Page 22 - HQ May June July 2020

u than if the same goals were sought by individuals. “Keep falsehood and
Without a purpose an association would not exist. lies far from me, give me
Some types of associations are unions, agricultural neither poverty nor riches,
groups, companies, cooperatives, sporting clubs,
etc. These particular forms of associations each pur- grant me only my share
sue the specific goals which brought their members of food, for fear that,
together. surrounded by plenty, I
Society can be viewed as a grand association should fall away and say,
of individuals. Society also has a social objective,
which is to procure or facilitate the procurement of ‘Yahweh-who is Yahweh?’
the totality of goods and services which all citizens or else, in destitution, take
have decided they need and want. to stealing and profane the
The needs of a people are certainly multitudinous name of my God. ”(Proverbs 30:8-9)
and varied. Among all the individuals which make
up a society there are those who will want things to socialist minded policies rather than address the fun-
which others are indifferent. A social order would be damental flaws of the financial system from which
imperfect which satisfied the wants of some but left flows most of the defects in our existing society.
the vast majority to suffer frustration in the pursuit of
Socialists promise economic security to all. But
their most fundamental wants. such security entails a state controlled economy
There are two things which every individual and society with its bureaucracy, inspections and
seeks from society, economic security and personal investigations, regimentation and all the rest. A so-
liberty. cialist society would have us numbered, harnessed,
By economic security we mean access to the nourished and sheltered like domesticated animals
things necessary to satisfy essential needs. This or prison inmates. A Social Credit monetary system
would include food, clothing, lodging, medical care wants no part of this so-called economic security!
and such education as is necessary in today’s soci- The capitalist investor does not engage in the
ety. physical work of making his capital produce goods.
Theoretically, personal liberty is superior to eco- The worker produces and is compensated in the
nomic security. But in practice, liberty cannot be form of a salary or wages; the capitalist is compen-
achieved until the fundamental needs of the natural sated in the form of Dividends. We want each citizen
man are satisfied. The person without economic se- to also enjoy the security of the capitalist who enjoys
curity is like a slave to the conditions and privations his Dividends.
imposed upon him. He is not free, for one cannot The Social Credit principles hold that each cit-
turn his back on his basic needs! izen is co-heir to a community capital which society’s
On the other hand, once a man has a decent stan- workers are busy mobilizing. Each and every citizen
dard of living, if he has any sense of liberty, he can would receive a dividend regardless of whether or
refuse conditions which would bind and enslave him not he was employed in actual production.
even when he is offered terms which might make An Abundance of Goods for All
him wealthy. Liberty would, for the man with integ-
rity whose basic needs are met, place more value on The purpose of an economic system is to furnish
it than on wealth or comfort. the products and services required by society in the
As for the man who runs after wealth and seeks quantity and at the time and in the place they are
to amass more and more of it at any cost, he is a needed.
slave to money in every sense of the word. Today these goals are physically easy to attain.
We might say that liberty begins following the It is the outstanding characteristic of our day that
satisfaction of our most ordinary needs, and ceases we can produce with great ease all the variety and
when we chase after the superfluous in a disorderly volume of goods which are needed. What is more
way. remarkable is the ability to accomplish this with an
Socialism or Social Credit? ever-diminishing reliance on workers’ participation
in production.
Politicians, economists and sociologists main- Man has always endeavored to satisfy his needs
tain that economic security demands a surrender with a minimum expenditure of time and energy in
of personal liberty, at least to a degree. In this they order to maximize the resources available for other
are upholding, unconsciously perhaps, the tenets of activities. Today we have achieved this goal. We are
socialism. But when this has occurred it is because producing enough for all our needs with a smaller
governments have implemented centralization and contribution of human toil; we can furnish goods for

22 MICHAEL May/June/July 2020 www.michaeljournal.org