CESJ's global membership shares a common set of moral values and works together toward a common purpose, transforming good ideas into effective action.

Building upon the ideals of the American Revolution--which was really a "New World" revolution to spread political democracy globally--CESJ focuses on extending economic empowerment to all. Going beyond the mere rhetoric of empowerment, CESJ has developed a common-sense, comprehensive plan--the Capital Homestead Act--to liberate every person economically. To build equity with efficiency at the workplace, CESJ has developed a management system for corporations of the 21st Century known as "Justice-Based Management."

CESJ's macro- and micro-economic concepts and applications are derived from the economic theories and principles of economic justice developed by the late lawyer-economist Louis Kelso and the Aristotelian philosopher Mortimer Adler. Combined with the ideas of Social Justice developed by Pius XI and refined by one of CESJ's founders, the late philosopher Rev. William Ferree, these ideas offer a new paradigm for the world of the 21st Century. We call this new paradigm--which transcends the power- and ownership-concentrating wage systems of traditional capitalism and traditional socialism--"the Just Third Way."

CESJ is proud to be part of the growing, international employee stock ownership community. Our members are pioneers of the employee stock ownership plan, having been instrumental in developing and promoting the first ESOP laws long before there was an "ESOP movement." CESJ's founders were close associates and students of ESOP inventor Louis Kelso, working to introduce his ideas on Capitol Hill, in the business community, the labor movement, academia, and the media.

However, CESJ goes beyond promoting "employee ownership" in several ways:

1) Unlike other employee ownership advocacy groups, CESJ promotes a particular philosophy of political economy. We base our concepts and practical applications on Louis Kelso's binary theory of economics and on the Kelso-Adler theory of economic justice.

2) CESJ emphasizes the importance of restructuring basic economic institutions--such as the Federal Reserve System and other central banks around the world, as well as the overall tax system--so that they promote the goal of widespread economic empowerment.

3) CESJ has developed programs to universalize individual access to ownership using specific mechanisms tailored to different groups beyond corporate employees--such as residents in a development area, customers of a large utility company, and all individuals in a society.

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Creating an asset-backed currency for non-inflationary growth linked to broadened ownership opportunities.

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Broadening access to capital credit through two-tier discounting of local bank credit by central banks, such as the Federal Reserve System.

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Simplifying the tax system to discourage government deficits and to accelerate private-sector growth through expanded ownership and widespread distribution of profits.

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Advancing Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and justice-based management systems to empower workers with the rights, responsibilities, risks and rewards of employee ownership.

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Developing strategies for privatizing State-owned enterprises into professionally managed, employee-owned corporations which are capable of competing without subsidies or special protections.

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Offering a unifying third alternative to collectivism and monopolistic capitalism.

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Developing precise and workable concepts of Social Morality (as distinct from individual morality), including Social Justice, Social Charity, Economic Justice, Distributive Justice, and Participative Justice.

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Nurturing in educators a devotion to Economic and Social Justice, as an ethical framework for guiding students into work for the common good.

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Challenging new generations of youth to pursue justice and freedom within business careers and other professions.