Wednesday, June 19, 2013
515. What responsibility does the State have in regard to labor?
(Comp 515) It is the role of the State to guarantee individual freedom and private
property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. It is
also the State’s responsibility to oversee and direct the exercise of human
rights in the economic sector. According to circumstances, society must help
citizens to find work.
“In brief”
(CCC 2254) Public authority is
obliged to respect the fundamental rights of the human person and the
conditions for the exercise of his freedom.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 2431) The responsibility
of the state. "Economic activity, especially the activity of a market
economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical, or political
vacuum. On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom
and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services.
Hence the principal task of the state is to guarantee this security, so that
those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their labors and thus feel
encouraged to work efficiently and honestly.... Another task of the state is
that of overseeing and directing the exercise of human rights in the economic
sector. However, primary responsibility in this area belongs not to the state
but to individuals and to the various groups and associations which make up
society" (CA 48).
Reflection
(CCC 1908) Second, the common good requires the social well-being and development of the group itself.
Development is the epitome of all social duties. Certainly, it is the proper
function of authority to arbitrate, in the name of the common good, between
various particular interests; but it should make accessible to each what is
needed to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and
culture, suitable information, the right to establish a family, and so on (Cf.
GS 26 § 2). (CCC 1883) 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" (CA 48 § 4; cf.
Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno I,
184-186).
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