Yesterday
we looked at the problem of viewing redistribution as a solution instead of as
an expedient to buy time on the way to developing and implementing a
solution. We decided that, consistent
with common sense and Say’s Law of Markets (which is an application of
principles of common sense, e.g., you
can’t consume something that hasn’t been produced), viewing redistribution in
any form as anything other than a short term expedient is not a good idea.
Thus, the increasing demand for redistribution does
have the advantage of demonstrating where the conceptual problem lies. This is the fixed belief that what common
sense tells us is an expedient in an emergency is, instead, a solution. This is a solution that “conservatives” and
capitalists know cannot be sustained,
as the mounting global debt crisis, etc.,
demonstrates.
To unify both “liberals” and “conservatives”
together in the Just Third Way camp, then, in our opinion the first step is to
bring them to understand that what both “sides” now believe to be the solution
is only a temporary expedient to tide people over until a just and feasible solution
can be developed and implemented.
Once people understand the solution — we don’t
mean the technical aspects, but the fact that the solution is widespread direct
ownership of capital — then we can discuss the mechanics, i.e., acts of social justice to reform the tax and monetary systems,
how the annual growth ring enables us to empower everyone with capital
ownership without redistribution, the political and financial feasibility of
Capital Homesteading, and so on.
None of this will make sense, however, until and
unless people first understand that
redistribution is not, and can never be a solution. They may have to surrender deeply held and
cherished beliefs, but it is essential to get away from this dead end. In our opinion, then, our first task is to
get them to see that what they’ve always thought of as the solution is anything
but a solution. Then we can start
talking about the Just Third Way.
The basic issue is, as usual, power. To explain, the whole purpose of life is
threefold, although CESJ is only concerned with the first two “folds.”
One, we
must meet our “animal needs” to secure life itself. Then we must,
Two,
exercise our natural rights to life, liberty, and property to become more fully
human (“pursue happiness”).
Three (the
one we necessarily leave to personal choice and conscience), exercise our
supernatural rights, that is, our religious rights and duties, however we
accept or define them, to prepare ourselves for whatever we believe our
ultimate end to be.
Exercising rights requires power, and (as Daniel
Webster put it) “Power naturally and necessarily follows property.” To fulfill the purpose of life, then, every
child, woman, and man ordinarily must have the opportunity and means to become
an owner of capital.
Most people know that something has to be
done. No one disagrees with that. We can support our potential friends and
allies in that without reservation. The
question, however, is what has to be
done. Do we go with temporary fixes
under the illusion that they are a solution, or do we use the temporary fixes
to buy time to restructure the social order using the methods of social justice
to achieve economic justice so that as many people as possible become capital owners? That’s the issue.
