GOOD GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL REFORM

october 4, 2008

This column is about good government and social reform, but my treatment of these subjects will not be in the manner in which political pundits and social commentators are used to handling them.

I begin with simple questions: how do we get good government, and how do we bring about needed social reform? To respond to such questions is an exercise in social philosophy, and that is my purpose. I raise the questions because we, as a nation, seem in recent times to be characterized more and more by the things that divide us than the things that unite us. We hear of a “culture war” and of blue and red states. Many expectations are placed on government, and much dissatisfaction is expressed with it. A combative and divisive spirit fueled by a spirit of brooding resentment, often seems to overtake our public discourse.

The questions of good government and social reform are closely related, because a government that is truly good has the wisdom to know what reforms are needed, and the fortitude to bring them about. No government can long endure, however, without the consent of the governed. Social reform always depends, in some way, on the people’s recognition of the need, and on their united efforts to bring about reform. Even tyrants and dictators know that there is a limit to their power: they rely on constant propaganda to sustain the support of the people. It must also be said that good government cannot come about without a pool of good candidates emerging from the people. And since the people are the source from which political leaders emerge, the people cannot expect a government that is any better or wiser than they. If it can be said that good government will produce a good society, it can also be said, with equal or greater force, that only a good society can produce a good government. Just as “the child is the father of the man”, so is society the progenitor of its government.

The logic of this analysis leads to two conclusions. First, when we see social needs that are unattended, we should look first not to the government to fix things, but to ourselves to bring about a wider recognition of the need and a resolve on the part of the people to respond to it, both personally and through an agency of the government. A simpler version of this conclusion is that we should try to fix the problems we see rather than saying, “I’m not responsible. Let the government do it.”  I am appealing to civic-mindedness, self-reliance and self-responsibility. I am also pleading with citizens not to scapegoat or demonize any person, group or political allegiance. Scapegoating and demonizing do not solve any problem or take care of any need.

Second, if we are unhappy with the quality of our government, we should not imagine anything substantial will change simply by voting today’s elected officials out of office and voting in others. It is possible, granted, that substantial change for the better may occur, but most of history stands in testimony that it usually does not.

Why should we not expect dramatic change?  Because, usually, both outgoing and incoming officials arose from the same social matrix. Our hopes for change would be better placed in efforts to understand what is lacking in the quality of the society that produced those officials, and determining what we can do to improve our society, its culture, its morals, and its institutions.

Where to begin? Let us begin with the government that is totally subject to us, and with reforms that we can carry out ourselves, without seeking the support or approval of anyone else. I am speaking about good government over our own lives and affairs, and the reform of whatever in our character or conduct needs change. Let us make it our aim, in every situation and relationship, to control and direct the interior government of our reason, guided by sound moral principles. It is within our power to rule over our passions and appetites, rather than allow them to rule over us. Let us declare our interior freedom, and renounce our state of slavery to any form of vice or habit of sin. Let us cast off the shackles of anger, lust, envy, gluttony, sloth, greed, and pride, which always produce blindness to truth.

To establish this good government over ourselves, and bring about the reforms that are needed in our own lives, is to order our lives according to God’s plan for our happiness. To bring about such interior change, we must turn to God for help, because only he can provide the strength we lack, and only he possesses the truth that can infallibly guides us to true freedom and fulfillment.

With God’s help, peace and order will reign within us. We will live in true freedom, and our lives will be righteous. We will then be assured that we possess the light and wisdom to make a real contribution to the good government of our social world, by bringing about the changes that are needed.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 11-Jan-2010 8:22 sitemap