— Ellen Duffy Naylor, Notre Dame Class of 1977
"I knew Ireland wasn't finished. Well done!"
— James H., writer, Ireland ("Friends of Ireland" LinkedIn group)
"William Thornton's A Plea for Peasant Proprietors is an insightful analysis of a difficult problem: how to stimulate economic growth without violating natural rights to life, liberty or property. His solution to the Great Hunger in Ireland in the 19th century is equally applicable to the global economic downturn of the 21st."
— Fr. Matthew Habiger OSB PhD
"This is yet another excellent book published by CESJ. Its author, Englishman William Thornton, saw the evidence in 19th century Britain, as did American political economist Louis Kelso in the 1950’s and 60’s. Thornton proposed a simple solution to poverty and even famine in Ireland, namely: turn Irish farmers into ‘peasant proprietors’. Once they own the land, they will find ways to effectively look after themselves. It was a simple and effective plan. CESJ is proposing a similar plan for solving 21st century poverty following in the footsteps of both Thornton and Kelso, namely: turn property-less industrial workers into capital owners, i.e. co-shareholders in corporate America. CESJ’s plan is complete. It can be implemented today. It is known as Capital Homesteading. It works like this: The Fed loans every citizen annually enough money to buy shares in American companies. This way everybody gradually acquires a ‘capital homestead’ or a portion of corporate America. The shares will yield dividend, which can be used to pay back the annual loans. Once the shares have been fully paid, they will yield a second income which will effectively reduce poverty, turning the USA again into an ‘affluent society’. The re-publication of Thornton’s book is very timely as more and more people are awakening to the fact that there is something fundamentally wrong with our economy. There is. It behooves everybody to find out what. Thornton and Kelso nailed it. Here the reader will find the ideas that provide the basis of a sustainable economic recovery throughout the world."
— Michiel Bijkerk LL.M., Dutch Caribbean
"I find William Thornton's proposal for making the people of Ireland owners of the land they tilled consistent both with sound moral philosophy and Catholic social teaching, especially the doctrine of Leo XIII and Pius XI. Capital Homesteading holds great promise as a way of applying them to a world that needs a sound economic and ethical framework within which to work for a lasting solution to the present global crisis."
— Rev. Edward Krause, C.S.C., Ph.D., Professor of Social Ethics, Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania
