News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 48

As the last month of the year approaches — it’s only a few hours away as of this writing — it’s easy to get depressed about the number of people who have not heard about the Just Third Way rather than satisfied about the increasing number of people who have.  That’s understandable, because until a determinant number of people even know about the Just Third Way and start urging their leaders to do something positive instead of the Same Old Thing, things are going to stay pretty much right where they are.  There are, however, signs of hope:

A Change of Tactics

Man proposes, the internet (or at least email) disposes.  We were going to have a posting continuing the saga of John Henry Newman, the Oxford Movement, and the act of social justice for today.  At the last minute yesterday, however, we got an email from a faithful reader in Canada alerting us to a book he came across on Catholic social teaching . . . sort of.  As the book was published a few years ago and is not very well known, we decided not to review it.

Stranger Than Truth

As we saw in the previous posting in this series, in the 1830s John Henry Newman and others in the Oxford Movement found themselves at odds with the “Broad Church” movement within the Church of England, a variety of what purported to be Christianity, but without all those annoying legalistic, papist rules that got in the way of the true religion taught by Jesus: democratic socialism.  At issue was the nature of truth itself, even if such a thing as truth could exist.

A Few Thoughts About Taxation

Not too long ago we got into a discussion about one of everybody’s least favorite subjects: taxation.  Nobody likes it, even the people who levy taxes or benefit from it.  That being the case, why do we need taxes in the first place?

Just Third Way Podcast No. 14 (Rerun)

Possibly “rerun” is not quite the right word for repeating Dave’s “Gas Truck Driver Rant.”  Perhaps we could think of this as traveling over the same route again.  In any event, while Dave is on holiday hiatus from the Just Third Way podcast we thought we’d replay one of his more popular shows:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 47

Amazon workers in Germany and Spain went on strike today in Amazon distribution centers, possibly the biggest sales day and busiest of the year.  The stock market is down.  And nobody seems to know how to fix what is going wrong.  Maybe it’s time to look seriously at the Just Third Way . . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stupid Federal Reserve Tricks

It really is amazing what you kind find rooting through old documents, correspondence, what have you.  When you have access to an archive that records a social movement of which most people have at best an inadequate understanding, it is easy to become frustrated at just how obtuse people have been.

The “Myth” of Stagnant Incomes

One of the interesting things about college is the opportunity to take courses in subjects so far outside your major that students as well as professors cast suspicious looks at you.  That is, until they start to realize that you might actually be taking the course because you’re interested in it, not for an “easy A” to repair your GPA.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 43

In this week’s Just Third Way podcast, host Dave Hamill finishes the discussion on the Core Values of the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ).  Successful organizations start with people firmly committed to a set of core values, which cannot be compromised without weakening the organization.  CESJ’s strength, unity and programs flow from its founding principles, agreed upon by consensus from the first meeting on April 7, 1984. CESJ’s core values were developed to guide CESJ in its work, to attract others sharing these values and to serve as the very basis of CESJ’s existence.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 46

A great deal of outreach was done this past week, with letters, telephone calls, and emails being sent to a number of possible contacts.  It is becoming increasingly clear that without the Just Third Way the world will have a difficult time turning aside from the path it is currently on and establishing a system that will give each person the chance for a more just and humane future.  With that in mind —

Christianity versus the Democratic Religion

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, in the early nineteenth century traditional forms of Christianity were under assault from socialism, modernism, and what became known as the New Age, with two churches especially targeted, the Church of England and the Catholic Church.  Nor is this surprising, given the fact that the Catholic Church had always been opposed to anything that undermined the natural law, and the Church of England with the Oxford Movement was making an effort to return to its original doctrinal roots.

Why NOT Capitalism?

On a fairly regular basis we get called capitalists by the socialists and socialists by the capitalists, which suggests there might be a little confusion around.  Not on our part, but on the part of others.  Last week, for example, we received the following email after someone here rejected the use of the word “capitalism”:

Financing Made Easy(er)

Every once in a while we get a question about money, credit, banking, and finance that allows us to give a very brief refresher course on some basic principles that, nevertheless, are hard to hold in your head if you aren’t using them every day.  As our correspondent queried,

Just Third Way Podcast No. 42

In this week’s Just Third Way podcast, host Dave Hamill leads a discussion on some of the Core Values of the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ).  Successful organizations start with people firmly committed to a set of core values, which cannot be compromised without weakening the organization.  CESJ’s strength, unity and programs flow from its founding principles, agreed upon by consensus from the first meeting on April 7, 1984. CESJ’s core values were developed to guide CESJ in its work, to attract others sharing these values and to serve as the very basis of CESJ’s existence.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 45

We don’t need to comment on the elections this week, since they were no surprise except in a few individual cases.  Overall, the mid-terms went about as expected.  Of much more importance for the Just Third Way are the ongoing efforts at outreach, such as letters, emails, telephone calls, etc., and attendance at conferences as speakers and presenters.  It is important for people to realize that the CESJ core group cannot open their own doors — we need people with contacts to use those contacts to open doors, e.g., as was done to get the initial enabling legislation for the ESOP through, as described in “Dinner at the Madison”:

“The Oxford Malignants”

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, just as the Oxford Movement gained what many authorities consider its greatest triumph — neutralizing the “Broad Church” (“Latitudinarian”) clergyman and Oxford professor Renn Hampden — it also set in motion a reaction that would within a few years undermine the Movement and bring it to a screeching halt, at least as far as its original purpose of reviving the Church of England was concerned.

A Turning Point

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the victory of orthodoxy (more or less) in the matter of the appointment of the Reverend Renn Dickson Hampden, while the high water mark of the Oxford Movement, came at what eventually proved to be a high price.  Although the members of the Movement were not the only ones objecting to Hampden, they were the only ones singled out as having “persecuted” him.

Misinterpreting Utopia

The other day someone referred to the Just Third Way as “utopian.”   It was one of those occasions when you realize that some people might not know exactly what they are talking about.  Quite a large number of people seem to think that a utopian scheme is one for an ideal society.  Not quite.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 41

A little late, perhaps (unless you’re on the Julian Calendar and are a couple of weeks behind everyone else) but this week’s podcast is an overview of some “Halloween Horror Specials” from past years on the Just Third Way Blog.  We would tell you more about what your host Dave Hamill has selected to relate . . . but we were far too scared to preview the podcast, and so you’ll have to take your chances.  Today is Guy Fawkes Day, so we really don't know what to expect in any event. . . .:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 44

Much of the activity in the Just Third Way this week involved the interesting-to-participate-in-but-not-so-interesting-to-read-about making connections, building relationships, and planning for the coming year.  CESJ’s fiscal year ended September 30, and the annual “planning phase” for the coming year usually takes place in the “lame duck” months following the end of the fiscal year and the beginning of the calendar year:

Guidelines for Reform

As we noted in the previous posting on this subject, society is in chaos.  People are, frankly, scared to death.  They know something is wrong but can’t seem to be able to put their finger on the problem.  They know key definitions of concepts have been changed and their institutions have somehow been transformed at a fundamental level, although the powers-that-be keep insisting otherwise.