But here we are in the new millennium. Both government and private sector initiatives are still necessary. Needed also are private voluntary associations. The principle of subsidiarity is still necessary if higher levels of decision making are to be kept from overreaching and from crushing those below. But individuals also pay taxes.
Subsidiarity calls for justice and responsibility at all levels.
It applies, I should also note, to church as well as state, and to family as well as to the organizations where family members earn their living or get their education. Jesuit Father William J. Byron is an economist and ethicist who teaches at Georgetown University.