Libya Tragedy Highlights Immigration Woes

As reported by the Christian Science Monitor and the globalist news network CNN, several hundred illegal immigrants may have died off of the coast of Libya. According to the Monitor's article, one boat is confirmed sunk off of the Libyan coast, with three more feared sunk but there is no confirmation. You may read the Monitor's article HERE.

Just as illegal immigrants from Latin America use Mexico to enter the USA in search of a better life, Arab and African illegals use countries like Libya and Malta to enter the European Union nations for the same purpose. In spite of the economic downturn plaguing the Union, and increasing unemployment in its member nations, people from Ghana and Nigeria, Ethiopia and Somalia and elsewhere fly northward to get work to support their families.

As the CNN article notes, just like their counterparts in Mexico, smugglers make obscene profits on the backs of these unskilled laborers and refugees wanting to enter Italy or Spain. And in both cases, too often these illegals can get ripped off and be abandoned to either border police or the fickle favors of Mother Nature. You may read the CNN article HERE.

It is stating the obvious that these poor people wouldn't be forced to leave their homelands if there domestic situations were more stable than they are. And that is due to either Socialist or Marxist dictatorships running and ruining their homelands, multinational corporations ravaging the local economy, ethnic and tribal infighting or all three combined.

That is why we who believe in and support Distributism must bring it to the Third World, so that these impoverished nations no longer have to let their citizens run away toward an uncertain future. Doing this now and teaching them now the insights of Belloc and Chesterton and their successors will help avoid future tragedies like what just happened off Libya's coast.

Update On Fed Food Takeover Bill

This proposed bill in the U.S. Congress -- HR 875 -- that we've written about in the last two weeks is worse that expected when you read the details.

Chelsea Schilling, writing for the neo-conservative Web news giant WorldNetDaily, reports that the bill has 39 co-sponsors, all of them Democrats. (You can read the full article HERE.) Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut introduced this bill. She's married to a researcher for Monsanto, one of the world's biggest chemical companies. Monsanto is heavily involved in genetic modification of seeds and herbal pesticides. So we have possible conflict of interest issues here.

The bill would create a "Food Safety Administration" as a part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This "administration" would be granted, under the new loosely-written rules, legal authority to regulate ALL food production in the country.

Let me repeat that. They will regulate ALL food production, including CSA farms, farmer's markets and backyard gardening. That's no exaggeration.

The Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund did a further detailed analysis of HR 875, especially in regards to those Americans who use and advocate the consumption of raw milk and raw milk products. You can read their analysis HERE, and it will make your blood boil.

This bill and the others we've mentioned on the Voice lead to more Federal government control over America's food supply, especially from small food producers. This ultimately benefits both the HHS bureaucrats in Washington and Big Agribusiness and chemical giants like Monsanto. This is Socialism and Capitalism working together again to squash the little man, especially in regards to growing his own food.

We Distributists and others of good will must stand together against such totalitarian measures disguised as so-called "food safety".

So we urge you to call your Congressmen and demand they kill HR 875 and the other bills we've mentioned relating to local food production. Don't let up the pressure until it's done. And tell your friends and neighbors about this bill, especially those at CSA farms and fellow gardeners. For the so-called "mainstream media" either won't tell folks about this bill at all, or spin it in favor of the Federal government and Monsanto.

Local Currencies Shine In Wake Of Gold Coin Crisis

From the leftist countercultural magazine Arthur Magazine, dated March 15, writer Douglas Rushkoff writes a vigorous broadside against the central bankers and the idiocy of bailing out the Wall Street banking giants. You can read the article HERE.

In his article, he also advocates the creation and use of local currencies -- also known as "mini-currencies", to help stimulate local and regional economies. such local currencies have been used in many places throughout the world in times of economic turmoil. They were valid and viable than and are still so today.

In a Distributist state, there'd be no quarrel with local currencies. For such local money would not be trying to replace the national currency, but supplement it to benefit the local economy. It's even more needed now in light of recent reports that the United States Mint is suspending more production of gold and silver coins due to record high demand.

