Somist Institute
The Somist Institute is an organization based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, that promotes the collectivist social philosophy of its founder and president, Carmine Gorga, that it calls “Somism.”
Contents
Background
The Somist Institute is an organization based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The organization’s website claims that Carmine Gorga coined the term “Somism” in the 1960s in order to encapsulate a collectivist social philosophy he had formed in reaction to his reading of John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money after he had concluded that, economically, “Saving” consists of “all nonproductive wealth” and that consequently it is generally sensible to substitute the concept with that of “Hoarding.” 1 2
Somism
Somism is a collectivist philosophy that places men and women “in the social context,” particularly in their capacity as “social animals” as opposed to “automatons” who live totally independent lives. According to Gorga, Somism, “discovers” using “modern neuroscience” that men and women want to be socially involved from the moment of birth. To that end, Gorga has coined two further terms to describe veins of thought related to Somism (which like the latter are promoted on the website of the Somist Institute): Concordianism, which applies the lens of Somism to political relations, “purifies” both capitalism and socialism, and “asserts itself” as the means by which relations will be understood and organized in the future; and Relationalism, which “picks up the pieces” of the world that have, Gorga claims, been negatively affected by rationalist social theories, and “constructs” a new order in which everything is “dynamically” and “harmoniously” brought into a state of interrelation. 2
In an article outlining his vision of Somism, Gorga, advocates for the creation of national “Departments of Peace” and “SWAT Teams for Peace” (alternatively called “Circles of Love”), that would use various means to ameliorate conditions of polarization and enmity in and between given communities. 3
Policy Proposals
On December 3, 2015, The Somist Institute sent a document, “Two Proposals in the Form of Two Petitions Designed to Stabilize the Monetary System” authored by Carmine Gorga to the Federal Reserve defending two petitions Gorga had posted on MoveOn.org. The first, to restructure the Federal Reserve to issue loans solely to “create real wealth,” for instance tables, chairs, and professional services, loans made “at cost,” and loans that would “benefit everyone”; and the second, to institute “The Jubilee Solution” which would, Gorga argues, gradually reduce all debt in the United States to zero over a period of seven years. 4 5 6
In the course of the document, a copy of which is published on the Somist Institute’s website, Gorga makes many arguments appealing, for instance, to concepts of sovereignty, virtue, personal dignity, economic security, and love. Additionally, in an appendix to the document he includes links to a variety of supporting essays, with titles such as “Those Lazy Workers Who Are Gaming The System,” “How To Win The Affections Of MAGA People,” and “Rebuild The Downtown Through Racial Harmony.” To that end, toward the end of the document, while outlining the identities of potential supporters of his suggested policies, Gorga notes that the Jewish community “may be expected” to lend their support to his proposal and that likewise Christians of every denomination “should not fall that far behind.” 6
People
The website of the Somist Institute’s “about us” page lists five members of its board directors, one of which it notes with an asterisk is deceased. The only other person listed is the organization’s founder and president, Carmine Gorga. 7