About the Book

For centuries, we of the United States have been living with two contradictory legacies.

The founding fathers passed down to us a marvelous ideology—“equality, life, liberty, and happiness for all and “all men are created equal.” Their revolutionary vision still flourishes today.

But, the forefathers all gave us a burden—denial of the hierarchical foundations upon which the country was built that still dominate the social, economic, political, and spiritual landscape. This enduring barrier continues to block our realization of the founding dream. Hierarchies saturate the United States.

We assert that our country offers equality, while we live by an operating system of hierarchies that can’t produce equality. For centuries, people have worked to alleviate one individual hierarchy at a time, concentrating on such issues as
- genocide
- slavery
- child labor
- job safety
- suffrage
- poverty
- global imperialism

We’ve made significant progress. Tackling each hierarchy individually, however, takes enormous effort and expense. If we keep addressing them one by one, we can look forward to continuing these struggles indefinitely.

By studying hierarchies we learn their common patterns, an important tool in recognizing them. As we learn to bypass and counteract hierarchies, we start to see our problems slip away because we can see through the doublespeak and rhetoric coming from the top, then turn our focus out, not up.

Come with us as we show you how to decode the puzzles—the facts, connections, patterns, contradictions, and trends. Find countless clues in your everyday life. This process will enrich your life, lighten your load, and broaden your opportunities.

Why is it Up to Us?

If we wait around for people with top-of-the-hierarchy perspectives to lead us, we’ll be waiting and waiting. People who live their lives isolated at the top have the least incentive to recognize hierarchies and the detrimental effects on the community.

So, that leaves the rest of us. Our experiences and perspectives give us the head start we need. We’ve experienced the problems that our system creates, so we’re motivated to define the situation clearly and then create lasting change.

Because top-of-the-hierarchy perspectives haven’t worked for us, we already know how to look elsewhere for solutions that are designed with other desires, perspectives, and needs in mind. We know that people at the top don’t have all the answers because we’ve been watching them for years.

We are the ones who:

1. Do not live in the clueless dream world that hierarchies create for people at the top.

2. Know how to get things done without the resources that people on the top have.

3. Already have alternative perspectives and problem-solving methods that are valuable and effective.

4. Will be less likely to recreate hierarchies because we have experienced the frustration, shame, and scarcity they create.

5. Are in the position to know whether or not decisions and policies crate equality and opportunities for life, liberty, and happiness for all, and not just for those at the top.

Hierarchies do not have to be the way of the future. Let’s cut the puppet strings that attach us to our hierarchies.