There’s a Better Way, Mister Trump, I: What Is

St. Nick opening the can of whup-ass on Arius

If this were a religious blog, today we’d be gushing about how the original Saint Nick got a rep as a real bad-ass dude by slapping down Bishop Arius for asserting that the Son was similar, but not the same as the Father (the original lump of coal in the stocking for bad boys and girls was a fat lip for spouting what Bishop Nicholas of Myra thought was drivel), and how the tradition of gift-giving got associated with him (and maybe even how he became the patron saint of pawnbrokers).

What’s Wrong With This Story?, I: Is Profit Evil?

Last week the Wall Street Journal carried one of its more or less cute human interest stories.  You know, the ones that appear on the front page and tell you more than you really want to know about turtle ranching in Tasmania, the world’s champion string collector, or the most prolific novelist in history — “Corin Tellado,” pen name of Maria del Socorro Tellado Lopez (1927-2009), with more than 4,000 (not a typo) novels, and total sales of over 400 million.  Most prolific living novelist? Japanese-Brazilian Ryoki Inoue, with more than 1,100 novels to his credit, having turned out as many as three in one day.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 46

All done with smoke, mirrors, and ice.

Breaking news: the latest conspiracy theory is that the Titanic didn’t really sink on its maiden voyage.  It was actually a ship named Olympic.  The switch was made to collect the insurance.  And if you believe that, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and Keynesian economics should be a breeze for you.  (Nobody has bothered to explain where the actual Titanic ended up, though.  Unless it’s that thing floating next to the rubber ducky.)

To get back to the real world and the economics of reality, however, this has been a busy and interesting week for those promoting the Just Third Way:

Minimum Wage Follies

Tuesday, November 29, 2016 was designated “National Day of Action to Fight for $15,” meaning an across the board hike in the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour throughout the United States.  Many workers at McDonald’s restaurants walked off the job and participated in protests, with “dozens” being arrested in various demonstrations across the country, according to an Associated Press Report.

How to Make America Great Again

According to historian Frederick Jackson Turner, the loss of America’s land frontier meant a complete change in the American character as well as the gradual Europeanizing of the United States.  As Turner saw it, the end of “free” land meant the end of democracy as well as the unique American character that made the country great and, as Abraham Lincoln put it, the last, best hope of earth.

The Last Great Hope

Yesterday we took a look at what made England Great & Glorious, Long to Reign O’er us . . . at least until she screwed up the financing of the greatest commercial expansion the world had ever seen up to then, “then” being the period prior to the British Bank Charter Act of 1844.  We discovered that after the government took over the banking system (you don’t have to have actual title to something to own it, you just have to control it, as the agrarian socialist Henry George realized in promoting his theories), the British Empire began its long and slow decline.

You Can Bank on It

Last week we got into a little discussion about Merrie Old England.  One individual started gushing about how so many inventions ’n stuff had come out of England, and wondered why this was so.  Of course, this particular individual was into Art & Literature, so wasn’t too clear on just which inventions she was talking about, but we got the general drift.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 45

It’s been a few weeks since the election, and a great many people still don’t know what to make of President-elect Trump.  We can’t say that we do, either, but we know one thing: whoever is in the White House, if he or she doesn’t have the Just Third Way and Capital Homesteading, the only thing the American people will have is more of the same, only more so.  To keep that from happening, here are this week’s happenings:

Something For Which to Be Thankful

Seriously?  You’re reading this blog on Thanksgiving Day?  You haven’t got anything better to do?  Well, be that as it may, we thought we’d just give you a little something for which you can be thankful . . . besides the election being over, that is.

How to Invent a New Religion: Re-Edit the Dictionary

Yesterday we looked in general at how to start your own religion for fun and profit.  The issue today is how to make certain you do it successfully, or at least until people start thinking for themselves and realize what’s going on.  Since people without property tend to think the way those in power tell them to think, that’s usually not a problem once you’ve abolished property.

