Small Government or Big Government

Clearly the answer to this endless left-right debate is neither small or big government, but rather effective, smart and good government. I have many debates with my friends about the same question that our founding fathers debated at our nation's creation. The disagreement between conservatives and progressives, as well as the Religious Right and Progressive Evangelicals like myself, is not whether the poor, the outcast and the oppressed need our assistance, rather the argument is what role the government should play in lifting people out of these conditions.

As a Progressive Evangelical, I believe that all three sectors of a society: the private sector (market, corporations), the public sector (government) and civil society (charitable organizations, faith communities), need to be functioning together for a healthy society that protects and ensures the well-being of all segments of our society. Jim Wallis describes this relationship in his book The Great Awakening as a three-legged stool, with each sector playing a crucial and equal role in ensuring the balance of our society. If one sector gets too powerful and the others too weak the stool losses its balance and society is in danger of falling over. No doubt all three sectors of our society deserve criticism for how they respond to the well-being of our society, including a personal reflection on my own choices and actions. However, this post will address what we, as a faith community, should demand of our government. Because, all to often, in the face of inadequate or wasteful government, we make the mistake of calling for the end of government involvement instead of calling for more efficient government.

With the marriage of the Religious Right and the Conservative Republican Party, Christians have accepted a weak government role in society at the expense of much needed practical assistance that only the public sector can provide. As Christians, we must not demand that our faith control governmental policies, but we must act as a conscience and hold our government accountable for upholding justice, ensuring equality and protecting all God's children (including those at home and abroad) and our environment.

A great example of this was the response to Hurricane Katrina. Many people of faith, saw the government's response as a moral failing. Some chose to see this incompetent response as another example of why government should be less involved in societal issues and retreat to a more limited role. However, what we saw in New Orleans is how religious communities exploded onto the scene to give much needed basic assistance to the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. These communities were able to show more compassion and greater effectiveness than many governmental agencies, which were exposed for incompetence. However, while faith communities and charitable agencies can bring relief, they can't rebuilt levees, nor can they ensure adequate property insurance coverage for those living in high risk areas. The partnership of the government is also required to ensure fair, affordable housing.

All the budgets of charitable organizations and faith communities put together are not enough to provide the necessary poverty relief at home, not to mention abroad. Churches can not provide health care for 47 million Americans who can't afford it, nor can they ensure enough affordable housing to working families, or provide social security for the elderly or a social safety net for children, disabled or handicapped. Nor can faith communities ensure that all people regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, etc. have an equal standing in the public and private sector. Faith communities and the private sector can mobilize resources including food, clothing and medicine for third world communities experiencing extreme poverty, but government is required to negotiate with impoverished countries so that the logistics of transportation and delivery of aid, including the building of ports and protection, can be assured. Faith communities can partner on these issues, but can not accomplish with out government involvement, both logistically, structurally and financially. Furthermore, in a free market society only the private sector and labor movements assure adequate and fair employment, but the government is required to establish the necessary regulation, like guaranteed minimum wage, product safety, work place standards, and emission and disposal regulation, that ensures the health and equality of workers, consumers AND our environment over the bottom line profits that drive the private sector.

The life and work of faith communities are not meant to replace the role of government, but they are to offer an example of compassion and justice and demand the same of our government policies. I am in the process of reading The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis and Red Letter Christians by Tony Campolo (at the recommendations of Steve Cook). Both books provide a guide to faith and politics and illustrate what response faith communities should consider when responding to the serious issues facing us as a nation, including poverty, the environment, widening economic gap, social justice and equality, immigration, crime and war (specifically the War in Iraq). I look forward to diving into these issues and posting my comments as we approach the election in November.