The following governance principles encourage the most democratic and socially responsible kinds of decision making:



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.



Embracing Subsidiarity - The burden of proof should be on a higher level of government to justify its intervention in local affairs.

Marrying Authority and Responsibility - Those who make the decisions should be those who will feel the consequences of those decisions.

Devolving Economic Power as Well as Political Authority - Concentrated economic power is the enemy of a well-functioning democracy. Develop rules at all levels that strengthen local enterprise.

Democratizing Productive Capacity - Encourage not only rooted economies but democratic technologies. Enable technologies that decentralize productive capacity to the city, neighborhood and even household level.

Enacting Minimum, Not Maximum Standards - The Bill of Rights was enacted to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. Civil liberties must be protected, even when that requires the intervention of higher levels of government. But these should exercise authority cautiously to allow for maximum individual freedom. They should establish not ceilings but floors, a minimum standard of adequacy that allows communities the autonomy to do even better.


--- Taken from the New Rules Project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.