News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 33

Things are starting to heat up . . . if by that you mean the thermometers.  Other than that, things are all over the map, as people try to maintain their discredited paradigms in the face of reality:

Dorothy Day, Catholicism, and Communism, Part II

On Tuesday, in the previous posting on this subject, we noted that the Jesuit publication America had run “The Catholic Case for Communism,” an article by Dean Dettloff, their correspondent in Toronto, Ontario, which not very subtly turned Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, into a shill for communism.

Forty Years After

As we noted in the previous posting on this subject, both capitalists and socialists managed to reinterpret Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum to fit their particular paradigms.  The possibility that what Leo XIII was talking about was something entirely different does not appear to have occurred to many people.

Dorothy Day, Catholicism, and Communism, Part I

America magazine, a publication of the Jesuits, a Catholic religious Order, recently — July 23, 2019 — published an article by Dean Dettloff, America’s Toronto, Ontario, correspondent and a junior member of the Institute for Christian Studies.  The article, “The Catholic Case for Communism,” is a graphic illustration of the problems associated with people projecting their own opinions on to individuals or groups they admire, whether the admired individuals or groups ever expressed sympathy with them, or even if they were opposed to them.

Louis Kelso, ESOP Association Address, 05/10/1984

Maybe the quality of the recording isn't all it should be, but here is an interesting recording may on May 10, 1984, a month after the founding of CESJ, at the annual ESOP Association Conference.  Kelso gave the keynote address:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 32

We  do not have as many news items as we had last week, but they are at least as significant.  Rather than telling you about what we’re going to tell you about, we’ll just go straight to the news:

Of Dissent and Distributism

In yesterday’s posting we saw that the “cause” for the canonization of G.K. Chesterton was given the thumbs down by Peter Doyle, Bishop of Northampton, and that this excited a somewhat negative reaction on the part of some Chestertonians, as followers of Chesterton are called.

Of Distributism and Dissent

For those of you who care (and we would be surprised if there were very many), the Chestertonian Community (i.e., fans of the English writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 1874-1936) sustained a shock on the order of 7.3 on the Richter Scale this past Friday.  It seems that His Excellency (or His Lordship; we aren’t up on the latest ecclesiastical lingo in the U.K.) Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton in England, which was Chesterton’s home diocese, put the kibosh on Chesterton’s “cause” for canonization.

Subsidiarity and Democracy in America

One of the more interesting things we discover about Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (1805-1859) and his greatest work, Democracy in America (1835, 1840), is that the author — like Orestes Augustus Brownson (1803-1876) a generation latter in The American Republic (1866) — considered himself a Catholic writing as a Catholic.  What surprises many people is to find out that both de Tocqueville and Brownson considered the American system (slavery excepted) to be the closest to “Catholic” political theory.

"A Piece of the Action"

For a while we've been featuring short videos of Mortimer Adler talking about philosophical topics that have a bearing on the Just Third Way.  Today for a change of pace we thought we'd present a short video about someone else who has made a significant contribution to the Just Third Way, in fact, can be considered one of the founders of it: Louis O. Kelso!

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 31

An interesting batch of news items this week, most of them coming out in this morning’s Wall Street Journal — and most of them having to do with efforts to solve problems using the same paradigm that caused the problems in the first place!  Why not just take the easy way out and go with the Just Third Way?  After all, it might actually solve a few problems instead of creating more:

The Ultimate Social Power

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at the essence of subsidiarity, that is, where power in society subsists in a properly structured social order.  Within the context of “Thomist personalism” and the Aristotelian-Thomist concept of natural law we found that all power properly resides in the human person, not in any form of society.  As Pope Pius XI noted in his social analysis, “Only man, the human person, and not society in any form is endowed with reason and a morally free will” (Divini Redemptoris, § 29), and thus even a human person in an official capacity has only such rights as are delegated from people.

Restructuring the Social Order

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, Pope Benedict XV was not able to make any significant progress against the advance of the new things of socialism, modernism, and the New Age first because of World War I, and then his premature death in the flu pandemic following the war.  It was left to his successor, Pope Pius XI, to carry on the struggle.

Subsidiarity and Personalism

In the form of liberal democracy — the “American” kind that puts sovereignty in the human person as the highest temporal expression of human dignity, not into government (local or otherwise) or into an élite — the concept of subsidiarity has been around since Adam.  It is an application of the natural right of liberty (free association or contract) which necessarily implies that control over someone’s life is vested in the person whose life it is.

Gene Gordon on Deck!

In this week's Just Third Way podcast, Dave Hamill interviews Gene Gordon of Descendants of American Slaves for Economic and Social Justice.  Gene talks about how true reparations will repair the economic system to empower all through real justice — and he's not talking about handing out other people's money, either:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 30

Usually when the temperature goes way up, activity goes way down, but the advancement of the Just Third Way seems to be heating up along with the temperature (although we hope there is no correlation, or we’d know what to do about global warming!).  So while we’re waiting for things to cool down and get even hotter (in a good way), here’s what’s been happening in the Just Third Way network:

An Understanding of Subsidiarity

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at one idea of subsidiarity, that some level of government does whatever an individual or a group is unable to do for itself.  That understanding of subsidiarity, however, completely ignores the act of social justice, which is concerned with removing barriers to full participation in the institutions of the common good.  Social justice is not a substitute for individual justice or charity.  Rather, social justice enables individual justice and charity to function.

