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The moral case against big government is being made once again by David Cameron’s new-look Tories. Governments, they argue, have a tendency to grow and grow, always taking on more power.
We often dub it the “nanny state”, and associate it with legislation that narrows the domain of civil liberty. Often this complaint is made in the context of relatively trivial debates over the rights of smokers or fat people to access health care. As we basically trust our governments, we don’t complain too much. If we had a stronger sense that our government had the potential to harm its people, we would be up in arms. Perhaps that is why those cultures that have had more experience of hostile governments have a clearer sense of the moral potential of the political Right.
Over the past few months, I have had something of a conversion to the Right. I no longer believe that the Left is capable of delivering on its progressive promises. I no longer trust the Left to sustain an inclusive vision of human togetherness. The culture wars in global Anglicanism have brought me to this.
The trouble with the Left is that it is always looking for the big picture, the overarching narrative of human community — hence big government. The problem is that the grand plan frequently involves casualties and betrayals. Ordinary people are squashed in the search for a utopia. But, because the cause is so noble, the casualties are easily justified. There is nothing more dangerous than people who are convinced of their own virtue.
The latest grand plan for Anglicanism is called the Covenant. The Primates of the Communion have fallen out, and have refused to share communion with each other. Their answer to this situation is that we vote them more decision-making power. It is like trying to put out a fire with petrol. But, because these Primates have whipped up an atmosphere of panic, they are persuading some people that theological martial law needs to be imposed.
My turn to the Right persuades me that Anglicanism does not need bigger church government. It does not need a new internationalism imposing uniformity top-down from a committee of Primates. My text is 1 Samuel 8: God instructs Samuel to tell his people that if they put too much power in one place, it will return to bite them. “When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king that you have chosen; but the Lord will not answer you.”
This is why we must resist the move to central control. The Bishop of Abuja hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England — not yet, at least.
The Revd Dr Giles Fraser is Team Rector of Putney.
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