A major theme is that the modern welfare state is obsolete and has become an unholy alliance between Wall Street capitalism (the "politics of greed") and various versions of socialism (the "politics of envy"). Instead of economically empowering all Americans and offering genuinely equal economic opportunity, the welfare state has radically widened the ownership and income gap between the rich and the poor and middle-class.

The Declaration notes that the U.S. economy grows incrementally by adding about $1 trillion in new plant and equipment, rentable space and infrastructure, roughly $4,000 annually per man, woman and child. Traditional methods for financing these capital assets create few if any new owners. To transcend the income redistribution ideas of the academic left and the "trickle-down" ideas of the academic right, this declaration builds upon the socioeconomic paradigm developed by the late Louis Kelso and philosopher Mortimer Adler in the 1950s.

By democratizing access to capital credit, a privilege available today to 10 million American workers whose companies have adopted "leveraged ESOPs", one of Kelso's innovations, all American families could gradually be lifted from total dependency on wages or welfare to meet their family needs.

Among the main features of the Declaration are:

• Restoration of universal and transcendent principles of economic and social justice found in all the great religions and belief systems for restructuring modern society and strengthening family life.
  
  
• Recognition of the traditional family as the essential foundation of a healthy and prosperous society.
  
  
• Recognition of the sanctity of life from the moment of conception until death.
  
  
• Subordinating the sovereignty of the state to the higher sovereignty of the human person and the family, all under the highest sovereignty of God.
  
  
• Clarification of the complementary roles of justice and charity as social virtues.
  
  
• Outlining of the elements of a new economic paradigm to support and sustain a just market economy, while guaranteeing access to the means to acquire productive property as a fundamental human right and the basis for economic democracy.
  
  
• Preserving private property as the means for widely diffusing economic and social power, and as the ultimate safeguard against abuse by centralized governmental powers or from non-accountable elitist control over advanced technologies.
  
  
• Democratization of capital credit as the key to widespread ownership and accelerated rates of non-inflationary, sustainable growth in any market economy.
  
  
• Major alteration in Federal Reserve policies to redistribute control over money creation and credit policy from Wall Street and the New York Fed to Main Street banks, by providing local banks access to the discount windows of all 12 regional Federal reserve banks for fostering faster private sector growth and widespread ownership.
  
  
• Simplification of the Federal tax system, treating all forms of income alike, deferring taxes on asset accumulations for the poor and middle-class, eliminating payroll taxes on workers and employers, abolishing all tax subsidies and loopholes, ending multiple taxation on corporate profits, and establishing a single rate of taxation on all consumption incomes above a poverty income to cover all government costs, including Social Security obligations, and to avoid budget deficits.
  
  
• The restoration of family control over the education of children, by giving maximum choice to all parents by redistributing tax dollars for public education through educational vouchers, with extra funds for providing a preferential option for the poor and children with special educational handicaps.

ENDORSEMENTS

Among the signers of the Universal Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Person Under God are:

