I think America has too many people in it.
No, this isn’t an anti-immigration screed; it’s a commentary on the inability of a political community of 313 million individuals to engage in limited self-government without the limiting principle of subsidiarity. The government shutdown is a symptom of the American abandonment of the robust federalism that was initially embedded in our Constitution. I contend that the acrimonious debates in Congress are the fruit of a political community that is too big, where the citizenry is no longer united by the common bonds that should naturally arise within a healthy polis.
The Ugly Mess
Our current governmental shutdown is the result of a Constitution that is essentially broken. It is an unfit tool for managing this particular country.
The Constitution worked when it was originally written because it could actually maintain the federalism that the framers of the Constitution desired. Thus, the small, largely local/regional governments of the states had much more power than the federal government, which chiefly served to provide for the military and to regulate commerce between the states.
In limiting the power of the federal government this way, the American Constitution (whatever its shortcomings) was a model of subsidiarity. This principle, elaborated upon in every social encyclical from Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno onward, holds that the social needs of a community should be provided for firstly through private activity (principally through the Church), and then through political solutions starting from the smallest and most localized governmental entities outwards. In holding to this principle, societal ills tend to be alleviated more often by individuals who are most closely involved, knowledgeable, and concerned.
Smaller and more localized political communities also deal with social issues that the individual citizen can understand more readily, allowing him to participate in the political community more effectively. There’s a reason why direct democracy works in small New England hamlets but would not work in New York City.
The wisdom of subsidiarity has its roots in ancient political theory. Aristotle in his Politics discusses the bonds that unite the individual members of the polis in its common activity of promoting a virtuous society. The citizens of the polis are bound by ties of affection that arise from shared cultural beliefs and communal interests. The bonds arising from our interactions with our fellow citizens are natural. Citizens of similar cultural, political, regional, and even religious origins will have more concern for one another’s well-being than, say, someone from Alabama would have for someone in San Francisco.
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Read more: ethikapolitika.org
No, this isn’t an anti-immigration screed; it’s a commentary on the inability of a political community of 313 million individuals to engage in limited self-government without the limiting principle of subsidiarity. The government shutdown is a symptom of the American abandonment of the robust federalism that was initially embedded in our Constitution. I contend that the acrimonious debates in Congress are the fruit of a political community that is too big, where the citizenry is no longer united by the common bonds that should naturally arise within a healthy polis.
The Ugly Mess
Our current governmental shutdown is the result of a Constitution that is essentially broken. It is an unfit tool for managing this particular country.
The Constitution worked when it was originally written because it could actually maintain the federalism that the framers of the Constitution desired. Thus, the small, largely local/regional governments of the states had much more power than the federal government, which chiefly served to provide for the military and to regulate commerce between the states.
In limiting the power of the federal government this way, the American Constitution (whatever its shortcomings) was a model of subsidiarity. This principle, elaborated upon in every social encyclical from Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno onward, holds that the social needs of a community should be provided for firstly through private activity (principally through the Church), and then through political solutions starting from the smallest and most localized governmental entities outwards. In holding to this principle, societal ills tend to be alleviated more often by individuals who are most closely involved, knowledgeable, and concerned.
Smaller and more localized political communities also deal with social issues that the individual citizen can understand more readily, allowing him to participate in the political community more effectively. There’s a reason why direct democracy works in small New England hamlets but would not work in New York City.
The wisdom of subsidiarity has its roots in ancient political theory. Aristotle in his Politics discusses the bonds that unite the individual members of the polis in its common activity of promoting a virtuous society. The citizens of the polis are bound by ties of affection that arise from shared cultural beliefs and communal interests. The bonds arising from our interactions with our fellow citizens are natural. Citizens of similar cultural, political, regional, and even religious origins will have more concern for one another’s well-being than, say, someone from Alabama would have for someone in San Francisco.
.........................
Read more: ethikapolitika.org
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