THE Global Justice Movement Website

THE Global Justice Movement Website
This is the "Global Justice Movement" (dot org) we refer to in the title of this blog.

Friday, November 21, 2014

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 46


The increasingly surreal world situation makes it ever more clear that, of all the various proposals that have been made, and (especially) those that have been implemented, only Capital Homesteading has the potential to deliver economic justice for all.  Everything else focuses exclusively on direct action to ameliorate the effects of problems, rather than dealing with the underlying causes of the problems — an individualistic or collectivist approach, rather than a truly political or systemic approach.

This is because only the Just Third Way as applied in Capital Homesteading integrates both the act of social justice and the three principles of economic justice.  The act of social justice is the means to reconcile individual ethics and social ethics, answering the question of whether it is possible to be both a good person and a good citizen with a resounding “Yes!”

How?  By organizing and, as members of a social unit, a group, acting directly on the institutional environment of the pólis, the political unit: the common good.  In this way our institutions can be brought into closer conformity with basic human nature and carry out their proper task of helping each person to become more fully human.

If that’s a little too deep for you, perhaps you might find a specific project that appeals to you and for which you might want to volunteer your time and talent to help bring about a Capital Homestead Act at the earliest possible date:

The Integrity of the Family
• CESJ’s president, Norman Kurland, gave a presentation in Louisville, Kentucky, this past Saturday.  The significance of the event for the Just Third Way is that the organization, “Descendants of American Slaves” (DAS), has informally committed itself to advancing the Just Third Way, particularly the enactment of a Capital Homestead Act at the earliest possible date.  The DAS may have the “people power” that can advance the cause of economic justice for all, possibly by rallying numbers of people at the Federal Reserve on (or about) April 15, 2015, to push for the monetary and tax reforms essential to the implementation of a Capital Homestead Act.  They appear to have an inherent understanding of the fact that you are either an owner, or are effectively owned by others: “Own or Be Owned.”  The DAS may also wish to join in the effort to present the Just Third Way at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September 2015 (below), where, if successful, key individuals and organizations will be introduced to the potential of the Just Third Way as applied in Capital Homesteading to solve the systemic problems that have undermined the integrity of all families throughout the world.

• Guy Stevenson, “the Fulton Sheen Guy,” will be a guest on the November 27, 2015 edition of Fiat TV’s “Hungry for More” show, hosted by Allan J. Smith.  Full details can be found by following the link.  Al says, “Looking forward to sharing a few stories with the Sheen ‘Guy’.”

• Sales of CESJ’s latest “Paradigm Paper,” The Political Animal: Economic Justice and the Sovereignty of the Human Person, are still doing well, with a small burst of sales this month.  The Political Animal, like all CESJ publications, is available in bulk at substantial savings.  With the 20% discount applicable to bulk sales (i.e., ten or more copies of a single title), a full case of 50 is $400, plus shipping.  Enquire at “publications [at] cesj [dot] org” for details and cost of shipping bulk/wholesale orders.  Individual copies are available now on Amazon, and on Barnes and Noble. Please note: CESJ does not sell retail.

Philosopher of the Year?
• We believe we may soon have a video to launch the Campaign for Distributive Justice.  Deacon Joseph Gorini has produced a number of short videos (here's a sample of his work), and has expressed willingness to help us out.  If successful, the first year of the Campaign will fund a series of events leading up to the World Meeting of Families, a booth at the event, and possibly an “extracurricular activity” to introduce basic concepts of the Just Third Way to key individuals and organizations.  Also in the budget for the first year are educational materials to “teach the teachers” about the Just Third Way as a foundation for Capital Homesteading, and an in-depth study about how the great shift occurred that took economic and political matters out of the realm of reason illuminated and guided by faith, and put them in to the realm of faith alone.  This resulted in what Mortimer Adler claimed is one of the ten worst philosophical mistakes of the modern age: the confusion of knowledge and opinion, and basing things on the will rather than the intellect — a sure recipe for totalitarianism and chaos, as the solidarist political scientist and jurist Heinrich Rommen pointed out.

Scenic Guatemala
  CESJ Board Member Joseph Recinos is visiting CESJ this week, but will be returning to Guatemala on Sunday, where he hopes to meet with key people involved in economic development.  Guatemala would be a perfect test case for Capital Homesteading — as would, of course, any other country or region concerned with fostering economic development in which all can participate.

• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 49 different countries and 47 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, India, and Australia. The most popular postings this past week were “Aristotle on Private Property,” “Thomas Hobbes on Private Property,” “Halloween Horror Special: The Faith that Ate Reason,” “Poverty and Freedom,” and “In Your Face.”

Those are the happenings for this week, at least those 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, so we’ll see it before it goes up.

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