My crunchy granola Christian friends have been sharing this on Facebook this week. I'm not a religious follower of the Colbert Report, but I find his snarky take on the news to be pretty funny and this is certainly no exception. ("I make my kids play Christbox"... classic).
However, while everyone flutters to upload this video, commenting that he makes some good points in hopes to appear hip and free-thinking despite their Christian affiliations (and I'm not judging. I love you hipsters and tea party people and regular party people and... well, you get it. I love you all) but I just have to pipe up with a quick "Jesus wasn't affiliated with any political party" and I get really cranky when people imply that just because I'm not in favor of government programs doesn't mean that I'm sitting here, drinking champagne from my red-soled jimmy choos, not caring about the fate of my neighbor.
I'm just a fan of the principle of subsidiarity. In the Catechism, # 1894 it's explained that "neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals and intermediary bodies". In plain language, we need to be helping each other-- not leaving it up to the state. Individuals and charitable organizations do a pretty decent job. The danger of all these government programs being created is that people are forgetting that it IS our responsibility to care for the poor-- not just pay our taxes and hope that it all works out in allocated aid funding. I know this system can't be fixed overnight, but don't shirk personal responsibility by saying it's what Jesus would do. He didn't do politics.
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