In the current issue of Touchstone, Robby George has a short, clear, and — I think — spot-on essay called “Morality of Majority.” (Here, by the way, is a link to Touchstone’s blog, “Mere Comments,” which is always engaging.) A bit:
. . . Catholicism . . . preaches democratic ideals and promotes democratic institutions in the political sphere. . . . This teaching is put forth not as a mere prudential matter, much less as some sort of modus vivendi with modernity, but as a matter of justice in the dealings of human beings with one another. At is core is the idea that of all systems of political governance, democracy best comports with the foundational anthropological and moral truth that every human being, as a creature fashioned in the very image and likeness of God, possesses a profound, inherent, and equal dignity. . . .
Democracy, however, is fundamentally a means rather than an end in itself. . . . [Similarly,] the common good of political society is fundamentally an instrumental good rather than an intrinsic good.
In this respect, the common good of political society is unlike the common life of the family and the koinonia of the church. The point of political society is provided by the ends or purposes it serves . . . .
By contrast, the family and the church, though they may also be means to many valuable ends, are not mere means. . . .
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In