Government and Governance

This work is not poetry - it is a treatise on the art of governance in the tradition of the Catholic faith. It's articles were first shared in a certain gathering of friends from Regis over the summer of 2011, and it has been evolving ever since.

It is a proposition that is to be above the petty politics so prevalent in our times. A tall task, one I hope I will not fail too much in achieving. So long as it provokes thought, it is art.

The Art of Governance

 

I

 

The art of governance is the highest achievement of human civilization. It is the progenitor and perfector of civilization itself, and demands of the men of state who practice it the highest of human virtues: wisdom, honesty, compassion, justice, prudence, sacrifice, and caritas. When done correctly, nations flourish, and by the Grace of the Spirit the City of Man doth convert evermore and impresses upon itself the City of God and the civilization of love. But when wielded by men of low character and lower motives, it becomes itself the cause and modus of the death of civilization. The mind of society is gripped by dreadful disorder, and the rest of the body falls into spasm and decay: into poverty, into war, into insecurity. Then does this art require the highest consideration in the minds of all. For the task of the man of state is not fully his own, but is largely that of the citizens. He is but the stone-master, who can carve the block he has received, and where rich veins run through poor stone, whatever his excellence in skill and beauty of the few spots upon the work, the whole shall break and split into dust by itself. The people themselves must assert their freedom as children of God, and assure for one another the dignity of the princes of heaven. Without class, but with the talents and tasks the Lord in life secures, they advance their healthy existence. Then shall the stone-masters themselves spring forth, to shape such stone precious, and secure, and with the greatest care and passion bring it to as close perfection as any human art may bring anything.