EOnation: The Whole Divine Law, YEA or NAY

[WesBurt@aol.com]

To:  World Bank, The Quality of Growth E-Seminar, at
        qog@lists.worldbank.org

To:  The Treaty of Noordwijk aan Zee at URL  
       www.treatyofnoordwijkaanzee.com 
    
To:  Citizen's Income (CI) Discussion site at URL
      http://citiinco01.uuhost.uk.uu.net/discussion/index.shtml, 

To: Friends on several mail lists.

Good day folks,

A 50/50 vote on contending policies means that neither policy 
does the public justice by promoting the general welfare.  If we 
listen to Descartes' "clever thinkers, who argue on both sides of 
every philosophical issue," and then divide 50/50 on our choice 
between good and evil, we will surely perish.

It seems that Victor Bridger, in his two letters of 09/19/2000 and 
12/19/2000, has stepped up to the plate to perform the odious 
and thankless duty of telling SANE-FORUM members the truth.  
His concern, about the lack of principles in our debate on the 
"Principles of Social Reconstruction," as Bertrand Russell 
entitled the subject in his 1915 book, is  conveyed by the 
following last paragraph from each of his two letters:
 
>>>>>> Begin Victor Bridger's two last paragraphs <<<<<<<<

Subj:  [SANE-FORUM] Money Question
Date:   09/19/2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ snip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All the talk, discussions, rallies, demonstrations, etc., are not likely 
to achieve anything in changing the system. It is simply like 
wanting to cross a raging river without the ability to do so. The river 
is there, it needs to be crossed but how? Unless there is a 
mechanism available to achieve the objective all efforts are useless. 
Instead of discussing what we already know, we should be 
combining to achieve a mechanism that will allow us to achieve 
our objective.

V. Bridger

Subj:   [SANE-FORUM] Sidetracked
Date:   12/19/2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ snip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I intend in the New Year to establish a forum to which sincere 
writers who can accept criticism and correction are invited to 
join. It will be monitored to reduce the waste of time that I have 
endured in reading the extended mail that has added nothing 
to the debate on the real problems with which we are faced.

I am unsubscribing from this group.

V. Bridger
>>>>>> End Victor Bridger's two last paragraphs <<<<<<<<

Telling the truth is a tricky business.  After rereading Victor's two 
letters again, I was reminded of an observation by DR. J. H. Hertz, 
C.H., late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, concerning "The Ten 
Commandments, or the Decaloge."  On page 400 of the 
"Pentateuch & Haftorahs," DR. Hertz writes:

>>
The Rabbis held the sixth of Sivan, the day of the Revelation at 
Mount Sinai, to be as momentous as the day of Creation itself; 
for without the coming into existence of the Moral Law, the 
creation of the material universe would have been incomplete, 
nay, meaningless.  At the same time, the Teachers of the 
Talmud were most careful to emphasize that the Ten 
Commandments did not contain the Whole Duty of man, as 
some Jewish sectaries (dissenters) in the days of the 
Second Temple contended.  The Decaloge laid down the 
foundations of Religion and Morality, but was not in itself the 
entire structure of Human Duty.
<<

DR. Hertz's commentary on the Decaloge runs for six pages, 
and goes on to compare the Mosaic Civil code with the code of 
Hammurabi (1945-1902 B.C.E), who was a contemporary of 
Abraham, to point out the superiority of the Mosaic Law.  He also 
quotes Henry George and The Founders Of International Law -- 
Hugo Grotius, Jean Bodin, and John Seldon -- to show the 
contribution of Mosaic Law to English and American Law.  But, 
nowhere in the whole works of DR. Hertz, nor in Professor 
Graetz's six volume "History Of The Jews," nor in the Catholic 
or Protestant literature could I find any further mention of what 
was missing from the Ten Commandments, which Jesus 
summarized as "Love God, and, love your neighbor as yourself."

>From our present condition in the twenty first century, what does 
it matter if some folks believe that the Pentateuch was written by 
Moses as God dictated the words, and other folks believe, with 
the German Bible Critic Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918), that the 
first five books of the Bible were compiled and edited by Ezra 
The Scribe after the Jewish remnant was released from 
Babylonian exile under the Decree of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11-25)
(457 B.C.E).  It should not matter what we believe about the 
evolution of the Bible, if the words we find there exactly describe 
the biological requirement for a 10% of GNP positive feedback 
from citizens "in production" to cover the expense of education 
and support for the nation's dependent children "in development."  
Development always precedes production in the lifecycle of both 
capital and human assets

