The core idea of this chapter lies in the awareness that there is no essential foundation from which any aspect of reality can be understood or even described. According to the author, singular individuality is disconnected from both a substantive core self and human groups and identity is continually formed through individual choice in response to experience. The unavoidable consequence of this position is that political representation is not possible. Since identity is ever-changing, there is no legitimate basis for authority over any individual. The key point is that there is no stable or common ground for developing a coherent identity or social context. This leaves Fragmented Governance with no choice. All forms of organized government and economy need to be rejected as they represent domination by select groups with no grounds for legitimacy. The author provides a good example of the Fragmented approach: the homesteading movement. At the light of the devastation of the Great Depression and the resulting New Deal social assistance policies in the United States, Borsodi calls for a return to family farming in which individuals provide for their own sustenance through growing, harvesting, and preserving produce; raising livestock; and building one's own shelter. In his opinion, "the threat to human freedom … cannot be escaped in the present program of adjusting man to the regimentation of technological, industrial, and urban civilization." The only answer for him is to remove oneself from society and return to the land. Indeed, it is the "evil effects of this interdependence" in society that is the central ill to be overcome. To accomplish this independence, homesteading draws upon the tenets of self-reliance, urging self-sufficiency through individual production as the best answer both for the individual and for society in general. As a conclusion, it is understandable that a Fragmented Governance approach turns decision making over to each individual or household so that they can determine their own needs and provide for them to the greatest degree possible through self-sufficiency. Property ownership is private and any needs that cannot be met by individuals are satisfied through processes of exchange or barter. To the extent that production is social, it is limited to sharing the information needed to foster self-sufficiency through learning to grow, harvest, and store the means to survive.
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