Will the Real Subsdiarity Please Stand Up?

*italics are mine and only used for emphasis*

One difficulty facing those who take a borderline libertarian view of subsidiarity is that doing so fails to take into into account what encyclicals have said concerning the state, its proper role and functions, and particularly its rightful involvement in the market. This, as I have contended elsewhere, results in allowing the distributist tail to wag the CST dog.

It is my hope, then, to herein demonstrate what I believe to be a more accurate understanding of subsidiarity and how it should function alongside the powers and responsibilities belonging to various spheres of authority within the political economy, be it the individual, the family, the workforce, the church, or even local, regional, state, national, or international civil authorities.

Let me demonstrate what I mean.

We would do well to first consider the role of what the Magisterium has said concerning the State. For sake of time and space, as well as the fact that this particular encyclical is an excellent source for material pertaining to this matter, I will focus most all of my attention on the papal letter Mater et Magistra. I will also add a few tid-bits from the CCC and its Compendium, both of which substantiate and further clarify those issues dealt with by the popes in their universal letters.

Pope John XXIII was no foe of the state. As with Pope Leo XIII and all those pontiffs before and after him, he saw the state as being a authority deriving its power from God. He believed its existence to be most natural in the order of men. And as we will see, he believed the role and function of the state to be much more broad than many of the libertarian-leaning distributists.

Read Mater et Magistra, and search out those portions I will reference here. See what the pontiff says of the State. Consider whether or not this view of the state is in harmony with the position advocated by those whose definition of subsidiarity would make the State an almost non-existent entity.

Take for example #20-21. Here we are told that the State “whole raison d’etre” is the realization of the common good in the temporal order. Echoing the Leonine theme of the Church’s insistance that the State take special, and even preferential treatment of the poor and working class, he praises “labor laws” regarding environmental conditions of laborers, child labor laws, and anything harmful to their material and spiritual interests.

Number 44 requires the state to intervene on occasions where individuals cannot work out matters concerning the division and distribution of work.

Number 60 makes explicit the responsibility of the civil government in areas of healthcare, education, career opportunities, and even the rehabilitation of those who are physically and mentally handicapped.

We find in 74 the civil authorities responsibility to “secure without interruption” the material conditions in which the citizens of the nation may fully develop. Number 79 goes further, indicating that the state is to be vigilant over and within the economy, assuring that work will be maximized amongst the citizenry, that privileged classes would not be permitted to rise up, that there would be an equilibrium amongst wages and the price of goods, that both goods and services would be accessible to the greatest number, and that the three branches of the economy (i.e. agriculture, industry, and service) would be regulated in such a manner as to ensure that they will grow together rather than for any of them to be absorbed with the dominance of any other. To top it off, the civil government was to have the authority necessary to direct the current contract system that divides capitalists from wage-earners to one resembling a partnership.

We could also deal with #s 104 (regulating Big Business so as to operate in a manner promoting the common good over against special interests), 115 (putting in place an economic system wherein the distribution of wealth, land, houses, tools and equipment used by various industries, and shares in medium and large business concerns would all be maximized), 116 (granting to the state various activities that “carry with them power too great” to be left to lower orders), 88 and 127 (dealing with state involvement in ventures such as roads, transportation, communication, drinking water, housing, healthcare and service providers, technical and professional education, religious and recreational facilities, and subsidies for family farms), 150-151 (demanding vigilant care as to the further elimination of economic and social inequalities and imbalances, the supply of labor, drif of population, wages, taxes, credit, investment, and the promotion of useful employment, enterprising initiative, and hte exploitation of local resources), and 168 (the redistribution of riches amongst all within the community and working towards ensuring that agriculture, service, and industry progress evenly and simultaneously). The list goes on an on.

For anyone to walk away from even this one encyclical with the idea that it proposes the kind of “lowest rung possible” subsidiarity regarding virtually every economic activity under the sun would be a sure indicator that they either didn’t really read the encyclical or they have a terrible case of selective memory.

But what of those places that deal with subsidiarity? We have discussed at some length the role and proper functions of the state, but what then are we to make of this principle of subsidiarity? Well, let’s go back to Mater et Magistra for a moment.

Number 53 within Mater et Magistra sounds much like the version of subsidiarity commonly promoted by those harboring a general distrust (or disdain) for civil government. But it would be injurious to tear it from its surrounding context. For number 53 is surrounded by affirmations that make absurd the notion that the pope(s) have promoted this “lowest rung possible in any and all situations” subsidiarity. Looking at #52, we see Pope John XXIII explicitly stating that “the civil power must also have a hand in the economy.” And this intervention is not merely an afterthought, or functioning as a clean-up watchman waiting for an otherwise private market to make a mistake. No, it is to “promote production” in a way that is “calculated” and has as its aim “social progress and the well-being of all citizens.” Remember, this is what immediately precedes the popes take on subsidiarity.

Following #53 we see the pope go right back into promoting state intervention and direction of the economy. In #54 he affirms the state’s obligation to minimize imbalances amongst various sectors within the economy, to implement policies that do not pit one people, region, or nation against another, and to erect safeguards against mass unemployment and fluctuations within the economy. Again, this follows on the heels of the section dealing with subsidiarity.

