Seriously, what’s with the cold war angst? It’s like we have to add “socialist” to our diminishing list of cuss words in American English: “Socialist you!” “Eat my Marx!” “You’re a Swede!” “Your mom got to go to college free!”
In the last few weeks of the 2008 election, McCain has had this (desperation) rhetoric, something to the effect of “Obama wants to spread your wealth around, I want you to keep your wealth!” This statement infuriates me; it beckons all of the righteous Holy Spirit level anger inside of me (I’m serious). Why is it that Christians, siding with the Republican Party are such strong advocates of keeping wealth for ourselves, isn’t that absolutely contrary to everything that’s in, uh, the bible?
1. Did you know that at the feasts in Jerusalem, people would bring their tithes of grain and livestock to be enjoyed together with all people, no matter how much they brought? 2. Did you know that Jesus called the rich young ruler to liquidate all assets and follow Him? 3. Did you know that in the early church people liquidated their real estate so that they could let the disciples redistribute it to widows and orphans? The cornerstone of the Republican Party has been lower taxes, guns, my rights, my rights, my rights. In MY faith, I have NO rights; my priority is helping others PERIOD.
I should interject and thank David for his comment re: giving to government vs. charity, which is a completely valid statement. I do realize that the giving in each of the three bible verses above are in the context of spiritual communities, and not the government (save, perhaps, the first one). So it begs the question, and I think there’s some wiggle room here, how applicable are these passages in scripture?
Well, Bruce’s comment (thank you Bruce) answers it pretty well, we’re not talking about charity, we’re talking about need. I am a small-business owner so I pay taxes through the nose, but I can’t (effing) get any (effing) healthcare because of an (effing) pre-existing condition that I was (effing) born with!! (Pardon my French). The issue of healthcare is not charity, it’s a need indeed baby! And I, as a socialist, would be happy to pay more taxes and be able to get healthcare as an (effing) healthy-non-smoking-non-drinking-non-meat-eating-29-year-old for less than $430 a month!!!! (Whew). And while I’m at it, I’d like my kids to be able to go to any college that want, for free.
What if the government, (Under president Gore) said 8 years ago: “That sub prime lending you’re doing sounds fishy, and boy it’s very, very profitable. I’m not going to disallow it, but I’m going to put a 50% tax on it use that money to, hmm, feed hungry kids.”
What if the president said “Hmm, Exxon, record profits because gas prices are going up but your expenses are not, I’m going to put a 50% tax on your oil revenue and I’m going to spend it on, hmmm, cheap, affordable solar power so everyone can heat their water with a roof-mounted solar heating unit (China’s got ‘em).”
To me, there are only two reasons Christians/Republicans are so vehemently opposed to Socialism. #1) Gorbachev has secretly rebuilt a Kalashnikov armed Soviet Army that will invade us as they spread Nuclear death among the Capitalist infidels, or #2) the reality that people are greedy and just don’t want to let go of their money. I guess #3 could be that Capitalism is superior (?) but look at how greed has corrupted the homeowners, bankers, brokers, regulators, and politicians… uh, look at your 401K!!
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Tim 6:10
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Luke 16:13
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matt 19:24
Friends, conservative and liberal, Christians and secular, I behoove you to defend (or deny) capitalism and attack (or exonerate) a progression toward a more Socialist state. I want to know, I’m curious, what’s with the cold war angst!?
4 comments:
Kai,
Interesting points. I'm not a political expert by any means but would like to share some of my thoughts.
First off, it appears you are challenging your readers to argue for or against socialism. My question to you is whether you can point out any examples of countries that have had high rates of growth or prosperity that operated under a highly socialist, or even more extreme, communist model? France? Certainly they've had lower rates of poverty within their country when compared to the US and other developed nations, but their rates of unemployment have usually been much higher.
However, even if France did have higher rates of economic growth and welfare than other nations, would you consider it a model of what a Christian society should look like? It would be odd, to say the least, given the general agnostic/ atheist malaise that most of its citizens adhere to.
If we want to take a look at a country like China or Russia, however, I think the answer is more clear. Complete government control where people have very little personal wealth can result in highly inefficient policies which can be very destructive to society. I just read a book about China's modern history, including the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. Chairman Mao was an insane, power-hungry despot who, despite possible good intentions, sent the country down a downward spiral which it wasn't able to recover from until decades later.
An example would be during Mao's Great Leap Forward, in which he commissioned all of the citizens of the country to melt their possessions made of iron and send the resulting material to the central government, which would use the material to build weapons, ovens, etc that would help China to catapult past the developed nations of the West. Instead, the idea caused mass inefficiencies that induced starvation amongst the general populace, and the ensuing famine killed tens of millions of people.
I agree with you that the capitalist, deregulated US business environment had partially excused the rampant greed which consumed wall street and helped to cause the current financial crisis. But I believe the problem here is greed, not capitalism/deregulation. I believe if the government taxes companies heavily, thus wiping away a significant amount of their profits, this will create tremendous disincentive for companies to innovate and "better themselves." If they realize they won't be rewarded for their efforts, they won't make the effort in the first place. Instead, they will rely on other tactics to make money, such as obtaining special favor with government officials or other under-the-table dealings. The result would be less innovation within society and more energy expended on non-productive activities (i.e. bribery), which would cause the nation's growth rate to decline rapidly versus a society where companies have incentive to innovate and operate efficiently due to their ability to keep most of their profits.
In summary, I feel that giving the government control of areas which should be the responsibility of private society (i.e. charitable giving, caring for the poor, etc.) will result in greater governmental intervention, greater overall inefficiency due to the beauracratic nature of state run enterprises, and potential disincentives for companies and private citizens to innovate and even give away their profits to charity. But yes, getting companies and individuals to give away more is a challenging task indeed, and now we have seen what happens when they don't do this enough.
Anyways, these are just my 2 cents- its getting late but I'm curious to hear your responses.
Rob, you should start a counter-blog: forever capitalist for Christ:) Your words were very well said and I appreciate you taking the time to put so much thought into this subject. Your comments will certainly influence my next blog.
wow.. just re-read my comment. Sorry for rambling! It was late...
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