A wee bit of insurance

Recently, I took issue with the treatment of various distributists on the InsideCatholic blog.  My politely worded redress to the editors was promptly deleted as though my comment was a defamation or some violation of the terms of service, which, in fact, it was not.  I am not a distributist or a libertarian at the moment, and have no dog in this fight.  Nevertheless, I am no fan of this sort of nonsense and said so.  The following is my comment, reposted for insurance purposes in full.

"I see that my previous censure has been deleted.  Lovely.

I am frankly a bit annoyed by the blasé dismissal of all other Catholic economists than those who work at the Mises Institute, especially given the questionable nature of the Mises-Rothbard economic schema in matters of morality and even basic understanding of anthropology.  I am not a distributist, at the moment at least, and I am certainly not a libertarian, though I was one at one point (and there's a very interesting story to that); rather, I am a Catholic seeking an economic theory which compromises on neither efficiency, anthropology, nor theology, and in my opinion the libertarian over-reliance on the unmitigated free market, as Leo XIII said himself in Rerum Novarum and John Paul II reiterated in Centesimus Annus, is absolutely anthropologically catastrophic and ultimately theologically dangerous, because salvation only happens in the context of a community of persons, and that takes more than a market of buyers and sellers.

Of the Mises Institute I have heard and read ample amounts; indeed, one cannot speak of "Catholic economists" without attracting the attention of twelve Mises Institute pamphleteers trying to argue that one should hate the state...with "as a Catholic!" hastily tacked on at the end, similar to the way they tack on Thomas Aquinas to their understanding of private property, in a way similar to the way Copernicus described the Ptolemaic system, as a freakish chimera of misaligned parts.  I do not dislike them as people, of course, but the discussion of Catholic social teaching rapidly becomes tiresome when one only hears, in principles, arguments from authority and conspiracy theories about the origin of the state in force.

Yet when I was almost given a chance to see a professional Catholic distributist by profession and study battle it out with a professional Catholic libertarian from the Mises Institute (something which, as a theology, philosophy and economics nerd, really gets my gears turning) apparently the folks at IC decide that some prior nonsense having nothing to do with this thread and seemingly out of the blue allows them to discontinue the discussion, effectively giving the Mises folks an unfair advantage, without any explanation further than "they are a tribe of trolls" (unjustified) and "past history" (enigmatic, opaque, and peremptory.)  Needless to say I was not fond of this course of action.

Let it be known (for the defense of my OWN reputation) that I was polite, made no ad hominem arguments, spoke only to the facts as they were visible to the people on this post, and said nothing about anything other than the appearances.  It dos not seem right to censure the distributists based on this thread.  I am told that there is "past history", which I couldn't possibly understand; but what I do understand is that there was no misbehavior here, and that as a result of the administration's actions all professional distributists have been summarily dismissed, along with any casual supporter of theirs who wishes to speak at all frankly.

This is not just, it is not Catholic, and it is not even equitable.  As a result of this action, the only people with any training or credentials in economics are the folks from the Mises Institute, and if I wanted to hear their opinion again all I'd have to do is state my distaste for Rothbard.

If you delete this comment, I am going to write a letter to Deal Hudson explaining my unjust treatment.  Following this, if nothing is done, I am going to cancel any subscription or contact with anything sponsored by Inside Catholic, which is lamentable but a necessary move; "be Kent unmannerly when Lear is mad."  In addition, as I say, if nothing is done, I will inform every Catholic I know of the mistreatment that has occurred here.

Of course, there is a VERY simple solution, if, as the admins say, it is because we don't know the past history.  TELL US THE PAST HISTORY, and give Medaille, Ferrara and co. the chance to either defend themselves or apologize for their past actions or at least state that they won't do whatever genuinely bad thing they MAY have done.  Since it seemed to be going just fine BEFORE the admins brought out their shovels and ice picks, I imagine that the Catholic part of Inside Catholic gives reason for the expectation of a decent result.

I am also posting this comment on my blog and my Facebook account, as insurance; furthermore, if it is deleted, I am resolved to send it to various friends of mine in Catholic academic circles with whom you might be aware.  If this seems too much, realize that I am no friend of injustice in any form."