Thanks to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, there are a lot of people who have begun to boycott BP. I’m not one of them; I still shop for gasoline based on price and convenience.

That’s because I support, and practice, the subsidiary principle. It wasn’t hard for me to figure out what to do, because it all came back to the local community. Since I don’t have a family that’s my lowest level for decision-making.

Most BP stores are franchises owned by local or regional operators. They have contracts that require them to still buy their gas from BP. Given that a convenience store’s major product is gas, if the operator broke their contract it would mean financial disaster.

I’m not going to insist that my local convenience store owner cut off their nose to spite their face.

At the same time, I do believe that BP bears the responsibility for addressing the oil spill. They are the ones who create the gas that the convenience store owners purchase. They’re the lowest economic player that can handle the situation as a whole.

They owe it to their convenience store contract holders, who are vital parts of our gasoline-dependent community.

As far as government intervention, I don’t believe it should be necessary. However, I do support the Obama Administration’s decision to interfere. Economic factors have not prevented BP from acting irresponsibly. Since the role of government is to protect the common good, it was correct for them to step in and make them do it.

This doesn’t help my opinion of BP, but again, I’m not going to hurt my local convenience store owners by boycotting them.

Many people insist that subsidiarity isn’t practical and only affects political decisions anyway. Really? Then why is applying it to the Deepwater Horizon situation so very straightforward? The whole point of Catholic Social Teaching is to support the family and the community.