Just Third Way Podcast: Norman Kurland on Power

Power is a dirty word to many people today, but that's probably because most people don't have any.  As a result, they tend to define the concept in terms of power over others, rather than the idea of having power over one's own life.  That is odd, because power is defined as "ability for doing."  Unless one plans on being a pair of ragged claws at the bottom of the sea (or whatever it was that J. Alfred Prufrock thought about), power is essential simply to exist.  That is why Dr. Norman Kurland, President of the Center for Economic and Social Justice, decided to talk about power and how to structure it for the benefit of everyone, not just a few:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 20

Things are a little quiet due to the fact that expanded ownership initiatives are waiting to see what comes out of the ESOP Association conference next week, but some ongoing projects are making progress, and of course there are more personal matters:

Chesterton and Shaw: The Lost Debate

Sometime during the evening of a long day late in the summer of 1923, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), renowned wit and agent provocateur for Fabian socialism, had almost finished entertaining himself and other members of a party assembled at a house in Chelsea.  Having been there for about an hour, Shaw was preparing to take his leave when the arrival of Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was announced.

Aquinas on Private Property

In the previous posting on this subject — private property in general, and under what circumstances (if any) private property ceases to exist — we examined the arguments Msgr. John A. Ryan of the Catholic University of America used to justify substituting the definitions of social justice and distributive justice used by the socialists and modernists of the 1830s and 1840s for those of the Catholic Church derived from Aristotelian-Thomist philosophy.

More Waugh on Vatican II

No, that’s not a cute way of saying we’re waling on the Second Vatican Council, which would be inappropriate for an interfaith group in any event.  It’s a way of continuing our piece on Evelyn Waugh and his take on the Council, which is somewhat different from what may have been recorded.

Just Third Way (Re)Podcast, No. 48

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. 19

Although we do know from the number of people viewing the blog and other indicators that word of the Just Third Way is getting around, it seems as though it ought to be faster.  Nevertheless, each day a little progress is being made, but not in a way that generates news items, unfortunately:

Evelyn Waugh on Vatican II

In the eyes of some, the Catholic Church prior to the Second Vatican Council was a cesspool of corrupt authoritarianism and abuse that insulted human dignity at the most fundamental level.  To take only one example, Monsignor George A. Kelly (1916-2004) quoted Malachi Brendan Martin (1921-1999) in his (Kelly’s) book, The Battle for the American Church (1979), giving a lengthy list of things in the Church that “do not work,” especially anything that made the Church Catholic or even religious. (Msgr. George A. Kelly, The Battle for the American Church. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1979, 5-6.)

"America's Greatest Social Philosopher"

On his death in 1985, Father William J. Ferree, S.M., Ph.D. was eulogized as “the second founder” of his religious order, the Society of Mary.  Father Andrew F. Morlion, O.P., Ph.D., Belgian philosopher and founder and first president of the International University of Social Studies in Rome, referred to Father Ferree as “America’s greatest social philosopher.”  But who was he?

A Study in Contradiction

One of the things we find most consistent about socialism is its inconsistency, the ability to say one thing and do another with astonishing regularity.  This was brought forcibly home to us when we came across the writings of Robert Owen, considered the first of the British line of socialism.

Adler on the Air

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!

WE HAVE DELETED THE PODCAST TO EDIT FURTHER.  IT WILL BE UP AGAIN AS SOON AS WE ARE FINISHED.  IN THE MEANTIME, WE PUT UP A LINK TO WALLACE'S 1959 INTERVIEW WITH ADLER

For the Just Third Way Podcast this week, we have a special treat in store: Mike Wallace’s interview of Mortimer Adler.  Adler, of course, co-authored The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) and The New Capitalists (1961) with Louis O. Kelso, but is also noted for the Great Books program and as the editor of the Syntopicon:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 18

Back in the early nineteenth century, the proto-socialist and founder of “the New Christianity” Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head.  He missed, but his followers claimed that the shock brought about his realization that he was either God’s Special Messenger or possibly even God.  Ever since, failure has been taken as proving that socialism actually works.  It only fails because people can’t seem to deal with a system that relies on them becoming God.  We, of course, just assume that people are going to keep on being people, so the Just Third Way is based on working with human nature rather than trying to change it:

Money Isn’t Everything

It’s time for another esoteric blog posting on the nature of money.  Today we’ll be looking at the difference between what is called “the Currency School” that virtually all modern economics, whether or not mainstream, accept, and “the Banking School,” on which binary economics is based.