How to Invent a New Religion: Abolish Private Property

There is a passage in G.K. Chesterton’s little book on St. Francis of Assisi — titled, appropriately enough, St. Francis of Assisi (1923) — that seems to baffle many people.  It is the one where “G.K.” related how St. Francis was such a one-man earthquake or revolution that, had he been so inclined, he could have founded a new religion.  Ironically, that is precisely what some of the followers of “Il Poverello” (“the Little Poor Man”) evidently thought he was doing, although they still called it “Christianity.”  As Chesterton made his case,

And This Is Important . . . Why?

This past Tuesday, November 15, 2016, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops elected His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas, as their new president for a three-year term.  Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, California, was elected vice president.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 44

Although there has been no sign of actual increases in the production of marketable goods and services in a way that allowed the full participation of everyone as both producers and consumers, the stock market took a big jump right after the election.  The real problem remains, however: how do we restructure the system to give as many people as possible to the opportunity and means to become capital owners?  All we can say right now is that we’re working on getting through to people who might help carry the message:

The Feast of Christ the King?!?!?!?(!)

What the heck?  Why is there a posting on the Just Third Way blog about an obscure Catholic religious feast?  And by “feast” we mean a religious festival, not the kind with roast turkeys, roast beef, roast pork, roast lamb, roast . . . what were we talking about, anyway?

Solidarism and the Just Third Way, IV: Expanded Capital Ownership

Today we look at the fourth pillar of a just market economy, expanded capital ownership.  Father Pesch did not specifically list widespread ownership as a pillar in his system of solidarity, but — as we will demonstrate — it is necessarily implied in his third pillar, “private property.”

Solidarism and the Just Third Way, III: Restoration of Private Property

Yesterday we looked at the role of free and open markets in solidarism and the Just Third Way.  We found that Father Pesch and CESJ are in substantial agreement that the free market and fair competition are fully compatible with the demand for justice and morality in daily life.

Solidarism and the Just Third Way, III: Free and Open Markets

Last Thursday we looked at the role of the State in solidarism as understood by the “redeemer” of solidarism, Father Heinrich Pesch, S.J.  We discovered that a limited economic role for the social tool of the State is a pillar of both solidarism and the Just Third Way.  Yes, we think Father Pesch could have been a little more explicit, but by and large CESJ and Father Pesch come to the same conclusion: the economic role of the State should be limited as much as possible.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 43

As the United States works to deal with the widespread trauma caused by the election of Donald Trump, we in the Global Justice Movement have a much better way to spend out time and efforts: working to restructure the social order so it doesn’t matter how bad elected officials may be, the people are in charge and are giving the orders again . . . something that can happen only with widespread capital ownership:

Solidarism and the Just Third Way, II: Limited Economic Role for the State

Especially these days, people seem confused about the proper role of the State.  Many, if not most people haven’t bothered to find out what the State is supposed to be doing or even what the State really is — a social tool, not the “Mortall God” of totalitarian philosopher Thomas Hobbes.  That is why we usually list the pillar having to do with the social tool of the State before the others — as did Father Heinrich Pesch.

Solidarism and the Just Third Way, I: Three or Four Pillars?

Today we start to look at how well solidarism as understood by Father Heinrich Pesch, S.J. (not Émile Durkheim) and CESJ’s Just Third Way fit together.  Both claim to be based on an Aristotelian-Thomist interpretation of Catholic social teaching — and thus of the natural law — and therefore should come to the same conclusion(s), even if by (slightly) different routes.

Esoteric Posting for Election Day

Just to take a break from our short series on solidarism (and because nobody is going to be reading blogs today, anyway), we’re posting our response to a question we got last week on a rather “esoteric” subject: the basis of the natural law.

