“A New Conception of Society and of the State”

In 1825 a small book was published that was to have enormous consequences.  The book was Le Nouveau Christianisme, “The New Christianity,” the posthumous work of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760-1825).

What Does “Democracy” Mean?

In the previous posting on this subject we looked at the necessity for any type of organized human activity to have clear and understandable rules in order to be just or even functional.  There must, in fact, be a recognition and implementation of the democratic ideal.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 50

Recently Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said “We should be excited about automation, because what it could potentially mean is more time educating ourselves, more time creating art, more time investing in and investigating the sciences, more time focused on invention, more time going to space, more time enjoying the world that we live in, because not all creativity needs to be bonded by wage.”

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 11

Somehow, today shaped up to be “Fabian Friday.”  It wasn’t planned, it just turned out that way.  It is astonishing, though, how often we find news articles from Days Gone By that contradict “what everybody knows,” e.g., the claim that Father Edward McGlynn, who advocated socialism and was excommunicated for disobedience in 1887, “never recanted” his socialist views, proving that the Catholic Church either never condemned socialism or changed its teachings on private property.   According to the New York Times and a large number of other newspapers, however, Fr. McGlynn recanted on January 19, 1894.  And on to other Media Mythbusters:

The Social Justice of . . . Adam Smith???

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, human beings are by nature what Aristotle called “political animals.”  That is, each human being is an individual who by nature associates with other individuals within a structured social context or environment, and it is within that environment that people ordinarily acquire and develop virtue.

A New Vision for Ireland?

On April 24, 2016 Economic Justice Media, an imprint of the interfaith think tank, the Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), published Easter Witness: From Broken Dream to a New Vision for Ireland.  There were many good books published about the Easter Rising during the centenary year, all of them well worth reading, so this volume from a small publisher got overlooked.

The Three Hands of Law

Every once in a while a Faithful Reader gives us an idea for a blog posting or two, which tends to make our life a little easier as it saves us from having to think up something on our own.  This posting on “the Three Hands of the Law” is one such, so we have to “hand” someone else the credit . . . get it?  (We’re assuming the Faithful Reader will . . . and not throw anything too heavy. . . .)

Just Third Way Podcast No. 49

This week we have the second half of an interview with renowned binary economist and author Dr. Robert H.A. Ashford.  Dr. Ashford teaches law and binary economics at the University of Syracuse law school, and is the co-author of Binary Economics: The New Paradigm (Lanham, Maryland: The University Press of America, 1999):

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 10

Be prepared for a large leap in the Dow today, probably ’way up, but it could also plunge.  No, that’s not satire, unfortunately.  It’s just the way the Wall Street gambling casino operates.  “Recession signs are increasing” say the pundits, so gamblers might start bidding up prices in order to sell short (most likely) in a later adjustment, or may lock in profits now from having gone long earlier.  The latter is less likely, because the recent decline would decrease profits and a sell-off would drive prices down even more.  If you want to outguess the market, however, just flip a coin . . . or start working on implementing the Just Third Way:

Bringing McGlynn to Heel

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the agrarian socialist Henry George and the renegade priest Father Edward McGlynn took the opportunity offered by the issuance of Rerum Novarum in 1891 as the perfect chance to get back into the public eye.  Simply by claiming that they were again being persecuted by the Catholic Church, the pair was able to tap into the anti-Catholicism always bubbling under the surface of American life.

A Just Third Way to Finance Green Infrastructure

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, there is a problem with having government pay for infrastructure . . . especially when we expect government to pay for everything else!  Of course, what is really at issue is that “the government” doesn’t actually pay for anything.  Either it collects taxes or borrows money . . . which it is supposed to repay by collecting taxes.

Further Adventures of George and McGlynn

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, with the sudden eclipse of the agrarian socialist Henry George and the renegade priest Father Edward McGlynn, there was no longer any need for Pope Leo XIII to issue an encyclical exclusively on “the Land Question,” i.e., whether private ownership of land is legitimate according to natural law and Catholic teaching.  It was, moreover, obvious that previous attempts by Leo XIII and previous popes to counter the dangers of socialism, modernism, and the New Age had been ineffective.