According to the March 14 edition of Gold and Silver Blog, another batch of American Gold Eagle and Silver Eagle collectors coins won't be produced. this raises the total gold and silver coin products to 38, which meant as either delayed making or won't make any more. All indications are that the government is purposely forcing the American public to stay tied to paper dollars. They are rationing gold and silver coins on purpose. You may read the blog article HERE.

We Distributists must join with others of good will and establish local currency networks where we live. With the government forcing dependence on the rapidly devaluing paper dollar by rationing gold and silver coins, promoting these "mini- currencies" will help cushion this recession's many economic blows. better to do this sooner than later, better to do this now than sooner.

Big Agribusiness Eating Up Organic Companies

Thanks to the Cornucopia Institute, there is a report on how eleven of the Big Agribusiness conglomerates own the very companies producing organic foods in America.

The report, compiled July of 2007, was done by Dr. Phil Howard, an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. It can be read HERE.

In light of the proposed bills that would illegalize backyard gardening, farmer's markets and the like, this information must spur us on to break up these conglomerates. Like in other industries, Big Business and Big Government - Capitalism and Socialism - work hand-in-hand to destroy small-scale competition. Or failing that, to try to buy out said competition and make it work for them.

This is not the workings of a market economy, but it's mutation and distortion. We Distributists must never stand for this.

So let's demand our Congressmen and Senators vote against those bills mentioned earlier this week. Then work to break up these Big Agribusiness combines from the bottom-up. It won't happen overnight, but with God's merciful help, we can win.

P2P Blog On Co-Op Manufacturing

This report, posted March 15th, comes from the blog of the P2P Foundation. Written by Michel Bauwens, it talks about the Distributist powerhouse that is Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy.

A masterpiece example of Distributism in action, it's small businesses, co-ops and small factories have made this area the richest in all of Italy. Co-ops produce 45% of the country's GDP.

If it can work there, it can work anywhere else. Read the article HERE and apply what you read to your neck of the woods.

Ferrara On The "Austrian School"

Distributism's critics among the Communists -- that is, if they ever bother to criticize at all -- call what we hold "petite bourgeois revisionism". The Fascists would probably try to infiltrate us in order to take us over.

But the fiercest critics so far have been the Austrian School Libertarians among the Capitalists. Dr. Thomas Woods, Lew Rockwell and others have aimed their rhetorical guns on Distributism over the last couple of years.

This 2005 article from Christopher Ferrara of the American Catholic Lawyers Association gives a rebuttal and expose of this branch of Capitalist thought. Originally published in The Angelus magazine and reposted by our colleagues at The ChesterBelloc Mandate, this excellent article presents a summary of why this school of thought is heretical to Traditional Catholics and others of good will.

The reposted article can be read HERE.

Local Currency: "The Food Standard"

Thanks to our colleague Kevin Carson at the Free Market Anti-Capitalist blog, we found a report from the web log The Oil Drum written by Jason Bradford and dated March 4th. {Click on the web log name to read the report.}

This deals with a project in Mendo, California called Mendo Credits. In effect, it is a local currency similar to the BerkShares project in western Massachusetts. However, the Mendo Credits can be redeemed for beans, wheat and rice. It is a legal, debt-free alternative to the fiat-based currency used in America.

This is another example of Distributist principles put into action on the local level. There's been positive reaction to this project, as there has been with BerkShares. Mr. Bradford's report alone has generated 141 comments as of this writing.

What is known as "complementary currencies", like the Mendo Units, should be encouraged and set up as soon as possible. With the current economy in a shambles thanks to the schemes of Washington's pro-globalist fanatics, these alternative local currencies will aid local economies to get back on their feet.

If you wish to comment on Mr. Bradford's report and project, please let him know you read about it in the Voice. And then act on what you've read.

In Praise Of Linux

Our colleagues at The Distributist Review have an article talking about the free computer operating system Linux. It may be more pro-Distributist than we think.

