The possibility that the combination of high profits and low demand suggests unnecessary State subsidies and government over-spending as well as price gouging doesn't seem to be occurring to anyone. It appears that, instead of having the usual warmed-over Keynesian turkey, the political and economic elites are preparing to kill the golden goose of consumer demand for Thanksgiving. (We'll spare you the rest of the bad puns, e.g., whirled peas, small potatoes, flaky economics instead of rolls . . . you get the idea.)
There are, nevertheless, some encouraging signs of hope, one of which is the results of the mock election held this past week at Mission Viejo High School, in Mission Viejo, California.
• While we hope to post the full story as soon as the current series on "Personhood and the Ontology of Personalism" is finished, the returns from the mock election held at Mission Viejo High School in California were astonishingly positive for the Just Third Way embodied in the platform of the American Revolutionary Party. The Republicans won the election, but the student using the name "Norman Kurland" as the presidential candidate for the ARP ("There's a new Norm in politics"), tied for second with the Green Party. The Libertarian Party placed fourth, and the Democratic Party running "Barack Obama" came in fifth. In last place was a single vote cast for "Mickey Mouse," who seems to be a perennial presidential contender in Southern California. It is not clear to what degree the distorted Keynesian economic program being implemented virtually worldwide differs from the policies bearing the name of Mr. Mouse.Those are the happenings for this week, at least that we know about. If you have an accomplishment that you think should be listed, send us a note about it at mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org, and we'll see that it gets into the next "issue." If you have a short (250-400 word) comment on a specific posting, please enter your comments in the blog — do not send them to us to post for you. All comments are moderated anyway, so we'll see it before it goes up.
• Guy Stevenson of Iowa has posted a comment on Alan Keyes's blog, alerting Mr. Keyes to the liberty-enhancing potential of the Just Third Way, especially Capital Homesteading. Visit the blog, post your own comment, and "go thou and do likewise" among other influential bloggers, drawing attention in particular to the possibilities inherent in Capital Homesteading to proclaim Liberty throughout the land, and unto to all the inhabitants thereof.
• This past week we sold our first copy of In Defense of Human Dignity in the United Kingdom. A few copies of Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen are already in circulation across the pond. While CESJ's publications are not (yet) bestsellers, this argues at least a growing interest in solutions other than the ubiquitous Keynesian fixes that are being used to bolster the power of the economic and political elite at the expense of ordinary people.
• A number of important meetings took place this week, although (as is usual with such events) the true significance as well as the "reportability" of the meetings has to wait on the results, if any, achieved.
• "Door opening" remains a top priority. Yesterday we received an enquiry about a possible radio interview from a station in Denver, and earlier today an e-mail arrived from the president of a religious radio association, both of which came through Guy Stevenson's efforts. Norman Kurland is an experienced "interviewee," having appeared on a number of different radio and television talk shows ranging from local community access to more typical venues, such as "Michigan Catholic Radio." Postings on the blog, especially these news items, might suggest various "hooks" to interest radio and television hosts, especially in local or regional media who don't mind an interview over a telephone or skype. Remember: there are talk shows besides Oprah and Leno, and they all need interesting and informative guests.
• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 38 different countries and 45 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from the United States, the UK, Canada, Aruba, and India. People in Aruba, Uganda, the Czech Republic, Argentina, and Belgium spent the most average time on the blog. Recent postings have generated a surprising amount of interest, arguing that people are starting to look for more creative answers to the economic crisis and the general malaise afflicting the world. Surprisingly for a series with the pedantic title of "Personhood and the Ontology of Personalism," postings have now become the most visited individual postings, followed by "The Slavery of Past Savings," "What is the Natural Law?" the non-published letter to the Wall Street Journal, "Justice, Justice, Thou Shalt Pursue," and "No One Can Breathe Against Their Will." The weekly news updates, while previously the most consistently popular items, have retained their usual readership, but far more visitors to the blog are looking at the postings on natural law solutions to world problems. Whether this is a sign of hope or of desperation is impossible to say.
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