The Four Pillars of Socialism

We’ve been doing a great deal of research for a series of books a publisher (obviously intelligent and astute) has requested that we submit “on spec” — i.e., they’d like to see a manuscript, but aren’t making any specific promises about acceptance.  Much of this has involved investigation into the roots of the “New Things,” as Pope Leo XIII referred to them in his landmark 1891 encyclical “On Capital and Labor” (the current official title).

Poverty v. Destitution

In his 2015 book, God or Nothing, Robert Cardinal Sarah made an interesting distinction between poverty and destitution.  We’re not sure we agree, but it may be something to think about.  According to Sarah, most people through history have been “poor,” which he defined as producing enough to provide decently for one’s self and one’s dependents, but nothing more.

People and Things

This week’s podcast features a repeat of the discussion about CESJ’s short (one minute and forty-seven seconds) introductory video, “People and Things.”  The reason for rerunning it so soon after the original broadcast is that on Saturday, April 27, 2019, CESJ had its first “Justice University” seminar as part of CESJ’s thirty-fifth anniversary celebration.  The seminar was well-attended, and the following workshop had a great deal of lively discussion, so we thought we’d let others join in the fun, if a trifle late and a little vicariously:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 17

After many trials and tribulations of a computerized nature, here are this week’s news items:

Creating Truth for Fun and Prophet

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that Monsignor John A. Ryan (1869-1945) had his thought formed in an environment that accepted “the democratic religion” of socialism as a given.  The idea was to reduce Christianity to its essential elements, of which the first and overriding principle is that material wellbeing of everyone, especially the poor, is the goal of existence.

Interfaith Dialogue

Although differences and disagreements between people of different faiths and philosophies are nothing particularly new, they seem to be achieving much greater depths of depravity than ever before.  True, this might be merely the fact that with modern communications and the growing hunger of the popular media for sensation and scandal to titillate and entertain people who should have much better things to do, what was under the radar in former days is now the stuff of everyday life.

The Age of Aquarius

In the previous posting on this subject we examined the source of Monsignor John A. Ryan’s understanding of social justice and distributive justice as embodied in the two books that made him famous, A Living Wage (1906) and Distributive Justice (1916).  As we discovered, Ryan’s definitions did not come from a study of Rerum Novarum, but from the utopian and religious socialist movements of the early nineteenth century that Rerum Novarum was intended to counter.

Easter Witness and a Proposal for Ireland

This week’s podcast features a panel discussion about the Easter Rising historical event in Ireland and a proposal for Ireland outlined in Easter Witness, book by Michael D. Greaney.  (BTW, Dave looked in the wrong place on Amazon; the price is $20, not $500 for an autographed presentation copy!)  The discussion relates how the ownership of Ireland mentioned in the Proclamation issued during that Easter event can be the key for economic transformation of Ireland and the world.

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 16

Maybe it’s the season, but the criticisms of the Just Third Way have been particularly weak lately, with critics repeating themselves more than usual and saying things that have been refuted repeatedly.  On the other hand, it might be that the ideas are starting to get into the right quarters and people are starting to pay attention.  You decide:

Things Are Seldom What They Seem

In the opening of Act II of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, Little Buttercup informs the Captain in cryptic terms that many things are not as they might appear at first glance.  Confused, the Captain responds in kind, trading a list of random aphorisms for Buttercup’s “incomprehensible utterances.”

Easter Witness

This being “Holy Week” preceding “Easter Week,” we thought it might be appropriate to highlight a publication of the Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), Easter Witness: From Broken Dream to a New Vision for Ireland:

A Little Background Information

In the previous posting on this subject we looked at a statement made by Pope Francis to the effect that “food is not private property,” which a number of people declared meant that His Holiness had abolished private property in food, and that therefore socialism is a true interpretation of Catholic social teaching.

CESJ Repodcast

In this week’s Just Third Way (re)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. 12, No. 15

Apparently at least one person on Earth is offended by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, specifically Article 17: “(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”  We suspect that some offended people don’t know what property is, may not be too clear on the fact that “everyone” includes “everyone,” or maybe just got up on the wrong side of the bed this century.  In any event, here are a few tidbits of news from around the network:

How Finance Really Works in Practice

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at the different ways in which new capital formation could be financed.  We discovered that if we assume that only existing savings can be used to purchase new capital, ownership of all new capital is going to be concentrated in the hands of whoever owns those savings.  In capitalism, that means a private sector élite, while in socialism that means a government bureaucracy of some sort, whether you’re talking a national dictator or a village council.