The pope further deals with subsidiarity in #117, but he presupposes what had already been established by other popes regarding the various spheres of authority within the political economy as well as the rights and responsibilities belonging to each. The civil government (as with the individual, family, the marketplace, and the church) had been assigned various functions. These were always to be kept in view when talking of subsidiarity, as it would be just as wrong for a lower sphere to take upon itself what rightfully belongs to a higher sphere as it would for the higher sphere to deprive or absorb those responsibilities properly acknowledged as belonging to a lower sphere. While libertarians may tend to see only a higher sphere absorbing a lower sphere as a form of aggression, the traditionalist and encyclical enthusiast would do well to see it as a two-way street.

While one could possibly construct a way that a specific function assigned to a particular sphere may be done by another sphere, be it replacing the function of the individual or family with the state or vice versa, this would not constitute subsidiarity. Rather, it would be for one sphere to break ranks, absorbing what does not belong to it. In short, even subsidiarity works in a manner that accepts the rightful authority and functions of other spheres within the political economy, be they higher or lower, belonging to the state or the individual.

Let us just for a moment take a peak at the encyclical known as Quadragesimo Anno. It is here where we find the birthplace of subsidiarity in Catholic Social Teaching. Yet even here we see civil and church authorities granting special care for the poor and weak in society (#25), the praise of labor laws (#28), the redistribution of wealth for the common good (#57), requiring the state to work towards establishing an “ownership society” (#82-83), the condemnation of laissez faire (#88 and #109), and even demanding that the state take hold of the reigns of the “free market” in order to direct it towards the common good (#110).

None of this sounds unfamiliar to those holding a position concerning subsidiarity and the state detailed ever so consistently in the papal letters. But it would sound awfully strange to those granting to subsidiarity a function and reach it was never meant to have, nor ever recognized by our most highly esteemed Roman Pontiffs as ever having in the first place.

Before bringing this entry to an end, I believe it would do us well to look at what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) and Compendium have to say regarding the definition of subsidiarity. I believe that these two sources, and the definition they provide the Catholic, vindicate the premise of this entry, as well as the arguments used to substantiate it.

CCC 1883: Subsidiarity: according to which “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view of a the common good.”

Compendium: 403: Subsidiarity: “The principle of subsidiarity states that a community of higher order should not assume the task belonging to a community of a lower order and deprive it of its authority. It should rather support it in case of need.”

Notice that both the CCC and Compendium make it very clear that subsidiarity does not mean that if one were to concoct a means by which a lower order could perform a task as good (or even better) than the order to which the function belongs, then it should absorb that function. Not at all!

In conclusion, each order, each sphere within society, is given various tasks it must or ought to perform. Sometimes these are clear-cut. Sometimes they overlap. Sometimes we are left with a great deal of gray. But subsidiarity must not be understood as some libertarian wishbone. Instead, it is restricted to the overlapping areas and those gray regions. Unfortunately for the libertarian-leaning distributist, this turns out being more of a bust than a boom, as so many of their policy proposals stand or fall on an accurate understaning of subsidiarity.

9 comments:

Chris Campbell Friday, August 28, 2009 at 10:45:00 AM CDT  

"it is restricted to the overlapping areas and those gray regions"

I think that is the hard thing to wrap ones mind around, in practice, where those gray areas are and how to avoid overlapping and also, how to avoid the 2 way street being turned into a pne way headache or eventual stand-still parking lot....thanks paleo for a good article! Like your sites BTW....if you are in Minnesota 9/19, will look you up, know it is not too far from you(Closer than me in NC!)

Chris Campbell Friday, August 28, 2009 at 10:45:00 AM CDT  

sorry, curse my poortyping skills, should have read "turned into a one way...."

John Médaille Friday, August 28, 2009 at 11:52:00 AM CDT  

Thank you, Paleocrat. This is a point often overlooked.

Donald Goodman Friday, August 28, 2009 at 1:52:00 PM CDT  

+AMDG

Indeed. Society is made up of many subsidiary corporations, each of which has a proper function, and subsidiarity requires that no sphere usurp the functions of another. The state exists to ensure that all these subsidiary corporations perform their functions properly for the sake of the common good.

Praise be to Christ the King!

Theodosius Friday, August 28, 2009 at 9:12:00 PM CDT  

" But he said to them: Give you them to eat." Luke 9:13

Hi, Paleocrat.