Solidarism and the Common Good

Today we start to look at how to restore solidarism to comply more closely with the vision of Father Heinrich Pesch, S.J., whom we have decided is not the founder of solidarism, but its redeemer, so to speak.  To do this we have to understand the whole point of solidarism, at least from the natural law, “Christian” (or Catholic) perspective: to enhance the dignity of the human person under God.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 42

As the situation continues to deteriorate nationally and internationally, and the long slide to moral relativism and nihilism (to say nothing of capitalism and socialism and ismism) continues, the number of surreal incidents and just plain nuttiness accelerates to what, without the act of social justice and the principles of economic justice, would be the point of no return.  Just keep the Just Third Way in mind as you read this issue of New from the Network if you want to retain your sanity:

Faux Solidarism and the Totalitarian State

In yesterday’s posting we gave a brief overview of solidarism, especially as it relates to individual and social virtue.  We closed by noting, however, that what passes for solidarism in many cases these days can hardly be called virtuous.  It violates natural law, particularly the natural rights of freedom of association (liberty/contract) and private property, turning the tool of the State into the master.  This is a phenomenon Archbishop Fulton Sheen noted in his first two books, God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy (1925), and Religion Without God (1928).

Introduction to Solidarism

Solidarism is defined in sociology as a theory that the possibility of founding a social organization upon a solidarity of interests is to be found in the natural interdependence of members of a society.  Solidarity, a characteristic of groups per se, is defined as unity — as of a group or class — that produces or is based on community of interests, objectives, and standards.

After the Election

While most people are concerned with the upcoming election, we should probably spare a thought or two about what to do afterwards.  After all, whether Clinump or Trumton wins, We, the People, are going to get what is euphemistically termed the “short” end of the stick.  Or maybe the whole stick, a.k.a., “the shaft.”

A Brief Discourse on Social Credit, VIII: The Analysis, Part Two

Last Thursday we looked at some of the flaws in Major Douglas’s social credit proposal, e.g., the wrong definition of money and abolition of private property by taking away the usufruct, to say nothing of allowing politicians to avoid accountability for their actions.  After all, is it really coincidental that as more and more of the government’s budget consists of money created by emitting bills of credit instead of tax revenues, the number of programs that go contrary to the fundamental beliefs of most people have proliferated?

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 41

This has been another seemingly slow news week in which a great deal has been accomplished.  Contrary to the usual case with many organizations, CESJ actually gets things done in meetings, and comes up with some good ideas:

A Brief Discourse on Social Credit, VII: The Analysis, Part One

In yesterday’s posting we noted that even if social credit could deliver on every promise it makes, and every individual received a basic subsistence income from the State in the form of the National Dividend, it would be “unwise” to give the State that much power over the lives of its citizens.  Power corrupts, as Lord Acton quoted, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

A Brief Discourse on Social Credit, V: The Rationale

We’ve been looking at a few problems with social credit, but today we’re going into the matter in a little more depth.

A Brief Discourse on Social Credit, IV: The Proposal

What with all the research we’ve done with finding out about social credit (including obtaining two of Major Douglas’s most important books, Economic Democracy (1920) and Social Credit (1924, 1933), we still don’t have a snappy definition of what social credit is, but we’ve managed to put together a brief précis of the program.

Halloween Hip Wader Special

Normally we try — we really do — not to get too deep into those deep philosophical questions.  Last Thursday’s piece on the natural law, “Let’s Be Reasonable,” was about as deep as we think we can get away with . . . once in a while.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 40

Some years back — 1976 — comedian John Cleese did a video titled “Meetings, Bloody Meetings.”  We can sympathize, having been stuck in a number of meetings that seemed to be held just to hold a meeting.  Still, meetings can be important, and actual work sometimes gets done, as witness the events of this past week:

Let’s Be Reasonable

Every once in a while we get what behaviorist Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904-1990, better known as “B.F. Skinner” for obvious reasons) called “positive reinforcement,” which is a big couple of words that boil down to “attaboy,” or “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar,” which your mother didn’t have to go to Harvard to learn.  Of course, starting out this posting by referencing Skinner is a trifle ironic, even if we hadn’t been forced to read Walden II in high school along with a cartload of other tomes with which we disagreed even more.  Bottom line?  We’re “natural law guys” and Skinner . . . ain’t.

The Jobs Market

Imagine what it would be like if someone living a century and a half or so ago was suddenly brought in to today’s society.  Science fiction and fantasy (usually science-fantasy, as two-way time travel violates some law or other of motion) have dealt with this theme for years, from Edward Bellamy’s socialist classic Looking Backward to the latest crop of stories in . . . whatever print science fiction magazine(s) survive(s).

