Perspectives on Social Issues
(November 2007)

Proposal for a New Capitalism Based on Common Wealth
"If capitalism as we know it is deeply flawed, and government is no savior, where lies hope? The Right says that government is flawed and that only privatization, deregulation, and tax cuts can save us. The Left insists that markets are flawed and that only government can save us. The trouble is that both sides are right -- that markets and state are flawed -- and wrong -- that salvation lies in either sphere. But if that’s the case, what are we to do? Is there, perhaps, a missing set of institutions that can help us? I think there is. They lie in the realm of common wealth.

Everyone knows what private wealth is: property we inherit or accumulate individually. In the United States, the top 5 percent of Americans owns more of this treasure than the bottom 95 percent. Less well known is our common wealth. Each of us is the joint recipient of a vast inheritance that includes air and water, habitats and ecosystems, languages and cultures, science and technologies, social and political systems, and quite a bit more. Common wealth is like the dark matter of the economic universe -- it’s everywhere, but we don’t see it. Yet the value of this common wealth is immense. Though most of it isn’t priced in markets, economists like Robert Costanza have calculated that it’s worth more than all private wealth combined. In other words, most of what we cherish, we share. It’s time to notice our shared gifts. Not only that, it’s time to name, protect, and organize them."

“A New Capitalism" by Peter Barnes, Essay, WorldWatch, Sept/Oct 2007.

Wonderful Appeal of Swarm Intelligence in Dealing with Complex Issues
"That's the wonderful appeal of swarm intelligence. Whether we're talking about ants, bees, pigeons, or caribou, the ingredients of smart group behavior -- decentralized control, response to local cues, simple rules of thumb -- add up to a shrewd strategy to cope with complexity.... Social and political groups have already adopted crude swarm tactics. During mass protests eight years ago in Seattle, anti-globalization activists used mobile communications devices to spread news quickly about police movements, turning an otherwise unruly crowd into a 'smart mob' that was able to disperse and re-form like a school of fish....

Wikipedia, a free collaborative encyclopedia, has also proved to be a big success, with millions of articles in more than 200 languages about everything under the sun, each of which can be contributed by anyone or edited by anyone. 'It's now possible for huge numbers of people to think together in ways we never imagined a few decades ago,' says Thomas Malone of MIT's new Center for Collective Intelligence. 'No single person knows everything that's needed to deal with problems we face as a society, such as health care or climate change, but collectively we know far more than we've been able to tap so far.'"

"Swarm Theory" by Peter Miller, National Geographic, July 2007.

Volunteer Work, such as Peace Corps, Has Long-term Impact
"Reed Dickson, a returned Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia and director of the Teachers College Peace Corps Fellows program, believes that Peace Corps service also has a surprising long-term effect: it makes people want to give of themselves beyond that one experience. 'Peace Corps opens your eyes to the disparities that exist in the world and helps develop the political and moral will to stay committed,' Dickson says.

In fact, an early investment in service can pay off over a lifetime. The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, a trove of high school-related trend data, found that 42 percent of young people who volunteered in high school did so again eight years later. And a recent study in the American Educational Research Journal identifies community service during high school as a strong predictor of voting and volunteering in adulthood."

“Making a Difference" by Caroline Kennedy, Looking at Public Service, TIME, Sept 10, 2007.

U.S. Catholic Bishops Pledge Resources to End Human Trafficking
"Calling human trafficking 'a horrific crime against the basic dignity and rights of the human person,' Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, California, said the Catholic bishops 'pledge to use the resources of the church to help end this affliction.' Barnes is chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Migration.

'It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century fellow human beings could be exploited and forced to work in the sex industry and other industries against their will,” Barnes said in a statement dated September 12. 'As many as 700,000 persons are trafficked globally each year,' the bishop said, including 17,500 trafficked each year into the United States.

Barnes called for more effective implementation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and for Congress 'to enact comprehensive immigration reform, which would provide legal avenues for men, women and their families to enter the country and work legally and safely.'"

“Bishops Pledge to Fight Trafficking," Briefs: USA and World, National Catholic Reporter, Sept 28, 2007.

Labor Legislation Needs to Become Law
"The Employee Free Choice Act (E.F.C.A.) would restore rights that workers have lost through the years. The Act would require the N.L.R.B. (National Labor Relations Board) to certify a union as the exclusive representative of the employees when 'a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations.'

Since E.F.C.A. essentially recognizes the signing of authorization cards as an election, there is no need for yet another election that is demanded by employers. The act would also streamline contract negotiations by requiring that parties who cannot agree to a first bargaining agreement within 120 days must submit the disputed issues to arbitration.

The Employee Free Choice Act is the most important piece of labor legislation in the past 72 years. Both the spirit and the letter of this act strongly resonate with Catholic social teaching, from Rerum Novarum to Laborem Exercens. It deserves to be made the law of the land."

“Restoring Worker Choice" by The Editors, Editorial, America, August 27, 2007.