Social justice as a precaution

[StudentMI]

I’m reading an essay on Pope Francis and Catholic social teaching, and came across these quotes from Populorum progressio.

. We must make haste. Too many people are suffering. While some make progress, others stand still or move backwards; and the gap between them is widening.
…
The injustice of certain situations cries out for God’s attention. Lacking the bare necessities of life, whole nations are under the thumb of others; they cannot act on their own initiative; they cannot exercise personal responsibility; they cannot work toward a higher degree of cultural refinement or a greater participation in social and public life. They are sorely tempted to redress these insults to their human nature by violent means.
Everyone knows, however, that revolutionary uprisings—except where there is manifest, longstanding tyranny which would do great damage to fundamental personal rights and dangerous harm to the common good of the country—engender new injustices, introduce new inequities and bring new disasters. The evil situation that exists, and it surely is evil, may not be dealt with in such a way that an even worse situation results.
…
The matter is urgent, for on it depends the future of world civilization.

http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum.html

I’ve taken these quotes as I found them in the essay. They are from different parts of the encyclical, not just one section.

The issue of urgency strikes me. Along with the part about temptation to revolution. And with that last part I wondered, how can we as Catholics stave off a revolutionary regime? I’m applying this mostly to the U.S. as that’s where I’m from.

For too long in this country, thanks partly to the abortion issue but also, I think, the rise of the religious right and consequent divide between the parties, we have been tied to many right wing interests. I think this is unfortunate. Now, there are parts of Catholic social teaching that do align with common right wing goals, but there are parts that align with left wing goals. This is why I’ve said before that Catholic social teaching is beyond left and right. Or, if you like, on cultural matters it is right wing and on economic centre-left to left wing.

So I began thinking, as someone who in general favors markets, what would I be willing to give up ideologically to stave off something worse?

This has been brewing for some time due to the growing divide between the very rich and the rest of us. While the latest protests have been driven by concerns with racial issues, I personally think we will see more before we see less if economic issues don’t even out.

While the specter of a Marxist revolution in the United States is a far off nightmare (or dream, take your pick), I do think to stave off perhaps worse things we may need to give up others.

Now ideally, under Catholic social teaching, our economy would already look different than it does now. But what could you see as justified to advance the common good and restore peace to our country?

 

[HomeschoolDad]

We are nowhere near a place in this country where any kind of revolution could possibly be justified.

Our system actually has a framework for “revolution” hard-wired into it — it’s called “voting”. Every four years, the people decide who they want for President. Every two years, they totally swap out the House of Representatives (allowing for the fact that some Representatives get re-elected) and one-third of the Senate. Even though the Constitution doesn’t enshrine political parties, as a practical matter, it has morphed into two opposing groups, and they become more and more polarized all the time. The original Constitution, for that matter, didn’t anticipate popular elections for President (through the Electoral College) nor for the Senate. Americans waffle back and forth between these two sharply divided parties. Somehow, it all works out.

I’m not a cheerleader for the notion of “the American way of doing things is always the best way, because it’s American and we’re the best”, but this is a framework that other countries might want to adopt. And as I said elsewhere in these forums a few days ago, the Electoral College is no more preposterous than the “proportional representation” that exists in many parliamentary democracies. Parts of our system might not work as well in countries that are not federal states.

 

[StudentMI]

I perhaps should have included this in my OP. I was thinking along these lines.

On the part of the rich man, it calls for great generosity, willing sacrifice and diligent effort. Each man must examine his conscience, which sounds a new call in our present times. Is he prepared to support, at his own expense, projects and undertakings designed to help the needy? Is he prepared to pay higher taxes so that public authorities may expand their efforts in the work of development? Is he prepared to pay more for imported goods, so that the foreign producer may make a fairer profit? Is he prepared to emigrate from his homeland if necessary and if he is young, in order to help the emerging nations?

 

[Genesis315]

This is why I’ve said before that Catholic social teaching is beyond left and right. Or, if you like, on cultural matters it is right wing and on economic centre-left to left wing.

Interestingly, I think this is what many (most?) people actually want. In the US, Trump surprisingly moved the Republicans a bit more in that direction, but I think it would be a pretty popular position taken a bit further–addressing the grievances of those who would be tempted by the more extreme revolutionaries, while also favoring the social/family virtues that foster the order necessary for a just, peaceful, and fruitful society. In any event, nobody wants the opposite.

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