As we have seen in this series, what constitutes a “just
economy” has evolved over the past couple of centuries or so into two warring
philosophies. On the one side are those
who assert that only a private sector elite should be in charge of everything. These are the capitalists.
On the other side are those who assert that only a State
bureaucracy should be in charge of everything.
These are the socialists. Left
out in the cold are those who posit something else, a Just Third Way that
transcends the mistakes of both capitalism and socialism.
The Just Third Way is founded on the natural law — that is,
the dignity of the human person . . . each
human person, not just a private or governmental elite that demands the
subservience of “ordinary” people to wealth.
Anything else and we might as well stop where we are, for if a system
does not take into consideration the dignity of each human person — the real
human dignity, not just provision for material needs — then we might as well
stop where we are.
No, the purpose of civil society, any more than domestic or
religious society, is not primarily to meet the material needs of people. The meaning and purpose of life — as we have
noted before — is to provide the proper environment in which human beings can
acquire and develop virtue by exercising their natural rights.
Both socialism and capitalism prevent or inhibit most people
from exercising their natural rights, particularly liberty (freedom of
association/contract) and property (and is making increasing inroads on life), and
thereby prevent their becoming more fully human. There is, however, a solution. That is to recognize, implement and protect
the three principles of economic justice, and apply them in the four pillars of
an economically just society. Only in
this way can the dignity of each human person be respected.
The Three Principles of Economic Justice
Participation:
This is the input principle that demands equal opportunity for every person to
contribute to the production of society’s marketable wealth both as a worker
and as an owner of productive assets as a fundamental human right.
Distribution:
This is the outtake principle which holds that the contribution of labor to the
economic process should be compensated at the market-determined rate (or “just
wage”) for each particular type of human contribution to the production of
marketable wealth. This principle
dictates that the contribution of capital should be compensated by the “just
profit” generated by the project or enterprise.
Profit is determined by the market-based rental value of contributed
capital assets, or by the gross revenues resulting from market-determined “just
prices” less the market-based cost of the factors of production, including
labor.
Harmony: This is the
feedback principle that balances and restores participation and distribution
within the economic system. This principle was referred to by Louis Kelso and
Mortimer Adler as the “principle of limitation” and by others as “social
justice,” as it calls for the restructuring of the economic system to restore
participative and distributive justice.
The Four Pillars of an Economically Just Society
1. A limited economic role for the State.
2. Free and open markets within a fair and just legal system
as the best means of determining just wages, just prices and just profits.
3. The restoration of private property, especially in
corporate equity and other forms of business organization.
4. Expanded capital ownership, individually or in free
association with others.
These principles and pillars are applied in a proposal
called “Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen.”
In order to focus attention on the need for Capital Homesteading (and the
monetary and tax reforms that go along with it), plan on attending the annual
Rally at the Fed in Washington, DC on April 26, 2013.