Putting On That Socialist Spin

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, although Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, “On Capital and Labor,” was meant to provide an alternative to socialism and modernism, adherents of the new things of modernism, socialism, and the New Age were quick to seize on it and divert it to their own purposes.  Among the first to do so were the agrarian socialist Henry George and his friend, the excommunicated priest Father Edward McGlynn.

Introduction to Subsidiarity

In preparation for a discussion on the natural law principles underlying religious social teaching (as opposed to religious faith-based teaching), we’ve been re-reading Mortimer Adler’s 1990 book, Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth (New York: Scribner and Sons).  As Adler argued, there are certain philosophical and natural law principles that are common to almost all religions, and are true, regardless of the truth of a religion’s purely faith-based teachings.

Something Completely Different?

 We've been alternating CESJ's Just Third Way podcast with videos featuring Mortimer J. Adler, who co-authored with Louis Kelso two key books that relate to economic personalism, The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) and The New Capitalists (1961), the latter with the significant subtitle, "A Proposal to Free Economic Growth from the Slavery of Savings."  That does not mean, of course, that new capital can be financed without savings, but that human beings should not be enslaved to money and credit, which are, ultimately, only tools that people should be using, not money and credit using people.

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 29

Have you seen the “People and Things” video?  If not, why not?  And if you have, why not view it again?  And spread it around to your network?  It’s less than two minutes, and perfect for the short attention span generation.  And as for what else the Just Third Way network is doing:

Taxation and Modern Monetary Theory

As they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day, the implication being that not even something inherently wrong is always wrong in its conclusions.  That is something capitalists and socialists — and MMT theorists — would do well to remember.

Old Things But in a New Way

In 1891, with the release of Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII’s encyclical “On Capital and Labor,” the careers of the agrarian socialist Henry George and his associate, Father Edward McGlynn were given the opportunity of a lifetime.  If handled right, it could give George’s career a much-needed shot in the arm by handing him something he could twist into a personal attack.

Faith v. Reason?

Given the rather startling popularity of yesterday’s posting of Mortimer Adler’s appearance on Firing Line and his grilling by William F. Buckley, we decided today to answer the question that Buckley asked Adler, but which Adler was not able to answer completely.  This was not because Adler could not answer, but because Buckley tried to get Adler to say what he, Buckley, wanted Adler to say, rather than what Adler needed to say.

Mortimer Adler on Religious Truth

Yes, we know that this is supposed to be the Just Third Way podcast and not the WJTW Adler Video Extravaganza, but these little gems from someone who has a claim to being the most prominent American Aristotelian-Thomist of the twentieth century have proven so popular that we can't resist the urge to keep posting them:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 28

Although there are more spectacular problems in the world, one of the more fundamental ones is the question of how people without capital ownership can become capital owners without harming anyone else.  As regular readers of this blog are aware, this can not only be done without harm, but in a way that benefits everyone by reforming the monetary, tax, and ownership structures in society.  So today we present a few thoughts on the subject:

When Did Notre Dame Become Notre Dumb?

As a few of you may know (and even fewer care), I attended the University of Notre Dame du Lac in northern Indiana in the late 1970s.  I was in the Notre Dame Glee Club for four years under Dr. David Clark (“Coach”) Isele, majored in Accounting, and managed to graduate, going on to get my MBA at the University of Evansville, Indiana.  Eventually I became Director of Research for the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ) in Arlington, Virginia.

Countering Socialism

In the previous posting on this subject, we learned that, while Pope Leo XIII started off his pontificate by continuing the condemnation of the “new things” of socialism, modernism, and “New Age” thought, people just weren’t “getting it.”  Despite the work of Msgr. Aloysius Taparelli, S.J. in developing a philosophically sound principle of social justice, the socialists had seized on the term and made it their own by giving it a definition that conformed to socialism instead of to natural law.

John Henry Newman and His Brothers

Word has just come down the pike that the canonization of John Henry Newman has been set for October 13, 2019.  We say that with caution, because you can bet money on it that most of the people commenting on it, Catholic or non, will say that “Newman will be made a saint,” or words to that effect.

More from Mortimer!

We’ve been having such success with the short videos of Mortimer Adler we’ve been putting up that we decided to do a couple more this week.  The two together are not more than fifteen minutes, but they have substance.  The first one is Adler talking about the Great Ideas for about ten minutes.  The second one is a brief four minutes or so on how you don’t really get an education in school, but from a lifetime of learning:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 27

As you can see from the volume of news items this week, the Just Third Way is in no danger of a summer slowdown.  Of course, we don’t want you to slow down, either, so be sure to pass this edition of News from the Network along to your network:

Divine Right of Kings v. Democracy

In celebration of Independence Day here in the United States, we decided to take a look at where the Founding Fathers got some of their ideas.  While the specific notions of democracy that inspired American liberal democracy go back to ancient Greece and Rome, their more immediate source of inspiration was the reaction against the “divine right” theory of Sir Robert Filmer (cir. 1588-1653), chief theologian of James VI/I (1566-1625) of Scotland/England.

