tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post7840381793103831777..comments2023-10-25T08:46:20.242-05:00Comments on The Distributist Review: Something Old, Something NewJohn Médaillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16463267750952578888noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-36580641275132041172009-02-17T16:29:00.000-06:002009-02-17T16:29:00.000-06:00For one, justice becomes – to put it bluntly – emp...<I>For one, justice becomes – to put it bluntly – empty. Judges order billionaires to “go to their room” after robbing fifty billion dollars, while the average criminal sits in jail for stealing $50 from a 7-Eleven.</I><BR/><BR/>Well put. It's like Victor Hugo's <I>Les Miserables</I> coming to life.<BR/><BR/><I>FDA was charged with rushing drug approval, ignoring red flags, delaying the addition of cardiovascular labeling, and ignoring feedback that questioned regulatory decisions.</I><BR/><BR/>The FDA has a infamous history of approving drugs that produce severe -- and frightening -- psychotic side effects, yet they can't give their stamp of approval to vitamins! It's crazy. I recently heard about a drug that was a flop -- it didn't treat the illness it was meant to treat but instead produced an unusual side effect -- but rather than scrap the research and start over, they <I>made up</I> an "illness" to match the unusual side effect! Now the drug is advertised all over TV and folks really think they are afflicted with this "illness" so doctors are prescribing it like crazy....ridiculous!<BR/><BR/><I>The Distributist response must be to create a parallel economy and restore our farmlands. Already many like-minded organizations have begun the hard, long road toward recuperating our land and we must join them.</I><BR/><BR/>Bravo! <BR/><BR/>Thanks for the excellent article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-14920760984483316342009-02-15T10:19:00.000-06:002009-02-15T10:19:00.000-06:00Dear Jim,The first thing we must do is inform the ...Dear Jim,<BR/><BR/>The first thing we must do is inform the public at the local level. By understanding the problem, they can be a part of the solution. This doesn't mean we should exclusively wait for a conference or a local lecture, but that we take it upon ourselves to either invite those who have a good understanding of Distributism to talk at our local parish or hall, or we proselytize on the street. For those of our readers who do not feel confident, read Douglas Hyde's book, "Dedication and Leadership."<BR/><BR/>The second is to start buying from "our own," e.g. those who sympathize and actively support our cause. The Irish did it, so did the Jews, and so did the Italians. Immigrant cultures have been doing this for decades with much success.<BR/><BR/>Third is to support organizations at the local and regional levels who may or may not be distributist, but who are "sympaticos." Not only will this enable their efforts, but you will spread information about distributism to those who've never heard about it before.<BR/><BR/>Fourth, we must begin a restoration of local farming through the pooling of micro-credit programs, and Community Land Trusts, and the formation of Guilds and cooperatives.<BR/><BR/>Fifth, once a decent collection of distributists are in your local area, political initiatives should be started to rally public support for a distributist platform. If the elected officials won't change their tune, we'll just have to get our people elected to put pressure on these conglomerates that have destroyed our local economy.<BR/><BR/>Now remember, there must be a transitional distributist program. We don't want every piece of farmland to be in the hands of a CLT. The CLT, from my perspective, is simply a means to an end, and will disolve with the restoration of property.Richard Alemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05272016770106926094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-47666690554917387832009-02-15T09:08:00.000-06:002009-02-15T09:08:00.000-06:00Very good article Rich. I have watched the full d...Very good article Rich. I have watched the full documentaries on Monsanto (Patent for a Pig & The World According to Monsanto), Enron (The Smartest Guys in the Room), The Corporation etc. Another good on related to the financial meltdown is The Ascent of Money on PBS. In that one - the gal that was featured in the Enron one makes another appearance and states that many of the "prized" Enron employees (mostly traders) went to Wall Street and used the very same tactics in the Financial world. <BR/><BR/>My question is - how do we break up this power or even attempt to operate a "parallel economy" when the Fed, State and even Local governments are complicit. I offer as an example the recent raid of a Co-op in Ohio by all three in a "joint operation". <BR/><BR/>The next thing coming down the pike is animal tagging where the factory farms basically get a free pass and the small family farmer is hit with another plethora of regulations designed to drive him out of business. <BR/><BR/>NAIS Threatens Access to Organic, Local and Sustainable Food<BR/><BR/>by Barbara Minton, Natural Health Editor<BR/><BR/>http://www.naturalnews.com/025569.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com