"What is your political party father?" "I'm somewhat un-political." "Could you be more specific?" "Nope."Politics, in principle, does not matter nearly as much as a person's heart does. I know it is unlikely, but it is possible that a person could be a radical fascist dictator and yet if his heart were holy, then he would end up doing what is right (regardless of the consequences). This would of course mean that he would cease to be a radical fascist dictator, but that is the point. The heart will lead more than one's political philosophy.
So when people ask about my view of politics, I often say "republicans are too liberal, democrats are too socialist, and socialists are too statist". I myself am more of a constitutional monarchist; which is good for me because it enables me to step aside from the political sphere and see things more distinctly in relation to the commandments of God (and thus enables me to give counsel with virtually no bias to people from any political party). In other words I can avoid being blinded by political associations or commitments; when doing so, I find that politics really has become a religion in itself, and statism is actually prevalent in many more than just socialists. I have met a few Libertarians who were much more statist than they realized!
There are certainly some who are going to be quite upset that I am speaking negatively about American politics. Yet, if we have made our personal political practices something that can never be criticized, then we have made them into "idols of our destruction". I recall a few years back when the Pope cautioned about the dangers of capitalism--from the response of some Americans, you would have thought he said that he hated Jesus. If one's politics becomes a sacred cow, then it is time to make hamburger.
When we consider "political issues" in relation to one's spirituality, regardless of what your political stance is: if you are a Catholic, politics must never exert more authority in your life than does the Lord and His Church. I have seen many people get more fired up over a political candidate than they ever do over Christ Himself, and this is true for Republicans, Democrats, and Socialists. Something has caused us to think this way, and I believe that it is often a lack of love for Christ that does it. If we have genuine faith, hope, and love for Christ, then we will see that His authority in Heaven has more importance for our lives than any politician. If, however, we do not have this, then we will exert our energy to leaders other than Christ. We will put too much emphasis on the underlings because we neglect the One Who is really in charge.
This confusion has found its way into our thinking in so many areas, but it is clear that the more emphasis we place on civil government as the ultimate authority, the more we will inevitably slide into statist thinking. What is the state, and how is she supposed to work? In America we tend to assume we know the answer to that question. We are used to things working a certain way, and rarely do we consider any other possibilities. We have had the same system of civil government for the last 242 years; or have we? Is it possible that things have been subtly changed without our noticing it, because it was done slowly, or it was during a time of difficulty and confusion? Quite a question to ask. Those countries that have had multiple changes over the last century are not as quick to presume on what form of government is being used by their leaders. Often, they know it because the change was open and recent.
When we ask the question of how the state is supposed to work, we have an additional issue that arises (at least in the USA; I am unaware of other countries). We have the problem that most Americans actually like the system of government that we have (even when it does not follow our Constitution!), so we rarely ask the question of how it is supposed to perform. The "how" of government is a worthy question, though, because behaviors can easily slip and become different than they were intended to be and citizens can easily miss the change.
Generally, when we look at Scripture we find that the purpose of civil government is to protect the people; both from one another, as well as from outside invaders. This is not something I made up; it is found in many places in our dogmas (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2234ff). When the government fails to do this there are many possible causes. The first is that she has forgotten what her duty is; the second is that she has gotten herself entangled with things that are not her duty and is thus keeping herself from her duty by distraction; the third is a combination of both of these.
In principle, it does not matter if you are a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian (or any other stripe of political philosophy); you can still slip into statism (though some are certainly less likely to do so than others!). Civil government is not our Savior, nor is she supposed to be our Nanny. Civil government, without encroaching on family government or Church government, is supposed to protect the people. It is not supposed to be there to "run everything", and it is certainly not supposed to ignore the Church and do whatever it wants. The idea of the separation of Church and state (not technically in the Constitution or Amendments) is not a Catholic idea at all. To be faithful to Catholic teaching, we each must be willing to submit our thinking to the Church. There is only One Person seated at the right hand of God, and we all know Who that is, and who that is not.
