Tag: subsidiarity
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Poll: 4 out of 5 Americans don’t trust Washington
Kansas City Star (AP): Poll: 4 out of 5 Americans don't trust Washington I thought the last two paragraphs of this article were keepers: … But Matthew Dowd, a top strategist on Bush's re-election campaign who now shuns the GOP label, says both Republicans and Democrats are missing the mark. "What the country wants is…
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The MA Election: A Rebellion Against the Leviathan?
It's now been a week since the senatorial election in Massachusetts. I've heard the pundits and their myriad reasons for Scott Brown winning. What does this election mean for Obama and the Dems as we enter the State of the Union address this evening? My favorite reflection on the election's significance was written as the…
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MEC: The Law of Good Deeds for the Common Good
Brian McLaren identifies four laws of theocapitalism in Chapter 23 of Everything Must Change. We reviewed these in an earlier post. In chapters 25 and 26, he offers what he believes is Jesus' challenge to each of theocapitalism's four laws. We will take this one at a time. Theocapitalism Law #1: The Law of Progress…
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MEC: The Suicide Machine
McLaren presents his model of society in Everthing Must Change in terms of the following diagram on page 63: At the core of the model is the "societal machine" composed of three interlocking systems. They are: Prosperity System The prosperity system seeks to fulfill our desire for happiness – our desire not just to survive,…
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Living Simply in Abundance (25)
What can we conclude about living simply in abundance? Here are eight thoughts. First and foremost, living simply is not a matter of material wealth. It is a relational matter with God. Our singular focus on God will orient our relationship to our wealth and every other aspect of our life. Second, God's intention for…
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Living Simply in Abundance (20)
We have reviewed the concept of subsidiarity and the importance of the family. But what about single folks? What about nuclear families who are isolated from family support systems? There are needs for relationships beyond the family. Voluntary associations are one way we connect. Educational associations, youth sports leagues, hobby groups, service groups, and political…
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Living Simply in Abundance (19)
Modernism has offered us only two approaches to address human social and economic problems: Individualism and state control. Individuals and the state both have a role in addressing these problems, but there is another alternative: Multiple societal institutions operating according to the principle of subsidiarity. What is subsidiarity? The subsidiarity article on Wikipedia gives a…
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Living Simply in Abundance (18)
I ended the last post by noting that God calls us to other-centered community. But there is an important question that is at first not obvious: Which others? The world is filled with more than six billion people. Which ones do I start with? Isn't choosing one over another judgmental? Some ethicists argue that as…
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Economic Fallacies: “Government Equals Society”
The "Government Equals Society" fallacy views government as the means by which society acts. Frequently we hear that society has a responsibility to the poor. Most Christians of all stripes would agree. But listen to the sentence that often follows such a declaration. It goes something like this, "Therefore, 'society' should raise the minimum wage,…