An Introduction to American Liberalism

On Christmas Day in the year 1797, Luigi Barnabà Chiaramonte (1742-1823), bishop of Imola, astounded conservatives in the congregation at his cathedral by declaring that there is no necessary conflict between Christianity and democracy.  Nor did Chiaramonte change his liberal position when he was elected to the papacy in 1800, taking the name Pius VII.

How About English Liberalism?

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, and as is clear to anyone who has looked into the career of John Henry Newman, one of the main reasons for the Oxford Movement, if not the reason (understood in its broadest sense), was the concern he and others had regarding the spread of liberalism and its result on the clergy and laity of the Church of England.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 26

This week we have a very special program on the Just Third Way Podcast: Civil Rights Legend the Reverend Dr. Virgil Wood, who was the New England representative for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Today Dr. Wood talks about “jubilee,” civil rights, and empowering all with economic opportunity through ownership.  He also mentions Dr. King’s encouragement for him to pursue the advancement of Kelso’s philosophies!

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 29

A great many things have been happening on the Just Third Way home front, not the least is the discovery of a “missing link” tying together Cardinal Newman, Msgr. R.H. Benson, Msgr. Ronald Knox, G.K. Chesterton, and Abp. Fulton J. Sheen!  We predict that a lot of preconceptions and assumptions are going to bite the dust with a rather loud thump when we complete our research and make it public.  Until then, however, there are other important things happening in the movement:

Liberalism? Which One? European?

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the authorities generally list four primary causes of the decay of the Church of England and the beginning of the Oxford Movement.  All of these are interrelated, and it is actually impossible to discuss them intelligently in isolation.  These are 1) Getting involved in politics, 2) Erastianism, or the State moving into determining religious beliefs, practices, and policies, 3) A confusion of the religious identity of the Church of England itself, and 4) The rise of liberalism.

Religion Without God

Following up on the previous posting on this subject (i.e., John Henry Newman), we need to look at the specific situation in which he found himself.  As was the case with all mainstream Christian churches in the early nineteenth century, the Church of England was in serious trouble.  Nor was this situation limited to religious society.  In the wake of the French Revolution, Church, State, and Family seemed to be dissolving in chaos everywhere in Europe.

Charles Kingsley and John Henry Newman, II

In the previous posting on this subject, we found that the Reverend Charles Kingsley, who had accused John Henry Newman in print of being a liar, actually admitted in the course of preparing his final blast at Newman that his original accusation was false.  Despite that, Kingsley informed a friend of his that he was going to continue making new accusations until he had taken revenge on Newman for some undisclosed transgression Newman had allegedly committed against Kingsley twenty years before.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 25

Yes, we know that we labeled last week’s podcast Number 25 . . . but there was a good reason for that: we made a mistake.  Or there was miscommunication.  Or something.  We ran President Reagan’s speech before the Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice from 1987 and labeled it “Podcast #25,” even though as a “rerun” (so to speak) it doesn’t really fit into the series.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 28

With the summer about half over, it is encouraging that there are so many signs that people are starting to wake up to the potential of the Just Third Way.  There are only a few news items this week, but they are of “high quality.”  Of course, all of our news items are always of “high quality,” but these add a bit of significance to people outside the movement as well:

Charles Kingsley and John Henry Newman, I

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, back in the middle of the nineteenth century a man named Charles Kingsley, a successful and well-known Anglican clergyman, seemingly out of the blue attacked a semi-retired Catholic clergyman by the name of John Henry Newman, a convert to Catholicism who was regarded even by himself as a failure.

John Henry Newman and Charles Kingsley

Everybody knows about John Henry Newman.  He tried to turn the Church of England into the Catholic Church, and when that didn’t work he became a real Catholic.  He then wrote a bunch of books about how to start a university and apologize for everything, and then had a big fight with Pope Pius IX because they didn’t allow him to dissent about papal infallibility, so he wrote a book about how to dissent without seeming to dissent, and he was right because Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal . . . right?

A New, Anti-Human Role for the State

In the previous posting on this subject, we examined Woodrow Wilson’s philosophy of government.  We decided (we don’t know what you decided) that Wilson’s approach to government was not exactly respectful of the human person, dignity, and all that.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 24-1/2

This week on the Just Third Way Podcast we have a very special guest: President Ronald Reagan!  This is a live recording of the talk President Reagan gave when receiving the report of the Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice in 1987.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Task Force and who think that “government” has to do everything, Project Economic Justice was a private initiative using no government (i.e., taxpayer) money:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 27

One of the interesting things about investigating the roots of the Just Third Way is the fact that we keep uncovering things that support what we’re saying, and that undermine claims made by those who either oppose the Just Third Way (very few, actually, if you limit it to those with valid critiques) or who just plain don’t understand the Just Third Way.  For example, this week we found an article from 1855 that describes the tactics of the socialists: if something doesn’t fly, or people become outraged, shift immediately to something emotional instead of rational, and hide whatever is offensive under another name.  But there is some good news as well:

Government of the Élite, by the Élite, and for the Élite

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, Woodrow Wilson’s political philosophy boiled down to “might makes right.”  Something was right because he believed it was so, not because it met or measured up to any objective standard of good.  In that, Wilson simply echoed the totalitarian philosophy of Thomas Hobbes.

Happy Independence Day!

We suppose we really should post something to the effect that if you want true independence, you need a capital stake sufficient to generate an adequate and secure income.  Since we say that in virtually every other posting one way or another, and today is a holiday, we're letting those of you who actually visit this blog instead of spending time with friends and family off the hook — for today, anyway:

Woodrow Wilson’s Political Philosophy

We’ve been looking at Woodrow Wilson and his role in eliminating the vestiges of what was once known as “Lincoln Republicanism,” i.e., a political philosophy that viewed government as being of the people, by the people, and for the people.  The Progressive Party was pretty much the last gasp of the type of Republicanism that replaced the Whig Party and ran Abraham Lincoln for president back in the day.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 24

Wait!  Didn't we see JTW Podcast # 24 LAST week?  Yes, we did.  Frankly, it was so well received that we decided to give in to popular demand and run it again this week.  Since Wednesday is a holiday in the United States, this will give everyone a chance to catch up on all the podcasts they missed.  So, for your listening pleasure, we again have a panel discussion on the Capital Homesteading concept.  The CESJ core group gets together and fields some insightful questions and comments from your host, Dave Hamill —

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 26

The stock market, of course, is bouncing around like a rubber ball, President Trump is fretting because manufacturers are leaving the U.S. — which they wouldn’t if the U.S. had a Capital Homestead Act, a rational tax system, and an elastic, asset-backed currency that financed private sector growth instead of government spending — the immigrant “problem” is upsetting people (which it wouldn’t if the U.S. and other countries had a Capital Homestead Act, etc.), and so on.  In other words, business as usual.  What isn’t “business as usual” are the advances we continue to make in promoting the Just Third Way:

The Triumph of the Will

If history has shown us anything, it is that Woodrow Wilson was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.  At a time when the United States needed a new direction to restore and retain government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” it got an elitist snob with a vision limited by his own ego.  When the world needed the U.S. to take the lead and douse the flames that led to World War I, Wilson retreated into isolationism until the situation he helped create got so bad it could no longer be ignored.