by Patrick Toner Continued from Part 2 In an exchange with Witt and Richards sort of on this topic (Pearce 1, W&R 1, Pearce 2, W&R 2), Joseph Pearce accused the pair of conflating Belloc’s views with socialism—an accusation they warmly denied. …we clarify that Belloc was not a socialist. He did tend toward a … More Witt and Richards on Belloc: Part 3
by Patrick Toner Continued from Part 1 Witt and Richards accuse Belloc of committing serious economic errors—errors also committed by Marx (horribile dictu). The two central such errors are that both Marx and Belloc “failed to understand that free exchange benefits both parties,” and that “both held to what is called the labor theory of … More Witt and Richards on Belloc: Part 2
by Patrick Toner Part One—The Distributist Paradox and State Power In The Hobbit Party (Ignatius, 2014), Jonathan Witt and Jay Richards cover some of what they take to be the political/social meanings in JRR Tolkien’s work. In Chapter 8—“The Fellowship of the Localists”—they talk a bit about Walmart and Joel Salatin and other such matters. … More Witt and Richards on Belloc: Part 1
by Patrick Toner Hilaire Belloc’s Essay on the Restoration of Property is a remarkably well-written book. Put aside the question of whether Belloc is right or wrong about any of his contentions: the book is thoroughly lucid. It’s also organic—you really can’t dip into it at random, you need to get ahold of the ideas … More Self-sufficiency and economic freedom
by Patrick Toner The Distributist should garden as though it matters. Because it does. In an earlier piece I urged Distributists to grow crops that provide the greatest amount of nourishment. In this piece, I will urge Distributists to recognize the temporal element in gardening in addition to the spatial element. Suppose you are able … More The Distributist's Garden, Part 2
By Patrick Toner It’s pretty standard (and rightly so) to link Distributism with things like farmer’s markets and small scale organic farming. If you’re a Distributist, you ought to opt out, as much as you can, from industrial agriculture. As much as you can, you ought to support small local family farmers.But beyond that, it’s … More The Distributist's Garden
Practical Distributism 