The basic element of any society, any social organism, is the dynamic of self-interest/collective-interest. These interests are not separate from one another and are not, by default, conflicted. Attempting to exclude one in favor of the other is not really possible.

The interests of the self and the collective are not diametrically opposed as they are often portrayed to be. One's self-interest is never pursued in an absolutely free state. It is amended and given relevance by the collectives one finds it necessary to belong to.

It is plain for everyone to see that it is in everyyone's self-interest to be part of one sort of collective or another. Collectives are actually created out of self-interest. A family is a collective created out of the self-interest to reproduce. A self-interest to educate or be educated creates the collective of a school. A club, business, gang, community, etc. are all formed and sustained by individuals seeking to fulfill particular self-interests. And ultimately one must be part of an overall society that allows for the orderly pursuit of self-interested groups which have an interest in the collective society that sustains them. So, it is in one's self-interest to form collectives wherein one's self-interests can best be realized. One participates in the maintenance of collective organizations as a means of fulfilling one's self-interests while it is in the interest of the collective to allow individuals to pursue self-interests, which includes maintaining the collective.

The two aspects of the social dynamic, self-interest/collective-interest, must be vigilantly attended to so as to maintain the optimum balance between them at all times. Such a balance cannot be arrived at from edicts and manipulations conjured up by a central government body that favors one aspect of the social dynamic over the other. It can only be arrived at through the vigorous interaction of individual members of communities as they continually strive to strike an optimum balance.

The way to achieve an ongoing optimum balance in a social body is to structure it with respect to the way in which all things are naturally structured; the macrocosm is formed out of the microcosm. All things are built up from small discrete units.

The universe itself is created out of a mass of tiny particles, as is every object in it. A building is comprised of small components, bricks, for example. Anatomical structures are formed from microscopic cells.

Overall, a healthy functioning body depends on the healthy function of each and every one of its organs. The body's organs in turn depend on the healthy function of the individual cells from which they are constructed. So, when each and every cell is in good working order the entire organism they incorporate is assured a healthy life.

So too with respect to social bodies; when each and every locality is in good working order the entire social organism they incorporate is assured a healthy existence.

The body is instructed to provide for the health and welfare of each and every cell and the cells in turn provide for the healthy existence of the whole body. And this is also how a social body could work. That is, constructed around the health and welfare of each and every locality.

Now, many people, perhaps most, get defensive about any suggestion that human constructs, such as societies, can be in any way aligned with anything in the natural realm. They believe that human ideas and constructs occupy a higher plane than lowly nature. So, you can't compare such disparate things with one another. What are teeth in comparison to a social body, for example.

But, of course, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the two but that in no way discounts the relevant comparisons that can be made between them. The desired and presumably universal goal here is to strike an ongoing balance and reciprocity between the self-interest and collective-interest that characterize a social body. That balance and reciprocirty is illustrated quite nicely in the human body where individual autonomous cells engineer their own survival through a collective body of their own design.

As it is now the self-interest of a powerful few dominates societal landscapes everywhere. Whether the power elites are out for themselves or proclaimed do-gooders or both, they thwart the possibility of creating a synergetic symbiosis between the self and the collective. They interfere with the natural confluence of the self-interest/collective-interest dynamic. This is, of course, unavoidable given the structure of social bodies now in place.

So we need to consider a radically different social system with a prescription for the synergistic embodiment of self and collective interests.

Self-interest is considered by many to be a bad thing in and of itself. But it isn't. It's all a matter of how it's directed. For example, self-interest during our primitive existence is what accounted for the formation of close knit groups where individuals put the solidarity of the group above themselves. It was self-interest in one's own survival that bound individuals together. Surviving in the wild on one's own was not an option. Belonging to a tribe increased one's chances of survival exponentially. It was also in one's self-interest to contribute to the tribe's well-being, to see to it that it was as harmonious as possible. For a tribe in optimum condition was much more likely to survive and that, again, benefited each and every individual's self-interest because their survival depended upon the collective condition of the tribe.

So, again, one's self-interest is never pursued in an absolutely free state. It is amended and given relevance by the collectives one finds it necessary to belong to. But sometimes the collectives that individuals belong to, like corporations and financial instututions operate in an isolated insular way, only interested in generating profit for themselves. These collective entities believe they are pursuing their self-interest with their money making schemes but, as they eventually find out, they are not. They behave like cancerous tumors seeking their own growth at the expense of the whole social body's well-being. The tumors metastasize and the cancer spreads.

A full realization and understanding of the self-interest/collective interest dynamic on the part of each and every individual would be a positive step toward weaving a sound socioeconomic fabric in which everyone could put their trust.

With this in mind we need to rethink and redesign the whole system where the government, the economy, the banking industry, the media and the citizenry form as seamless a social fabric as possible.

We need to define the terms, create the framework and lay out a blueprint for the radical changes necessary to effectively govern and efficiently conduct business in the 21st Century.

First and foremost we need to focus on the fundamentals and then focus on them some more and then keep focusing on them.