*Project 2026 Framework — Principle #9* > **"It is the responsibility of our systems to ensure that we all have the opportunity to thrive."** --- ## Contents 1. [Definition](#definition) 2. [Redefining Wealth](#redefining-wealth) 3. [The ALICE Framework](#the-alice-framework) 4. [Rights vs. Entitlements](#rights-vs-entitlements) 5. [When Systems Fail](#when-systems-fail) 6. [The Cooperative Response](#the-cooperative-response) 7. [Related Principles](#related-principles) 8. [How to Get Involved](#how-to-get-involved) --- ## Definition Basic Needs are Basic Rights is the foundational values statement of Project 2026. It holds that housing, healthcare, childcare, food, transportation, and technology are not optional amenities, earned privileges, or government entitlements — they are the baseline conditions required for a human being to live with dignity and participate fully in society. As such, they are rights, and it is the responsibility of our systems to ensure access to them for everyone. This principle is the ethical anchor of the entire Project 2026 framework. Every other principle — decentralization, sovereignty, radical inclusion, true democracy — exists in service of making this one real. > **Core claim:** A society that allows its members to go without housing, food, or healthcare while those systems generate profit for distant investors has not failed accidentally. It has been designed that way. Redesigning it is not charity — it is justice. --- ## Redefining Wealth Project 2026 begins with a deliberate redefinition of wealth. We define wealth not as the accumulation of money or assets, but as **well-being and prosperity** — the condition of having what you need to thrive, contribute, and build a future. This is not a soft or sentimental definition. It is a structural one. A community where everyone has stable housing, access to healthcare, nutritious food, and reliable transportation is a wealthier community — in every meaningful sense — than one where a small number of individuals hold large financial portfolios while their neighbors struggle to survive. The shift in definition changes everything downstream: what we measure, what we build, what we call success, and who we design our systems for. --- ## The ALICE Framework Project 2026 uses the **ALICE Threshold** as its operational definition of basic needs. ALICE stands for **Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed** — a framework developed by United Way to describe households that are working but cannot afford the basics. The ALICE Threshold represents the minimum amount a person, couple, or family needs to earn to afford all basic needs. It is not a poverty line — many ALICE households are employed, sometimes working multiple jobs. They are not poor by official measures, but they are one emergency away from crisis. ALICE identifies six core basic needs: | Need | What it includes | |---|---| | **Housing** | Stable, safe, affordable shelter | | **Healthcare** | Preventive and acute care, mental health | | **Childcare** | Safe, quality care that enables parents to work | | **Food** | Nutritious, consistent, dignified access | | **Transportation** | Reliable access to work, services, and community | | **Technology** | Internet access, devices, digital literacy | Project 2026 treats each of these as a domain for cooperative ownership and community governance — not just a service to be delivered. ### Extended Domains Beyond the ALICE six, Project 2026 also identifies four domains that are implied within the core needs but deserve explicit attention: - **Energy** — affordable, reliable, and ideally community-owned power - **Education** — access to learning at every stage of life - **Justice** — safety, security, and restorative systems (see *Public Safety is Free*) - **Environment** — a livable, healthy physical world as the precondition for everything else --- ## Rights vs. Entitlements The word *entitlement* has been weaponized in American political discourse to suggest that people who need assistance are making illegitimate claims on resources they haven't earned. Project 2026 rejects this framing entirely. Basic needs are not entitlements. They are not gifts from the government. They are not rewards for good behavior. They are the responsibilities of the systems we have collectively built and that we collectively sustain through our labor, taxes, participation, and care. When a system fails to meet these responsibilities, the failure belongs to the system — not to the person left without. > **The distinction matters:** Calling housing an entitlement positions the person without housing as the problem. Calling housing a right positions the system that fails to provide it as the problem. The framing determines where energy and resources go. --- ## When Systems Fail No system is perfect, and Project 2026 does not expect perfection. What it does expect is that when systems fail — when someone falls through the cracks, faces a crisis, or cannot access what they need — there are safety nets designed to catch them, help them heal, and restore their footing. Safety nets in this framework are not charity or shame. They are the natural consequence of a society that takes collective responsibility seriously. They exist because we acknowledge that life is unpredictable, that structural inequalities are real, and that no individual failing is ever purely individual. The test of a safety net is not how efficiently it processes paperwork. It is how quickly and completely it restores the person's ability to thrive. --- ## The Cooperative Response The primary mechanism Project 2026 proposes for making basic needs into real rights is **cooperative ownership** of the systems that deliver them. Private equity currently owns significant portions of the infrastructure of basic needs — housing, healthcare facilities, food distribution, childcare chains. Profit extraction from these systems is a direct cause of unaffordability and inaccessibility. The cooperative response is to convert these systems, over time, into community-owned, community-governed enterprises where: - Surplus stays in the community rather than being extracted by distant investors - Governance reflects the needs of users and workers, not shareholders - Access is determined by need and contribution, not ability to pay at the point of service This is not a utopian vision. It is a proven model with living examples — in Lansing and around the world. **Lansing examples:** - Sunshine House — cooperative housing ownership - Urbandale Farm — community food sovereignty - The Entrepreneurial Journey — cooperative prosperity and wealth-building --- ## Related Principles - Create a True Democracy — rights require political power to protect them - Decentralize Everything — rights are made real through community ownership and governance - Sovereignty — rights must be protected by structures that cannot be easily taken away - Radical Inclusion — rights mean nothing if they don't reach everyone - Public Safety is Free — prevention is the most cost-effective form of rights protection - Create True Opportunity for Prosperity — rights are the floor; prosperity is what's built on top --- ## How to Get Involved - **Listen** to the Project 2026 Podcast — each episode explores how basic needs become basic rights in practice - **Learn** about the ALICE framework at [United Way ALICE](https://www.unitedforalice.org/) - **Visit** The Fledge and connect with cooperative projects in Lansing - **Support** Fledge Foundation programs that meet basic needs directly - **Join** the Fledge DAO to participate in community governance > *Project 2026 is a response to concentrated power. The most direct form of participation is showing up.* --- *Project 2026 · The Fledge · Lansing, Michigan · Initiated December 2025*
YOUTUBE Zdi2OPqM1Ys A discussion on Ethics