Another election has come and gone. I am not sure if I heard anyone say: “This is the most important election of our lives!” But I have it on good authority that the election of Amy Acton and Sharrod Brown means that our country has fallen to Communism. They and their comrades seem to have defeated the greatest dictator of recent times with… an election? An ignominious end for a would-be tyrant.

I don’t think this past election marks a serious change in the direction of the country. In retrospect, I don’t think there has been a serious change since 1932. We have been living in the shadow of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal for nearly a century. It created the Boomers’ world, and we will see if it can outlive them. I thought it possible that Trump would break that brittle paradigm and begin something new. The past year, crowned with this election, has shown he will not. But I still think he will prove an important transitional figure. Today’s political landscape is alien compared with what existed the day before the August 2015 Republican presidential debate.

James Rahner’s recent article happened to inspire me to poke around in the Catechism (I wanted to see the context around the paragraph he cited). Whatever the importance of voting, I continue to think that it is much more important to be significantly involved in one’s local community. I have routinely seen a great fervor for voting, shared by the Heathen and the Faithful. There is great interest in if, how, and for or against what or who you intend to vote, but there seems to be (generally, and certainly comparatively) passivity and indifference about other, regular involvement in one’s community.

Paging through the Catechism, my cursor, likely guided by Divine Providence, chanced upon some compelling injunctions:

“It is the duty of citizens to contribute… to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom.” CCC 2239.

“It is necessary that all participate, each according to his position and role, in promoting the common good.” CCC 1913.

“As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life.” CCC 1915.

“Do not live entirely isolated, having retreated into yourselves, as if you were already justified, but gather instead to seek the common good together.” CCC 1905.

Voting is a small act that requires you to maybe spend half an hour standing in line and coloring some boxes. But the World tells us that voting is crucially important, and the Church tells us, generally, that it is a necessary submission to authority and participation in shaping the common good.

Chronicled by the likes of Alexis de Tocqueville and Robert Putnam, there is a great tradition of American civil society and community organizations. And the Church explicitly endorses participation in them.

If voting is so important, it would seem to be as, if not more, important to be regularly involved in one’s community. Imagine if you could vote every day! But there is no fervor for that.

Why do people care so much about voting on the specific people that ought to live in far away cities, while ignoring the people around them?

And why do they only propagandize voting, and not community building?

Perhaps because community building fosters self-improvement and self-reliance, which make the rabble harder to control.

*The above picture is a photograph taken by the author of a real political mailer that he actually received. One of the most fun he has seen.