Finding the Happy Medium

For John, BLUF:  We should avoid going to extremes as we navigate this life toward Salvation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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WHY WE NEED A DISTRIBUTION OF POWER

From The Pilot, by Bishop Robert Barron, 6 January 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

A crucially important feature of Catholic social teaching, but one frequently underemphasized or misunderstood, is a clear animus against the concentration of power within a society.  This perilous agglomeration can happen economically, politically, or culturally.  By a basic and healthy instinct, Catholic social teaching wants power, as much as possible, distributed widely throughout the community, so that one small segment does not tyrannize the majority or prevent large numbers of people from enjoying the benefits that are theirs by right.

We can see this phenomenon perhaps most clearly in the economic order.  If one organization manages to monopolize its segment of the economy, it can set prices arbitrarily, hire and fire according to its whim, preclude any competition that might provide better products and/or higher wages for employees, etc.  One thinks here of the "trust-busting" work of Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century and the similar concern today for breaking up Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other high-tech conglomerates that exercise an almost unchallenged dominance in their field.  A cornerstone of Catholic social teaching is what is traditionally called "distributive justice" -- which is to say, the equitable allocation of goods within a society.  Now this can take place through direct government intervention, for example through anti-trust legislation, minimum wage requirements, programs to aid the poor, taxation, etc., but it can also happen, more indirectly, through the natural rhythms of the market.  In "Centesimus Annus," John Paul II observes that profit-making itself can and should signal to prospective entrepreneurs that there is money to be made in that segment of the economy and that they should, accordingly, get involved.  The bottom line is this: spreading out wealth within a society tends to make an economy both more just and more efficient.

We can furthermore see this dynamic in the political realm.  If one party comes to dominate a nation, a state, a city, or a community, corruption almost inevitably follows.  Unchallenged, the ruling conglomerate can impose its will, compel the acceptance of its vision, and eliminate prospective opponents and critics.  It is quite obvious that this sort of arrangement obtains in banana republics, communist dictatorships, and oppressive theocracies, but it is also apparent, to a lesser degree, in local and state governments in our own country.   If you doubt me, ask yourself why pro-life candidates in Illinois, Massachusetts, or California could never hope to be elected to office.  When a political monopoly couples itself with economic power, the corruption becomes only deeper and more intractable.  Once again, according to Catholic social teaching, the desideratum is the breaking up and spreading out of power throughout the society.  This could happen in a number of ways:  equipping a variety of parties, providing for a greater turnover within legislatures, lifting up various expressions of local government, allowing for mediating institutions, strengthening the system of checks and balances, etc.

Then there is the cultural arena.

It is easy to let some political stance become an idol, to take the place of God Himself.  We should avoid that, taking the moderate way.

Regards  —  Cliff