Socialism seeks to divide people in to “haves” and “have nots.” Socialistic policies attempt to take resources from the “haves” and redistribute them in some way to the “have nots.” Said another way, socialistic laws seek to transfer wealth from the “privileged” to the “underprivileged” or “marginalized.”
This has been going on for years. If we did it in my family, it would look like this:
My youngest son went trick-or-treating on Halloween and grossed about five pounds of candy. His three older siblings didn’t put in the work to costume up and trek the neighborhood, so they have no candy. They are candy underprivileged. To even things up, I should take from my youngest son’s stash and divide it evenly among the four so everyone has the same.
Interestingly, my youngest son would not agree that redistributing his candy was fair play. For some reason, he thinks he should enjoy the fruit of his own labor and his siblings should have put in some work if they wanted some of the action. But the three older Marxists shrug and say, “It’s only right for you to share with us because we didn’t get any.”
As an aside, socialism is often sold as a way to “share the wealth,” but sharing actually plays no part in it. When I take from one and give to another, I have not forced him to share. I have stolen from him and given what was his to another. That’s all it is, plain and simple. Sharing happens when we decide to give what is ours to someone else; it is not forced.
When we pass legislation that takes from a certain demographic and transfers that wealth to another demographic, we steal from some and give what was stolen to others who have not worked for it, and everyone knows it. Those who are forced to pay know it most keenly.
When the President decided to “forgive student debts,” he planned to take from those who pay taxes and give money to a subset of the American people (those who have gone to university and currently retain student debt). How is this anything short of bribery? It is wrong to take money from some people and hand it over to others. That is stealing. Section 8 of the United States Constitution says:
“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States”
Notice, they must provide for the “general welfare of the United States.” They do not have a right to provide for the welfare of a special group of people they just want to help out because they are going through a tough time. Also notice The Congress is the branch of government who is allowed by law to collect taxes and pass laws to provide for the general welfare. The President does not have that authority from our Constitution.
The majority of the founders of our country’s Constitution believed in God, and they wrote the laws of our land leaning heavily on Scripture. They understood that God wants people to own property. We are each created in the image of God, and God has instructed us to have dominion over this earth—not dominion over each other or each other’s stuff. There is more than enough in God’s green earth to go around, but socialists would have us believe this earth’s resources are limited. This is tantamount to saying that God cannot provide for so many people. Those calling for a reduction in the earth’s population do not believe in the providence of God.
The Proverbs speak to a division between two kinds of people. Sometimes it’s wicked vs. righteous, and sometimes it’s foolish vs. wise. In every case, the wicked and foolish receive a negative result for their actions or failures to act, and the righteous and wise are blessed for their work.
No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.
Prov. 12.3
The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.
Prov. 12.7
God blesses the diligent worker. It is good in the sight of God that he retains his wealth.
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.
Prov 12.11
From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.
Prov. 12.14
The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.
Prov. 12.24
Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.
Prov. 12.27
Why do we think it good, then, to take wealth from those who earn it and give it to those who have not? Why not, rather, reward those who work hard? Why not value honesty and hard labor and reward it?
Socialism rewards foolishness and slothfulness and penalizes workers. Those who pay taxes have worked to earn money. Many are small business owners and people who have developed skills and found ways of using those skills which others value and purchase. Those who have debts mostly chose to have debts. Certainly all who have college debt chose to go to college hoping to earn a degree and obtain knowledge which would help them later. They have a responsibility to pay that debt. Taxpayers, many of whom paid off their own student loans, should not be required to pay off the debts of others.
Socialism is immoral because it is stealing. Just because it’s the federal government doing it doesn’t make it right. In fact, it increases the consequences to the sin, leaving large swaths of the country crippled and hurt.
Work hard and reward hard work. God has built this law into this world: “You reap what you sow.” That’s how it’s supposed to be, and that’s how we should leave it.
What about those who are hurting and hungry—the “have nots”? We should share with them, but not at gunpoint. We should take care of those in our own communities, but not because we are forced to by the government. We should extend grace to them, because God has given us much grace. We should teach them the value of hard work and help them find reward for their own labor. Praise God, there is plenty to go around!
Amen. Well said.