If we just glance at the Ten Commandments, the original Ten 
Articles of the American Bill of Rights, and other such documents 
it is obvious that most of them are silent on the duty of citizens to 
their government, and more importantly, silent on the obligation of 
a government to its citizens.  But the book of Numbers (Num. 
18:26-28) (1471 B.C.E.) corrects that omission by defining the 
necessary relationship between the Levites, who were the Law 
makers in that Theocracy, and the citizens, who inherited and 
worked the land.  The first tithe (10% of GNP) had been 
customary with the Israelites since Abraham paid the tithe to 
Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-20) (1913 B.C.E.).  Jacob also 
paid the first tithe at Bethel (Gen. 28:22) (1760 B.C.E.).  And 
it is reasonable to conclude that the Israelites were still paying 
the first tithe when Moses imposed the second tithe on the 
people to pay the Levites for their service to the Theocracy.  If 
you run the numbers of the population of the twelve tribes and 
the Levites, it turns out that Moses paid the Levites about 4.5 
times the average income of the twelve tribes, or about what 
the US pays members of Congress today.  Moses then 
commanded the Levites to also pay the first tithe, just as the 
other twelve tribes had been doing since 1913 B.C.E. when 
Melchizedek ran "a school for the propagation of the knowledge 
of God," according to Talmudic tradition.  This bit of Bible text 
is a concise description of the local land and property taxes 
which are customary in the English speaking world, and 
probably everywhere in the world.  It confirms Adam Smith's 
"First Maxim of Taxation" and directs the public revenue 
primarily to the education and development of the community's 
children.

And from practical experience with the American universal 
public education system we can easily visualize the debt 
which every child assumes as the taxpayers of his 
community pay the expense of his education for twelve years.  
That annual expense, in the order of $5,000/head/year, or 
more, amounts to an interest-free debt of $60,000 by the time 
a high school graduate enters the workforce and begins to 
pay taxes proportioned to his earned income and hopefully 
repay that interest-free debt of $60,000 by the time the 
worker retires.  

That $5,000/head/year expense for education, which is 
disbursed from the public revenue, is about equal to the annual 
expense of supporting a dependent child, which expense falls 
wholly on the family in the US, except for the $2,000 tax 
exemption at the 15% tax rate which reduces the annual expense 
to $4,700/head/year (or down to $4,440/year/head for families 
in the 28% tax rate).  The very idea of covering this family 
expense with an interest-free loan of $79,900 by the time a 17 
year old dependent enters the work force is supposed, by US 
Republicans and US Democrats, alike, to diminish the work 
ethic of the parenting family.  But US Republicans and US 
Democrats have not complained of a diminished work ethic in the 
Gay, Lesbian, and Celibate households which do not incur this 
particular expense.  Oh well, as P. T. Barnum said, 
"Never give the suckers an even break."

Having located the first and second tithe, it is worth noting that 
the third tithe was not collected from the people, as were the 
first and second, but rather the people were commanded to 
spend the third tithe on what today we might call "Community 
Building."  That is, on travel to the Temple, on feasting, 
drinking, and getting to know and love each other (Deut. 14:22-26).

I am deep in debt to mail list SANE-FORUM, and to other list 
owners mentioned below, for posting my numerous ruminations 
on their lists, and, for introducing me to a few thoughtful people 
who appear not be members of the DDotSQ (Devious Defenders 
of the Status Quo).  If not, they may well become the vangard of 
a twenty-first century "Social Reconstruction," as Bertrand Russell 
defined our pro bono labors in 1915.  Among these few thoughtful 
people are: John Pozzi, John C. Turmel, William B. Ryan, Harry 
Pollard, Wim A. de Bruyn, Berend Schuitema, Margaret Legum, 
DR Aart Roukens de Lange, Shann Turnbull, Doug Everingham, 
J. Walter Plinge, Stephen De Meulenaere, Victor Bridger, 
Boudewijn Wegerif, Robin Gaskell, Alanna Hartzok, and others.

Is there an alternative proposal which is simpler to teach, and more 
likely to win public approval, than the Whole Divine Law?  Recall 
that Matthew 5:17 has Jesus saying:  "Think not that I am come to 
destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but 
to fulfill."  He died before the law was fulfilled, and the Church of 
Rome did not return to the task until 1891, when the encyclical 
RERUM NOVARUM commanded employers to pay the "family 
wage," which they could not do and remain competitive in a 
free market.

In my 12/21/2000 note to Norm Kurland, founder of the Center 
for Economic and Social Justice at Web Site: 
<A HREF="http://www.cesj.org";>http://www.cesj.org</A>, I mentioned a general 
criticism (incomplete 
analysis) which is well deserved by most web sites on the 
Internet, and asked for further clarification as follows:
>>
Please be more explicit about how, or why, my messages 
to COG intrigue you, and we may discover how I might be 
of further assistance to the Capital Ownership Group.
Kind regards,
Wesley S. Burt
<<

Mr. Kurland's reply follows with my (WSB: comments. WSB) 
inserted where appropriate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Begin reply from Mr. Kurland ~~~~~~~~~
Subj:    Re: EOnation: The Whole Divine Law Now, Or 
Apocalypse Later
Date:   12/22/2000 6:27:27 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:   thirdway@cesj.org (Norman G. Kurland)
To: WesBurt@aol.com

Dear Wes Burt,

In reading your "solution" to the economic globalization challenge, 
I was most intrigued by your references to the historic importance 
of RERUM NOVARUM and LABOREM EXERCENS.  However, I 
was surprised you left out Quadregesimo Anno and other 
encyclicals by Pius XI as they address breakdowns of the social 
order.  (I totally support the principles contained in these writings 
as you will see from exploring our web site at http://www.cesj.org)  

