Maryland Subsidiarity discusses local and state ideas that will improve our communities and shape our world. Subsidiarity is the principle that the smaller social or political entity or institution ought to be given priority to make decisions on issues that affect them, rather than leaving those decisions to be made by the whole group. In other words, whenever possible, the individual should come before the community, the community before the state, the state before the federation, and so on. In this context, the responsibility of the bigger institution is to enable the smaller one to perform its tasks and to provide it with any necessary support.