What do 4th of July and co-ops
have in common?

When Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence, he is credited with saying, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

No wonder Franklin was also the founder of the first successful cooperative formed in the United States. He organized the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire in 1752.

The principles behind the Declaration of Independence that form the basis of American democracy are also the beliefs that form the basis of cooperatives. A cooperative is owned and democratically controlled by the people who use its services. Each consumer-owner has one vote regardless of his or her equity in the company; that is, wealthy members can't buy more control and everyone has an equal say.

The cooperative's annual membership meeting provides the forum in which members have a voice in the election of directors to the board, and other cooperative business. This is in contrast to investor-owned businesses where only shareholders have a vote in how the business is run; and even among shareholders, some have more votes than others depending on their shares of stock. And shareholders may not even use the services of the investor-owned company; their chief concern is its profitability.

All 25 electric power associations in Mississippi are consumer-owned cooperatives, locally owned and controlled by the people they serve.

The Declaration of Independence also declared the equality of rights of its citizens and that people had the right to organize to secure their futures when their rights were infringed upon.

At the time the Declaration was written, democracy was a pretty untested idea — but the founders of our country were determined to make it work.

So when you celebrate Independence Day with your families and friends this year, think about those principles that inspired our Founding Fathers. They also inspired the founders of your electric power association, who were determined to provide reliable, affordable power to secure the futures of their rural communities.

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