As a Christian, I realize that there is only one time in history when God gave anyone his laws, and that was when Moses lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. The commandments God gave can be found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

(EDIT: I misspoke. The only time in history when God gave anyone his WORLDLY laws. Jesus, of course, is the greater law giver, but his laws apply to the kingdom of heaven and salvation, rather than how to administer the earthly affairs of men.)

One of the interesting episodes from the narrative is when Jethro, Moses' father in law, hears about the success Moses is having and pays him a visit. Moses pays respect to Jethro, and the next morning he gets back to work. During the course of his work Jethro identifies a problem: Too many people want Moses' time to settle disputes or whatnot, and Moses can't keep doing this forever. So Jethro suggests Moses choose captains of 10, 50, and 100 to handle disputes and whatnot, and that they should be wise people and rely on revelation from God to handle matters. Later on, in Deuteronomy, Moses mentions captains of 1000.

It says in the Bible that Moses chose these people, but I cannot imagine anyone being able to choose so many people. What likely happened is what likely happens whenever someone important has to choose hundreds or thousands of people: He puts out the word of a position he needs filled, and he asks people to give him recommendations, and then he reviews the candidates and appoints the one who are worthy.

Thus, the process probably worked something like this:

1. Everyone organize themselves into groups of 10 families.
2. Choose someone from those 10 to represent you.
3. Choose one of 5 of those appointed to be a captain of 50.
4. Choose one of 10 of those appointed to be a captain of 100.
5. Choose one of 10 of the captains of 100 to be captains of 1000.
6. Moses has to approve before anyone can take their seat.
7. These become the judges you see if you have a dispute.

Although this process is not really mentioned anywhere else in the Bible (mostly by inference -- there always seems to be judges in Israel but no one really explains where they come from or how they take their seat), we know from history how things like this probably worked. These judges served until they could no longer serve, and then either they named their successor or the people had to choose someone else to replace them. Perhaps people would get upset with their judges and choose other people to judge, but I don't see this really happening anywhere in the Bible, so if it did happen, it happened quietly or was so commonplace that it didn't require any mention.

Note that parallel to these judges we have a history of military leaders who would rise up and lead Israel for a time in the Book of Judges. We also, of course, have the record of the kings of Israel and Judah, and we know that it all started when the people demanded from Samuel the prophet that he have God choose a king for them. So the idea that people in Israel had a voice in some sort of democratic fashion is pretty obvious. (Also the fact that the kings had a difficult time unifying all the tribes under their leadership.)

How does that translate to modern day?

• Organize yourselves into small groups, about 10 people. Rather, 10 families. This is just big enough that you can rely on the group, and just small enough that people won't get lost in the group. Everyone will have something to contribute.
• Appoint from that group someone to be your leader and judge. He will settle disputes among yourselves.
• From a larger group, appoint further leaders to integrate the groups of 10 into groups of 50 and 100 and 1,000.

I can't imagine 1,000 families who are united in 100 groups of 10, each group of 10 dedicated to looking out for one another, as being anything but a powerful nation that is all but unstoppable. From these 1,000 families, it shouldn't be hard to raise 1,000 young men as soldiers, or have the wealth of 1,000 older men who have established themselves, or the wisdom of 1,000 elderly men who have lived long enough on earth to know what is important. A community of 1,000 families could not only provide all the essentials of life for itself, but also give each person a purpose and a role. No one would be lost in the mass, but each would be cared for as neighbors and friends and even relatives.

As you go forward, remember that there is power in unity. The LAST thing the enemy wants us to do is to talk to our neighbors and make friends. United we stand, divided we fall!