There are many things God is against. Universal health care is not one of them. Here's a good rule: if you don't need to invoke God's justice to defeat an idea, then don't. Government run health care is bad enough in its own right. We don't need to invoke the almighty. As a rule, it is a bad idea to assert biblical sanction or injunction when a.) Scripture does not speak directly to the subject, and b.) there are good secular arguments to be made. The argument against government run health care is not an argument about God's justice, but an argument about what is the best way to create a health care system that works for all, including the poor. From this perspective the argument against statist solutions is prudential, not Scriptural.
For a discussion of the role of the state from a religious perspective, see John Paul II's Centesimus Annus, which has some negative things to say about Socialism (by which I think he largely, but not exclusively, means Communism) and unfettered free markets. For example, here is the late Pontiff quoting Leo XIII in part on Liberalism (i.e., capitalism):
The State cannot limit itself to "favouring one portion of the citizens", namely the rich and prosperous, nor can it "neglect the other", which clearly represents the majority of society. Otherwise, there would be a violation of that law of justice which ordains that every person should receive his due. "When there is question of defending the rights of individuals, the defenceless and the poor have a claim to special consideration. The richer class has many ways of shielding itself, and stands less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back on, and must chiefly depend on the assistance of the State. It is for this reason that wage-earners, since they mostly belong to the latter class, should be specially cared for and protected by the Government".
The Pope later on critiques the problem of commercialism in capitalism. And here is JPII on Socialism:
Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order.
Private property has its rights, although the public does as well. But by reducing man's ingenuity to a thing to be manipulated by the state for the good of all, human freedom is destroyed. Also, humanity needs something in addition to the state to solve its social problems. This is one reason why God ordained the family and friendship, to give humans a ready way to be charitable and to create bonds of love. Thus the concept of subsidiarity, which is violated at great peril. From the Catholic Catechism:
Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of 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 to the common good."
For more on subsidiarity, go here.
Recent Comments