“Only By Members of Groups”

In yesterday’s posting we might have given the impression of a vision of social justice not connected with actual people.  That is, we might have given that impression if the posting wasn’t read in context as part of a series on the “laws and characteristics of social justice” as analyzed by CESJ co-founder Father William J. Ferree, S.M., Ph.D.  In particular it is essential to keep in mind the fourth “law” of social justice, that every individual is directly responsible not only for his or her own personal welfare, but for the common good as a whole, i.e., to acquire the "virtue" or habit of being just in his or her interactions with other persons but also to acquire the social virtue of how to address injustices effectively in his or her institutions or "social habits or tools" when they fail to perform more justly for the benefit of every one of their members, i.e., the "common good".

The Characteristics of Social Justice

So far in our discussions on social justice in this brief series we’ve looked at the “laws” of social justice, at least those CESJ co-founder Father William J. Ferree, S.M., Ph.D. discerned in his work and described in his pamphlet, Introduction to Social Justice (1948).  Of course, the laws of social justice are not human statutes, like the speed limit or how to file your taxes.  Such things can be changed as expedient to fit human needs, and even abolished completely if enough people were to demand it.

All Vital Interests Should Be Organized

We come today to the seventh and final “law” of social justice: “All vital interests should be organized.”  This “law” is another application of the principle that seems first to have been articulated by Aristotle that man is by nature a “political animal,” that is, existing and subsisting within organized groups he called the pólis, hence, “political.”

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Host Dave Hamill comes to you this week from a new website for the podcast, a change that we believe will make these learning tools even more effective and enjoyable:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 09

This has been a busy week for the Just Third Way.  A number of glitches popped up but were dealt with, but more important, we have made some significant contacts and engaged in some very effective outreach.  It shows what can be done with a modicum of effort if members of the network take the time to reach out to those in their own networks:

The Formation of Capital

As we saw yesterday, there is a virtually unlimited commercial and industrial frontier that can replace the land frontier and give every child, woman, and man the opportunity to become an owner of productive assets and achieve a level of capital self-sufficiency.  The only question is how to do it . . . and it wouldn’t be through government handouts or programs like the New Deal.

The New Frontier

We noted yesterday that for ordinary people to have the opportunity to be capital owners and participate in society as full members a capital stake sufficient to generate an adequate and secure income is a virtual necessity.  The problem is that this almost mandates a frontier, but what is to be done when “free” land runs out?

Needed: A New Frontier

The State is not the only entity overburdened as a result of the State's expansion into inappropriate areas and the suppression of private and religious initiatives.  Another consequence is a heavier burden on the taxpayer through increased assessments to finance redistribution and entitlements.

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

On the latest podcast Host Dave Hamill interviews CESJ's Director of Research Michael D. Greaney and talks about "tough Capital Homesteading questions."  There won't be a test, but this could easily become a Justice University formal course, so save your notes.  (And we think we have the problem that was plaguing us fixed!)

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 08

We’ve been taking a little flak from an academic economist or two who have become offended by the recent debunking of the Keynesian money multiplier posted on this blog.  Unfortunately, their declarations consist exclusively of unproved assertion (we’re wrong because they’re right) and the appeal to authority (they’re right because they are credentialed academics with decades of experience denigrating students and anyone else who dares to disagree with them).  Alas — it is impossible to respond to someone who refuses to say what your alleged mistake might be, and who confines him- or herself to declaring that we are wrong without proof.  So here is this week’s News from the Network, not giving any proofs, just reporting the news:

The Problem of Social Justice

Taking a break in our series of postings on the laws and characteristics of social justice, we thought we’d look at what many people presume to be the task of social justice: creating a perfect society here on earth, instead of one that is just for as many people as possible.

The Multiplier Fallacy

Recently we were “accused” by someone who was evidently a great adherent of the economics of John Maynard Keynes of not understanding the Keynesian money multiplier.  A few years back we had made the statement in a posting that the Keynesian money multiplier is based on a fallacy and relies on counting the same money multiple times — what in accounting is called “double counting.”

