Shields: Candidates asking wrong question for a justice-based race

Published: 2004-05-27

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If they're truly focusing on issues of morality and justice, candidates for president should ask voters this election year not "are you better off than you were four years ago?" but "are 'we' better off?" said syndicated columnist and television commentator Mark Shields in a May 26 address to the Catholic Press Association. Shields said it's a "tragedy of politics" that both political parties have become dedicated to appealing to individualism: the Democrats from the perspective that every individual is autonomous and entitled to live as they choose without regard for the concerns of the broader society; and the Republicans to the notion of economic individualism, where the overriding goal is to reduce how much individuals are expected to contribute financially to society. Neither party is emphasizing goals for the nation that focus on justice for those in need, for the working poor and for those who can't afford to be hospitalized when sick, he said. Gone also are the days when the nation was asked to sacrifice in support of a war, Shields said.

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