The article is HERE. Enjoy!

Defend Organic Small Farming Now!

The leftist environmental group Tree Huggers of America put out a press release on March 3rd, written by Linn Cohen-Cole. It tells of two more bills heading to the U.S. Congress that -- along with the bills mentioned two days ago -- would further smash the already weakened family farmers and farmer co-ops.

The link to their press release is HERE.

The four bills that need to be stopped cold are:

HR 875, HR 814, S 425, and soon, HR 759

Like so many other bills in the U.S. Congress, this is being snuck under the radar, so to speak. The so-called "mainstream media" won't cover this, or usually botch up the job.

So that means you readers of the Voice must call your Congressmen and Senators and demand they vote "NO" on these bills. Then let your friends and neighbors know what the Congress is planning to do to destroy organic farms, farmer co-ops, roadside stands and even backyard gardens.

This is no Chicken Little alarm over nothing. This is the real deal. Socialists and Monopoly Capitalists are aiming for the small farmers, and to keep control of the nation's food supply to themselves only.

Fight these anti-farmer and anti-Distributist bills now in Congress. Tell your Congressmen and Senators to vote "NO" on these bills. Then spread the word to stop these acts of tyranny. Thank you.

Blogging Against "Thieves"

E. D. Kain, writing for the blog The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, gives us an excellent essay called "Thieves". It is a detailed criticism of Distributism's two main rivals, as well as a support for what Belloc and Chesterton bequeathed to us long ago. You can read his essay HERE.

Please enjoy, and let him know you read about it in The Distributist Voice. Thank you.

New U.S. Bill Would Ban Organic Farming

The group Campaign For Liberty, affiliated with Congressman Dr. Ron Paul of Texas, warns us of the bill that would in effect ban organic farming and backyard gardening. And all under the disguise of “food safety.” The link to the report is HERE.

According to the press release from the campaign, bill HR 875 would “literally put all independent farmers and food producers out of business due to the huge amounts of money it will take to conform to factory farming methods”.

The bill would also “legally bind state agriculture depts. to enforce federal guidelines, effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.”.

There is a similar bill in the Senate, S 425.

We at the voice urge you to call your Representatives and Senators NOW and urge them to vote against these two bills. These bills represent a grave threat to Americans who don't want to be for ever enslaved to factory farming and its supporters.

This bill is another anti-Distributist attack on our family farmers, as well as another power grab by both the federal government and food giants like ADM and Monsanto. Don't let them succeed! Demand your representatives in Washington vote “NO” on these two horrid bills.

Buy It Local, Make It Local

One of the tenets of Distributist Thought is the promotion and preservation of the local economy in all it's sectors. That includes agriculture, light and heavy manufacturing, service and health care, technology and retail.

When big businesses move out of small towns for the sake of cheap labor, so-called "free trade" and globalism, these towns crumble. But they can revive by implementing what we've learned from Belloc, Chesterton and their legitimate successors.

One of those inspired by them, whether directly or no, is job developer Michael Shuman. This article from the February 9th, 2009 edition of the Christian Science Monitor tells of his efforts to promote these little communities to restore their economic health with a big dose of "localism". The link to the article is HERE.

Let's learn from this and do what we can to bring this tenet of Distributism alive wherever we live and interact. It can only do us and our neighbors a world of good.

New Papal Document Will Be On Economics

An article by Robert Moynihan, editor of InsideTheVatican.com, gives us advance notice of a new Papal Encyclical. One that will cause as much fury among Capitalists and Socialists as did Leo XIII's Rerun Novarum or John Paul II's Centissimus Annus.

As printed on the website Energy Publisher on March 3rd, Moynihan lets us know that Pope Benedict XVI's newest letter will come down hard on both of Distributism's main rivals. As Moynihan puts it, "it will be filled also with truth about how false economic principles and moral ideals can lead mankind toward the abyss, and into it."

You can read Moynihan's article HERE.

Congratulations to the Holy Father in advance for this important document. Distributists and others of good will await it with baited breath.