Distributism: Neither Liberal nor Conservative

Note: The following are the ramblings of a non expert in economics, political structures or, for that matter, distributist philosophy. However, it is an attempt to start a conversation. ANY and all comments are welcome!

We live in an increasingly polarized society in which "liberals" and "conservatives" are pitted against each other. I personally don't want to be labeled as either one, and politics makes me want to just roll my eyes and go read a good book. Having some Anabaptist/Mennonite leanings, despite a recent conversion to the Catholic Church, I find the idea of separation from the world a strong temptation. Just go off with a community of like-minded people and don't worry about those crazies who are following their various paths to destruction. Perhaps for children in families, or those who are not cut out for the cut-throat world, this is a good idea.

But Jesus didn't exactly do that. Despite withdrawing from time to time, He also moved into the thick of things and confronted the people in power. He walked into Jerusalem even though He knew it wouldn't be fun. He wanted to reach the poor multitudes with mercy and the power structure with justice. But his commitment ran deeper than most of us can say of ourselves.

So, what are we to do? We can sit in our homes and listen to the news and the pundits that we already agree with, and breathe a sigh of relief that we have lots of company. The trouble is, people with opposite viewpoints are doing the same thing.

Is there a middle ground, anywhere?

Distributism might be a possibility. You might use other terms such as localism, permaculture, cooperativism, etc. On the one hand, big government could be avoided if everyone had a bit of land, or training, or a share in a corporation, or other resources that could give them a way to make a living without government help. On the other hand, big business could be avoided if we did more things for ourselves, made more things for ourselves, grew our own food, boycotted big businesses that are overly controlling, and supported smaller, more local enterprises. More on this in future posts.

One thing for sure: instead of just pointing our fingers at "them" in a spirit of blame, we should occasionally turn the fingers back at ourselves and ask, how am I contributing to the problems rather than the solutions? As the Quaker John Woolman said, "May we look upon our treasure, the furniture of our houses, and our garments, and try to discover whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions."

In the end, our Christian duty is not to point the finger, but to keep our hands on the plow.