Caring for the Poor

A Catholic friend once told me that only the Democratic Party cares about the poor, and so it was a grave sin for a Catholic to vote for anyone outside the Democratic Party. This may sound pious, but it is actually a convoluted and backwards argument about a misapplied Catholic principle. Catholics are supposed to be concerned about the poor: no Catholic I have ever heard about denies this. That is not the question here, but the way that my friend stated things it makes it appear that Democrats care for the poor, and Republicans (and I presume any other American political party) hate the poor.

Here is the problem: the argument presumes that it is the responsibility of politicians to provide "care for the poor" per se. Should politicians be concerned for the poor? Of course, I do not deny that; but the real question is whether that "care" should be something handled by the civil government or whether it should be handled by the private sector (as in, by the Church). The civil governments should be concerned about the poor in its society, and make decisions with them in mind. That does not mean, however, that they are the ones responsible to put food on their table.

Years ago, when the care for the poor really was done by the private sector (churches, etc.), yes there were gaps and things did not always go well. Yet, there are far more things "not going well" today than the way it used to be. As soon as the civil government gets involved in things that really are not its business, it ends up fouling those things up. As a result, private groups try to get involved, but they often cannot afford to do it well, so they end up getting government money. The result is that they make decisions based more on money than on the poor (as the government was already doing).

Only when we can "give with no expectation of anything in return" can we give rightly. Only when we are seeking to help others (and not ourselves) will we find the poor actually taken care of properly. This is not what happens when civil governments take things out of the hands of those who truly do have a care and concern for the poor. This is what happened with a few "catholic" organizations lately when it came to immigration issues. There was reason to suspect shady dealings for a while, but it now appears to be coming to the surface.

What is it to "care for the poor"? It is not something, properly speaking, that civil authorities do very well (whether Democrat, Republican, or any other!). As we work to move back to a better balanced society, let us not take for granted the intrusion of civil governments, and let us make sure that we do what we are called to do, as much as we are able to do; even if they still try to keep it out of our hands.