Just Third Way Podcast

This week we have a special treat in store on the Just Third Way podcast: the first part of an interview with renowned binary economist and author Dr. Robert H.A. Ashford.  Dr. Ashford teaches law and binary economics at the University of Syracuse law school, and is the co-author of Binary Economics: The New Paradigm (Lanham, Maryland: The University Press of America, 1999):

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 09

Things are still moving forward on the communications front, with a number of projects coming nearer to fruition.  The video short is almost ready, and some “book trailers” are being test marketed — and we’ve even gotten one prospective volunteer as a result of viewing one of the pilot videos already!  In other news:

Are Socialism and Social Teaching the Same?

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the agrarian socialist Henry George and the renegade priest Edward McGlynn seem to have provided the original motive for a new encyclical on the subject of socialism and why what was originally known as “the Democratic Religion,” “The New Christianity,” “Neo-Catholicism,” and many other names was not a very good thing for anyone, especially the downtrodden workers socialism was presumably intended to help.

Financing Change

One of the most frequently heard questions about the proposed “Green New Deal” is where ire they going to get the long green to pay for it?  For those of you not familiar with 1890s slang, “long green” refers to paper currency — appropriate, since it was in 1893 that the populist leader Jacob Sechler Coxey, a theosophist, proposed measures that many consider the precursor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, a rip-off of Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal from 1910.

Not the First Social Encyclical

Many people today assume that Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, “On Capital and Labor,” was the first social encyclical, and that the pope was addressing matters that had recently come to his attention.  On looking into it, however, it becomes evident that Rerum Novarum — Latin for “new things” — was not the first social encyclical, and the “new things” to which Leo referred had been a serious problem for at least three quarters of a century before Rerum Novarum was issued.

Just Third Way Videocast

Just to follow up on the previous two weeks’ podcasts outlining Louis Kelso’s “Second Income Plan,” we thought we’d bring to you the 60 Minutes segment on Kelso.  Of course, it’s not actually sixty minutes long, more like thirteen and change, but that’s enough to give you the idea:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 08

Some interesting developments this week as world leaders and academics continue to flail and flounder around trying to find the solution that has been staring them in the face for 2,500 years.  If you want a stable and virtuous society, as Aristotle pointed out in the first book of his Politics, you had better have widespread capital ownership.  Otherwise, what you get is —

Fulton Sheen and the Problem of Finance

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the problem with the solution to social problems that Fulton Sheen advocated is that it causes another problem . . . such as, where does anyone get the money to purchase capital to become an owner without violating someone else’s ownership?  We cannot make society a free-for-all in which people take what they want when they want it.  All that means is “might makes right,” especially in economics and finance.

Fulton Sheen and the Solution

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, Fulton Sheen strongly supported the idea that the only way to counter both communism (and socialism) and capitalism is to have a society in which capital ownership is widespread.  As he stated, “Because the ownership of external things is the sign of freedom, the Church has made the wide distribution of private property the cornerstone of her social program.”  (Fulton J. Sheen, Freedom Under God.  Arlington, Virginia: Economic Justice Media, 2013, 33.)

New Things, Part II

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that the “new things” (rerum novarum) to which Pope Leo XIII referred in his landmark 1891 encyclical, “On Capital and Labor,” had first been addressed in 1832 and 1834 by Pope Gregory XVI in the first two social encyclicals, Mirari Vos and Singulari Nos, both of which were concerned with problems with the theology, philosophy, and social thought of a French priest by the name of Hugues-Félicité Robert de Lamennais.

Just Third Way Podcast

This week we have the second part of a discussion on Louis Kelso’s “Second Income Plan” from the 1960s.  As with last week, there may need to be some allowances made for terms now out of common use.  Of course, the real issue is that as technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, what Kelso proposed as a second income should become people’s first income!

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 07

While world leaders ponder how to make the hole deeper that they’ve been getting the world into since governments began controlling money and credit for their own political purposes instead of the economic needs of actual people, there are a few bright spots on the horizon (if that’s not mixing metaphors or something).  They are only tiny points of light at this point, but still it’s something::

Fulton Sheen and the Problem of Savings

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that, according to Fulton Sheen’s understanding of the natural law right of every human being to be an owner (at least as expressed in his 1940 book, Freedom Under God), private property is an essential means to secure individual liberty.  Ultimately, private property in capital is the principal means by which people acquire and develop virtue in a social setting, thereby becoming what God intended them to be.

