For months I’ve been writing about The Local Economy & Governance System (LEGS) and The Basic Living Standard. Yet I’m always aware of a deeper challenge: until people truly see the mechanics of the money‑centric system we live in – not just the symptoms, but the structure – the need for a paradigm shift can feel abstract.
The irony is that the evidence sits in front of us every day. The system hides in plain sight. But because we have been conditioned to treat money as the unquestionable centre of life, we rarely recognise how deeply it shapes our behaviour, our morality, our relationships, our communities, and even our understanding of what it means to be human.
Money today is not simply a medium of exchange. It has become the organising principle of society – the lens through which value is defined, the gatekeeper of freedom, the arbiter of worth, and the mechanism through which power is accumulated. And because money has been elevated to this position, the consequences extend far beyond currency itself. They reach into motivation, identity, governance, and the very structure of our lives.
This is why centralisation exists.
This is why it grows.
This is why it always rewards those at the centre – and harms everyone else.
The money–power–centralisation equation
The relationship is simple:
Money → Wealth → Power → Control → Centralisation
Everyone understands this at some level. Even those with the least money know that having money gives them more control over their own lives.
But as you move up the hierarchy of the money‑centric system, the dynamic changes. Money no longer gives control over your own life – it gives control over other people’s lives.
And once that dynamic exists, centralisation becomes inevitable.
Centralisation is not an accident.
It is not a side‑effect.
It is the natural outcome of a system built on scarcity, hierarchy, and accumulation.
The more money someone has, the more they can centralise power. The more power they centralise, the more money they can extract.
The cycle feeds itself.
This is the architecture of the money‑centric paradigm.
What centralisation really is
People often imagine centralisation as a simple chain of command. But in reality, it is a network of overlapping chains – each one transferring power, ownership, and influence upward, away from the people affected by decisions and toward a distant centre.
Every chain works the same way:
- power flows upward
- responsibility flows downward
- accountability disappears
- humanity is lost
And because these chains replicate across every sector – politics, business, food, media, technology, governance – they form a vast web of dependency and control.
Centralisation is not just structural.
It is psychological.
It is cultural.
It is economic.
It is moral.
It is the mechanism through which the money‑centric system maintains itself.
The trick: centralisation is sold as “efficiency”
One of the most effective illusions of the money-centric system is the way centralisation is presented as:
- reasonable
- intelligent
- cost‑effective
- efficient
- modern
- inevitable
People are told that centralisation “reduces duplication”, “streamlines services”, “saves money”, or “improves coordination”.
But the truth is simple:
Centralisation always reduces the number of people with power.
It always increases the distance between decision‑makers and those affected.
It always concentrates wealth and influence in fewer hands.
And because distance removes empathy, centralisation always leads to dehumanisation.
Where we see centralisation at work
You can see the pattern everywhere:
- Politics – power pulled upward into party machines, donor networks, and distant executives.
- Government – “devolution” used as a cover for regional centralisation, reducing local representation and increasing control from Westminster.
- Globalisation – local economies hollowed out as production and decision‑making move offshore.
- Corporate structures – small businesses replaced by multinational giants.
- Supply chains – farmers and producers trapped by supermarket monopolies.
In every case, the story is the same:
Centralisation removes local agency and transfers power upward.
The dehumanisation effect
As centralisation grows, the number of links between people and the centre increases. Each link removes a layer of humanity.
When decision‑makers have no direct contact with the people affected by their decisions, they stop seeing them as people at all.
This is why:
- Policies harm communities without anyone taking responsibility
- Corporations exploit workers and environments without remorse
- Governments impose rules without understanding consequences
- Systems become cold, bureaucratic, and indifferent
Centralisation creates distance.
Distance removes empathy.
Lack of empathy enables harm.
This is the psychological architecture of the money‑centric world.
The damage centralisation has caused
We have been told for decades that centralisation “makes life easier” and “reduces cost”. But the lived reality is the opposite:
- People cannot afford to live independently on a minimum wage.
- Communities have lost identity, cohesion, and purpose.
- Local businesses have been replaced by corporate monoliths.
- Supply chains have become fragile and exploitative.
- The environment has been degraded for profit.
- Wealth has been transferred upward at unprecedented speed.
Centralisation has not reduced cost.
It has redistributed cost – downward.
Onto the people least able to bear it.
This is not a glitch. It is the design.
Localisation: the antithesis of centralisation
Centralisation only exists because the system is built on hierarchy, scarcity, and accumulation.
Remove those foundations, and centralisation has no purpose.
This is why genuine localisation – not the fake “devolution” offered by governments, but true community‑level autonomy – is the natural alternative.
Local systems:
- Operate without hierarchy
- Are built on relationships
- Are grounded in lived reality
- Prioritise needs over profit
- Are transparent and accountable
- Reconnect people to the consequences of decisions
People trust local leadership because it is human, visible, and accountable.
They do not trust distant leaders they never meet, cannot reach, and did not choose.
Locality is the natural scale of human systems. Centralisation is the unnatural one.
Why this matters now
Centralisation is not just a political or economic issue.
It is the structural expression of the money‑centric worldview.
And because the money‑centric system is collapsing – financially, socially, environmentally, morally – the centralised structures built upon it are collapsing too.
This is the doorway moment.
We can continue rearranging the furniture inside a collapsing room.
Or we can step through the doorway into a new paradigm – one built on locality, contribution, community, and human dignity.
Centralisation is the problem.
Localisation is the solution.
LEGS is the structure that makes localisation possible.
The Basic Living Standard is the foundation that makes it humane.
The Revaluation is the shift in consciousness that makes it visible.
Once you see the doorway, you cannot unsee it.
And once you understand centralisation, you understand why nothing will change until we leave the old room behind.
Adam Tugwell 