Subsidiarity

The concept of subsidiarity can be a loaded one, but I thought this video was so good that I needed to share it. While I would not subscribe to the notion that, "subsidiarity is the answer to good governance," I firmly believe that we could create healthier feedback loops if government policy was less centralized and provided far more flexibility and responsibility at the local level.

Subsidiarity comes formally from the Catholic church (of which I'm a member), an organization that is very hierarchical yet provides a lot of power and flexibility to local parishes and orders. I'm not going to pretend it works perfectly all the time, particularly with government, yet there are strong bi-partisan arguments to be made for swinging the pendulum in this direction, particularly in a world that is so hyper-connected.

For a number of years now, I've felt like our local conversations have been captured by the national rhetoric, the winner-take-all talking points of D.C. making our cities hostage to the two dominant national parties. I've been to way too many local council meetings where the discussion on things as hyper-local as the zoning of a property or a monthly sewer charge descends into partisan talking points from Fox News or  MSNBC. That benefits nobody except the puppet masters that make their living off our division.

Subsidiarity isn't a magic fix, but I think an intense dose of it would help our national situation immensely.