Comments on: Who Owns Our Jobs?

By: Attack the System » Blog Archive » Updated News Digest August 16, 2009

Attack the System » Blog Archive » Updated News Digest August 16, 2009 — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:41:09 +0000

[...] Who Owns Our Jobs? by John Medaille [...]

By: Fr Gregory Jensen

Fr Gregory Jensen — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:28:41 +0000

John,

Thank you for this and your other posts on Distributism. As I mentioned in the blog post I did based on what you have said here, I think it provides an interesting model to structure not only civil society but also the internal life of the Church. In the Christian East, we emphasize a great deal the importance of the economia of the Church–Distributism I think offers us a potentially powerful conceptual tool both to understand the economia of the Church and for pastoral care.

Well done sir and thank you again!

In Christ,

+FrG

By: John Médaille

John Médaille — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:08:31 +0000

The major check is that each cooperative’s association is voluntary. They can leave at any time. If the corporation abuses its power or is perceived to do so, the cooperatives can head for the exit. One recently did, because it is very profitable and doesn’t want to continue pooling with coops that are struggling in the current environment. After the last reorganization, several coops declined to continue as part of the MCC.

Secession is a right at MCC, not the occasion for a civil war.

By: rex

rex — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:29:15 +0000

John, I have spent the last day or so reading everything I can get my hands on about Mondragon. It seems to work, but frankly the scale of it spooks me. I am real small is beautiful kind of guy, and az’s comment above sets my Spidey sense a tingling. What is the mechanism that keeps Mondragon’s subsidiarity leadership from changing to tyrannical mandates as the generations pass?

All doctrines creep over time, often morphing into the exact opposite of what they set out to be. It seems to me that Mondragon’s charter is flexible enough that abuse of power is inevitable.

By: Axel Ztangi

Axel Ztangi — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:08:42 +0000

Greetings,

I just chanced upon this blog via a google alert.. so sorry to “barge” into a conversation. Firstly while no longer a Catholic I am somewhat familiar with CSocTeaching. Mondragon was inspired by a priest but Fr. Arizmendi adopted a far more subtle social philosophy in my opinion. I doubt that he would be very happy with the current corporatization of his very practical and local and democratic venture. To dismiss, or ignore, or worse, not recognize, how far Mondragon has left its moorings does all your correspondents a great disservice.

I hasten to add that I don’t see the degeneration of the original idea as a conspiracy of the leadership as much as the pernicious effects of globalization.

Finally, while I recognize your thoughtful and sensitive approach to social issues two things stand out for me: one, ownership, property relations, whatever you wish to call the form of personal dignity people use to valorize their productive/creative activities remains a cultural cul de sac (especially in our ultra-commodified society). And two: how do you think about jobs – worthwhile social participation – when it is plainly obvious that there are not enough so-called jobs to go around ? (… thank goodness.) And this situation, coupled with both resource depletion and climate change, actually presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to think creatively about a new society. One where jobs and income are not bolted together like a chain and lock.

Cheers! az

By: Bruce Smith

Bruce Smith — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:03:56 +0000

This is a very good article John. Congratulations. It occurs to me though that one of the main stumbling blocks individuals have in identifying with distributism is they perceive coercion will be required to implement it and maintain it on a wide spread basis if it becomes an economic program as opposed to one of organic development. They perceive I guess a Faustian pact with a Leviathan State. This is, of course, a failure of understanding that true freedom to flourish in our lives can only be had if we agree tolerable restraints upon what we can do to each other. The idea of restraint has, however, become mixed up with coercion. There is also a failure of understanding concerning the need to be realistic about the institutions required to police these restraints. So we see in Libertarianism a sort of blind panic about authority that results in an attitude of dismissing the legitimacy of any restraints especially those from the State. Accordingly, I believe distributism will gain greater support the better it addresses these two points concerning the importance of restraint.

By: Koinonia » Blog Archive » Are We A Profitable Church? And Shouldn’t We Be?

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:23:18 +0000

[...] asks an interesting question: “Who Owns Our Jobs?” For our purposes here, I am less interested in how the author answers his initial question and [...]