Subsidiarity

Break it down again
So these are my dreams
And these are my eyes
--Tears for Fears

Subsidiarity is the organizing principle of decentralization. Matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest, most local, least centralized authority possible. Central government is relegated to a 'subsidiary' function--handling only those things that cannot be effectively dealt with locally.

Our ancestral founders understood the principle of subsidiarity to be consistent with natural law. Because the individual is sovereign and is endowed with certain inalienable rights, decentralized government is preferred over central authority. Thus the federalist design of the framers, and a constitution that granted central government limited power.

The anti-federalists worried that the framers did not decentralize enough--that the design expressed by the Constitution would enable central government to consolidate power over time. Subsequently, many of the founders including Jefferson, conceded the anti-fed's worries to be justified.

When the principle of subsidiarity is not upheld, liberty declines.