An Unexpected Renaissance

In the previous posting on this subject, we saw to what extent “the New Christianity” had infiltrated the mainstream Christian denominations, especially the Catholic Church.  Pope Pius IX called the First Vatican Council in part to deal with the problem, and two key doctrines were defined as part of the effort.  These were papal infallibility to rein in the exaggerated claims being made for papal authority by fideists, Neo-Catholics, and reactionaries, and the primacy of the Intellect to put faith on a solid foundation consistent with reason.

The Four Faces of Socialism: The Abolition of Private Ownership

As we saw in the first posting on this subject, there are four primary aspects of socialism.  These are philanthropy, communitarianism, reform or abolition of religion, and — our topic for today — the abolition of private ownership.  Again, it is important to note that a particular form of socialism may not include all or even any of these aspects, and yet still be true socialism.

Mortimer Adler, Intellect Mind Over Matter, I & II

Much to our surprise, the videos we've been putting up about Mortimer Adler, philosophy, and some rather difficult or esoteric concepts have been proving very popular.  The recent one on the essence of socialism discussing the distinction between form and substance ranked in the top five all time hits for this blog!  This astounded certain commentators who think you have to dumb everything down and then not talk about it at all in order to be popular.  It turns out talking about truth and all that actually draws a crowd . . . and only a few of them are hecklers!

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

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

The Four Faces of Socialism: The Democratic Religion

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

The New Christianity

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

The Four Faces of Socialism: Communitarianism

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

The Ownership Vehicle Podcast!

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

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

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

The Four Faces of Socialism: Philanthropy

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

Christianity and Democracy

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

The Four Faces of Socialism: The Essence of Socialism

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

Mortimer Adler on Speaking and Listening

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

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

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

Can Social Justice Be Defined?

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

Chesterton and Shaw: The Idea of Distributism

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

Why is Socialism Wrong?

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

Mortimer Adler on Happiness

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

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

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

Rebranding Socialism as True Christianity

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

Chesterton and Shaw: The Modernist World

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

Religion Without God

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

Interview with Joe Recinos, Part II (and I)

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

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 22

Not as many news items as last week, but there are still significant events going on, especially as the powers-that-be insist on ignoring the Just Third Way:

A New View of Society

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, modern socialism (which includes Marxist communism) traces its roots to the thought of Robert Owen.  Owen’s theories anticipated the modern Welfare State as well as the drift into secularism, the deification of the abstraction of humanity, the decay of marriage and family, and a host of other ills attendant upon the alienation of most people from direct ownership of the means of production, and thus personal power and the means of participating as full members of society.

Chesterton and Shaw: The Last Debate

In our previous posting on this subject, we completed a brief overview of the lost debate between G.K. Chesterton and G.B Shaw.  Today we begin an equally brief summary of the last debate between the two “metaphysical jesters,” as one commentator termed them.  (William B. Furlong, GBS/GKC, Shaw and Chesterton: The Metaphysical Jesters.  University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1970.)  And so our story begins. . . .

Brothers Under the Skin

On Sunday, July 14, 1833 at Oxford University in England, the Reverend John Keble (1792-1866) ascended the University Pulpit and preached his scheduled “Assize Sermon.”  An “Assize Sermon” is preached in the Church of England at the opening of a term of the civil and criminal courts — “the Assizes” — hence the name.  The sermon is officially addressed to the judges and officers of the court and is intended to exhort them to do their duty and render justice.

Interview with Joe Recinos, Part I

This week we bring you the first part of an interview with Joseph W. Recinos, the Latin America Director of the Center for Economic and Social Justice.  Joe, a development economist, is a volunteer, and a co-founder of CESJ.

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 21

A lot has been going on this week, not the least of which is the annual conference of the ESOP Association in Washington, DC (which we may report on next week, as it is still in progress).  The bottom line?  Let’s cut to the chase and get to the news items:

Chesterton and Shaw: “A Reply to Mr. Mallock”

In the previous posting on this subject we saw how early in their relationship, George Bernard Shaw had used unfair debating tricks (are there fair debating tricks?) to “win” an argument against Chesterton by deliberately changing the real point under discussion.

Austrians and Distributists

Every once in a while we get a question that we answer and then realize we’ve written a blog posting.  On Friday of last week we had such a happy occurrence.  As someone asked in a forum discussing “Thomist Philosophy,” that is, the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas,

Chesterton and Shaw: How to Argue With a Socialist

In the previous posting on this subject, we left G.K. Chesterton smiling benignly down on an infuriated George Bernard Shaw.  Clearly Chesterton knew exactly what buttons to push to bring Shaw to a rapid boil in the shortest period of time.  The fact was that Chesterton had figured out how to handle an argument with Shaw: refuse to argue except on principle.

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: