Two important events will be taking place these two coming weeks. On Saturday, Malta goes to the polls to elect a new administration. On the following Saturday, Malta will host Pope Francis. The two events, one secular and the other religious, seem to be unconnected, yet most Maltese will experience the two events deeply. In this article I will limit myself to the elections.
Through voting we participate in the democratic process of governance. In our case, Maltese citizens will decide by whom they want to be governed for the following five years. Of course, our democratic duties do not end there. Elections do not give governments a blank cheque. Citizens have the duty to monitor the governance and express their opinion about what the government is doing right or wrong.
Those who govern are also obliged to follow the principle of subsidiarity, that is, “the principle that decisions should always be taken at the lowest possible level or closest to what they will have their effect” (Cambridge Dictionary). A government that usurps every activity and insists on doing it itself will not be acting democratically. Citizens should have the space to organise their lives as they please, and this includes activities of entertainment, relaxation, worship, sport and study. The government should intervene only when such activities threaten the common good.
Although the political administration is secular business, it does not follow that as Christians we should not care about it. On the contrary, we should make it a point that Christian values are upheld by the administration. We don’t do this to impose religious values on a secular society but because we strongly believe that Christian values are truly human values, and only by living these values would we be living humanly.
This is especially important in these times when truth is no longer there for us to find out but has become fluid, more subjective than objective. Unfortunately, truth has become what I believe to be true. At the same time, some take it upon themselves to declare that certain behaviours are human rights.
As Pope Francis insists in his encyclical, Fratelli tutti, all are obliged to vote for those candidates who guarantee that they will be working towards the common good. He gives a lot of importance to this concept, mentioning it 35 times.
The common good is the good of the whole community rather than the good of some, or my own good. We don’t live individually; we live as a community, and we are one as community. What hurts even one member hurts the whole community.
Besides, the good has many dimensions, and insisting on one dimension at the expense of others would not be working towards the common good either. While it is important for everybody to have enough money in their pockets, it is also important for everyone to live in a healthy, peaceful and beautiful environment and for everybody to be respected and treated with dignity.
After the choice of a government it is the whole population that will be either a winner or a loser
Most believe that after an election there will be winners and losers. This is not the case. I repeat one sentence from an article I had written for this page before the elections of 2013: “After the choice of a government it is the whole population that will be either a winner or a loser.”