As we saw in yesterday’s posting, one of the problems with
organized relief for “the poor” is that it gives the people whose job it is to
“help the poor” a vested interest in making certain that there are always “the
poor” there to “help” — especially if it is a government program. Nevertheless, as Pope Leo XIII pointed out,
“Man's
needs do not die out, but forever recur; although satisfied today, they demand
fresh supplies for tomorrow. Nature accordingly must have given to man a source
that is stable and remaining always with him, from which he might look to draw
continual supplies. And this stable condition of things he finds solely in the
earth and its fruits. There is no need to bring in the State. Man precedes the
State, and possesses, prior to the formation of any State, the right of
providing for the substance of his body.” (Rerum
Novarum, § 7.)
If that is the case, however, why are so many religiously
oriented people, especially Catholics, adamant that the State must not only do
more, it must do everything? As one such
enthusiast, who gets top billing as “the premier Catholic economist in
America,” gushed, “The State is the sole intercessor available to the poor.”
Part of this is probably due to the rise of "spiritual
materialism," in which the only thing that really matters is meeting
people's material needs. This is what
the solidarist economist Dr. Franz Mueller called "meliorism."
Meliorism is rooted in a complete reversal of the natural
law, away from the theory that rights are inherent in each human person, and
replacing it with the belief that rights come from the State. The common good is also redefined to mean not
the vast network of institutions within which human beings as moral creatures
acquire and develop virtue, thereby becoming more fully human, but as the sum
of individual material goods, such as food, clothing, and shelter. Every violation or abolition of a natural
right is thereby excused if it permits us to meet the material needs of those
we have decided to favor.
This, however, is directly contrary to both common sense and
explicit teachings of the Catholic Church.
Blessed John Paul II reminded the bishops of the Americas of this on
January 22, 1999 in a talk he gave at a Synod in Mexico City. In what comes across as a remarkably harsh
reminder that the bishops are not doing their jobs, the pope explained,
"As
I have already noted, love for the poor must be preferential, but not
exclusive. The Synod Fathers observed that it was in part because of an
approach to the pastoral care of the poor marked by a certain exclusiveness
that the pastoral care for the leading sectors of society has been neglected
and many people have thus been estranged from the Church. The damage done by
the spread of secularism in these sectors — political or economic,
union-related, military, social or cultural — shows how urgent it is that they
be evangelized, with the encouragement and guidance of the Church's Pastors,
who are called by God to care for everyone. They will be able to count on the
help of those who — fortunately still numerous — have remained faithful to
Christian values. In this regard the Synod Fathers have recognized “the
commitment of many leaders to building a just and fraternal society”. With
their support, Pastors will face the not easy task of evangelizing these
sectors of society. With renewed fervor and updated methods, they will announce
Christ to leaders, men and women alike, insisting especially on the formation
of consciences on the basis of the Church's social doctrine. This formation
will act as the best antidote to the not infrequent cases of inconsistency and
even corruption marking socio-political structures. Conversely, if this
evangelization of the leadership sector is neglected, it should not come as a
surprise that many who are a part of it will be guided by criteria alien to the
Gospel and at times openly contrary to it." — Ecclesia in America, § 67.
Those who think they "help the poor" by hating and
attacking the rich are therefore completely off-base. All they are doing is driving the very people
best able to help away, alienating them, and turning them into enemies. This quickly expands to hating and attacking
anyone who disagrees with them on any subject, but especially on the best means
to "help the poor." THEY have
decided that the only way to "help the poor" is to redistribute
existing wealth in one form or another, and anyone who does not accept
"their way" is, obviously, a lost soul, fit only to be condemned and
executed, and all the presumably ill-gotten gains distributed among the poor.
All of this is, of course, completely unnecessary, for it
takes for granted that which has been proven to be false, time and again: that
the only way to finance new capital formation is to cut consumption and
accumulate money savings. Capital Homesteading,
an application of the principles of the Just Third Way developed by CESJ with
the personal encouragement of Blessed John Paul II, is one specific proposal to
free economic growth from the slavery of past savings by shifting to future
savings as the source of financing, and breaking away from the pendulum swings
between capitalism and socialism:
