News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 26

Along with visits to this blog increasing dramatically over the past two weeks, there are some real news items that should be of interest to readers (other than the good news that, if you’re reading this, you are not alone).  It seems that people around the world are becoming increasingly aware that something may be wrong, and the usual solutions have been proven to be inadequate:

The Four Faces of Socialism: The Democratic Religion

As we saw in the first posting on this subject, and (purely by coincidence) in Wednesday’s posting, there are four primary aspects of socialism: philanthropy, communitarianism, reform or abolition of religion, and abolition of private ownership.  Again, it is important to note that a particular form of socialism may not include all or even any of these aspects, and yet still be true socialism.

The New Christianity

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, following the Financial, Industrial, and French Revolutions, society was in chaos and people began searching for alternatives to traditional political, domestic, and religious institutions.  What they came up with was “the democratic religion” — socialism.

The Four Faces of Socialism: Communitarianism

As we saw in the first posting on this subject, there are four primary aspects of socialism: philanthropy, communitarianism, reform or abolition of religion, and abolition of private ownership.  We noted that a particular form of socialism may not include all or even any of these aspects, and yet still be true socialism.

The Ownership Vehicle Podcast!

In this week’s Just Third Way podcast, Dr. Norman Kurland, President of CESJ, takes a look at the three main ownership vehicles of the Just Third Way.  These are Capital Homesteading Accounts, Citizens Land Development Cooperatives, and the one in current law that embodies the basic concept on which the others are based, the Leveraged “JBM S-Corp ESOP”:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 25

Another week with a plethora of items indicating that something is wrong with the world, somewhere and somehow, but nobody seems able to pinpoint what or how to solve it, at least not without the Just Third Way, which doesn’t seem to fit into most people’s paradigms.  From “the JTW Perspective,” however, what to do about these situations becomes obvious:

The Four Faces of Socialism: Philanthropy

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that there are four primary aspects of socialism: philanthropy, communitarianism, reform or abolition of religion, and abolition of private ownership.  We also noted that a particular form of socialism may not include all or even any of these aspects, and yet still be true socialism.  As Pope Pius XI noted,

Christianity and Democracy

On Christmas Day in the year 1797 the aristocratic Luigi Barnabà Chiaramonte (1742-1823), Cardinal Bishop of Imola in Romagna in northern Italy, startled his congregation by declaring that there is no essential conflict between democracy and Christianity.  Coming as it did hard on the heels of the Reign of Terror in Revolutionary France (1793-1794), it must have seemed to many that their Ordinary had lost his mind. (E.E.Y. Hales, Pio Nono: A Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century.  New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1954, 35.)

The Four Faces of Socialism: The Essence of Socialism

No, this is not a discussion on the various types of socialism, such as Marxist, Georgist, Relgious, or Democratic (especially since there are many more than that), but on four key aspects of socialist thought itself.  We will have to look briefly at a couple of the different forms of socialism, but that is not the main point here.

Mortimer Adler on Speaking and Listening

Last week’s video of Mortimer Adler speaking on happiness made so many people happy that we thought we’d bring you another one by Adler to listen to . . . about how to listen!

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 24

It’s astonishing the frequency with which events and situations come to light that could be resolved very simply (although not always easily) by applying the Just Third Way.  Take for instance:

Can Social Justice Be Defined?

As we have stated more than once on this blog, we like to get questions or criticisms . . . questions or criticisms that we can answer, that is.  Okay, polite questions or criticisms that we can answer. . . . like this one, from someone we had sent some links to recent blog postings:

Chesterton and Shaw: The Idea of Distributism

In the previous posting on this subject, we closed by noting that a realistic vision of a just society should present a viable alternative to capitalism, characterized by concentration of capital ownership in the hands of a relatively small private sector élite, and socialism, characterized by concentration of capital ownership in the hands of a public bureaucracy.  Distributism, a policy of widely distributed private property with a preference for small, family owned farms and artisan businesses, appeared to be one possibility.

Why is Socialism Wrong?

Many people these days assume that if they can find a precedent or some statement that they can twist into meaning what they want or need it to mean, that they have discovered a new right or truth, conveyed to them by whatever they worship as God and to be understood in the light of faith alone.  Such people forget (if they ever knew) that truth is objective reality.  Their own perceptions and beliefs are, on the other hand, subjective.  As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, nowhere has this tendency been more evident than in the ongoing effort to reformulate or repurpose Christianity as a form of socialism.

Mortimer Adler on Happiness

Today we take a look at Mortimer J. Adler's take on the question of happiness.  Adler, who co-authored The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) and The New Capitalists (1961) with Louis O. Kelso, is considere4d by many to be the premier American Aristotelian of the twentieth century.  In this half-hour video clip, we take a look at Adler's take on what Aristotle meant by "happiness," which seems to be a concept that is greatly misunderstood these days:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 23

There have been a number of interesting developments this past week relating both to the development of the concept of social justice and to its application to address some current situations:

Rebranding Socialism as True Christianity

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, Robert Owen believed that all of humanity’s problems would disappear if religion, marriage, and private property were abolished.  In 1813 in A New View of Society he declared that reorienting religion from worshiping God to bettering the condition of humanity would be sufficient to establish and maintain the perfect world.

Chesterton and Shaw: The Modernist World

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, George Bernard Shaw was as insistent that socialism is the universal panacea for all problems (as long as you don’t eat meat or drink alcohol) and that distributism is just another name for Fabian socialism* as G.K. Chesterton was adamant that Shaw was full of . . . nonsense.

Religion Without God

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, Robert Owen, the Father of Modern Socialism (and Communism) wanted to establish and maintain a perfect society in this life, a constant theme of socialism for the past two centuries and more.  Since he believed that people are formed entirely by their environment, all that is necessary to create the perfect society (so he claimed) is to abolish religion, marriage, and private property.  Everything will then be perfect.

Interview with Joe Recinos, Part II (and I)

This week we bring you the second part of an interview with Joseph W. Recinos, the Latin America Director of the Center for Economic and Social Justice.  Just so you don’t have to search out the first half, we’ve included that, also.