On Resurgent Distributism in British Politics

Methinks this portends good things.  And imagine--this is happening in Britain!  Someobody in the communion of saints has been working overtime.  The papal visit, the beatification of Cardinal Newman, the Anglican ordinariate--grace is on the move.

Most people would never think that an economic theory based in large part on G.K. Chesterton and his contemporaries would become the talk of British political circles. Yet, one man is helping to make that a reality.

That man, Phillip Blond, has become one of the most effective proponents of Catholic social teaching in politics and yet, surprisingly, is an Anglican.

Blond, is a former philosopher and theologian from the University of Cumbria and leader of new British think tank inspired by the economic thought of Catholics such as Hillaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton (former Anglicans); Now, he is also one of the most influential advisors to Conservative Party leader and current British Prime Minister David Cameron...
Blond has gained much attention for a new way of thinking not simply on social issues, but the broader economic and macro-level issues as well.

The new ways of thinking Blond represents will probably find acceptance neither from conservatives nor liberals (in the American sense). Blond argues that the separation of morality from economic and civic improvement is a fiction, and we must consider both together. He argues that big government statism and capitalism are both founded on amoral individualism and the same faulty “monopoly logic.”

This leads him to a view that can best be described as a communitarian or more specifically, distributist, with a heavy emphasis on restoring the vitality of the civil society, voluntary organizations, and broadly distributed ownership (in other words, expanding the ranks of the small business, entrepreneur class by using the power of the state if necessary).

In many ways, this is an old way of thinking, which is why Blond laments that Britons have “killed our history” by losing touch with this rich foundation of Catholic social thought. He admires and draws heavily on Catholic giants such as Belloc and Chesterton. Many of these same themes are present papal encyclicals such as Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum...Between unbridled capitalism and crushing statism is “society itself,” or as Blond quotes from Burke, “little platoons of family and civic association.”

Blond advocates breaking monopolistic government and corporate controls over sectors of the economy to allow all socio-economic levels to fairly compete. “The Tories must take on the unrecognised private sector monopolies that hide on every British high street,” he argues. In essence, he argues that free market liberalism, in its insistence on individualism, has eviscerated morality and the bonds of community, as well as created monopolies. Monopolies, whether in banking, grocery stores, or mobile phones, force the lower income levels into choosing wage-earner status instead of being active participants in an ownership economy, i.e, starting their own business. The economic barriers to entry for competitors have become too high, he argues.

Blond’s original attention-grabbing article  from 2009 spells out his argument at length, which is complex and worth reading in full. It has since been developed into a book.

His thought is based on “the distributism of Chesterton, Belloc and Skelton—all of who knew that, without something to trade, one cannot enter a market. Making markets truly free prevents corporate domination, but also extends ownership, prosperity and innovation across the whole of society. The task of recapitalising the poor is, therefore, the task of making the market work for the many, not the few...”

Much more in the article, including criticism from Thomaas Woods, Jr. All well worth a read. Fascinating stuff.