Although this has been a short (work) week, there have been a number of significant events. The Democrats and Republicans appear to have reached another meaningless compromise to avoid the "fiscal cliff" that the Just Third Way as applied in a Capital Homesteading has the potential to eliminate, possibly within a generation. More importantly, people around the world are being introduced to the ideas of the Just Third Way, with some serious attention being paid to the potential Capital Homesteading may have to bring an end to the current economic malaise:• Amazon has (finally) put up the cover image for CESJ's latest publication, The Restoration of Property, which might help generate sales. Visit the webpage, buy a copy, and post a review. (Bulk orders — ten or more copies — are available from the publisher; enquire at publications [at] cesj [dot] org. We have distribution facilities in the U.S., U.K., and Australia.)
• On Thursday members of the CESJ core group met with a philosophy professor from a small Catholic college in the eastern United States. Most of the discussion focused on the compatibility of CESJ's "Just Third Way" with Aristotelian/Thomist philosophy and the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, especially the economic justice principles of Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler, and the analysis of the thought of Pius XI by Rev. William J. Ferree, one of CESJ's co-founders. CESJ's "Justice University" was also discussed and having his college give JU classes, as well as the possibility of exploring the feasibility of forming a CESJ chapter as a student club on campus. The professor took copies of The Formation of Capital (1935), Introduction to Social Justice (1948), Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen (2004), In Defense of Human Dignity (2008), Supporting Life (2010), and The Restoration of Property (2012).
• The Global Harmony Association (GHA), headed by Dr. Leo Semashko and headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia, has published three reviews of its book, The ABC of Harmony. Two of the reviews are by Michael Ellis, PhD, GHA Ambassador of Peace from Harmony for Australia, President, The Global Peace Center, Melbourne, Australia, and Matthew Gmalifo Mabefam, MPhl. (Social Work), Deputy to the Leader of Socio-group (GHA-Africa), Department of Social Work, University of Ghana; Legon, Ghana. The third review is by Michael D. Greaney, CESJ's Director of Research and Ambassador and Co-Director of the Embassy for Human Rights from Harmony and Justice.
• Some interesting discussions have taken place in a LinkedIn group focused on reviving business in Ireland. A gentleman in Dublin is trying to bring together a minimum of half a dozen people to discuss what to do about the current situation in that country. We have suggested some possible actions, such as organizing a focused effort to introduce members of the national legislature to the principles of the Just Third Way as applied in Capital Homesteading, and have offered the material on the CESJ website to support the effort, as well as making members of the CESJ core group available for consultation. Ireland would be ideal for a pilot project, with no language barrier, a compatible legal system, and a government that appears to be trying to make the shift to encouraging instead of discouraging business. The effort has received endorsements from a business coach in Boston, Massachusetts, and a librarian in Princeton, New Jersey.
• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 54 different countries and 53 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 United Kingdom, Ireland, and India. People in Mexico, Malta, the United States, Brazil, and Portugal spent the most average time on the blog. The most popular postings this past week were "Thomas Hobbes on Private Property," "Aristotle on Private Property," "Islamic Banking," "Is Choice Unconstitutional?," and "The Turning Point, II: The Solution."
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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