, localism would shorten transportation lines, encourage rooted businesses, demand an active citizenry. Localism is a development concept that would enable humanly-scaled, environmentally healthy, politically active, economically robust communities.

Isn't localism simply nostalgia for a simpler time?
No. Just as globalism is mistaken for progress, localism is often confused with a desire to reverse technology, or turn back the clock. There is nothing inherently progressive about globalization, and there is nothing inherently backwards-looking about localism. Localism has to do with (1) where decisions are made, and (2) the principles guiding those decisions. Those are issues that will and should remain central to society throughout time.

Is localism anti-technology?
The new localism relies on some of the most sophisticated technologies (e.g. integrated pest management, flexible manufacturing, solar cells.) At the end of the 19th century, as we switched from wood to steel, from water wheels to fossil fueled central power plants, and from craft shops to mass production, technology seemed to demand larger scale production systems and economies. At the end of the 20th century, as we switch from minerals to vegetables, from fossil fuels to solar energy, and from mass production to batch production, technological progress encourages decentralized, localized economies.

SECTORS

Agriculture
Agriculture is the foundation of all sustainable wealth. Even today, when agriculture plays a diminishing role, the productivity of the soil and the health of farmers are still a fundamental concern. This section of the New Rules offers information on agricultural policies and a library of local, state, national and international rules that nurture vibrant and diversified rural communities.

Energy
Energy is the force of industrial economies, both literally and figuratively. We named this section Democratic Energy and we report on the rapidly growing movement by households, businesses, and local and state governments to democratize the energy system. We offer actual rules, from statutes and zoning codes to utility tariffs, that encourage technologies and ownership forms and systems that decentralize power and energy production and energy policy decisionmaking.

Environment
Without responsibility, authority will be exercised in shortsighted ways. This section of the web site identifies rules that encourage communities to adopt a longer perspective and embrace policies that are responsible to the next generation. The most enduring way to reduce pollution is to extract the maximum value from local resources. The higher the efficiency, the lower the waste, the lower the pollution.

Equity
This section identifies rules that encourage communities to accept responsibility in two areas: towards their own less fortunate members and less fortunate members in other communities, and towards members of the next generation. Among the topics are education, health care and living wage.

Finance
The delinking of money from place and productive investment is not the inevitable result of technological advances or economic evolution. Money is a human invention and the rules that control its dynamic are also a human invention. The rules we have fashioned favor mobility over community, speculation over productive investment, volatility over permanence. This section contains rules that reconnect capital and community, with a special emphasis on those parts of the community that traditionally have been left behind.

Governance
Governance works best when those who feel the impact of the decisions are those involved in making the decisions. That principle works as well in the private sector as the public sector. This section of the web site focuses largely on process. It examines the mechanisms and rules that encourage the most democratic and socially responsible kinds of decisionmaking.

Information
Information economies are inherently global in reach. Yet the information economy also holds great promise for dramatically decentralizing the production and dissemination of information in all its forms (e.g. print, video, radio, online). This section explores policies that cities, states, nations, and international bodies are developing to encourage a sense of place and individual autonomy and security in an age of global information systems.

Retail
Retail is where business meets household, where enterprise meets community, where the value-added of the extraction, processing, manufacturing, wholesaling and distribution chain culminates with sales to the final customer. We named this section the Hometown Advantage and we cover news and rules that communities are using to foster local ownership of retail and a more intimate link between commerce and place.

Taxation
Taxation is the most visible and perhaps the most important issue to voters and policymakers around the world. In this section we will be gathering the tax rules from across all sectors and presenting them here. Taxation, often criticized as excessive government, can be an important policy tool to meet community goals. Taxes can be used to level the playing field, to limit size or sprawl, to protect the environment, and to encourage local ownership and production.