Mr. Jeremiah A. Afuh (Chairman, Pan-African Foundation, Lincoln, NE)
Dr. Norman A. Bailey, Ph.D. (consulting international economist and former Special Assistant to President Reagan for International Economic Affairs, McLean, VA)
Antonio Betancourt (President, World Institute for Development and World Peace; Executive Director, Summit Council for World Peace, Washington, D.C.)
Mrs. Kyoko Betancourt
Brother Anthony Beyer, S.M. (Professor Emeritus of History, Chaminade University, Cupertino, CA)
Richard Biernacki (retired President and CEO, Fastener Industries, Inc. and former Chairman, The ESOP Association of America, Berea, Ohio)
Rev. Donald F. Bracht, S.M. (Retired Marianist, Cupertino, CA)
Michael Brennan (volunteer, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Rockville, MD)
Mrs. Dawn K. Brohawn (Director of Communications, Center for Economic and Social Justice, and consultant on Value-Based Management, Falls Church, VA)
Mrs. Judie Brown (President, American Life League, Inc., Stafford, VA)
David Caprara (Director of Policy, National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, Fredericksburg, VA)
Dr. Charles M. Cargille, M.D. (Asst. Prof. of Clinical Family Practice, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, LA)
N. George Carter (Deputy Ambassador-at-Large for Political & Economic Affairs, Dominion of Melchizedek, San Francisco, CA)
Rev. William Christensen, S.M. (Development Consultant, Marianist, IIRD, Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Msgr. John T. Cilinski (Pastor, Our Lady of Angels Church, Woodbridge, VA)
Lt. Col. and Mrs. Robert Ciola (US Air Force officer, Alexandria, VA)
Bro. Peter Daino, S.M. (Endwell, NY)
Patricia J., John P. and Lucindy J. Decowski and Linda K. Gooch (Woodbridge, VA)
Dr. Donald DeMarco, Ph.D. (professor of philosophy and author on Catholic moral teachings, St. Jerome's College, Ontario, Canada)
Fr. Gilio Dipre, Ph.D. (Professor of philosophy and ethics, Gannon University, Erie, PA)
Lloyd Eby (Assistant Senior Editor, World and I Magazine; faculty member, University of Maryland, Cheverly, MD)
Mr. and Mrs. William Edward Ettner (Mason Neck, VA)
Rev. Paul G. Eversole (Our Lady of Angels Church, Woodbridge, VA)
Alioune Fall (Islamic scholar, native of Senegal and former Director of Programs, International Law Institute, Washington, DC)
The Hon. Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy (Pastor, New Bethel Baptist Church, 10-term DC delegate to U.S. Congress, former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and former chairman of the House Banking Subcommittee on Monetary Affairs, Washington, D.C.)
Rev. Mr. Andrew J. Fisher (Deacon, Our Lady of Angels Church, Woodbridge, VA)
Michael Flach (Editor, Arlington Catholic Herald, Arlington, VA)
Mrs. Jean Fry (volunteer, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Arlington, VA)
Dr. Alfred Fulvio. Ph.D. (St. Louis, MO)
Mr. Peter N. Gaul (Alexandria, VA)
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin R. Geraty, (San Francisco, CA)
Geoffrey Gneuhs (artist and lecturer, former associate editor of The Catholic Worker, and former instructor in ethics at Fordham and Seton Hall Universities, New York City)
Michael D. Greaney, CPA (Director of Research, Center for Economic and Social Justice, and consultant on ESOP administration services, Falls Church, VA)
Rev. Matthew Habiger, O.S.B., Ph.D. (President, Human Life International and Counselor to Center for Economic and Social Justice, Front Royal, VA)
Gerard D. Haderlein, Esq. (attorney, Chicago, IL)
Rev. Msgr. James E. Hake (Pastor, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Salina, Kansas
Dr. Kemp Harshman, J.D., M.P.P. (President, Clarendon Foundation and former legal counsel, Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution and board member, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Arlington, VA)
Bishop Herbert Hermes, O.S.B. (Bishop of the Prelature of Christalandia, Christalandia, Brazil)
Marlene J. Hermes (Special Education Teacher, Salina, KS)
Norbert E. Hermes (Salina, KS)
Paul A. Hermes (Elementary school teacher, Kansas City, MO)
Father William Hochheim (Pastor, St. Edward's Catholic Church, Starke, FL)
Mrs. Marie Hoffman (Placentia, CA)
Mrs. Grace J. Hogan (Mason Neck, VA)
Rev. Cris Janson, S.M. (San Antonio, TX)
Daniel C. Johnson (Catholic Charities, Diocese of Salina, Salina, KS)
Rev. John J. Kelley, S.M., Ph.D. (Univ. of Dayton, retired founder, Dayton Christian Dialog, Dayton, OH)
Mr. Don Kemner (Director, Midwest Office, Philadelphia II, Chesterfield, MO)
Brother Joseph Kindel, S.M. (Retired teacher, Marianists, Cupertino, CA)
Rev. John W. Kobza, MIC (Marian Scholasticate, Washington, DC)
