You’re not charging me – I choose to pay

I’m currently paying a group of people to further a political agenda I find important

I’m currently paying someone to continue digging into the facts behind important political decisions

I’m currently paying the initiator of a cause to continue exposing myths that otherwise might be used as support in creating an authoritarian super-state or economic system

… by choice.

It’s likely that I would be doing the same with other things as well, music and various forms of entertainment comes to mind, if opportunity arose. The important thing to remember, and what differs from how most business models have been built the last hundred-or-so years, is that I choose to pay – often after the fact, instead of being charged – often before the fact.

I’m not alone – and I predict this once-popular way of exchanging goods to come back in style. It has been known as patronage, and it’s anything but patronising.

Quite the opposite – it’s the ultimate form of customer approval.