It would seem the question pivots around the issue of what the basic unit of society is. Secular liberalism unquestioningly presumes that it is the individual; Jewish tradition seems to presume the family; Christian teaching seems to seek a balance. Important as the family is, individuals matter to, and matters such as conscience and life choices. To this American, the cultural pendulum seems to have swung much too far in the direction of radical individualism – and our families are suffering for it.

Was Distributism just a pipe dream, nothing more than the transient enthusiasm of a couple of nostalgic Englishmen who liked their landscapes rustic and their taverns intimate? Or was there something more to it? It seems to me that the harvest reaped from the sowings of Big Government and Big Business indicate that there should be something to it. The more distance there is between the party making the decision and the party impacted by it, the worse things are.