New Things, Part I

While not the most immediate challenge facing people today, confusion over Catholic social teaching has, as Pope Pius XI put it, “given rise to controversies that are not always peaceful.”  If only to resolve these disputes rationally it will be useful to explore how Catholic social teaching developed.

The American Chesterton

Back in 1940, Fulton J. Sheen published Freedom Under God.  Why bring up a book that is eighty years out of date?  Because at no time in living memory has there been less true human freedom. Even the idea of freedom has decayed to the point where it is effectively meaningless for most people.

Just Third Way Podcast

This week we have the first part of a discussion on Louis Kelso’s “Second Income Plan” from the 1960s.  Of course, there may need to be some “mental adjustments” on the part of the listener as people back in the Stone(d) Age might not have spoken the way people do now (they were, like, so totally groovy and outa sight) and used terms now out of fashion.  Even worse, as technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, what Kelso proposed as a second income could easily become people’s first income!  Actually . . . that would be better, not worse. . . .

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 06

It is not quite March, but this month’s mentions are mostly media material.  That is because the CESJ core group is trying to get up to speed on all the projects we want to complete or get moved well along for the current year.  It’s just a coincidence that it all seems to deal with media, traditional, social, and otherwise:

Ronald Reagan . . . Communist?

Unless you’ve been living in a bottle or on the top of a mountain in Tibet, you are probably aware of the massive confusion surrounding the terms “capitalism,” “socialism,” “private property,” “rights,” “duties,” “person,” etc., etc., etc.  The fact is that a lot of people are using terms when they have no idea what they really mean, and just put their own private meaning on to things.

A Challenge to Civilization

In the opening of A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens noted that the French Revolution was a time so like his own day as to be practically indistinguishable.  Although Dickens was employing a literary device to bring the reader into the story, a similar observation could be made comparing the early twentieth century to the present time.

The Real Issue

Inevitably, when discussing capitalism versus socialism versus the Just Third Way, somebody will shift the basis from what is the right and just thing to do, to what is the most expedient or that gets them what they want, regardless of the cost to others.

Just Third Way Podcast

This week we have a discussion between Norman Kurland, president of CESJ, and Dawn Brohawn, CESJ’s Director of Communications:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 05

With the country gripped in the icy grip of a gripping Polar Vortex, the Just Third Way forges on in hot pursuit of justice:

Curing World Poverty, 1994-2019

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of a publishing event: Curing World Poverty: The New Role of Property.  A “small press bestseller,” the book is even more relevant today than it was a quarter of a century ago.  (The criteria for determining bestseller status are admittedly flexible, and this was “pre-Amazon” sales, but back in the day, 3-5,000 was considered a small press bestseller, and Curing World Poverty sold over 5,000 copies without remaindering.)

A Democratic Socialist Responds

A few weeks ago we got a response to one of our blog postings on democratic socialism from a (gasp) democratic socialist!  Now, that in and of itself was not unusual.  What really threw us was the fact that this one was actually civil and seemed honestly to be seeking information.  Here’s what the DS said:

Fulton Sheen and the Roots of the Problem

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the three principles of economic justice (participation, distribution, and social justice) are an essential component of a just and free society, such as Fulton Sheen reminded people in his 1940 book, Freedom Under God.

Just Third Way (Re)Broadcast

Today we have a special treat in store: a rebroadcast (we don’t do reruns) of Dr. Norman Kurland’s keynote address (ten minutes) at the “Focus on the Fed Rally” in 2010.  What with the shenanigans that have been going on with money and credit throughout the world, this message is as timely as ever:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 04

Things are a little slow getting back to what people call normal after the New Year, but there are some significant Just Third Way events happening.  Of particular interest is the fact that 2019 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of CESJ’s bestselling (by small press definitions) book, Curing World Poverty: The New Role of Property.  And other happenings are equally interesting:

Fulton Sheen and the Principles of Economic Justice

In the previous posting on this subject, we realized that, while Pope Leo XIII and other heads of the Catholic Church pretty much laid it down as the law that as many people as possible should become owners of capital, they did not really give a good or practicable means of being able to do so.  Does that mean that Fulton Sheen made a mistake in his book, Freedom Under God, when he backed the papal stance on widespread capital ownership to the hilt?

