Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Ask Antipelagian Part 1 & 2

You sent in your questions...now you have to listen to me.




1 comments:

Jacob Grail-seeker said...

Good stuff. I am a distributist for the most part. Most people over-react to socialism and think that the Misesian anarcho-capitalism is the way to go.

Post-soviet Russia is the best example. A bunch of mafia gangsters took over the country and ruled it on hyper free-market principles. They shipped 90% of the Russian capital oversees to Christ-haters in Harvard and other major think-tanks. In Ukraine, several hundred families owned 90% of the land and wealth. Well, when you monopolize like that there is nothing stopping--in Augustine's phrase--a robber baron from tyrannizing the people.

The way to go is Economic Nationalism. Enter Vladimir Putin. He destroys the Russian mafia (which means leftist and neo-cons in America no longer get that money--thus the reason Americans demonize Putin). He places the weatlh in the hands of smaller entities. He has done what Christian rulers have always done: destroyed the oppressor (Psalm 72 or 73). That's why his approval rating is between 80 and 85% and he is currently the most popular politician in Ukraine.

The Russian situation has demonstrated several things that were supposed to be axiomatic on the Austrian Misesian front: Economic Nationalism really worked. See what Putin did in Russian and Lukashenko did in Belarus. Putin took Russia from a 4th world country to a 1st world country in ten years. Secondly, free market economics is not in and of itself morally neutral.

I would agree heartily with Belloc. Advocate something like Economic Nationalism or Social Nationalism (not, mind you, National Socialism).

Here's my thoughts on Liturgical Socialism as an alternative to anarcho-capitalism.