| Subject: | Re: [socialcredit] Alaska dividend | | Date: | Tuesday, September 6, 2005 09:46:53 (-0400) | | From: | Keith Wilde <nschwartz @......ca>
|
It does say "AN" economic radical. How many names would you expect to
associate with "an"?
When I approached Hinman in 1968, or possibly as late as '69, to ask him how
or if he had conceived in Social Credit a link to early American property
equalization schemes (as in Thos. Skidmore, "The Rights of Man to Property",
1829 or '30), he acknowledged that the notion may have crossed his mind, but
that he could not reconstruct it for me. He did mention that as the
Depression took hold and he found himself searching in indignation for
better policy solutions, the first one that caught his attention was
Technocracy, but that he soon passed it over when he found the better idea.
In respect of my particular question, however, he assured me that he had two
friends who would be able to answer it abundantly and that he would be
pleased to set up a meeting for me with either of them. Blackmore was one
of them, Eldon Tanner the other. I elected Blackmore, who I presumed would
have more time for a reflective discussion (long since retired as a federal
MP), and was closer. (Hinman received me at his office in the Alberta
Legislature; Tanner was at the time rather far away as de facto CEO of the
Mormon Church business empire.) Blackmore received me graciously at his
home in the hill country near the Montana border, and had prepared for the
meeting by selecting documents for me from his personal collection.
Otherwise, the conversation was not very satisfying to me, as he did not
have direct responses to the question I had first addressed to Hinman, and I
could detect that I would have to ferret out the answer for myself by
learning first what Social Credit was about (or at least his concept of it).
I did not press him on any points because he was obviously in declining
health and a much diminished presence from the MP for Lethbridge who I had
witnessed at political campaign speeches in the '50s. I learned some years
later that he had died not long after our encounter. By that time I had
made a stab at trying to understand what he was saying in his own book, with
the assistance of a newly minted Friedman fanatic, but gave it up since we
both had more urgent affairs.
So, the bundle of books and pamphlets gathered dust on my shelves for 35
years while I waited for the "right" time to get into it--or to pass it over
to an appropriate archive. The Glenbow Foundation in Calgary does have a
Blackmore archive, but its collection appears to be quite a bit smaller than
the one in my possession. It does, however, include the Crate Larkin book
"From Debt to Prosperity" which inspired Louis Even. Having now read that
one, thanks to Wally, I can affirm that both it and the Colbourne exposition
in my Blackmore bundle are consistent with all that I have encountered so
far in
reprints and expositions of Douglas orthodoxy through this forum. And they
are impressive expositions.
In persuading Wm. Krehm to publish the list (he was reluctant to give it so
much space) I had hoped that there might be some readers old enough to
remember some of the items and to reflect on their significance as turning
points or missed opportunities. In particular, the items from the London
Chamber of Commerce and other UK sources.
As for the Alaska Permanent Fund, Martin Hattersley's account this morning
of the acknowledged influence by Alaskans of Alberta ministers in the late
years of the Manning government seems to suggest that there was a deeper
imprint of some Douglas ideas than the usual dismissive remarks about its
"name only" status.
Keith Wilde
----- Original Message -----
From: "William B. Ryan" <w_b_ryan@yahoo.com>
To: <socialcredit@elistas.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 7:48 AM
Subject: Re: [socialcredit] Alaska dividend
> Keith, at the link, the only name you've associated
> with "The Reading List of an Economic Radical" is John
> H. Blackmore, as I can see.
> http://www.comer.org/2005/2005a/ecrad.htm
>
> Please explain the connection to Hinman.
> -
>
> I have remarked regarding your article previously to
> this list, on more than one occasion, I think.
>
> Wasn't Blackmore the first federal Social Credit
> leader from Alberta, holding that important office for
> several years? The book collection he handed to you
> contains not a single piece by Douglas; mostly it's
> typical greenbacker/monetary reform stuff containing
> the usual gibberish.
>
> So here we have evidence that, from the very
> beginning, there was paltry little Social Credit in
> the Social Credit Party.
> -
>
> The Alaska and Alberta programs were several years in
> the making. By 1972 the Social Credit Party was out
> of office; the program was inherited reluctantly by
> the Party that defeated Social Credit. In Alaska the
> idea was taken up by Republicans but with broad appeal
> across the political spectrum. But in Alberta Social
> Credit was discredited in the normal course of
> politics.
>
> The experience may demonstrate the downside of turning
> what should be a broadly appealing social concept into
> something identified specifically with a particular
> political party, with all the baggage that entails.
>
> The nineteenth century Populists were smarter than
> that. Their plank of "free coinage of silver" was
> adopted by significant caucuses of Democrats and
> Republicans, and nearly carried the day.
> -
>
> I've seen the anecdote about Manning, and it's
> believable, knowing he was the fundamentalist that he
> was. What evidence do we have he actually said it?
>
>
>
> --- Keith Wilde <nschwartz@cogeco.ca> wrote:
>
> Interesting. I thought I had seen mention of Hinman's
> connection to the Alaska fund before, but I obviously
> missed the exchange you have reproduced below, from
> January.
>
> So Hinman had more influence on Alaska legislators
> than he did on his own colleagues in Alberta. Is that
> because of a deeper degree of conviction on principle?
> Was he less inclined than Manning, e.g., to believe
> that a perpetual endowment was "too good for sinners",
> as Wally has suggested recently?
>
> Incidentally, it was Hinman who led me to the
> literature I have listed and annotated as "The Reading
> List of an Economic Radical", which is current at the
> COMER site. I am a bit surprised that no one on this
> list has commented on it.
>
> Keith Wilde
>
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