From Social Christianity to Christian Socialism

One of the more surprising things people find out when they study history is that what actually happened, and what most of the experts say happened, are two different things.  Nowhere has this been more of a problem than when trying to figure out how social Christianity differs from Christian socialism.

The Three Ways of Fulton Sheen

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject (the subject being Fulton Sheen’s book, Freedom Under God), there is a difference between the natural and absolute right to be an owner (everyone absolutely has the right to be an owner), and the socially determined and limited rights of ownership (no owner can do whatever he or she likes, but must not harm others or the common good when exercising his or her rights).

Just Third Way Podcast

Today being Martin Luther King Day, we’re having the first podcast of the new season start off with a few remarks in that vein and then get down to a discussion from Dr. Norman Kurland about the sort of thing Dr. King was working toward.  We're also trying out a new, more standardized format:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 03

Along with all the bad things that everybody knows about, there are a number of bright things on the horizon.  This is understandable, as CESJ co-founder Father William Ferree, S.M., Ph.D. always said that in social justice terms, nothing is impossible.  No matter how bad things look, there is always a just and moral way to solve any social problem:

Fulton Sheen on Human Law v. Natural Law

In yesterday’s posting, Fulton Sheen on Private Property, we noted that Fulton Sheen seemed to have contradicted himself.  He noted several times that private property is a natural right — something inherent in the human person, which not even the State can take away — and then made the comment that “though man has a natural right to private property, this right is not absolute.” (P. 51, Freedom Under God.)

Fulton Sheen on Private Property

In yesterday’s posting we looked at the legal case for the importance of private property. We have to keep in mind, however, that the title of Fulton Sheen’s book is “Freedom Under God.” Sheen’s purpose was not to present a treatise or contract delineating humanity’s legal rights and duties in human society. Our constitutions, bills of rights, and legal systems are intended to serve that purpose.

Fulton Sheen’s Long Lost Classic

Every once in a while we review a few things from the past that we think people might want to take another look at.  One of these is our rediscovery a few years back of a “long lost classic” by none other than Fulton J. Sheen . . . you know, “Uncle Fulty” who was in a (friendly) competition with “Uncle Milty”?

Just Third Way Broadcast

Ever hear of 60 Minutes — the show, not (necessarily) the time units?  Once upon a time they did a segment on Louis O. Kelso . . . who happened to state his opinion that unless the economy could be made to work for everyone, we were heading for trouble.  And you know something?  He was right.  (By the way, don’t be mislead by Kelso’s use of the term “capitalism.”  He used it in, e.g., The Capitalist Manifesto and The New Capitalists, a different sense than the socialists use it, and later decided it was not the best term, anyway.)

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 02

As politics, economics, and religion continue to mix (being the same thing to an increasing number of people), the world picture becomes increasingly confused and confusing . . . unless you come over and take a walk on the side of common sense.  Analyzed from a Just Third Way perspective, it’s astonishing just how much of what is going on starts to make sense . . . and the right thing to do becomes more obvious:

Politics and Religion

According to R.W. Church, possibly the best (if not completely objective) historian of the Oxford Movement, the whole trouble and the reason for the ultimate downfall of the Movement and the loss of John Henry Newman to the Church of England was the result of ego and arrogance on the part of the Oxford authorities who looked on ancient Christian doctrines as dangerous novelties,

About That “Democratic Socialism” . . .

In today’s world it is easy to get the impression that the meaning and purpose of life is for everyone’s needs to be provided by someone else and all desires gratified without effort on the part of the recipient.  Current thought as reported in the media suggests that a justly structured social order is one in which matters are arranged in such a way that as many people as possible can remain permanent children, complete with “safe spaces” and periodic “time outs” for temper tantrums.

We Agree With Alan Greenspan

. . . just not for the reasons you (or he) might think.  A few days ago, everybody’s favorite (or at least best known) freshman representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said that the top marginal tax rate for the “ultra rich” should be raised to 70%.  This would allow the government to fund research into “green” alternative fuels with the goal of weening the U.S. off the fossil fuels by 2030.

