Mamdani Proves Chesterton Correct

Neither a monopolistic, anti-Christian capitalist nor a hardline atheist communist respects the human person.  Both piggish capitalists and tyrannical politicians anoint themselves gods, abuse individual persons, and depress inalienable rights and freedom.   Particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age, which dramatically flipped the economy from rugged ruralism to mechanized urbanization, connivers from both camps have ensured only a few own or control most of the fruits of labor. Mega tightfisted corporations restrict the advancement and liberties of the majority of their employees.  They frequently squash or absorb small start-ups in all areas of the economy.  Opportunistic governments burden budding independent, small businesses, as well as their citizens, through myriad regulations and taxation, so the majority of the populace gets zapped by both extreme powers.  

 
This glaring reality reared its ugly head most recently with New York Mayor Mamdani’s declared intrusion into the small grocery store business of his city in a way that threatens to destroy numerous independent and smaller bodegas and other individually owned markets by the hammer of manipulative government.  G.K Chesterton might be gnashing his teeth if he were alive today.  “The Catholic Worker” Servant of God Dorothy Day would likely be printing stories in her newsletters deploring this blow to the spirit of subsidiarity and God given rights of workers.  How?  A bit of background first:

 
The plight of the “assembly line” employee caught the attention of one particularly astute Pope in the late 1800s.  Pope Leo XIII’s superior Church encyclical on genuine social justice: Rerum Novarum (1891) sparked debates about a socio-economic structure that best balanced the rights of both the business entrepreneur and the average family man attempting to survive if not thrive,  in an increasingly dehumanizing work environment, it should not surprise that even then Catholics flirted with socialist solutions.  Clever minds magnified the Pope’s empathy for the working man, and we still see that one-sided perspective today, though he also defended private property ownership.  In other exhortations, Pope Leo XIII and other great Popes denounced communism.  Still, tension between government and the citizen and corporate tycoons and the average worker intensified.   We also witnessed massive attacks on persons, families and Faith through numerous tyrannical governments that starting emerging especially in the early 20th century under the falsehood of uplifting the people.

 
Some prominent early 20th century Catholics attempted to strike a balance with an economic theory known as Distributism.  In a nutshell, champions like G. K. Chesterton—prolific Catholic writer and apologist— formed an ideal of subsidiarity, as outlined in Catholic teaching,  that called for widespread ownership of production (agricultural and manufacturing).  In other words, the more that average, local workers owned, controlled, and hopefully grew their own justly profitable enterprise, the better.

 
Chesterton would be joined by many others who insisted on keenly balancing the rights of laborers with due justice for those who provide means for production and employment.  The superlative reason and logic of G.K. Chesterton, and the decades long advocacy for workers by Servant of God Dorothy Day,  along with complementary input by other Catholics who understood the distinction between excessive capitalism and godless communism, framed a sound balance between public and private sectors.  These wholly Christian idealists proposed an economic perspective that defended and promoted workers’ rights to success and ownership,  whether on the farm or in the city against ruinous monopolies or suffocating government. (Chesterton favored redistributing farm land for the benefit of the many, and one can only imagine his dismay at whole corporations and even other nations controlling so much of it.)

A model of such, to some degree, is found in New York City, wherein a number of conscientious and bustling persons addressed a need for localized food access, including those known as bodegas, serving immigrant populations.  Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, inflation and other negative factors reared its ugly head, and they are not experiencing barriers to delivering goods at affordable prices.  Here was a perfect opportunity for government to assist, but that is not what has happened.  Mayor Mamdani’s horrific scheme would have government overtake their consumer base.   What Mamdani and his city cohorts are  doing is as wrong as any nationalist farmland gobbler or mega franchise puppet master.   

 
How is New York City government any different than mega supermarkets that have wiped out so many local markets while forcing able persons—not infrequently more talented than the corporate managers—to work for minimum wages?  How many intelligent and capable risk takers could be participating in “spreading” opportunity and wealth for personal growth and well being but will now be absorbed as cogs in the larger machine of our economy?  

Yet, that is not the worst of it.  Consider that if Mamdani succeeds in this ill conceived take over, the eventual disappearance of the the small grocery stores and bodegas will not just end dismally for the city.  These state controlled stores have never historically succeeded, but when they collapse, only the bigger chains like the Walmarts, Safeways, and Aldis will be able to rescue the delivery of food goods to the local population.  So, the fate of the conscientious smaller grocer will be thrust from one extreme to the other—from communism to already wealthy capitalists.  Of course, the average consumer is thereby also deprived of choice, even as their taxes will increase to cover the cost of government interference.  A double if not triple whammy.

Let us recall and restudy the religious, intellectual, and advocational leaders who crafted the principles of Distributism because they deplored both excessive state intervention or intrusion into businesses and capitalist overlords securing, hoarding, and profiting by manufacturing and distribution of goods and services in top down control.   Distributism promoted (and still does)) the redistribution of the means of production to as many people as possible.  Though imperfect, like any theory, it is still the best one to ponder and infuse throughout our society.

 
I am praying for intercession by all holy souls, but including Pope Leo XIII, Dorothy Day and G.K. Chesterton who understood that power, no matter how benign it may disguise itself, or regardless whether in the private or public domain,  is always a treacherous threat against the common good.

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