tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post4830665602840450118..comments2023-10-25T08:46:20.242-05:00Comments on The Distributist Review: Reinventing AmericaJohn Médaillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16463267750952578888noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-55726292217257191432008-09-16T19:46:00.000-05:002008-09-16T19:46:00.000-05:00Quote from John: "The other point is that Olov has...Quote from John: "The other point is that Olov has fallen into the Malthusian trap. Our problems are not caused by overpopulation, nor the shortage of any necessary commodity."<BR/><BR/>Malthusian-Ricardian thinking is about more than just population it is about "peak resource" and always assuming man is just another animal entirely dependent on his physical environment rather the culture which he creates. <BR/><BR/>I don't believe in the Peak-Oil concept because it ignores the historical pattern of human development regarding resources and worse forces us into thinking people are the problem rather than our potential. It's a fundamentally flawed view of man and doomed to fail every man that adopts it. <BR/><BR/>Human beings used to be dependent on game animals and wood for energy? Did we all die reaching peak game and wood? No. we switched resource base. This what humans do and static Malthusian economics refuses to understood the dynamic nature of physical economy. Malthus was a fraud and everything from him must be rejected. <BR/><BR/>Do you know how much Thorium, Uranium, Solar, Tidal, Wind and Geothermal energy we have on this planet? We have enough energy to have 100s of times the current American consumption level for tens of thousands of years. No God has provided for mankind and commanded us multiply. <BR/><BR/>Quote from John: "American consumer goods are beautiful and marvelous, but fragile, and that deliberately so. Planned obsolescence keeps the economy going, and things are made to be thrown away; to have yesterday's gadgets or clothes is to make yourself obsolete in the eyes of your friends."<BR/><BR/>But planned obsolescence is actually something new and prior to Edward Bernays it didn't exist in American society thinks for sold on the basis of their permanence and usefulness. It is in fact false. Planned obsolescence doesn't keep the economy going rather it just shifts the wealth towards the primary owners of capital. <BR/><BR/>Planned Obsolescence is essentially the broken window fallacy and that we running into crisis.<BR/><BR/>This waste production of advanced capitalism in the form of planned obsolescence, military spending, and casino-style Wall Street paper shuffling is the problem. <BR/><BR/>Rather than investing on the basis of future need we invest on the basis greed. As a result our infrastructure for energy, transportation, education, health care, etc.. simply aren't there. <BR/><BR/>It's not that we don't have resources as the Malthusians say but that have failed to economize correctly for future needs. So turning to the Malthusians is the worst idea because they don't have a system based on economizing for future resource bases but merely a economy based on austerity programs defined by whatever fictional resource crisis they delude themselves into believing is the cause rather fixing the system itself. <BR/><BR/>This is why I oppose Obama more because no is more dedicated to the current system than the Malthusian would believe we can save it by killer austerity. The system cannot be saved and it is the system that has created the problem so destroying people to save it is madness.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-64894411056683212452008-09-16T10:06:00.000-05:002008-09-16T10:06:00.000-05:00Roy-I agree that we need agreement. So why not sta...Roy-<BR/><BR/>I agree that we need agreement. <BR/><BR/>So why not start with something as clearly fundamental as John's Pro Life definition?<BR/><BR/>It seems to me that many people are looking for answers and this Pro Life program answers most questions for those who are not Left or Right but common-sensed, good people. <BR/><BR/>The PL agenda is better than what Solidarity had in Poland...after all, Solidarity succumbed to the AFL-CIA, ego and individualism and Capitalism.<BR/><BR/>If we could agree, then we could start putting the PL out at the coffee tables and larger meetings. We need to put it out there and listen to what good people have to say about it and go from there.<BR/><BR/>Time's awasting.<BR/><BR/>Tom LaneyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-31535514056667249562008-09-16T01:36:00.000-05:002008-09-16T01:36:00.000-05:00Why no American Distributist equivalent of Solidar...Why no American Distributist equivalent of Solidarity?<BR/><BR/>Because we Distributists are STILL too few, too far between, too disorganized and still not crystal-clear on what we do and don't believe.<BR/><BR/>Because the American public has been dumbed down for decades by bad public and private education, cultural decay and the Sexual Revolution.<BR/><BR/>Because any major organizing can be looked at now under the so-called "USA Patriot Act" as something akin to terrorism. <BR/><BR/>Because there is also still a "culture war" going on that grinds souls into powder.<BR/><BR/>We need both prayer and action together to kick our butts into gear, here in the USA and worldwide. <BR/><BR/>What I stated above, in my opinion, has to be tackled before we can seriously look at our version of Solidarity.Roy F. Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02404597899864235343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-1247666755602401902008-09-13T20:12:00.000-05:002008-09-13T20:12:00.000-05:00I generally agree with Tom Laney, but I would be o...I generally agree with Tom Laney, but I would be of the persuasion that the issue is more of a both-and rather than an either-or. Will such reform take place at the ballot box? Not entirely. The ballot box may allows us to safeguard one thing, or even to advance another, but it is not the end-all. In fact, it is the smaller part of the big picture. <BR/><BR/>The vast majority of the work must be done bottom-up, not top-down. This will, more than anything else, be cause for the longevity of various reforms. Always good.<BR/><BR/>Great question, Tom. Why is this not going on here?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-64040163493084526932008-09-13T07:53:00.000-05:002008-09-13T07:53:00.000-05:00I think the best advice is to adopt the common sen...I think the best advice is to adopt the common sense of John's true Pro Life agenda and start organizing while we're praying. It is no longer possible to roll back the evils of Capitalism at the ballot box. A Just society has to come out of winning the Good Fight. <BR/><BR/>To form the Solidarity Movement in Poland common men and women criss-crossed the country organizing. <BR/><BR/>Why is this not going on here?<BR/><BR/>Tom LaneyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com