A Cartoon For Our Times
I found this cartoon on Brad Shorr’s blog and thought it summed up our present sad state of affairs quite well:
The gentleman on the left, putting money into the hat, is G. K. Chesterton, who, with Hilaire Belloc, promoted a socioeconomic philosophy called distributism.
We live in interesting times. Senator Obama’s campaign for the presidency had a central theme of change. Now, we need to make sure that, as President, he lives up to those promises. Substantial progress has already been made towards what I would call “neo-distributism”, starting with the “back-to-the-land” movement of the 1970s, the rise of organic farming, permaculture, community supported agriculture, and the growing realization that burning fossil fuels is rapidly leading to eco-catastrophe.
The 1930s, with FDR in office, seem to be analogous to our current difficulties. Then, as now, there were many people looking at alternatives to the status quo. Time will tell.
Hi Jeff, Glad you like the cartoon! There’s no doubt the Obama administration will bring change, but I sure don’t see it going in the Distributist direction. As you say, time will tell.
No, I don’t see change from Obama going in the Distributist direction, either. But real change always comes from the bottom, doesn’t it? Politicians don’t lead – they follow!