Just Third Way Broadcast

Today we bring you a video of a discussion between Norman Kurland and Gar Alperovitz on the democratization of capital ownership.  It’s not very long, but you will find it substantive:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 01

A short work week, but one filled with one or two significant events . . . one of which is not the increasing volatility of the stock market.  People have yet to realize that the stock market is NOT a “leading economic indicator.”  It’s not, strictly speaking, an economic indicator at all.  It’s a lagging emotional indicator.  It gives a good idea of the emotional state of the gamblers on Wall Street, and that’s about it.  As for more significant events:

Labor, Capital, and Alienation

Many people think that replacement of human labor by capital and the alienation and social disintegration that results is a new thing.  It is not.   Economic and social alienation due to advancing technologies or changing economies has been around since the dawn of time.  It is just that the rate at which change occurs started accelerating about five hundred years ago.  For this, two factors are responsible.

The “Marketplace of Faith”?

There was an interesting article in last year’s Wall Street Journal (yes, we’ve been dying to use that line since last week . . . that is, last year) asking the question, “Why are Americans so religious?”  (“The Marketplace of Faith,” 12/28/18, A-10).  Sriya Iyer, who wrote the piece, is also the author of The Economics of Religion in India (2018).  She argues in part that in America there is more competition between religions and between religion and the government.  With more choices for basic services, competition — and institutions providing that competition — will thrive.

Happy New Year!

Okay, not spectacularly original, but we do take a break now and then. . . .

Happy New Year's Eve!

As the title of this posting has it, Happy New Year's Eve!  And don't you have something better to do than be reading this?

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 52

Here is the second half of our annual news roundup.  The second half (July through December) always ends up being longer than the first half because the evets seem more timely and less outdated than what happened during the first half of the year.  To cut to the chase, however::

Crisis of Confidence

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, with the publication of “Tract 90,” John Henry Newman inadvertently gave leverage to the enemies of the Oxford Movement.  By playing on the fears of “creeping (or galloping) Romanism,” the more liberal (in the bad sense) elements in the Church of England were able to undermine and eventually marginalize almost completely the effort to return to orthodoxy.

When the Chips are Down

Watching “cop shows” on television it is easy to get the impression that a police officer’s work is a constant round of burglaries, bar fights, “domestic incidents,” investigating crooked cops, murders, and (if it’s a comedy) lots of doughnuts.  Television cops (the funny ones, anyway) have a hunger for doughnuts that would shame Homer Simpson.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Just Third Way!  And if you don't have anything else to do, why don't you go back and read some of the postings over the past year in preparation for the next?  Otherwise, have fun!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Yes, since we're taking the day off in everything else (not the night, though), we're also letting the blog slide today and tomorrow.  If you get lonely, of course, listen to some of the musical free samples for Christmas Eve available here.  We recommend "Santa Geh Gesunder Heit."  And a sample is about all you can take.  Otherwise,

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 51

This week in addition to some current events (which you will find at the end of this posting), we have the first half of the annual news roundup from the Just Third Way, from January through June.  One of the things we found ironic was our commenting in the first “News from the Network” for 2018 that the newly achieved “25,000 Dow” was making some people nervous.  Given the market shakeup over the past few weeks, that seems to have been warranted.  It does, however, tend to make the Just Third Way more attractive:

“Remarks on Certain Passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles”

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, John Henry Newman’s goal when he published “Tract 90,” otherwise known as “Remarks on Certain Passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles,” was not to try and turn the Church of England into the Catholic Church.  Rather, it was to show the continuity of doctrine in both churches and their fundamental agreement on what makes Christianity specifically Christianity.

Real Bills for Real Wealth

Leo XIII

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, in his landmark social encyclical Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII managed to do two things that took the socialists, modernists, and New Agers off guard.  One, he followed up on the series of social encyclicals that had started with Gregory XVI’s Mirari Vos in 1832 with an unexpected twist.  Instead of simply condemning the “new things” of the modern world, he presented an alternative that could deliver what socialism, modernism, and the New Age only promised, and that without sacrificing one iota of the natural law or Catholic doctrine.

