tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post8055887135050552109..comments2023-10-25T08:46:20.242-05:00Comments on The Distributist Review: Will the Real Subsdiarity Please Stand Up?John Médaillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16463267750952578888noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-26615459910148756902009-09-11T00:24:18.906-05:002009-09-11T00:24:18.906-05:00I think you reiterate the obvious point that subsi...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.Westcountrymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14604565103836807803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-64814687716164948552009-08-30T09:48:00.924-05:002009-08-30T09:48:00.924-05:00In terms of arguing for subsidiarity, I am going t...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.<br />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.<br />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.)<br />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.)<br /><br />Peace,<br />afitz211afitz211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-40626176393318394932009-08-29T09:13:18.744-05:002009-08-29T09:13:18.744-05:00If only there were truly fights about Subsidiarity...If only there were truly fights about Subsidiarity; alas I don't think there are.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />However, Prop #52 is pre-qualified by Prop #51, which I do not find cited in your article:<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />If some are over-emphasizing the first rung of the subsidiarity argument it is because there are currently no rungs of subsidiarity at all.<br /><br />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.Marchmainenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-48540198751911349032009-08-29T00:34:33.378-05:002009-08-29T00:34:33.378-05:00Hi, Paleocrat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTm...Hi, Paleocrat:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTmac2fs5HQ<br /><br />Another reason not to be Libertarian, or at least not Objectivist. <br /><br />:-)Theodosiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03254502062848003136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-25652868060944725162009-08-28T21:12:23.007-05:002009-08-28T21:12:23.007-05:00" But he said to them: Give you them to eat.&..." But he said to them: Give you them to eat." Luke 9:13<br /><br />Hi, Paleocrat.<br /><br />I was very interested in and commented on your last video.I have been enjoying your commentary.<br />I think you are a bright young man with a great future.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br /><br />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.<br />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).<br /><br />Your Friend<br /><br />Thodosius MyronTheodosiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03254502062848003136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-7696243868229768232009-08-28T13:52:26.829-05:002009-08-28T13:52:26.829-05:00+AMDG
Indeed. Society is made up of many subsidi...+AMDG<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Praise be to Christ the King!Donald Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13039712724283289972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-51044072200540365312009-08-28T11:52:35.817-05:002009-08-28T11:52:35.817-05:00Thank you, Paleocrat. This is a point often overlo...Thank you, Paleocrat. This is a point often overlooked.John Médaillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16463267750952578888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-24258855670172765752009-08-28T10:45:50.995-05:002009-08-28T10:45:50.995-05:00sorry, curse my poortyping skills, should have rea...sorry, curse my poortyping skills, should have read "turned into a one way...."Chris Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18330217544238982513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608702.post-27461570188132639432009-08-28T10:45:08.282-05:002009-08-28T10:45:08.282-05:00"it is restricted to the overlapping areas an..."it is restricted to the overlapping areas and those gray regions"<br /><br />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 Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18330217544238982513noreply@blogger.com