Anything Worth Doing

I’ll go out on a limb here and assume that most readers of The Distributist Review think that Distributism is a good idea, and that the United States would be a better place with a distributist economy. I am compelled to agree. After all, as against a system where productive property is owned by a wealthy few on the one hand, or one where it is owned by the State on the other, what is the argument that it should not be owned by the many?Daring to go further, I will also assume that most distributists understand that the realization of Distributism in the United States will require more than wanting it. Wishing is pleasant, but if that’s where it ends we have no claim to superiority over the man-child who plays video games in his parents’ basement, and he might be deriving a deeper level of satisfaction from his activity. No, to make our ruminations worthwhile we must seek Distributism’s actualization; we must seek to remake our society according to the distributist vision.But how? Are we to try to access government power? Are we to engage in politics for the purpose of reconstituting society through the operations of law?Some would object to that course of action, because politics is a dirty and frustrating business where one can expect aggressive, and sometimes unethical, opposition. Success in the political realm often requires the use of ruthless and mendacious tactics that are not to be engaged in by those who profess the Gospel. There is also the matter of money in contemporary American politics, and Distributism is not a likely recipient of the largesse of wealthy donors.Those are legitimate concerns. But, if you ask Pope Francis, they should not discourage us to the point of political inaction. In April of 2015, when asked about the relationship between faith in Jesus Christ and the responsibility to build a more just and solid society, he said that Catholics “must” engage in politics.[note]Address of Pope Francis to the Community of Christian Life - Missionary Students' League of Italy, 30 April 2015.[/note] Politics “is one of the highest forms of charity,” he said, citing Blessed Paul VI, “because it seeks the common good.”To the objection that politics is not easy because of corruption in the world, he replied, “What do you want to say, that engaging in politics is a little like martyrdom? Yes. It is a kind of martyrdom. But it is a daily martyrdom: seeking the common good without letting yourself be corrupted. Seek the common good by thinking of the most fitting ways for this, the most fitting means. Seek the common good by working for the little things, the small ones, it gives little return ... but one does it. Politics is important: small politics and big politics.”It is true that there is a danger of sin in political engagement, but the pope told those listening not to let that discourage them. “Engaging in politics is martyrdom: truly a martyr’s work,” he repeated, “because one needs to go the whole day with that ideal, every day, with the ideal of building the common good. And always carrying the cross of many failures and carrying the cross of many sins. Because in the world it’s difficult to do good in a society without getting your hands or your heart a little dirty; but that is why you go ask for forgiveness, you ask for pardon and continue to do it. Don’t allow this [to] discourage you.”Thus we are encouraged. But what to do? There’s running for office, of course, but that is an effort that presents particular difficulties because of the dominance of the two major parties, neither of which are friendly to distributist principles, and the need for backing, financial and otherwise, from sources who are not likely to look on Distributism with favor. But since the end of political action is to obtain political power, a movement without power, like Distributism, must find ways to make distributist politicians viable candidates. One possibility is the formation of an advocacy organization.Such an organization is not likely to find many wealthy donors, at least not at first, since the principles of Distributism, were they enacted into law, would most certainly bring about a relative disadvantage to the wealthiest among us. But there are a large number of people who would have their situation significantly improved, and these could be invited to join the organization with the payment of modest membership dues. Three good places to look for members would be in labor unions, worker cooperatives, and among owners of businesses which have no employees.Labor unions already possess an organizational infrastructure that could be utilized for outreach to their members, and also to other workers who have not been organized. Wages have stagnated in recent years, not only because of Capitalist venality, but also because of the inherent contradiction between employer and employed that exists within the prevailing economic model. The system has been on an unsustainable path from the beginning. Distributism offers a way to resolve that contradiction, with manifest benefits to those who would be lifted from the status of employee to ownership of the means of production. Abolition of the class system can only improve the situation of those in the lower class.Worker cooperatives embody an expression of Distributism, and should be natural allies of a distributist movement. There are 106 of them listed on the website of the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives as members,[note]https://usworker.coop/member-directory.[/note] and it can be expected that each of them could be persuaded to see the advantage of a political advocacy organization that would represent their interests along with the interests of others who seek to abolish the economic class system in a manner that does not relinquish ownership of the means of production into the hands of the government.Businesses without employees might represent Distributism in its purest form, and there are 23 million such businesses in the United States,[note]http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-96.html.[/note] comprising the majority of all U.S. businesses.[note]http://www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer.[/note] It is hardly a stretch to suppose that they individually do not possess the political access and power of major corporations, and that they would welcome an organization that could channel their interests and concerns into effective political advocacy.The concept here is to develop an organization with a sufficient number of members to engage the attention of politicians. If that was accomplished, then the enactment of distributist governmental policies would become a realistic goal. The task may seem daunting, but if Distributism truly represents a better option for society, and I am convinced that it does, then it is hard to see why it would not be worthwhile to engage in serious action to bring it about. A political advocacy organization could be just what is needed to make a distributist economy a real possibility in the United States.