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A beautiful document. Fans of G.K. Chesterton (Chesterton's Fence, etc.) might be interested to know that Rerum novarum profoundly affected the man's life, and

A beautiful document. Fans of G.K. Chesterton (Chesterton's Fence, etc.) might be interested to know that Rerum novarum profoundly affected the man's life, and there is a fascinating outworking from it, misleadingly named "Distributism" that would see a society with the maximal number of small businesses in the hands of as many friends and families as possible, along with a return to the guild system and 'localism' in as many places as possible (not just food) [1]. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism

jawns 7y ago
I agree, it's a lousy name. Unfortunately, many people, upon hearing of it for the first time, assume that it entails forced redistribution of wealth -- take from the rich to give to the poor. But that's not what distributism is about. It's a "third way" economic system that advocates for widespread ownership of productive property. Whereas in laissez-faire capitalism, the ownership of such property becomes concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of wealthy business people, and in socialism the ownership falls into the hands of the state, controlled by a relatively small number of politicians and bureaucrats, distributists argue that society works best when ownership of productive property is not concentrated, but diffuse. But to achieve that end by seizing and redistributing property would go against the point of distributism, which is not socialism under another name. At most, distributists argue for a climate in which such a system can flourish. Cooperative business structures are a great example of what distributism advocates for. And we know that co-ops can be really beneficial, as long as they're not disadvantaged under the law.
- cpr 7y ago
  Though Belloc (one of his well known collaborators) did advocate state seizure of goods in order to bring it about.

jawns 7y ago

I agree, it's a lousy name. Unfortunately, many people, upon hearing of it for the first time, assume that it entails forced redistribution of wealth -- take from the rich to give to the poor. But that's not what distributism is about. It's a "third way" economic system that advocates for widespread ownership of productive property. Whereas in laissez-faire capitalism, the ownership of such property becomes concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of wealthy business people, and in socialism the ownership falls into the hands of the state, controlled by a relatively small number of politicians and bureaucrats, distributists argue that society works best when ownership of productive property is not concentrated, but diffuse. But to achieve that end by seizing and redistributing property would go against the point of distributism, which is not socialism under another name. At most, distributists argue for a climate in which such a system can flourish. Cooperative business structures are a great example of what distributism advocates for. And we know that co-ops can be really beneficial, as long as they're not disadvantaged under the law.

cpr 7y ago
Though Belloc (one of his well known collaborators) did advocate state seizure of goods in order to bring it about.