Institutions vs Individuals

The best example of how large institutions cannot produce a "common good" without oppression is the inability for the worlds largest Church to achieve consensus among its parishioners on the most fundamental issue of abortion, let alone stop the murder of innocent life. Our Vice President, Speaker of the House, and Illinois Senator claim to be Catholic yet support the killing of innocent life which is clearly against their claimed Faith. The Church is in a conundrum, they want to be the driving force for positive change, but can not be oppressive towards those affiliated or opposed to them, or they are becoming the very thing they are trying to stop. Individual responsibility, compassion, love and faith is what has been the engine for positive progress in this world. The apostles went out 2 by 2, not all together. Jesus turned to Peter and said to him upon this rock, not to all of them collectively. As a Catholic, the self sacrifice of the saints and martyrs are those things honored in our traditions. Man institutionalizes in the beginning for all the right reasons. They begin with consensus for the purpose of progress and recognize the power of institutionalizing to bring about positive change quickly. However with the power of institutionalizing comes corruption and oppression. Once consensus breaks down within an institution, factions of consensus grab power to put forth their agenda to the detriment of the rest. In other words, institutions can not be successful long term without consensus because they lose the power of the institution. Therefore, institutions that want to continue to have influence result to oppression of others to move the factions agenda forward.

Society is different from an institution and a wonderful gift from God. It is a natural collection of individuals interacting, competing, working together, influencing, educating, loving and sharing. Institutions are not natural. Once a formalized structure is created it designates an unnatural pecking order, natural societal relationships break down and all the negatives associated with centralized power begin. The path to a more compassionate, charitable, loving world is decentralization, not centralized institutions. In a decentralized world, if a person feels oppression within their local affiliations, they have the ability to look not too far to find an affiliation with whom, they have consensus. In a centralized world, those oppressed have no place to go.

With individual liberty comes the responsibility to think and act. Relying on large institutions creates intellectual laziness, a herd mentality and always leads to powerless bureaucracies or oppression. Institutions are not the driving force of long term positive change in this world, rather the oppression of man. Therefore, it is important to recognize that we must focus on those things where consensus can be reached and fight against those things that create oppression. Our founding fathers knew this oh so well. George Washington could have been President for life, but he stepped aside knowing even the best intentions lead to problems down the road. The Tea Party Movement is not one looking to grab power, but rather decentralize power for the purpose of limiting oppression and instilling the liberties our country once knew.