As a History and Political Science major, I have found an underlying question at the root of several of my classes and discussions. This question is simple: which type of government is best? I have found that the answer to this question is not addressed, for the “response” to the question is that it is for the individual to decide. In researching the question, I have found that this answer is both right and wrong. In some ways, individuals must decide what form of government is proper for their country, but the decision should reflect the circumstances surrounding the area and time which is to be ruled by the government that individuals are establishing. In other ways, it is not solely the decision of individuals, as they will not be in control forever and therefore what may work for them at that time, may not work in the future. As one Christendom professor has eloquently said: “You can’t guarantee that the right people will always be in power.”
All types of government can work in certain circumstances, but only if the particular type of government are led well. Democratic republics can represent their people (early United States), or they can be disastrous for the people they “represent” (Provisional Russia, Feb. – Nov. 1917). Absolute monarchies such as that of Louis XIV of France were tyrannical, while St. Louis IX of France’s brought prosperity and good government to his people. On the opposite end of the monarchical spectrum, Great Britain has protected the rights of her people as a constitutional monarchy since the American War for Independence, while her predecessor, independent England, collapsed into tyranny under the first constitutional monarchy, led by Oliver Cromwell. Even dictatorship and theocracy can work if led well (Franco in Spain, David in Israel) though if the wrong person leads them they fail (Mussolini in Italy, Khomeini in Iran). So, as we can see, there is no such thing as a perfect type of government; any type of government can work, but only if the right people run it justly.
The argument of which form of government is best has been debated for centuries by numerous thinkers around the world. It reached its climax in the French Revolution of 1789 when a number of free-thinkers and liberals tried to settle this question by coming up with new ideas and trying to guarantee that all men would be treated equally forever. However, where they departed from the right course was in departing from Natural Law and opposing the voice of Natural Law, the Catholic Church. Government is the way in which man is given authority by God to protect his fellow men from evil; God gave us the instructions on how to use and rule His creation, the earth, in Natural Law and the expanded teachings of the Church. This core principle was rejected by the makers of the French Revolution from the beginning, especially in the Tennis Court Oath of the Third Estate. As a result, tyranny and suffering ensued which swept Europe for the next twenty-six years; its legacy survives today in the Communist nations of China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba, where the Church is attacked and Natural Law is ignored, causing much suffering within these nations. Though some (even on this campus) do not realize it, no government and no government-changing event which omits Natural Law from its core principles can be called a good thing, and can only bring about suffering and chaos for years which ultimately harms the Church in the long run.
All types of government can work in certain circumstances, but only if the particular type of government are led well. Democratic republics can represent their people (early United States), or they can be disastrous for the people they “represent” (Provisional Russia, Feb. – Nov. 1917). Absolute monarchies such as that of Louis XIV of France were tyrannical, while St. Louis IX of France’s brought prosperity and good government to his people. On the opposite end of the monarchical spectrum, Great Britain has protected the rights of her people as a constitutional monarchy since the American War for Independence, while her predecessor, independent England, collapsed into tyranny under the first constitutional monarchy, led by Oliver Cromwell. Even dictatorship and theocracy can work if led well (Franco in Spain, David in Israel) though if the wrong person leads them they fail (Mussolini in Italy, Khomeini in Iran). So, as we can see, there is no such thing as a perfect type of government; any type of government can work, but only if the right people run it justly.
The argument of which form of government is best has been debated for centuries by numerous thinkers around the world. It reached its climax in the French Revolution of 1789 when a number of free-thinkers and liberals tried to settle this question by coming up with new ideas and trying to guarantee that all men would be treated equally forever. However, where they departed from the right course was in departing from Natural Law and opposing the voice of Natural Law, the Catholic Church. Government is the way in which man is given authority by God to protect his fellow men from evil; God gave us the instructions on how to use and rule His creation, the earth, in Natural Law and the expanded teachings of the Church. This core principle was rejected by the makers of the French Revolution from the beginning, especially in the Tennis Court Oath of the Third Estate. As a result, tyranny and suffering ensued which swept Europe for the next twenty-six years; its legacy survives today in the Communist nations of China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba, where the Church is attacked and Natural Law is ignored, causing much suffering within these nations. Though some (even on this campus) do not realize it, no government and no government-changing event which omits Natural Law from its core principles can be called a good thing, and can only bring about suffering and chaos for years which ultimately harms the Church in the long run.
Therefore one may conclude that the only government that works is one which is run by the right people in the right place which follows Natural Law. As Catholics we must remember that government’s main purpose is to control human behavior so that everyone may live and pursue God’s purpose for their lives, and that it is structured to prevent those who do not control their own behavior from harming others. Therefore we must respect the government that is in power (except in very extreme circumstances such as a tyrant like Hitler), and then work within the bounds of Natural Law to place the right people in places of power so that peace may always be preserved and Natural Law followed.
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