Distributism

I became aware of Distributism.org from El Camino Real and enjoy reading the site. I agree very much with some of the ideas presented but disagree with others. The first quote on the home page is awesome:

"If working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtaining a share in the land, the consequence will be that the gulf between vast wealth and sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the respective classes will be brought nearer to one another."

--Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII, 1891

From what I can see this idea exists in reality in the USA where home ownership is at an all time high. The ability of people to move from being uneducated and poor to being educated and middle class is greatest here. My own grandfather never went past the 6th grade, dropping out of school to help support his family by working in the family bar. Today many of his grandchildren are college educated and most own homes. The ability to own a house and some land is greater here than perhaps any other country although house prices have increased beyond the reach of many younger people within the past 10 years. This is especially true here on Long Island where houses are regularly sold for more than $200,000. The idea in life is to allow the greatest number of people to own houses and some property, which distributism advocates.



The definition of Distributism on the website is good: “Distributism is an economic system in which private property, (especially the 'means of production'), is well distributed, in which as many people as possible are actual owners.” Again I can whole-heartedly endorse this idea. In fact, the rise in the number of employee owned companies is a testament to this idea. I can remember the buzz generated a few years back when Home Depot became real popular with its program of employees owning stock in the corporation. I think the major obstacle to this is the reality of human interaction. Even if I owned several thousand dollars worth of stock in my company, would I really be willing to stand up at a meeting and give strong opinions?? How long would I last when my ideas butt up against another employee’s ambitions? I have personally seen people buy stocks and become more interested in the economy and the direction of businesses so I know that ownership does mean something. The ideal is to have as many people as possible own their own businesses. As far as property goes, especially in developing countries there has to be a way not only for people to own it, but also the education to manage it or produce from it.


The section of the website I have the most difficulty with is the section on the practical suggestions to making distributism happen. I see no good coming from abolishing all government relief and pension programs –as flawed as many of these are, they have made some strides in lessening poverty. Social Security for example has meant that the elderly are no longer the severe poor and most severe poor are no longer elderly. I see no point in allowing a person to only have one bank account. Also, while usury is an evil, not all lender institutions and lending of capital is usurious. I like the idea of guilds but they will become corrupt like unions have and then they are no better than that which they were meant to replace. All in all, I love the site and the ideas of distributism are fascinating but I think the whole philosophy needs to be updated for the modern economy. Distributism was a good answer to the communist challenge but we now live in a post-communist world. I am very much interested in seeing capitalism reformed so that all may live in a society where it is possible, even easy, to become a saint. Distributism is not the sole answer, but a good start.