Freedom of Association

The three great natural rights are life, liberty, and private property — and the “laws” of social justice take this into account.  Social justice is the virtue directed to the common good, and the common good is the “medium of life,” that vast network of institutions within which people subsist socially, what Aristotle called the politikos bios, the life of the citizen in the State.  “Life” in social justice is not merely being alive, but living “politically,” i.e., institutionally while at the same time retaining your individuality.

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Think of them as "Justice University Seminars."  Host/Professor Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  We have a new link, which gets you to the two latest podcasts, Nos. 11 and 12.  Number 11 looks at monetary reforms needed for Capital Homesteading, and Number 12 reviews Federal Reserve policy in response to the volatility in the stock market . . . which isn't really helping matters. . . .

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 07

Although the facts are somewhat questionable, and the logic is more than a little shaky (and has been for more than a century), Keynesian economics still rules the worlds of Academia and Politics . . . and people continue to wonder why and how the world doesn’t seem to be working the right way.  Perhaps the answer is just a little too obvious?  In any event, here are some of this week’s Just Third Way events:

John Frum Day, 2018

Today is “John Frum Day.”  John Frum (also known as “From” and “Fram”) is a god in the South Pacific originally known as “John From Jesus Christ,” a reincarnation of John the Baptist.  As the myth evolved in the late nineteenth century, John Frum was to restore the ancient way of life of the native peoples and open Heaven’s Cargo Workshops to them instead of restricting the wealth to white people.

A Pro-Life Valentine

We realize that on this particular (Saint) Valentine’s Day we’re supposed to wail and moan the fact that it falls by coincidence on “Ash Wednesday,” which many Christians observe as the start of Lent and is therefore a day of “fast and abstinence.”  That means no chocolate or other goodies for your sweetie.

Higher Institutions Must Never Displace Lower Ones

In the opening passages of Leo XIII’s pivotal 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, there is something that has puzzled many people to the point that their only response is to ignore it.  This is the pope’s rather odd comment about the role the State should take in everyday life.  As His Holiness declared, “There is no need to bring in the State. Man precedes the State, and possesses, prior to the formation of any State, the right of providing for the substance of his body.”  (§7)

Church and Culture with Deal Hudson

Host Dave Hamill takes a break from the CESJ podcast this week, but we have the February 10, 2018 (First Hour) "Church and Culture" Show with your host, Dr. Deal Hudson of the Ave Maria Radio Network, an affiliate of EWTN.  Dr. Hudson's guest is Mr. Michael D. Greaney, CESJ's Director of Research, who has a new book out, Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 06

While the winter is cold, the Just Third Way literary scene seems to be pretty hot.  There is fresh interest in Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen (2004) and Dr. Harold G. Moulton’s classic refutation of the monetary policies behind the Keynesian New Deal, The Formation of Capital (1935).  Most of the stir, however, is caused by a number of important new books that have come out or are in the process of being published:

Alternative Facts and Truth

If you’ve been paying attention for the past two centuries or so, you might have noticed that “social justice” tends to be equated with socialism quite a bit, especially among Catholics of a certain bent,.  This comes across as what might rather confusingly be called a “liberal conservatism,” which manifests as a sort of weird “ultramontanism,” a term meaning “favoring greater or absolute supremacy of papal over national or diocesan authority in the Catholic Church.”

Each Directly Responsible

Now we come to the “Fourth Law of Social Justice”: “Each is Directly Responsible.”  This one puzzles quite a few people, because they tend to think of social justice in terms of demanding individual goods from those who have them, for redistribution among those who don’t have them, not in making it possible for people to meet their own wants and needs through their own efforts — in other words, putting the onus on someone else for whatever you want done, whether individually or socially.

The First Particular Good

Continuing our series of postings on the laws and characteristics of social justice — with occasional postings on other subjects for rest and refreshment — today we look at what CESJ co-founder Father William Ferree called the “Third Law of Social Justice.”  That is, “One’s First Particular Good Is One’s Own Place in the Common Good.”

Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 05

A great deal has been happening this past week, although everyone here at CESJ headquarters managed to miss the lunar eclipse of the “Blueblood Moon” despite having gotten up extra-early to see it.  A portion of the sky was overcast at a critical time. . . . Be that as it may, at least advances in the Just Third Way are not a “once in a blue moon” occurrence:

“Cooperation, Not Conflict”

As part of our research into the area of economic justice, we’ve been reading recently how the Knights of Labor, the nineteenth century labor organization (whether it was ever an actual union seems to be a bone of contention among labor historians) never managed to come together as an organization, and eventually dissolved due to going through what amounted to an identity crisis.  Ultimately, no one seemed to know what the organization was, with factions and different leaders pulling it every which way until it finally collapsed.

“That the Common Good Be Kept Inviolate”

In yesterday’s posting we looked at the basic definition of social justice — that it is not a replacement or substitute for individual justice or charity, but a “particular” virtue in its own right and with its own focus ("directed object").  That focus is to restructure society’s institutions (it’s “social habits”) to make individual justice and charity possible, not to try to focus on what the individual virtues are supposed to be directed to.

What is Social Justice?

Forget everything you think you know about social justice.  The fact is that quite a few things are sold these days as social justice — everything from soup kitchens to the latest nutty economic theory.  As a result, “social justice” has become as meaningless in social theory as the hackneyed phrase “new and improved” in advertising.

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 04

The year is still pretty young, but things are starting to happen.  CESJ had its quarterly board meeting this past week, and people from across the country and around the globe had a number of interesting things to report, some of which are covered below:

Science and Science Fiction, Justice and Social Justice

To finish off our short series of blog postings on science fiction and social justice, we thought we’d take a look at how the whole idea of social justice — properly understood, of course — fits in to the “world” of science fiction.  It’s not as great a stretch as it might seem at first glance.

Turning the Other Cheek

In semi-response to yesterday’s posting on “Social Justice and Science Fiction,” some individuals — not very many, admittedly — decided to chastise us and those science fiction and fantasy writers, fans, and others who commented on, protested, or in any way drew attention to what appears to be a serious situation in “fandom.”  It seems that when someone or group is (allegedly) unjustly under attack, the “Christian” thing to do (although nobody had previously brought up Christ or any other religious figure), is to knuckle under to the (alleged) bullies and their friends and supporters, and “turn the other cheek.”

Social Justice and Science Fiction

At first glance, there might seem to be no connection between science fiction and fantasy “fandom” and the Just Third Way.  Yes, the ideas of the Just Third Way are forward-looking, futuristic, and could easily be integrated into visions of future, fantastic, or alternative societies and worlds.  They might even form the core around which science fiction and fantasy epics could be written — Tolkien may have to look to his laurels in the face of the new wave of Just Third Way writers!

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 03

Many things are in the works right now that we expect to bear fruit over the coming year, but not much on which we can report.  Mostly what we have this week are a few comments on ongoing projects and what we expect to do in the near future:

Highlights of the Abraham Federation

Yesterday we gave a very broad overview of a solution we think Pope Francis and others ought to consider, the “Abraham Federation” as a way of defusing the situation in the Holy Land.  Today we said we’d look at some of the specifics of the proposal, the “highlights,” as it were, so here goes.  Again, be aware there might be some slight editing glitches, as the paper from which this is extracted has not been updated for a while, but the fundamentals are there:

The Abraham Federation

In his Urbi et Orbi address on Christmas Day 2017, Pope Francis mentioned the possibility of a “two state solution” for the Holy Land.  We think this might be something of a problem, if only because what one person means by that term never seems to mesh exactly with what another means.  And that creates a problem if you’re trying to develop a solution instead of pushing an agenda. . . .

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

This week's new podcast features CESJ's own Dawn K. Brohawn, Director of Communications.  Purely by coincidence, Dawn was yesterday's guest blogger.  In this podcast, she gives an overview of her involvement in the Just Third Way movement.  Host Dave Hamill continues to turn out the high-quality productions you've come to expect from CESJ . . . and with the "best in guests," too.  Be sure you click on “Related Tracks” so you see all the episodes — otherwise, you’ll just see the first three.

The Time for New Wine

Today we have a guest blogger, Dawn K. Brohawn, CESJ’s Director of Communications, who crafted this New Year’s message a short time ago.  Although it’s a New Year’s message, it is appropriate for any time of year: