One may disagree, of course, but if Day was a Distributist, she was, at least, in good company.
Ping for later
Very true.
Distributists and free market defenders share the foundational belief in the right to private property (individually or by private collective). Distributism and the free market are complementary systems.
Fr. Sirico points out the distinction between communal ownership of private property and ownership by the state:
"Many societies - and the Christian Church - have experimented with the idea of communal ownership, and have discovered that there is a significant difference between ownership by the state and ownership by a religious community. All property must be owned by someone. So when we speak of collective ownership we are usually talking about ownership by the state. And concentrated government ownership of property is a recipe for disaster." - Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy" by Robert A. Sirico ------------------------------
"For, every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own."
"It is not right for either the citizen or the family to be absorbed by the state; it is proper that the individual and the family should be permitted to retain their freedom of action, so far as this is possible without jeopardizing the common good."
". . . These advantages can be attained only if private wealth is not drained away by crushing taxes of every kind."
". . . [Justice] does forbid anyone to take from another what is his and, in the name of a certain absurd equality, to seize forcibly the property of others" (emphasis added).
RERUM NOVARUM