Last week the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed Congress and became law. It represents a singular achievement of President Biden in his first three months in office. It also calls attention to the absolute divide that exists in Congress today.
In spite of popular support throughout the country and wide-spread support among Republican governors, not a single Republican in either the House or Senate voted to approve this legislation.
Historians and pundits have all kinds of theories as to how we have arrived at this juncture. What is clear, however, is that our government will be crippled unless our solons can find a way out of this thicket. What is needed is the establishment of some common ground on which Democrats, Republicans and Independents can all stand.
We should all strive to do good and avoid evil. Beyond this, we need a set of common values that avoids the kind of political rhetoric that is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. A couple of good candidates are human dignity, the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity. These are no strangers to political scientists, sociologists and major religious traditions.
Human dignity means that every human being is equal to every other human being in the eyes of God. Whether we believe in God or not, we acknowledge a radical sense of equality between and among all people regardless of skin color, national origin and anything else that may distinguish us.
Human dignity is offended by capital punishment, by the solitary confinement of criminals, by racism, by anti-Semitism, by white supremacy, by caging children at our southern border, by not caring for children before they are born and after they are born and by all the actions that ignore the transcendent dignity of the human person. It is sometimes referred to as the principle of unity of the human family and should never be disrespected.
The common good recognizes that we need to advance the betterment of society as a whole. It requires that we work to ensure that laws and institutions benefit our entire society without abridging the rights and responsibilities of individuals.
Today, the greatest threat to the common good is our lack of care for our environment, visible in violent storms, rising oceans and soaring temperatures. Nationalism is also a threat to the common good because it fails to recognize that we all share what has been called “spaceship Earth.”
Solidarity adds to human dignity an appreciation that we are, by nature, social beings who need to care and support each other. We are all neighbors, members of the same human family, who ought never to exploit or abuse other people.
Solidarity is offended by exorbitant salaries for management while workers in the same company cannot afford health insurance.
Solidarity is offended when some children receive a poor education while others receive an excellent education because of where they happen to live.
Solidarity is offended when girls and women are denied the same opportunities as boys and men.
Subsidiarity is the principle that should guide the way we interact with governments and institutions. It is really about decision-making. Simply put, subsidiarity means that decisions should be made at the lowest possible level in order to respect the freedom and dignity of all concerned.
Subsidiarity is offended when Big Brother takes over everything and tries to run people’s lives. (Think Communism.) Subsidiarity is most respected when people who are to be impacted by a decision are invited to participate in the decision-making process. Grassroots organizations are great examples of subsidiarity in action.
A bias is generally thought to be a negative thing. In this context, however, it is more like a set of values that provide a frame of reference for making judgments in a complex world. No one is a blank slate, a tabula rasa, in philosophical terms. We all bring our education and past experiences to the looking glass through which we view the world.
If we are to move beyond the divisions in our nation, we need to find common ground on which we can all stand. Acknowledging the validity, appropriateness and value of concepts like human dignity, the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity has the power to give us the common ground that we so desperately need.
Msgr. Paul V. Garrity is the former pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Lynn and the current pastor of St. Brigid and Sacred Heart parishes in Lexington.
