Even though we have provided
links to the
first posting in this little series, as well as the
second posting in this series (so people can read the whole story, if they
are so inclined), some readers — admittedly very, very few, a statistically “zero
sample” — insist on either putting words into our mouth or don’t bother to read
before jumping to a (wrong) conclusion or making an assertion they pull out of .
. . the blue.
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| De Lamennais: socialism = social justice |
So, please bear with us if
you are one of the many, many readers who realized that all we’re doing here is
reporting facts. Period. If you want to argue about something, try to
keep it within the bounds of coherence if not civility. And if you don’t know what a word means, ask
or look it up. Don’t just impose your
own definition(s) and assume we’re wrong because we are reporting the fact that
some people in 1981 believed that distributism and socialism are not the same
thing, and that expanded capital ownership is
the same as distributism.
Yes, we realize that adherents
of “democratic” and other forms of socialism-that-are-not-socialism-except-when-they-are-and-people-who-don’t-“get
it”-are-all-stupid are incensed whenever someone casts aspersions on “the
democratic religion” of socialism or hints that it might not be the wave of the
future and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, but that’s what
makes a horse race.
Getting back to our subject
and President Reagan’s speech to the Presidential Task Force on Project
Economic Justice, the whole point of the Task Force was to demonstrate the
effectiveness of a program of widespread capital ownership in countering non-
or anti-human economic, political, and social systems. The plain fact is that little or nothing can
be done to a free people who have control over their own lives through direct
ownership of the means of sustaining those lives and vesting the owner with a
social identity, but most of all, power.
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| Daniel Webster |
That is why, as we have noted
repeatedly on this blog, Daniel Webster pointed out nearly two centuries ago, “Power
naturally and necessarily follows property.”
A powerless people is not a free people.
Political democracy without economic democracy is at best a sham, at
worst a cruel joke. Thus, as Ronald
Reagan noted —
“There is no reason to
believe that the citizens of most countries with struggling economies are not
as bright, hard-working, and capable as those in countries which are enjoying
great progress, like on the Pacific Rim. If an environment is created where
enterprise can thrive and a profit can be made, investment will flow, jobs will
be created, production will increase, and everybody will be better off.
“Our Government’s
International Programs at Treasury and A.I.D. in recent years have been molded
to promote just such growth-oriented policies.
“There has been a crying
need, however, for creative and innovative thinking in regard to economic
growth in Central America. That is where the Task Force for Project Economic
Justice comes in.
“We are all aware that
Central America is today on the front lines of battle for human freedom. The
security of our country and the stability of the hemisphere are tied to events
in that volatile region. We’ve provided our friends there with the weapons and
military equipment needed to counter an on-going strategic move by the Soviet
Bloc- which, I might add, pumped in more than $1 billion of military and other
support to its puppet regime in Nicaragua last year alone.
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| President Reagan delivering Task Force speech |
“But don’t let anyone tell
you we are relying on guns alone to carry the day. Our friends in Central
America must have the weapons they need to survive, but, if they are to win, if
freedom is to be secure, the Central American Democracies must have strong,
growing economies. Let me reaffirm to all of you, our commitment to counter
communist aggression in Central America will not diminish our efforts to meet
the economic challenges that confront the people of that troubles region.
“Growth, of course, is not
enough. It must be the vehicle of a better standard of living for all the
people. Again, economic and political freedom are inseparably linked.
“The people of Central America
— and, in a broader sense, the entire developing world -need to know first-hand
that freedom and opportunity are not just for the elite, but the birthright of
every citizen. That property is not just something enjoyed by a few, but can be
owned by any individual who works hard and makes correct decisions. That free
enterprise is not just the province of the rich, but a system of free choice in
which everyone has rights, and that business, large or small, is something in
which everyone can own a piece of the action.”
This brief series will
conclude on Tuesday.
#30#
