I would like to wrap up this series with an examination of a few more types of taxation. Keep in mind, that this series is not intended to be exhaustive. It is intended to open the door to discussion by presenting ideas for consideration. (See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) I do not pretend […]
In Part 1 and Part 2, I mainly discussed the different schools of Capitalist thought (Keynesian and non-Keynesian) and how Distributism differs from them in regard to the role of government in stabilizing the economy and the use of taxation in doing so. Before I begin discussing the different methods of taxation, I should also […]
In Part 1 of this article, I pointed out that a purpose of the Keynesian redistribution of wealth was to keep the engine of Capitalism working. Its adherents advocate it from a sincere belief that this is the best way to help everyone. It sustains the poor and maintains the wealthy. The conservative and libertarian […]
I did most of my growing up in Springville, New York, a small town boasting about 4,200 citizens in the southtowns of Western New York. The nearest big city is Buffalo, which boasts several verypopular sports teams. Buffalo is a sports town, despite a complete lack of national championships in any of them (though the […]
[How would you live, Pompey? By being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? Is it a lawful trade? —Escalus, Measure for Measure] Enforce morality. The answer to critics who so frequently question the role of the state in Distributism or Catholic Social Teaching is simple. Excepting those who prefer anarchy, libertarian “free market” advocates and […]
I confess that until now I have never read anything by Wendell Berry. In fact, I deliberately avoided reading anything by him, or indeed by any agrarian writer. There was a strategic reason for avoiding these writers. The bulk of my work is devoted to explicating Distributism in purely economic terms, and Distributism is often […]
[Part 1] Conservatives express great frustration with the egregious violations of the Constitution by the legislatures and the courts, violations which ensure that power gravitates to the federal government, while the states become mere bureaucratic subdivisions of the federal apparatus rather than partners in a political union. In response, they call for a devolution, a […]
We have all been trained up to the belief that jobs are something in the gift of great corporations or government bureaucracies. True, there are still places in the economy for the small businessman or woman, the sole practitioner, the craftsman, or the small farmer. But in general, we regard the capital requirements of job […]
The end of the world is coming soon. Not the eschaton, that final end of all things and the return to their Maker of all that is. That may come tomorrow or in 10,000 years, but in either case I don’t find the subject interesting; there is nothing much I can do about it one […]
The Development of Regalism Regalism was a development of the late Middle Ages and early modern period that sought to centralize all power in the hands of the king. All social and economic institutions, even — or especially — the Church, were brought under royal control. This was the beginning of the modern “nation-state,” in […]
The announcement that one is a monarchist is greeted with the same regard as the announcement that one has joined the Flat-Earth Society, or espouses geo-centrism, or has expressed a belief in a world only 6,000 years old, where God planted fossils in the ground just for fun. Politically, monarchism has a prestige just a […]
Distributivism, also known as Distributism, is an economic theory formulated by Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton largely in response to the principles of Social Justice laid down by Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum. Its key tenet is that ownership of the means of production should be as widespread as possible rather than […]