And Now for Something Completely Different

. . . but not entirely.  Back in the early twentieth century, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson made a name for himself writing historical novels and then satire to try and counter the "New Things" of socialism, modernism, and the New Age . . . which (much to his chagrin) was taken as “prophecy” (Lord of the World, 1907) or his blueprint for an ideal society (The Dawn of All, 1911).  He also wrote others in what he termed the “sensational” category, which his readers seemed intent on misinterpreting.

How Finance Really Works in Theory

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at why Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is illogical.  Specifically, it relies on a mathematical impossibility, i.e., having one equation with three dependent variables.  The bottom line is that in the Quantity Theory of Money equation, M x V = P x Q, V, P, and Q determine M, not the other way around as MMT adherents maintain.  If you manipulate M, all you do is screw up the system so that Say’s Law of Markets won’t function.

Just Third Way Podcast Greatest Hits!

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. 12, No. 14

As usual, there have been some interesting developments in the Just Third Way this week, some of them even for the better.  So, not to waste any time:

A Contradiction in Terms?

Recently we received a quote from a news commentary on an allocution by Pope Francis to the effect that the head of the Catholic Church had abolished the natural law.  Not all of the natural law, of course, just the part that some people disagreed with and needed some credible authority to back them up regarding the alleged abolition of private property by Pope Francis (or any other pope).  Specifically,

“But You Are a Slave”

In his Advice to Young Men, the English Radical politician and journalist (among other things) William Cobbett said, “To be poor and independent is very nearly an impossibility.”  As the “Apostle of Distributism” (as G.K. Chesterton called him), Cobbett had even stronger things to say about the necessity of widespread capital ownership:

Some Thoughts on Distributism

We recently got into a FaceBook group devoted to discussing “Catholic Stuff.”  Most of the questions and discussion items were a little bit out of our area of expertise, but we did get into an interesting one about “distributism,” the rather loosely defined social philosophy advocated by G.K. Chesterton and his cohort, Hilaire Belloc.

Just Third Way Podcast: “People and Things”

This week’s guest on the Just Third Way podcast is Dawn Brohawn.  Dawn is Director of Communications for the Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), and recently completed a short pilot video intended to introduce people to the ideas behind the Just Third Way.  Join Dave and Dawn as they discuss the video, then read the supplementary material and view the video:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 13

This past week seems to have been a “Justice University” week.  A number of projects relating to that endeavor have been advanced materially, and relationships are being built.  We’re also seeing increasing evidence that the world needs the Just Third Way, and for many reasons:

Why Modern Monetary Theory is Illogical

“Modern Monetary Theory” or “MMT” is the theoretical framework for virtually all monetary policy in the world today.  Even those who reject MMT do so within the context of the very system they reject.

Freedom Under God

It is probably safe to say that 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.

The Four Pillars of a Just Market Economy

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at the principles of economic justice, 1) Participation, 2) Distribution, and 3) Social Justice.  These, we believe, are the essential building blocks of an economically just society.

Just Third Way Special Video Broadcasts

For this week’s “Electronic Outreach,” we thought we’d try something different.  Last week we launched a new video, “People and Things,” a two-minute production that “baits the hook” so to speak and gets people interested in learning more about the Just Third Way.  We realized we had a number of short videos, none of them longer than a few minutes, that people weren’t seeing only because they didn't know about them.    So, staring off with the new video, here’s a convenient “play list” for those of you who like your edutainment in small pieces:

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

There has been a great deal of progress made this past week in advancing our understanding of how the Just Third Way can help get the world out of the situation it is in and that offers a viable alternative to bankrupt (and bankrupting) Keynesian theories that have resulted in mountains of unserviceable debt in virtually every country in the world.  One message of the Just Third Way that today’s politicians need to take to heart is that it doesn’t have to be this way:

The Three Principles of Economic Justice

In the previous posting on this subject we noted that, having defined the State’s role in the economy in rather broad terms, we still needed to come up with the principles that should guide all  participants in the market if we want to have a justly structured economic order.  One thing to keep in mind, of course, is that (as Daniel Webster said) “Power naturally and necessarily follows property.”  If we want common human dignity respected, we cannot vest controlling power — property — in the State or anywhere other than every child, woman, and man.

“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. . . .