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Distributism would be of little practical use if it could not provide useful answers to practical problems of the type we face practically every day. I believe Distributism does indeed provide a useful set of tools to analyze these problems and to devise useful solutions. But the proof of this claim can only come in the analysis of an actual problem. For this example of distributist analysis, I choose the American health care system, which is experiencing great difficulties, difficulties for which no one has yet devised a workable solution.Some sign of these difficulties is shown by the fact that in 2007,...

NOTE: This is a Catholic Caucus thread. If you aren't Catholic or if you are on the hit squad of schismatics, feel free to read...but start your own thread if you want to comment. OK, so I am trying to plod through this "draft" encyclical that cost Sandro Magister his Vatican Press Pass. Caveat: I haven't read the whole thing; my Italian is so rusty that I am only able to do a little bit at a time and am relying heavily upon my Collins dictionary (far more than even a few years ago). No, I really don't trust Google...

The grounds of St. Patrick’s Seminary & University boast row upon row of broccoli, Swiss chard, kale, and strawberries this spring, products of a new parish Catholic workers cooperative created in a venture among the seminary, Guadalupe Associates, and the parish of St. Francis of Assisi, East Palo Alto. “I was actually surprised we yielded so much the first year,” said Sulpician Father Gladstone Stevens, rector of the seminary who, along with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, approved the use of seminary grounds to grow the crops as part of NanoFarms USA’s pilot project. The website is nanofarms.com....

Few realized when Small is Beautiful was published that E.F. Schumacher’s economic theories were underpinned by solid religious and philosophical foundations, the fruits of a lifetime of searching. In 1971, two years before the book’s publication, Schumacher had become a Roman Catholic, the final destination of his philosophical journey.

[Someone]brought my attention to the [recent] tug of war ... over the legacy of Dorothy Day ... between pro and anti-capitalists. The Catholic Worker has criticized both the NY Times and Fr. Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute on Day-related matters. Liberals can’t claim her ... because she was anti-abortion and loyal to Church teaching, obviously never having gone the way of radical disobedient feminism. But conservatives and libertarians can’t claim her either because she rejected capitalism.... Or did she? As best I can tell, she neither practiced it or preached it as a way of life.... If you don’t...

At least it was cordial. But the 150 or so "movement conservatives" gathered at Paul Pressler's this weekend (1/13-14) were a fractured lot. Maybe 10% were for Perry. Almost all of them were against Romney. Well, sort of. Caveat below. There was an official Romney guy there who explained that "You'll either work with us now or work with us later, but you'll all have to get on Mitt's train, because we have the money and the organization, so there's no stopping us." This did not go over well. It just made everyone more determined than ever to do whatever...

(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum touted an 11th-hour endorsement from conservative Christian leaders on Sunday ahead of South Carolina's crucial nominating contest but it appeared to have little influence on churchgoers. With South Carolina's January 21 primary approaching, time is running short for Santorum and other Republican candidates who hope to slow front-runner Mitt Romney's march to the Republican presidential nomination. Santorum said Saturday's endorsement by evangelical leaders proved that he is a better choice to take on Democratic President Barack Obama. "They know I'm the consistent conservative," Santorum said on "Fox News Sunday." "They saw me as...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum touted an 11th-hour endorsement from conservative Christian leaders on Sunday ahead of South Carolina's crucial nominating contest but it appeared to have little influence on churchgoers. With South Carolina's January 21 primary approaching, time is running short for Santorum and other Republican candidates who hope to slow front-runner Mitt Romney's march to the Republican presidential nomination..... ....."I make decisions for myself and I don't listen to what a bunch of leaders say to do," said Victoria Jaworowski, who was attending the Cathedral of Praise mega-church in North Charleston. The Christian leaders meeting in Texas only...

n March of 2005, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and its Pennsylvania counterpart (PPTA) honored Senator Rick Santorum for his dedication to public transportation. APTA president William W. Millar noted Santorum’s “tireless advocacy” and contributions on “both the national and local level.” This recognition came shortly after Santorum appeared on Meet the Press with Joe Biden and vowed to oppose President Bush in his efforts to cut Amtrak funding. “Without substantial government funds or other intervening action, Amtrak would quickly enter bankruptcy and shut down all of its services, leaving millions of riders and thousands of communities without access...

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the Republican Jewish Coalition will host a presidential-candidates forum featuring Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Not invited is the GOP candidate currently polling around third in New Hampshire and second in Iowa: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). The explanation: Paul was not invited to attend the RJC's candidates forum because the organization - as it has stated numerous times in the past - "rejects his misguided and extreme views," said [RJC Executive Director Matt] Brooks.

NEW YORK — Can an Anglican theologian from Britain revive an 80-year-old Catholic social justice theory and provide a solution to America’s economic woes and political polarization? Philosopher and political thinker Phillip Blond thinks so, and he’s giving it everything he’s got. Blond, who has been a counselor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, just wrapped up a two-week U.S. tour to pitch his retooled version of “distributism,” a theory that argues that both capitalism and government are out of control. In that sense, the thinking goes, both Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party are right...

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul was hushed by deafening boos from a crowd of Tea Partiers at Monday's GOP Presidential debate, after suggesting America's foreign police played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mr Paul attempted to position his argument to slash military spending, contending that occupation was the 'real motivation' behind acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists against the U.S. But a provocative retort from presidential candidate, Pennsylvania lawmaker Rick Santorum, instead drew wide support, after he dismissed Mr Paul's comments as 'irresponsible'. Prior to the Tea Party debate, Mr Paul, 76, had reflected on the U.S. response...

The title "Dorothy Day and the American Right" promises a merciful brevity, along the lines of "Commandments We Have Kept" by the Kennedy brothers. After all, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement and editor of its newspaper lived among the poor, refused to participate in air-raid drills, and preferred Cesar Chavez to Bebe Rebozo. But there is more to the "right" than a dollar bill stretching from the DuPonts to Ronald Reagan, just as the "left" is something greater than the bureau-building and bomb-dropping of Roosevelts and Kennedys. Maybe, just maybe, Dorothy Day had a home, if partially furnished...

Learning From Conservative History: Main Trails . . . and Less-Traveled Paths - 01/02/09 This is part three of a symposium on contemporary conservatism hosted by ISI at Yale in November, 2008. Read part one. Read part two.By training, I am an historian. I love the discipline and believe that historical mindedness—the ability to see and understand the grounding of current institutions, issues, and events in the complex matrix of the past—this is the superior way to make sense of reality.All the same, I have been troubled for over a decade by the growing interest of American conservatives in...

Reinventing America I am not known as an optimist. I am more than willing to point out that the glass is half-empty. So my friends were not surprised when, during the general euphoria over the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the early 90's, I said, “We are looking into our own future, 10 or 15 years from now.” Of course, the statement seemed absurd. The West had “won” the Cold War, and America was the world's only super-power. International hegemony was in sight, and there were no credible opponents. The economy was booming, and the internet revolution was...

"It's all very well to live simply and grow things and practice crafts... but what about the hundreds of thousands who can't hope to be self-sufficient in property and craft?" This summarizes the complaint by modern critics against "distributism"—the economic philosophy inspired by Catholic social teaching and developed, early last century, by Catholic thinkers such as G.K. Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc. According to distributism, property should be spread widely, so that people can earn a living without having to rely on the state (socialism) or a small number of individuals (capitalism). According to the pessimistic view of critics, small-scale economies...