Greens and Vegans Should Consider Adopting Georgism

 "All that is necessary is Land and Liberty", said the economist Henry George in his magnum opus, Progress and Poverty. George realized a growth in inequality despite the massive growth in technology and productivity during the 19th century. George argued that societal gains in infrastructure, productivity, and wealth, become built into the value of Land. This creates an effect where landlords are able to charge exorbitant prices for access to the land they own, without having taken unto themselves any cost of production. This process of extracting "economic rent" significantly heightens inequality, as landlords benefit from society's production, while the productive forces of Labor and Capital are over-regulated and bear all of the tax burden. 

George's proposition to alleviate this effect was a tax on the unimproved value of Land. So if a land owner's property goes up in market value due to rezoning or infrastructure development, that value is collected as a tax, and does not remain in the pockets of the landowner as windfall gain (unearned income). This effectively would keep the value of Land in the public sector; a form of common ownership, so long as the value collected is put to public use.

So how does this relate to Veganism?

Land is the ultimate source of value, provided there is Labor to create it. In fact, the current value of Land in the United States is greater than the entire Gross Domestic Product. A recent survey put the value of Land in excess of 23 trillion dollars. This value can be in the form of whatever Labor is employed to create. Currently, this is how Land is utilized:

That's right, the largest demographic of Land is for livestock. Then if you combine the segments of Land being used for monoculture farming for livestock feed, soy, corn syrup, and ethanol production, roughly a third of the Land of this country is being utilized for environmentally and economically destructive purposes.

Such gross misuse of Land is only made possible by the fact that agriculture in the US is built on maximal use of Land through maximally inefficient means. Farmers have to employ as much of their usable land as possible utilizing subsidized cash crops like corn and soy. They are also forced to hire as little, and pay as little as possible to Labor, while employing as little capital as possible into things like property improvements and machinery.

The beef and dairy industry use even more Land due to the extreme spacial needs livestock creates. Not only do they dominate Land use, but they are subsidized to do it, to the tune of nearly $40 billion a year. Comparatively, plant farming for human consumption (not soy and corn) receives less than $20 million.

Green and Vegan politics demand intensive, efficient use of Land, with a key focus on soil and environmental conservation. Our current economic structure creates the exact opposite effect.

Why?

The rentier landlord class' domination of land ownership and the politics of Land.  There is no penalty for the livestock industry's massive land claim or the pollution it creates. There is also only incentive for farmers to inefficiently use their land through cash cropping. This is why I argue that a Georgist approach to Green and Vegan politics could be the most effective one.

A Land Value Tax (LVT) could create the economic environment in which the livestock industry is incapable of using such gross amounts of land for a cruel, polluting practice. This would make plant based alternatives significantly cheaper, purely through market forces. They already need massive subsidies simply to be profitable. A tax on the amount of Land they use could break them, and open of the use of that Land for much more important needs of society.

Farmers would no longer be enthralled to cash cropping, or forced to sell their Land to corporate agribusiness. The incentive would lie with intensive use of Land for crops intended for human consumption. Farmers would be taxed for the Land that they use, not on the Labor they employ or the capital expenditures that they make, or even the product they sell. Land put out of use for conservation measures would not be taxed, allowing farmers to properly take care of their Land.

Here is a short video by Frank de Jong, a Canadian environmentalist, making this case: Land Value Taxation and Agriculture

Imagine an economy where groups of young farmers can acquire land with no upfront cost and mortgage, to produce local crops with the purpose of human consumption. Such a reality could be possible with the adoption of Georgist economic policy into Green and Vegan politics.

Currently, due to inflated land values create by untaxed economic rent, Land acquisition is simply an impossibility for the vast majority of people. We should all be given access to Land, with the purpose of bettering ourselves and society. "All that is necessary is Land and Liberty". Land is freedom and power for the people who own it. We should make our economics about the economics of Land, for the purpose of human betterment.

This provides an alternative means for marketing these politics to those who are unresponsive to current methods. Yes the livestock industry is viciously cruel, but many people prefer to simply separate themselves from such thoughts. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful effect, and people naturally are defensive of their status quo beliefs when faced with such a shock as is educating them of that cruelty. I personally know this, because I am guilty of it. I personally am more convinced by pragmatic reasoning rather than shame. I recently began transitioning my diet towards Veganism due to an amalgamation of reasons, including cruelty, but cruelty alone didn't convince me enough to do it. Such a change is a very major personal decision that has effects beyond the simple change in foods one eats. People like myself often will need more than just one reason, and by appealing to a different sensibility, it can happen.

The economics of Land should be just as important to Veganism as is cruelty to animals. The added support Georgism could provide will only aid the cause, and possibly induce greater change. Change for animals, for the environment, the economy, and for the human species. "All that is necessary is Land and Liberty." I particularly love that quote, and would like to end this appeal with the full context from Henry George:

"The ideal of socialism is grand and noble. I am convinced it is possible to achieve. But such a state of society cannot be manufactured — it must grow. Society is an organism, not a machine. It can live only by the individual life of its parts. In the free and natural development of all its parts, the harmony of the whole will be secured. All that is necessary is Land and Liberty."


Thank you for reading