A Suitable Pretext and the Usual Suspects

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, worried that the Church of England might return to orthodoxy and undermine or repudiate all the gains that had been made by “the democratic religion” or New Christianity that was intended to replace traditional political and religious institutions, the “Broad Church” faction comprised of socialists, modernists, unitarians, and even followers of esoteric cults whipped up fear of “Romanism” among the Evangelical faction that adhered to traditional Christian beliefs.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 11 (Rerun)

Today we have a reprise of Podcast Number 11 on What is Money? and Capital Homesteading.  These are questions that are of interest to everyone, so it is useful to rerun one of the podcasts on them every now and then just to keep people up to date:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 50

Although things often slow down as the holidays draw near and the end of the year approaches, people involved in the Just Third Way movement have been seeing a lot of action, so to speak.  A number of projects are coming to fruition, such as the prototype instructional video, some major publications, and a revived newsletter.  We’re also come across some interesting ideas that might be integrated into the Justice University project.  Then there’s the international and national scene:

The Wisdom of Social Justice

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, given ordinary circumstances, moral questions tend to get away from the gray shadings and drift into black and white.  They never really get there, of course, but as a general rule, as Fulton Sheen was fond of saying, “Right is right if nobody does it, wrong is wrong if everybody does it.”

Prelude to Catastrophe

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the adherents of the “democratic religion” of socialism — which also encompassed what became known as modernism and the New Age — became adamantine opponents of John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement when it became obvious that the tenets of the New Christianity could in no way be reconciled with orthodox beliefs.  As G.K. Chesterton would note a century or so later, the “Hampden Affair” revealed the profound differences between traditional religion (Orthodoxy, 1908) and the invention of a new religion under the name of Christianity (Saint Francis of Assisi, 1923).

The Wisdom of Fulton Sheen

This past Sunday marked the thirty-ninth anniversary of the death of Archbishop Fulton John Sheen (1895-1979).  Ordinarily we would have posted any reflection on his thought pertaining to the Just Third Way on that day.  We don’t post on Sunday, however, and yesterday was the day reserved for CESJ’s “electronic apostolate” (so to speak), and Sheen would have been the first one to appreciate the fact that “the show must go on.”

CESJ Video Broadcast, Week of December 9-16, 2018

This week’s video broadcast is a show first aired on December 21, 2016, an episode of The Challenge With Russell Williams, featuring Dr. Norman G. Kurland as a guest.  While the show is fairly short at less than half an hour, we’re sure you’ll want to tune in:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 49

While it certainly seems as if good news travels so slowly that it never seems to arrive, a number of projects that have been in the works for years are nearing at least the initial stages of completion or fulfillment.  CESJ still has a need for volunteers to handle the routine organizational administrate tasks as well as take over some key (but understaffed) projects, but every organization and movement can say the same thing.  CESJ’s most critical need at this point is people willing to learn about the Just Third Way and who will take advantage of the vast amount of material available free on the CESJ website, such as the free e-books.  There are, of course, publications for sale, and we encourage you to purchase them, but try the free stuff first . . . don’t cost nothing. . . And in the meantime:

The Slavery of Savings

It is traditional in economics and finance to accept the principle that new capital formation is utterly impossible without saving.  Nobody ever got something for nothing, and nobody ever will.  What about gifts and charity, you ask?  What about them?  If someone gives you a gift or alms, you owe gratitude.  You don’t get something for nothing.

“As Many as Possible of the People”

In the previous posting on this subject we began by complaining about a book without embarrassing the author by giving the title or the name of the author.  The book exists, though, even if it does not appear to have sold very well.

Broad Church Basics

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, John Henry Newman and the others of the Oxford Movement were confronted with something they were ill-prepared to deal with, and up to a point did not even realize what the real problem was.  With the Industrial and French Revolutions a new idea had grown up regarding the real purpose of religion — and it did not have too much to do with God, as Fulton Sheen would point out in the next century.

CESJ Video Broadcast

While the Just Third Way Podcast is on Holiday Hiatus we decided it was the perfect opportunity to run a number of the videos that cover Just Third Way subjects.  This particular one, a Molly Cheshire Show interview featuring Norman Kurland, president of CESJ, is especially interesting:

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.