Common good, subsidarity and solidarity



Though not Catholic I am drawn to Catholic Social Teaching as a model for good governance in politics.  There needs to be a moral element to politics if the ultimate aim is to improve people’s lives and though left and right wing ideologies may differ on how this is to be achieved  the principles of Catholic Social Teaching seem to transcend these ideologies.  I guess with the preferential option for the poor the pendulum is more to the left but then no one could accuse Jesus of hanging out with the rich people!

I know little of this teaching but I am reading a very interesting book called ‘The New Politics’ which is based on a series of lectures given by leading figures in this field. 

These authors suggest:

“that the tenets of Catholic Social Teaching offer clear pointers in a different direction from contemporary society’s continuing emphasis on individual rights at the expense of a sense of social responsibilities”

From the little I have read there are three principles to Catholic Social Teaching.

Common good:  there exist some shared or public values which transcend the rights of individuals

Subsidarity:  that decisions should be taken at the lowest level possible which is compatible with good government

Solidarity: we are all responsible for one another

My feeling is that within the council the concepts of common good and solidarity come naturally as we do have a strong sense that we have a responsibility for the good of the island and its people

Subsidarity is an interesting one because we do not have much control over this.  It rather depends on what you mean by decisions.  Yes Legislative Council pass laws for the island, committees are involved in policy decisions but I have to say as grant in aid and a Territory our ability to influence the island’s future does seem rather limited.

What I am not sure about is whether these limitations are because we are not financially self-sufficient or because we are a territory.  I suspect both. 

Financial self-sufficiency is the goal of airport and increased economic development and our role in that is to promote and facilitate development while ensuring that this development is for the common good. 

The role of Legislative Council within the context of a British Overseas Territory is I think more interesting and challenging.  We are parliament, local council and everything in between.  We are sort of a democracy in that there are free and fair elections but some executive power is held by an unelected Governor.  The Legislative Council has very little independent support; there are no political parties and the Civil Service answers to a number of different masters of which Legislative Council is only one.  There is a constitution but like any legal document it is open to interpretation and Legislative Council does not have access to independent legal advice.  British Overseas Territories are not directly represented in the UK Parliament.  If, as I believe we do, we need to reform the operation of the legislature then I am not sure that there is a template to be taken off the shelf, dusted down and then implemented.

St Helena Government has had a multitude of reviews, changes, restructuring and reorganisations in the last few years.  There appeared to be a number of incarnations of the Public Service Modernisation Programme.  I am not suggesting that the Legislature goes down this torturous route but I do think that an organisation such as the Westminster Foundation for Democracy could be invited to have a look at our democratic framework and see where we can improve particularly in promoting Subsidarity.

Something to explore in the New Year.

Communicating

For reasons I still do not quite understand Mum sent me off to learn to touch type when I was, I think, still in primary school.  During high school I continued to take a typing class and it is one of the most useful skills that I have mastered.

I remember a small portable blue Remington in a plastic case.  My first year at Uni I bought a solid green typewriter on  which I bashed out my essays.  Then it was a series of electric typewriters before buying my first computer an i Mac.  Since then I have lost count of the number of computers I have had and I recently bought an iPad.

I am sure that most people my age would have a similar story to tell.  However the transition from manual typewriters to electric typewriters to computers is a steady progression in making it easier to write stuff down (remember the hassle of having to us correction paper in manual typewriters, electric typewriters had a correction ribbon and now just press 'back space') and store information.  The iPad however, I guess tablet computers generally, seems like a change in direction.

Please forgive me, we do not as yet have mobile phones out here, our internet remains fairly slow and expensive, and I am sure that my home is in a minority in having WiFi. Still the explosion in ways we communicate is astonishing and exciting.  One our St Helenian students in the UK who is studying media just sent through a questionnaire on our use of media during the election campaign.  I am sure we all appear like dinosaurs in not embracing social media but we must.

Blogging is in many respects quite traditional which is probably why I quite enjoy it.  I also enjoy reading other people's blogs. Facebook I have a problem with simply because I not particularly gregarious in the 'real' world so the concept of having friends in the 'virtual' world strikes me as quite bizarre.  There also seems to be a lot of superficial emotionalism with Facebook. I am sure loads of people are weeping in cyberspace over the death of  Mandela, with trite little verses and banal comments.  I would rather not be exposed to them.

Twitter I have not really explored but it does seem to be more suited to making short political statements. Not sure I do enough things in the real world though to maintain a twitter presence.

What is evident is that short bursts of communication are the norm and this probably reinforces our tendency to have shortened attention spans.  While attention spans are probably getting shorter I would also suggest another reason for this and it is due to having to respond to so much information coming at us from all angles

An observation, watching Tobias (who will be nine in two weeks time) master a new Playstation game. Shooting aliens, going to the special area to acquire more weapons, keeping an eye on his energy level and having to plan where he had to move to next.  And he could talk to me and explain what he was doing while doing all this.  I could shoot the aliens but that was all I could cope with. Without the shield and the extra guns I did not last long.

It does rather highlight our changing relationship with information and the need to absorb  so much at the same time.  No wonder we need to keep things short.

Having said all of this in our elected members meeting yesterday there were as a long discussion on communication.  There have been some problems and it has caused a bit of friction.

Why?

Simple really, we forgot to talk to each other about what was going on.

Like everything in life, don't ignore the basics.

Prince Andrew School Awards

Last Thursday I was fortunate to be invited to the PAS awards ceremony.  We all need days like these, positive days, days when we celebrate and acknowledge the achievement of others. It was fantastic and despite the educational resource limitations I was surprised at the range of subjects that the students were studying

I get the feeling that education, like most areas, is becoming more decentralised and with this more opportunities arise.  Students were receiving awards in GCSE, A and AS levels but there were also vocational qualifications and other diplomas and certificates from different education providers through distance learning.

We had a glimpse of St Helena's future seeing the students receiving their awards and I for one am convinced that the future of our island will be in good hands.  What we, as council, must do is to make politics more relevant, more authentic, more questioning so that some of those talented young people will become more engaged.

At the next election we need to be challenged by the twenty somethings, not only holding us to account but also we need some of them standing for election

Like I said we all need days like Thursday, positive life affirming days.