Potential candidates for the Republican nomination for
president are rising and falling like the stock market. Also like the stock market, there’s nothing
behind any of them, other than the goal of getting rid of the Democrats . . .
whose goal is to keep the Republicans out.
In the meantime, plain, old, ordinary people just sit back waiting for
some leader to rise up with a vision that has something in it for them, e.g., Capital Homesteading for every
citizen, instead for their cronies on Wall Street or the government.
That’s why what’s been happening this week is so encouraging:
• On Wednesday of this
week, members of the CESJ core group and
representatives of Equity Expansion
International, Inc. met with a representative of the government of the
Republic of Guinea. There was interest
expressed in the idea of a Citizens
Land Bank to ensure that the mineral and agricultural wealth of the country
accrues to the benefit of every child, woman, and man directly, rather than
through State or collective ownership, or through jobs “created” by foreign
investors. A follow-up meeting has
already been arranged at the Embassy in Washington, DC.
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| Family Meeting |
• Norman Kurland met
in Washington, DC on Thursday with the head of the Progressive National Baptist
Convention through the efforts of Rev. Virgil Wood, who was a member of Dr.
Martin Luther King’s organization. Great
interest was expressed in the revival of Detroit, as well as participation in
the upcoming World Meeting of Families to be held in September in Philadelphia.
• Astrid, CESJ’s Fellow from Belgium, is visiting for two
weeks, and has participated in a number of events with top government officials,
and has been instrumental in serving as a translator in dialogs with officials
from the Republic of Guinea.
 |
| Earth-Shaking Satire |
• Pope Francis
recently mentioned that people should read a science fiction novel written in
1907, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s Lordof the World. Written by a monsignor
and recommended by a pope, you’d think that the theme would be “Catholic” — and
it is . . . but the issue addressed is of universal concern. We’re starting a blog series on Benson and
the book next week to help people understand that it’s not just “a Catholic
thing,” and that Benson was writing a very exaggerated, over-the-top
satire. It’s from a “Catholic” point of
view because that’s what Benson knew best.
A modern reader might have to work a little to get past what seems to be
an atmosphere drenched in religion, but it’s worth the effort. The dangers of a totally secular State that
takes over both organized religion and the Family — as does the one in Lord of the World — should be evident to
people of all faiths and philosophies.
Taken as a parable (as Benson intended), the point is that a society
that rejects religion and virtue ends up accepting and worshipping “Antichrist”
(or the equivalent in other faiths), a personification of pure evil. By the way, Benson described himself as “screaming”
in the book, so be prepared to find everything
exaggerated all out of proportion, even the emphasis on Catholicism. Keep that in mind, and you’re not likely to
be offended at what is clearly done for satiric effect . . . even (or
especially) if you’re Catholic — and Catholics who don’t realize the novel is a
satire have been very offended at
it. Just remember that the satirist
Evelyn Waugh took Benson as a model, and you should have no trouble.
• Packages of books
have gone out to His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke and Deacon Keith
Fournier. Included were copies of Freedom
Under God, The
Restoration of Property, and The
Political Animal.
• As of this morning, we have had
visitors from 46 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, the United Kingdom, Canada, Indonesia, and Greece. The most
popular postings this past week were “The Purpose of Production,” “Why Did
Nixon Take the Dollar Off the Gold Standard?” “Thomas Hobbes on Private
Property,” “CESJ Core Group Meets ‘Pope’s Rabbi’,” and “What’s Wrong with the
Pro-Life Movement?”
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.
#30#