I was very interested in and commented on your last video.I have been enjoying your commentary.
I think you are a bright young man with a great future.
I want to say that I support government in its proper function. I am a Papist to the hilt, and a convert. I believe, support and live the culture of life(and not without rebuke from the contraceptive crowd). Having said that, I want to say that I trust government less than I trust the Church. It would be nice if we still had the English monasteries intact, if the Catholic system of Charity was still in place (a reference to Belloc). However, the government today is run often by people, who, like "Cardinal Pelosi" presume to speak on behalf on the Church- incorrectly.If we want the peasantry that Chesterton and Dear Pope Leo envisioned, we should consider that government should become as small and local as possible. Decentralization is beuatiful. Authority is good, but it is not good when Wrong. I do not want the Culture of Death controlling my healthcare, for example, -especially when I'm old and my "quality of life isn't what it should be", or the govenment decides it is "irresponsible" for my wife to have more than 1 or 2 children (Don't worry, we have funds for ...that). I do not think that it is reasonable to suggest that somehow, at least in this century, that we will elect a pro-life True Catholic majority in this country that can make our dream of Chestertonia happen. I don't see it happening. However, with current technology, I do see a way we can affect the way we buy and consume. I see a way to avoid supporting your local "Buy-N-Large". I see a way we can support those who support The Church. I think with current gps technology, we can end gerrymandering forever by voting on purely geographical lines. I see how we can use local currency.
I do not forsee bringing back the Monarchy in my lifetime. But I have a vision of what can be if people work together and use the tools they have. And there are so many tools available now.
I like growing my own tomatoes. I fear that someday in a more Centralized society, the local "Good-Old-Boy" politician will decide that the Tomato Lobby is paying well enough to outlaw or over-regulate my production of tomatoes enough to make me give up my stakes and hoe and buy them at Walmart (I might rather starve my self in protest). If the guy that killed my tomato crop is in Washington, it is much harder to complain than the guy down the street, who might encounter some of my over-ripened varieties at the local town hall meeting. Dude, Subsidiarity Rocks. So does Decentralization. But as a true Chesterbellocian, I am preaching to the choir.

P.S. I am with you, Paleocrat, Ayn Rand is an Architect of the Culture of Death. I could never be Libertarian and Catholic. It is hardest to be Catholic in a country run by Economic Darwinists.
Jesus said charity is for his disciples to give- the loaves and fishes did not go to Romans first before the people. The problem is first and foremost with us. We,as fellow Catholics and Christians have outsourced the work of God and made it the province of the state, the way your not-so-friendly-Walopoly has outsourced slavery overseas (and even wages to the State).

Your Friend

Thodosius Myron

Theodosius Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 12:34:00 AM CDT  

Hi, Paleocrat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTmac2fs5HQ

Another reason not to be Libertarian, or at least not Objectivist.

:-)

Marchmaine,  Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 9:13:00 AM CDT  

If only there were truly fights about Subsidiarity; alas I don't think there are.

Your article prominently cites proposition #52 (that the Civil Power has duties in the economy) as a caveat to the "traditional" definition of subsidiarity in #53... and you exhort the reader not to rip #53 out of the context of #52.

However, Prop #52 is pre-qualified by Prop #51, which I do not find cited in your article:

51. It should be stated at the outset that in the economic order first place must be given to the personal initiative of private citizens working either as individuals or in association with each other in various ways for the furtherance of common interests.

I don't know who these Distributist Libertarians are who so bother you, but when the Pope's encyclical you cite states that the first place must be given to private citizens and associations it strikes me that the "first rung" theory has some legs that you fail to under-cut.

If some are over-emphasizing the first rung of the subsidiarity argument it is because there are currently no rungs of subsidiarity at all.

With a highly centralized and activist state being the dominant world-wide political arrangement, carving out space for some sort of hypothetically beleaguered civil authority hardly seems useful distributist activism on behalf of any form of Subsidiarity.

afitz211,  Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 9:48:00 AM CDT  

In terms of arguing for subsidiarity, I am going to say that I agree with the general premise of this article. Subsidiarity is something which needs to let the proper level of organization handle certain tasks. (e.g. your discussion of how families cannot handle all of education based on limited understanding of certain subjects.) However, the critiques of the libertarian-leaning distributist position have problems when applied to practical matters.
The references you cite in Mater et Magistra are good references; however, as we have seen in recent events in this country, state governments do not look out for the common good. Our government has been absorbing power with the auto and bank buyouts by adding private corporations to their payroll (I believe this is how scholars use the term fascism, state control of private corporations in the economy.) So if people cannot trust the government to handle affairs in a manner which seeks the common good (which I'll be honest I'm having trouble seeing where the modern nation-state is really fighting for the common good.) then there needs to be another option.
As Caritas in Veritate points out so well, personal conversion is the first step to making a truly charitable society. Personal conversion empowers people to make a better society, and when those people have stepped into the forefront, then their example will empower others to step up as well. (This is being seen with the Libertarian-leaning Republican candidates for Congress and Senate who are presenting themselves for nomination in 2010.)
In general, my theory would be that until we can get a government system where it is accountable and will provide for the common good, then we need to minimize the damage said government can do for the sake of the common good. To do anything less would be unjust to the people who suffer because of how government is expanding itself into our lives. (the laundry list could go on but I'll stop for now for sake of charity and the length of my post.)

Peace,
afitz211

Westcountryman Friday, September 11, 2009 at 12:24:00 AM CDT  

I think you reiterate the obvious point that subsidiarity relies on finding the correct sphere for an activity and this is not always the lowest level. However I cannot see the point in the principle if it does contain some sort of emphasis on the idea that we feel a lot of these can be done at a relatively low level, otherwise just about anyone could claim to believe in it.

Post a Comment

  © Blogger template Werd by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009

Back to TOP