A Brief Discourse on Social Credit, III: What the Social Crediters Say

One of the problems we’ve encountered with discussing the various types of socialism is that the natural tendency of such groups to splinter, reform, separate, and regroup makes tracing their genealogy a little confusing.  When you toss in the habit of “re-editing the dictionary” so that people become even more confused by the constant changes in meaning of fundamental terms, and the reliance on assertion and ad hominem logical fallacies, it’s no wonder why so many people end up being attracted to socialism.  Not knowing what it is, they figure it has to be better than anything they can actually understand.

England’s Difficulty and Ireland’s Opportunity

As the saying attributed to the Emancipator Daniel O’Connell goes, “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity.”  In this case, however, England’s difficulty is also England’s opportunity . . . as well as everyone else’s.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 39

Although the upcoming elections are grabbing all the attention (even — or especially — in other countries), there are some other things that might have more importance in the long run, e.g., whether people can regain power over their own lives, or forever be at the mercy of whoever is running the government.

Popes are the Craziest People

Recently we began doing a little research into the life of Giacomo Pecci, who in 1878 was elected to the papacy and took the name Leo XIII.  After all, if you want to know where someone is coming from, it’s generally a good idea to find out where he’s coming from.

A Brief Discourse on Social Credit, II: What the Experts Say

Yesterday we declared we were more than a little baffled when attempting to define “social credit” briefly and accurately.  Today we are going to see if anybody else has done any better — confining ourselves to experts who seem to have a bit more credibility than we do.  Not that we necessarily agree with these experts, but others might.  We’re only trying to dig down and uncover the truth in a way ordinary people can understand.

A Brief Discourse on Social Credit, I: What IS “Social Credit”?

Recently we received an email from one of our numerous fans and followers asking us to comment on a couple of articles covering “social credit” he had seen on a distributist website.  He had seen us mention social credit a number of times, but we did not really go into what it is, or explain in any depth why we classify it among the seemingly countless varieties of socialism with which the modern world is afflicted.

The Problem of Rent

In Medieval (Scholastic) philosophy, “rent” is what is due the owner of a thing for the use of something that is not “consumed by its use.” Thus, if the owner of, say, a tool such as a hammer or saw, loans someone that hammer or saw as a commercial transaction, the owner is due a reasonable fee for that use.

News from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 38

As the election comes ever-nearer in the United States and people agonize over whether to vote for the great or the greater evil (the Elder Party candidate Cthulhu, by the way, is ’way ahead in the polls), we continue plugging away to persuade one or more of the saner variety of politicians to adopt Capital Homesteading as a major plank in his or her platform:

Misunderstanding Debt

Almost exactly a month ago, on September 8, there were some comments in the Washington Post from Francis X. Cavanaugh, author of The Truth About the National Debt: Five Myths and One Reality (1996), in which he argues that a $5 trillion national debt is not really cause for concern, but perhaps there should be some reining in of spending . . . like before the debt rises to $10 or even $15 trillion!!  (It's just short of $20 trillion when we looked yesterday.)

Pity the Distributist . . .

A standard opening for postings on this blog is that we like to get questions.  Next best, however, are questions that other people get and that they don’t seem quite up to answering — at least, not in any coherent fashion or in a way that actually addresses the question being asked.  Take, for example, a recent posting on FaceBook in which someone made a “rant” (the poster’s word) containing the following statement:

Influences on CESJ?

As we may have mentioned one or a dozen times, we like getting questions . . . that we can answer.  So far we’ve been lucky, and haven’t gotten too many of the kind we can’t answer, e.g., “Are you guys just crazy, or what?”  (Actually, we can answer that question, too.  We just prefer not to.)  Anyway,

The CESJ Code of Ethics

As promised, and although it, too, is posted on the CESJ website, here is the CESJ Code of Ethics that we mentioned last Thursday.  Note that when CESJ members have a meeting, there is a participatory reading of both the Core Values and the Code of Ethics . . . except for Number 17, below, when everyone joins in saying, “persistence, persistence, and persistence.”