What if America were tribal?

America used to be tribal, and so did the rest of the world. Many parts of the world still are tribal. But, those parts have bloody tribal rivalries, horrible social divisions, and poverty. We don’t want to be like them, do we? On the other hand, having tribes creates a sense of social security, family, social closeness, and belonging. So, maybe we want the good parts of tribal life without the bad.

How would modern day American tribes function? Well, the ladies could get together and do nesting activities. In this age, that might include some high tech tasks, and work at home tasks. But, the point of tribal living is partly so that children would be taken care of. If all of the ladies are in the nest either taking care of the young, or doing nest tasks (whatever modern nest tasks would be) that might be a lot better for the kids. They wouldn’t be abandoned like they are now.

But, how would tribes form, and what would that mean financially? Would each tribe have their own social security system? If you were old, would the tribe take care of you? Large societies like America make people feel uncared for, especially old people. Would tribes be more warm and caring? And how large would each tribe be, or would there be sub-tribes? Is 1000 people average per tribe good, or should there be more like 100,000 or a million? Would people join a tribe for a few years and then move on to some other tribe? That would confuse the social security system. If you were paying in at one location and taking out at another, boy would that be complicated.

Would tribes be based on family ties, race, or what type of person you are. Personally, I mix more with the yoga, music and spiritual crowd. I wouldn’t want a tribe of narrow minded Christians or Jews — not that there is anything bad about being narrow-minded. Would there be a tribe for me? If tribes are based on what type of person you are, it should be based also on what type of person you would raise your children and grandchildren to be assuming you would have them. It would be a long-term or permanent thing. Perhaps people could belong to more than one tribe. One for family, and another based on interests, beliefs, or lifestyle.

I don’t know if a voluntary tribalization of America would be good or bad, but it might be nice to feel you belong somewhere because modern society is very alienating!

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