Rabbi Herzel Kranz (Director, Silver Spring Jewish Center and Counselor to Center for Economic and Social Justice, Silver Spring, MD)
Rev. Edward Krause, Ph.D. (professor of social ethics, Gannon University, Erie, PA)
Mrs. Marie Kurland (retired hospital administrator, Georgetown University Medical Center, Arlington, VA)
Dr. Norman G. Kurland, J.D. (President, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Arlington, VA)
LaDawn Lewis (graduate student, Brigham Young University and summer intern, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Provo, Utah)
Guido Lombardi (National Director, Lega Nord USA, New York City)
Brother E. Maximin Magran, S.M. (Marianists, Kara, Togo)
Dr. George Maloof, M.D. (Psychiatrist, San Francisco, CA)
Michael J. Marshall (Executive Director, The World & I Magazine, Silver Spring, MD)
The Hon. Robert G. Marshall (member, Virginia House of Delegates, Manassas, VA)
Mrs. Cathy Marshall
Bruce L. Mazzie (Director, PRESTO Project, Uganda, former executive director, Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice, and board member, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Kampala, Uganda)
Dr. Michael McCann, M.D. (Internal Medicine, Oakton, VA)
Brother James L. McCaffrey, S. M. (Pastoral Associate, Holy Rosary Church, San Antonio, TX)
Thomas P. McDevitt (Business Director, National Weekly Edition, The Washington Times, Fairfax, VA)
Rev. Joseph S. McDonald, S.M., Ph.D. (Marianist Library, University of Dayton, board member, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Dayton, OH)
Mrs. Marcelle McGrath (volunteer, Fort Belvoir Hospital, Woodbridge, VA)
Vincent J. McGrath (retired Army colonel, retired estate planning entrepreneur, and Director of Volunteer Programs, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Woodbridge, VA)
Rev. John H. Miller, C.S.C., S.T.D. (Editor, Social Justice Review and board member, Center for Economic and Social Justice, St. Louis, MO)
Brother Maurice W. Miller, S.M. (Retired teacher and administrator, Cupertino, CA)
Jean-Oscar Ngalamulume (leader and presidential candidate for the opposition party CIDES and Chairman, Democracy for Zaire Foundation, Democratic Republic of Congo)
Dr. Samuel Nigro, M.D. (psychiatrist, Cleveland, OH)
Michael J. O’Dea (Executive Director, Christus Medicus Foundation, Southfield, MI)
Rev. Francis J. Peffley (Our Lady of Angels Church, Woodbridge, VA)
L. Dean Price (University Architect Emeritus, Georgetown University and Co-Chairman, Equitech, Inc., and Recording Secretary, The Great Spirits Society, McLean, VA)
Dr. David C. Reardon, Ph.D. (Director, Elliot Institute, Springfield, IL)
Dr. Thomas R. Rourke, Ph.D. (professor of political science, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, PA)
Raymond M. Ruscoe (Associate for Donor Relations, Human Life International, Strasburg, VA)
Brother John M. Samaha, S.M. (Retired Educator-Marianists, Cupertino, CA
William A. Schirra, CLU (retired estate planner and board member, Center for Economic and Social Justice, Butler, PA)
Dr. Jerome Shen, M.D. (St. Louis, MO)
Thomas J. Simon, MBA (management and organizational development consultant; Special Assistant to the Chairman (the late Chief Justice Warren Burger) and Deputy Staff Director, Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution; and former Chairman of the U.S. Railway Retirement Board, Arlington, VA)
Robert R. Smith (Godfrey, IL)
Rev. Richard W. Timm, C.S.C. (Commission for Justice and Peace, Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Dr. Victor T.H. Tsuan, Ph.D. (Chairman, World Freedom Day Celebration Committee, Highland Park, NJ)
Mrs. Carolyn A. Vay (Woodbridge, VA)
Brother Robert Lee Wade, S.M. (Marianist Brothers, Cupertino, CA)
Dr. Raphael T. Waters, Ph.D. (Chairman of Scholars for Social Justice and professor of philosophy, Niagara University, Lewiston, NY)
Rev. Msgr.John George Weber, (Salina, KS)
Rev. James F. Wipfield, S.M. (Retired-Marianists, Cupertino, CA)
Rev. Virgil A. Wood (Pastor, Pond Street Baptist Church, W. Warwick, RI)
Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Wooton (Woodbridge, VA)
The Hon. Wyvetter Younge (Democratic Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Illinois House of Representatives, and a leader in the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, East St. Louis, IL)
Mrs. Kay Zibolsky (President and founder, Life After Assault League,Appleton, WI)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND COPIES OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION AND ITS CO-SIGNERS, CONTACT: Center for Economic and Social Justice, Mrs. Dawn Brohawn, Washington, D.C.: Telephone: (703) 243-5155; Fax: (703) 243-5935; E-Mail: thirdway@cesj.org; Website: http://www.cesj.org