Small Governments? Or Subsidiarity?
Small Governments? Or Subsidiarity?
Political conservatives today are calling for a smaller government. Catholic social teaching says one of the important things of a good government is subsidiarity. Here in the United States, the structure of our country allows subsidiarity. Much can be taken care of at the state and local level. And in my experience, much is taken care of at these levels. But there are things that the federal government should take care of. A couple years ago, the Transportation Secretary got on the airlines' cases and made sure people were getting refunds for delayed or canceled flights. Before he did so, the airlines made people go through a ton of red tape before they gave people a refund. This should not have happened in the first place and it was the Federal Transportation Department's job to make sure that the airlines were giving people refunds without making them cut through a lot of red tape.
So before political conservatives start complaining about the federal government being too big and interfering too much in our lives, the federal government is the reason you're getting your money back when your flight is delayed or canceled and don't have to deal with red tape before you even get your money back.