EXCERPT:
For the last 40 years, the U.S. gap between rich and poor has steadily grown, because real wages for most have failed to match inflation, while the wealthiest Americans have enjoyed soaring dividends, salaries, and bonuses. The U.S. bishops, a dozen years into this trend, were already expressing concern:
Our economy is marked by a very uneven distribution of wealth and income. … In 1983, 54% of the total net financial assets were held by 2% of all families. (US Bishops Economic Justice For All [EJA] #183)
By 2010, the situation was even worse, as the gap just kept growing, according to a UC Berkeley analysis:
“In the economic expansion of 2002-2007, the top 1% captured two thirds of income growth.”As others have pointed out, the average wage of Americans, adjusting for inflation, is lower than it was in the 1970s. The minimum wage, adjusting for inflation, is lower than it was in the 1950s. http://integralcatholicsocialteachings.blogspot.com/2009/08/income-inequality-worst-since-1917.html
Is anyone who criticizes this trend engaging in “class warfare”?
I suppose that is mainly a question of our definitions, but let’s suppose we accept “class warfare” as the label for a debate about income distribution, income inequality, and income redistribution? In that case, two things stand out.
One, there are fighters on both sides: those defending the poor, and those defending the wealthy.
Second, there seem to be two sets of rules. Those on the “poor” side are attacking the behavior and special treatment the wealthy get (Warren Buffett called it “coddling”) to urge a change in the status quo. But the “wealthy” side, by contrast, has been attacking the character of the poor as a way of blocking any change.
Thus one TV commentator described this as a war of the “productive classes” attacked by the “moocher classes.” John Stossel likewise called a conflict between the “makers” and the “takers.” Another commentator referred to welfare recipients as “parasites.” Nebraska Atty. General John Bruning compared “stupid welfare recipients” to scavenging “raccoons.” And Ann Coulter argued that the U.S. welfare system has created “generations of utterly irresponsible animals.”
Even warfare has rules, but so far only one side is playing fair.
So given the facts about U.S. wealth and the way people are fighting over it, what are Catholic voters to think?
The answer is surprisingly straightforward. In a word: Catholic Social Doctrine has consistently opposed wide income gaps between rich and poor, and has consistently approved actions to redistribute wealth. Leo XIII first set this position in 1891, and he was seconded in 1931 by Pius XI:
Each class, then, must receive its due share, and the distribution of created goods must be brought into conformity with the demands of the common good and social justice. For every sincere observer realizes that the vast difference between the few who hold excessive wealth and the many who live in destitution constitute a grave evil in modern society-- (Quadragesimo Anno #58).
Vatican Council II (1962-1965) repeated the same basic position:
Excessive economic and social inequalities within the one human family, between individuals or between peoples, give rise to scandal, and are contrary to social justice, to equity, and to the dignity of the human person, as well as to peace within society and at the international level--(Gaudiam Et Spes #29).
And this leads to a clear Catholic mandate to support changes, and even government policies, that redistribute wealth:
Authentic economic well-being is pursued also by means of suitable social policies for the redistribution of income which, taking general conditions into account, look at merit as well as at the need of each citizen.--(The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church #303)
Does this mean the Catholic Church has been waging “class warfare” since 1891? I think not. Instead, I agree with the U.S. Bishops in saying:
The "option for the poor," therefore, is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community. The extent of their suffering is a measure of how far we are from being a true community of persons. (EJA #88)
From the Catholic viewpoint, this is not class warfare; this is a fight for justice. And, as Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed in his very first encyclical, God Is Love: “The Church…cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.”
So each of us must ask ourselves, and even each other, the next question: if the fight for justice is underway, which side are you on?
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