Link: “Building a New World” Conference 5/22-5/25/08. Later this week, I’m heading for a conference in southwestern Virgina at Radford University, as part of a group of people who are there to share Henry George’s ideas. Some of us signed on as a single panel, and gradually other Georgists independently found their way to the conference. Some have had changes of plans, for various reasons, but I think we’ll have some interesting and relevant presentations. And I sense that the attendees at this will be people genuinely looking for answers to some of the world’s most serious social, economic, justice and environmental problems.

Our panel presentation is entitled “Ending Poverty the Henry George Way.” I’m going to share the contents of a flyer we’ll be handing out. [Some of the emphasis is mine.]

We’re presenting a series of conference sessions under this title — but let’s face it, we wouldn’t want to give you the impression that we think there’s any other way to end poverty.

It may be that charity, or public welfare, or simply time, can alleviate local poverty; poverty in one area or nation, or among former slaves, or untouchables or immigrants. But will poverty — the chronic human condition of want amid prodigious wealth — be with us always? We believe that poverty has a fundamental, removable cause.

Here is a paragraph (from www.prout.org) describing the vision of Progressive Utilization Theory:

PROUT is an alternative to the outmoded capitalist and communist socio-economic paradigms. Neither of these approaches have adequately met the physical, mental and spiritual needs of humanity. PROUT seeks a harmonious balance between economic growth, social development, environmental sustainability, and between individual and collective interests. Combining the wisdom of spirituality with a universal outlook and the struggle for self-reliance, PROUTist thinkers and activists are creating a new civilizational discourse and planting the seeds for a new way of living.

That could just as easily be a statement of the Georgist vision! But — how does society get there? Henry George, writing in an era of vast industrial progress, cruel and deepening poverty, and the enclosing of the last bits of North America’s free land, analyzed the economic forces of that momentous juncture and proposed a remedy. In a lecture titled “Thy Kingdom Come,” he said this:

Just as society grows, so do the common needs grow, and so grows this value attaching to land — the provided fund from which they can be supplied. Here is a value that may be taken, without impairing the right of property, without taking anything from the producer, without lessening the natural rewards of industry and thrift. Nay, here is a value that must be taken if we would prevent the most monstrous of all monopolies. What does all this mean? It means that in the creative plan, the natural advance in civilization is an advance to a greater and greater equality instead of a more and more monstrous inequality.

Georgists join with PROUT in recognizing that a just and viable “Third Way” must be found if we are ever to end poverty. We believe that the Georgist Remedy, understood in a modern context and fully conscious of 21st-century problems, is the “Third Way” that civilization desperately seeks.

Why the preoccupation with “land,” in today’s high-tech world? Henry George understood the vital truth that land’s economic function encompasses much more that just the surface of the earth. It only begins with farming and mining. In truth, land encompasses all natural opportunities. What economists mean by “land” (whether or not they’ll admit it) includes such things as subsurface mineral rights, air and water rights, the value of natural organisms and the chemicals that compose them, broadcast frequencies, geosynchonous orbits — as well what is, by far, the world’s most valuable natural resource: urban sites. The assertion that “land” becomes less important as an economic factor as society grows is either a misapprehension, or a lie. The truth is exactly the opposite.

“Ending Poverty the Henry George Way” sessions will explore the Georgist economic analysis and remedy from many current and topical angles. We seek common cause with everyone working to bring about a fair and workable “Third Way” to solve modern civilization’s frightening problems.

We’re presenting a panel Saturday afternoon whose individual presentations include

  • When I’m Elected President – Mike Curtis
  • Avoiding War with a Good Economy – Carl Shaw
  • Why Cities Matter – Art Costa
  • Broadening Henry George’s Insights – J. W. Smith
  • The Earth Imperative – Lindy Davies
  • Henry George on the Web – Wyn Achenbaum

And we’re presenting several workshop/discussion sessions, which will be repeated so that if you wanted to attend all three, you could:

  • Mike Curtis: The Law of Rent, Cause of Recessions
  • Lindy Davies: Trade, Development and Sustainability in a Global Economy
  • Art Costa, Carl Shaw and Wyn Achenbaum: Why Cities Matter; War, Peace and Land Value Taxation; One Solution for Many Problems

And we’ll have a literature/poster table. Look for the folks with the “This Land is YOUR Land” buttons. See you in Radford!