How do we achieve a voluntary society,

one where personal freedom and personal responsibility are at the forefront of every decision? How does a voluntary society handle problems?

What constitutes abuse? How do we come to consensus on acceptable definitions of abuse, and then agree on the proper action to be taken while still respecting individual freedom?

One need only look at the real world results of delegating our responsibilities in problem management to a central authority called government to see that it doesn’t work. Power is a corrupting force. Personal responsibility is what is required here.

What happens when those in the highest positions in our society are the worst offenders?

Lead By Example

This works both ways.

If those at the top of a society are abusive and apathetic, if they disrespect and disregard the equal value of others and always act in service of themselves, then this will be seen by many as tolerable behavior. It will be seen as the path to success. If they are doing it, so can I.

If those at the top are honest and compassionate, if they are inclusive, tolerant and engaged, if they act in service of others, then this will be seen as the path to success in our society.

Steem is a microcosm of society as a whole.

The difference, however, is that people can choose not to participate in our little version of reality here on steem. This seems to be the choice most are making.

Now I realize most people don’t even know about steem. We can all agree though, that many, many of the people who do know about steem, and once participated in our little society, choose not to anymore. Why?

Ask yourself, what could you have done differently? What can you do differently now?
Are you willing to accept any personal responsibility for the success or failure of our society?

I just passed the 2 year mark here on steem. I’ve only ever had one account. To me this is about being honest. Everything I do and say, every vote I cast reflects on me, on my values and reputation. I’m ok with that. I treat others how I want to be treated and I live with the consequences.

Until recently my vote, whether up or down wasn’t worth anything. Therefore using it as a curating tool to downvote and remove rewards from accounts who I felt were abusing our community was futile. Especially since most of the really truly harmful abuse (the abuse that turns so many away from steem) was done by powerful accounts who used their power to discourage content creators that they simply didn’t agree with, while self voting and vote selling.

These are the biggest problems here. These are the issues that must be addressed if we want to gain and retain users. This is the abuse that leads to all of the other abuse.

Now, as one of the top ten stakeholders on the #weedcash network I find myself in a position where what I do actually has an impact. Not on the main problems of steem mentioned above, but on the #weedcash tag and posts. I take this position very seriously. The success of #weedcash is also my success. The success of steem is my success. I will continue to invest my time and effort into creating and curating quality content on the #weedcash network.

I realize that the dollar value of steem is way way down and investors are in survival mode trying to get as much money as they can out of their seriously depleted investments. Spreading the daily rewards out more judiciously sounds like even less for them at a time when they feel they can’t tolerate any more losses. This is short sighted however. What brought people to steem in the first place, and what will bring them back is hearing that people are making money blogging about topics they are interested in. Steem has had a three year head start but competition is coming up fast. We need to get the word out now that steem is an incentivized, censorship free social media network full of real people who care. We do care, don’t we?

For steem to thrive we all must do our part to make sure quality content creators that have a following aren’t deprived of financial incentive by powerful accounts that don’t agree with a position on a topic. If we agree that being a platform for controversial content, content that is censored by the big guys, is something we want here then we need take action to retain these creators. Many have huge followings and could bring so many users here if they were making money.

There are so many great artists, writers, thinkers, and freedom loving people here on steem. We all need to commit to making sure quality content creators are recognized and appreciated for their work. The numbers are small enough on the network now that every piece of quality content could receive a couple dollars minimum. If we could achieve this goal word would spread and content creators would once again begin to join our community.

My pledge is this:

I will only ever have one account @choosefreedom

I will never vote for myself

I will never buy votes

I will continue to only manually curate posts, never using bots of any kind

I will actually read everything I cast a vote on

#supporthonesty

I was called to this challenge by my friend here on the blockchain @jonyoudyer.

The challenge was this:

1. Develop your own post about supporting honesty or fighting abuse on the Steem blockchain. Your post should be as detailed as you want it to be.

2. Make your own challenge promise statement and banner

3. Tag the post with #supporthonesty

4. Nominate 7 people to attempt the challenge

I pass the baton to @doitvoluntarily @ceattlestretch @hippie-witha-gun @skramatters @fishyculture @barge
@valued-customer