Notes from the talk:
Richard Aleman (Editor of the Distributist Review) speaking on the Mistake about Distributism
What people think distribustism is and isn’t.
Distributism finds it’s base in the church’s social teaching, Rerum Novarum.
Wide ownership makes the best sense politically.
Neither wage slavery nor slavery to the state.
Common errors:
•It’s just another form of capitalism
•It’s just another form of socialism
•Distributist don’t believe in competition
Distributists believe in cooperation, based on uniqueness, creativity, the competition should be healthy.
•Distribustism is dying
Reprints of older books, and new books are being written
Workers must be seen as a partner, paid a living wage, and have the choice to own if he chooses.
How do we start distributism?
American Chesterton society meetings, talk about it, begin with a study group, using the local Chesterton society’s as a model. Meet once a week to learn the form of distrubutism.
Run for politics, run on a distributist platform.
Examine the failures of your local area. School, politics, parents teach your children distributism. Economics for Helen adapted into the homeschool program.
Working on the Distrubutism Catechism, Q&A
Micro-credit lending, community land trust
•We cannot meet large technological needs, and we can’t regain the farms that were lost
Distributists want to restore localism
Mass production can’t be centralized, but if it’s decentralized, it may work.
Richard speaks very quickly.
A community should produce, the essential goods, the majority of goods, in it’s own community.
If a mass producer collapses, so do we.
If a mass producer leaves a community, and it was the small town’s sole source of employment, the town dies.
Cooperatives, worker-owner businesses are the answers.
Cooperative, is a multi-partnership. The employees are the owners.
Utility, construction, utility companies, insurance, law firms, restore the Made in the USA label.
•you can’t change the current culture
Small business is the life source of this country.
Friday, August 06, 2010
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Dear Nancy, I was following a search to find Richard's site, and came across yours. I am so happy you are writing about distributism and hope to come back and read everything here. God bless you for this work. I just attended SSPX's national meeting around the Church's teaching regarding the concept of Christ the King. One major source was Pius XI's Quas Primas, the encyclical which established the feast of Christ the King. I believe it could be said that the thrust of the meeting was that without taking on the secular state itself, by denying it, without putting Christ back at the center of our efforts, where the effect Christ had on mankind in the establishment of a Church and a vehicle for grace through the sacraments and Holy Mass can work on the population, we are wasting our time. I believe it could be said that SSPX taught in Kansas City that a necessity for efective political political action here in the US is a cadre of people in the state of grace. That ought to knock our socks off because it's so totally, awesomely, true. I hope you investigate it further! Listen, Nancy, regarding this post, I believe you have some 'errors about distributism' mixed up with Richard's interspersed comments of true statements about distritutism. For example, it's not an error when people say of distributism that a community should produce the essential goods locally. People don't know much about distributism and can easily be confused. By the way, SSPX also recommended at least one distributist initiative, that we should build guilds. If you know SSPX's core faithful here, you would know that was quite a refreshing wake up for them, as we typically not only vote republican for the abortion position, but also half buy the whole tea party free market nonsense.
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