Principle 5

A New Agrarian prefers informal means of social and economic organization to formal ones.

Agrarians abhor concentrations of power. This is nearly universal, whether it makes them politically conservative or liberal; some find concentration of political power more abhorrent, some concentration of economic power. But power corrupts, and New Agrarians detest all its forms equally. Concentration of political power withers free thought and voluntarism; concentration of economic power stifles initiative and innovation; concentration of military power enforces tyranny and breeds barbarism.
Yet New Agrarians recognize the need for order in a community or a society. They are not anarchists, wistfully though they may glance in that direction. People do and must live in groups, and they must make decisions about their collective future in some organized way. The New Agrarian prefers, however, an informal order based (ideally) on convention, courtesy, and cooperation, or (practically) a semi-formal "grass-roots" order that invites the contributions of all, accepts diversity rather than demanding consensus, and leaves room at the margins for dissent. Enforcement, too, should be as informal as possible, relying on community disapproval rather than force to maintain order. Being practical (see principle 3), New Agrarians recognize the need to "get things done," but are unwilling to sacrifice diversity and innovation in the name of questionable progress.

>> 6. integrate the economic and the spiritual