News from the Network, Vol. 3, No. 52

This is the final News from the Network for the year, so it would probably be considered appropriate to go over the major events of the past year in brief. This is all the more important in that the great advances the movement has made in the past year are not readily evident to people who think of the act of social justice in terms of acts of charity or justice directed to someone's individual good, and don't take into account the fact that the act of social justice consists of organizing to act directly on our institutions — the social manifestations of the common good.

That being the case, here are the major events over the past year on our journey to implement Capital Homesteading by 2012.

• At the top of the list, of course, is the loss of Kemp Harshman, esq., CESJ's volunteer legal counsel, friend, advisor, and (incidentally) chief source of funding for the past several years. Thanks to Kemp's special knowledge of the ins and outs of FCC bandwidth auctions, requirements, and things that still make our head spin, CESJ has ownership of bandwidth that not only provides the means to educate about the Just Third Way, but also generates a moderate core income to cover basic organizational expenses.

• Another great loss over the past year was CESJ friend and co-founder Robert P. Woodman, who died recently in Cleveland, Ohio. Active in church and civic affairs, Bob worked to integrate the precepts of the Just Third Way in all his interactions with others.

• The move to have Capital Homesteading enacted by 2012, the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's original land-based Homestead Act, has become more focused and more targeted, thanks in large measure to the establishment of the office of "National Field Secretary" and the institution of regular planning meetings for the "Fed Rally" that takes place each April, on or about "Tax Slavery Day."

• The cause of monetary justice was advanced by the republication of Dr. Harold Moulton's 1935 monograph, The Formation of Capital. Originally presented as an alternative to the Keynesian New Deal, The Formation of Capital showed the falsity of the Keynesian claim that new capital formation can only be financed by cutting consumption, accumulating money savings, then investing. Moulton's work laid the foundation for Kelso and Adler's advances, detailed in The New Capitalists (1961), that applied Moulton's "pure credit" (i.e., credit extended without first accumulating savings) findings to the problem of financing widespread ownership of capital. Moulton's book is planned as the first in a series of "economic justice classics," consisting of reprints of important works from the past.

• Michael D. Greaney, CESJ's Director of Research, published Supporting Life: The Case for a Pro-Life Economic Agenda, making the case for adopting Capital Homesteading as a viable alternative to increasing State control of people's lives and the economy. Supporting Life is intended to be the first in a series of CESJ "green papers" detailing specific aspects of the Just Third Way in a way not possible in more general presentations.

• Michael D. Greaney also joined an internet association called "Help A Reporter Out" ("HARO") as a Just Third Way source for reporters, talk show hosts, freelance writers, bloggers, and others. To date, Mike has arranged three radio interviews for Norman Kurland, and provided a number of reporters and writers with information regarding aspects of the Just Third Way, particularly Justice-Based Management.

• On LinkedIn, Mike has made a number of connections with various networks who have expressed interest in Capital Homesteading and Justice-Based Management. In particular, Mike was able to connect CESJ with an old friend from college, Lydia Fisher, author of Cinderella of Wall Street. Lydia was of immense assistance in arranging the logistics for a trip of the CESJ core group to Chicago, putting up everyone in her downtown condo, and treating everyone so well that no one wanted to leave.

• In Chicago, the core group met with Robert Colangelo, executive director of the National Brownfield Association and arranged for Norm to speak at the NBA conference in Buffalo, New York, on the subject of financing the right-sizing of cities. The meeting was arranged by John Dondanville of Detroit, a friend of Mike's from college. Robert and John are scheduled to come into Washington in the second week in January to continue the discussions.

• Also in Chicago, the core group met with Father John McCloskey of the Opus Dei Prelature. Father McCloskey has been active in the effort to restore the natural moral law, the foundation of both Catholic social teaching (as well as Jewish and Islamic) and the Just Third Way.

• "Out of the blue" David Kelly made contact with CESJ. Dave has been involved in the effort to restore the Harris Neck area of Georgia to its original owners, from whom it was taken during the Second World War. Dave has already gathered significant political and financial support, has had the effort mentioned in The New York Times and on 60 Minutes, but sees in the Just Third Way an important addition to the effort. Dave has invited Norm to make a presentation before the Harris Neck people early in the coming year.

• Mr. Pollant Mpofu of London, U.K., also came across CESJ apparently by pure serendipity. He believes that the Just Third Way is exactly what Ireland, the U.K., and Africa — especially his native South Africa — need to restore economic justice and make the world work for 100% of humanity. Pollant has been making continuing efforts to obtain meetings for Mike and Norm with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland), the British Prime Minister, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, and the governor of the Bank of England.

• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 47 different countries and 49 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from the United States, Canada, the UK, Brazil, and Ireland. People in Croatia, Venezuela, Canada, Finland, and Israel spent the most average time on the blog. Yet again, and still possibly due to the growing perception that something is wrong with the basic assumptions of Keynesian economics (as well as other schools of economics based on the Currency School of finance), the most popular posting by far is one from a while back, "Thomas Hobbes on Private Property," that briefly explains the similarities in the way Keynes and Hobbes abolish private property. This is followed by "Aristotle on Private Property," "Games People Play," "Why Government Debt is Really Bad," and Part I of "How to Save the Global Economy."

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.

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