“It is applied Christianity”

Clifford Hugh Douglas was asked to characterize the Economic Democracy solution in a few words and he answered "Very easily, I can do it in two words: applied Christianity."

Is it an exaggeration or pretentious to say that Economic Democracy is applied Christianity? Not if you've studied and compared both Economic Democracy and the Church's social doctrine. The Church's social doctrine is a set of moral principles on social justice, developed since the papacy of Leo XIII (1810- 1903) to the present day and is the standard by which all social, economic and financial systems must be judged.

The Church calls on the lay faithful to renew the temporal order according to God's plan, according to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). This is a call to us to establish economic structures that conform to the principles of the Church's social doctrine.

In the writings of Louis Even and Alain Pilote, we see how wonderfully Economic Democracy embraces the Church's principles of social justice. Louis Even, from 1935 to 1974, explained the great texts of the popes of his time on the subject, especially scrutinizing Pius XI and Pius XII. More recently, the Study Sessions prepared by Alain Pilote, contained in Economic Democracy Seen in the Light of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the social doctrine is understood with a particular focus on the statements of Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.

Understanding Economic Democracy helps us to better appreciate papal statements on the subject. The most famous commentary is by Pope Pius XI in 1931 in the encyclical letter, Quadragesimo Anno.

"An immense power and despotic economic dictatorship is consolidated in the hands of a few, who often are not owners but only the trustees and managing directors of invested funds which they administer according to their own arbitrary will and pleasure. This dictatorship is being most forcibly exercised by those who, since they hold the money and completely control it, control credit also and rule the lending of money. Hence they regulate the flow, so to speak, of the life-blood whereby the entire economic system lives, and have so firmly in their grasp the soul, as it were, of economic life that no one can breathe against their will" (nn. 105-106).

Pius XI refers to international bankers "who are not owners but only the trustees" of depositors' money, which they "administer according to their own arbitrary will and pleasure, for they decide to whom they will lend or not, also setting the conditions of the loan, including the interest rate, in such a way that no one can breathe against their will."

The Pope added: "The virtual degradation of the majesty of the State, which although it ought to sit on high like a queen and supreme arbitress, free from all partiality and intent upon the one common good and justice, is become a slave, surrendered and delivered to the passions and greed of men". This is the unfortunate nature of financial power.

Our full-time pilgrims who visited Africa for the first time in 1987 commented to the bishops they met on this text by Pius XI in the light of Economic Democracy as explained by Douglas and Louis Even. The bishops replied: "We had read these words by Pius XI, but we hadn't understood them as you explain them to us today, we hadn't made the link with the banks and realized that Pius XI was denouncing precisely the way the current financial system works."

The Church's social doctrine stands above existing economic systems, since it is confined to the level of principles. As we said earlier, an economic system will be good or bad insofar as it applies these principles of justice taught by the Church. This is why Saint John Paul II wrote in 1987, in his encyclical Solicitudo Rei Socialis, that the Church "adopts a critical attitude towards liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism... both concepts being imperfect and in need of radical correction."

It is understandable why the Church condemns communism and marxist collectivism with their goals of destroying private property, the family and religion. Pope Pius XI called this political ideology anti-Christian and intrinsically evil. But what is the basis for the Church's condemnation of capitalism? Is capitalism not better than communism?

Yes to capitalism, after it is rectified

The Church does not condemn capitalism. On the contrary, the Church wishes that private property and free enterprise were universally instituted so that everyone might become owners of capital and be true capitalists. Pope St. John XXIII, in the encyclical, Mater et Magistra (May 15, 1961, nn. 114-115), wrote:

"The dignity of the human person necessarily requires the right of using external goods in order to live according to the right norm of nature. And to this right corresponds a most serious obligation which requires that, so far as possible, there be given to all an opportunity of possessing private property... Therefore, it is necessary to modify economic and social life so that the way is made easier for widespread private possession of such things as durable goods, homes, gardens, tools requisite for artisan enterprises and family-type farms, investments in enterprises of medium or large size."

The fault that the Church finds with the capitalist system is the fact that each and every human being living on the planet does not have access to a minimum of material goods and so are denied a decent life. Even in the most advanced countries there are many people who do not eat their fill. The principle of the universal destination of goods is not fulfilled. After all, there is more than enough production. It is the distribution of those goods that is defective.

In modern societies, the tool that makes possible the distribution of goods and services is money. It is therefore the money system that is at fault in capitalism. Pope Pius XI wrote in Quadragesimo Anno: "Capitalism itself is not to be condemned. And surely it is not vicious of its very nature, but it has been vitiated."

Money should be a servant but the bankers, in appropriating the control of its creation, have made it an instrument of domination. Since no one can live without money, governments, businesses and individuals must submit to the conditions imposed by the bankers to obtain it. Money makes living in today's society possible. This establishes a real dictatorship over economic life and so the bankers have become the masters of our lives, as described by Pope Pius XI.

Since money is a tool that is basically social, the Economic Democracy doctrine proposes that money be issued by society and not by private banks for their own profit. Pope Pius XI stated in Quadragesimo Anno: "There are certain categories of goods for which one can maintain with reason that they must be reserved to the community when they come to confer such an economic power that it cannot, without danger to the common good, be left to the care of private individuals."

The aim of the economic system is to satisfy human needs. Pius XI described this in Quadragesimo anno:

"For then only will the economic and social organism be soundly established and attain its end when it secures for all and each those goods which the wealth and resources of nature, technical achievement, and the social organization of economic affairs can give.

"These goods must be sufficient to supply all needs and an honest livelihood, and to uplift men to that higher level of prosperity and culture which, provided it be used with prudence, is not only no hindrance but is of singular help to virtue."

Earthly goods are destined for all

The Pope states that "all and each" are entitled to material goods. He indicates that a principle of the Church's social doctrine is that the goods of the earth are destined for all. Vatican II reiterated this theme in Gaudium et Spes:

"God intended the earth and all that it contains for the use of every human being and people. Thus, as all men follow justice and unite in charity, created goods should abound for them on a reasonable basis... The right to have a share of earthly goods sufficient for oneself and one's family belongs to everyone."

Saint John Paul II amplified this theme in his encyclical, Centesimus Annus (nn. 31 and 34): "God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all of its members, without excluding or favoring anyone. This is the foundation of the universal destination of the earth's goods... It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied, and not to allow those burdened by such needs to perish."

Practically speaking, this would be made possible by the Dividend, a central feature of Economic Democracy, which is paid to every citizen of the country ensuring that everyone is truly a capitalist and has at least the necessities of life. This would be accomplished without a cost to the pockets of the rich nor by theft or taxation. The rationale for the Dividend is based on two factors: the common inheritance of natural resources and the inventions and innovations of previous generations, which are owned by all. John Paul II explained in his encyclical, Laborem Exercens, on human work (September 15, 1981, n. 13):

"Through his work man enters into two inheritances: the inheritance of what is given to the whole of humanity in the resources of nature, and the inheritance of what others have already developed on the basis of those resources, primarily by developing technology, that is to say, by producing a whole collection of increasingly perfect instruments for work. In working, man also "enters into the labor of others."

We could continue to cite papal concordance with Economic Democracy, and we agree with Douglas that Economic Democracy is applied Christianity. As Pope Pius XII said to a Canadian Bishop in 1950, Douglas' model would "create a climate in the world that would allow the family and Christianity to flourish."

                                                         Alain Pilote