(WSB: Quadragesimo Anno, "on the Fortieth Anniversary of RERUM 
NOVARUM," repeated the analysis and commands of Pope Leo XIII.  
But, not until Pope John Paul II equated the "family wage" to a 
dependent's allowance from the public revenue did the "family wage" 
become a practical consideration.  And the Church OF England has 
not addressed the subject yet.  If the Church had asked for a US 
patent on the "family wage," the patent office would have declined 
due to lack of diligence in promoting the invention. WSB)

.....................But, while I would need more extensive exposure to
and understanding of your ideas, I was delighted to note your 
overall acceptance of a "win-win" perspective.  That's critical for 
building unity of vision and strategy for building a world of 
peace with justice.

(WSB: I wholly agree on the necessity of a "win-win" perspective, if 
this work is to make any headway.  We should also hope for a "no-
fault" solution that excludes as few people as possible. Any who feel 
excluded will vigorously defend the status quo.  WSB)

By way of a modest challenge, how does the following brief proposal 
for saving the social security system fit into your global vision, if it 
does at all?  If not, why not?  Please click on  "How to Save the 
Social Security System" at web site: <A HREF="http://www.cesj.org";>
http://www.cesj.org</A>,

(WSB: Your proposal is excellent because it would remove the 
$63,000/year cap on the 13%, without dependent exemptions, 
payroll tax, which presently allows Bill Gates, D. P. Moynihan, 
Bob Dole, Allan Greenspan, and others to pay no larger payroll 
tax than their $63,000/year accountants are paying. The Great 
Satan himself would hesitate to impose such a tax on a 
financially literate public. WSB)

If your reaction is positive, then how does my paper on "Money 
and Prices" fit into your monetary philosophy?  Please click on
 prices-money-11-6.htm at web site: <A HREF="http://www.cesj.org";>
http://www.cesj.org</A>,

(WSB: While searching for "prices-money-11-6.htm," I read "A 
Personal Journey to the Third Way, The Biographical Narrative 
on CESJ President Norman Kurland."  I respect and envy your 
success in winning the support of Congress for programs which 
expand public ownership of productive capital assets.  Every 
citizen should own a fair share of the collective national wealth, 
in addition to his earned income, just for being a citizen. Thomas 
Paine, Bertrand Russell, Maj. Douglas, Lady Rhys Williams, and 
many others have pushed in the right direction, but could not 
overcome the opposition of the DDotSQ.

In "prices-money-11-6.htm" you write:
>>
This paper will aim at showing that Say's Law of Markets–that 
supply can create its own demand and demand its own supply–
can be made to work if capital credit is universally accessible 
to all. This new paradigm, first developed by Louis O. Kelso and 
later refined by Robert Ashford and Rodney Shakespeare (2), 
would result in an asset-backed money supply that would provide 
sufficient liquidity to banks and other financial institutions for 
financing all or most of the new productive assets which are 
added each year to grow the economy.
<<

(WSB: Here we need a lot more discussion, or someone is going 
to feel excluded.  It is safe to say that the world has lived with 
ten-twelfths of the Whole Divine Law since the Accession and 
folly of Rehoboam, son of Solomon (I Kings 12) (795 B.C.E.).  
The Bible story ends without the law being restored.  It seems 
probable to me, however, that the glory of Greece and the 
majesty of Rome were based on the Whole Law, rather than 
slavery, likewise for the Muslim Empire following Muhammad.  
But the whole Divine Law, or at least the missing part which 
concerns economic justice, returned with a vengeance in 
Japan, Germany, and other Western European nations 
after World War II. 

 And all of Europe, Japan, and the Anglo-American establishment 
have devoted the last fifty-five years to keeping the English 
speaking people in the dark and covered with bullshit about 
what is happening.  Anyone who cares to read the world Bank 
ATLAS can know that the English and Americans are investing 
only 16% of GNP in their capital plant, while the Europeans are 
investing 25% of their GNP which is about 10% of national sales 
which is 250% of GNP on Figures 4, 5, and 6 of the global model 
at http://www.freespeech.org/darves/bert.html.  The Great Inflation 
of the 1970s and 1980s did not have the intended effect on the 
competition and the English speaking nations are losing ground.

This deficiency of capital investment is not the fault of our banks 
and other financial institutions.  It is due to a deficiency of 
purchasing power in the younger members of the workforce who 
are also priced out of the domestic labor market by "The US 
Systemic Defect of Omission," as illustrated on Figure 8b of the 
global model at http://www.freespeech.org/darves/bert.html.  
There is no alternative to a restoration of the whole Divine Law, 
if we want restore our role in world affairs. WSB)

Looking forward to your comments?
~~~~~~~~~~~~ End reply from Mr. Kurland ~~~~~~~~~

Victor, and friends at SANE-FORUM, there is only one 
mechanism that will allow us to achieve our objective.  All 
multinational corporations, and most developed nations, have 
reduced this mechanism to p