God, Socialism, and the Lowest Common Denominator

“Faith-based initiatives”, once anathema to the political left when promoted by President Bush in 2003, are now highly popular with the Obama administration. Not only do they embrace the once-reviled church-state relationship, Obama’s forces are now co-opting religious groups for the purpose of furthering their political and ideological goals. Former vociferous critics of this apparent infringement of church and state separation are amazingly silent. As TheocracyWatch.org stated in 2004, “Under the Bush administration, our country is experiencing a major transformation from a secular to a religious government.”

Now, Nancy Pelosi implores Catholic clergy to promote illegal immigrant amnesty from the pulpits and the EPA offers ministers “access to financing” for preaching the gospel of global warming.

Why are critics on the left silent? Because they understand that it is not Obama’s intention to transform “from a secular to a religious government”. It is to transform religion into a secular arm of the State to promote the tenets of socialism under the banner of “social justice”.

The radicalization of Islam is a prime example of the successful transformation of a religion into a government-controlled nightmare of evil. Could this happen to Christianity or Judaism? Absolutely, it has happened before. The Spanish Inquisition comes to mind. But are religious organizations and socialism natural partners? Is God a socialist? In a word, the answer is a resounding “NO”.

For centuries, Catholicism has been at odds with repressive regimes whose leaders understood that belief in God is a barrier against government control of the populace. The following was written in 1891 in the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII “On Capital and Labor”:

The elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science; in the changed relations between masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses; the increased self reliance and closer mutual combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral degeneracy. […]

To remedy these wrongs the socialists, working on the poor man's envy of the rich, are striving to do away with private property, and contend that individual possessions should become the common property of all, to be administered by the State or by municipal bodies. […]

Socialists, therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large, strike at the interests of every wage-earner, since they would deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and of bettering his condition in life. […]

And in addition to injustice, it is only too evident what an upset and disturbance there would be in all classes, and to how intolerable and hateful a slavery citizens would be subjected. The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry; and that ideal equality about which they entertain pleasant dreams would be in reality the leveling down of all to a like condition of misery and degradation. Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.

Echoing Pope Leo XIII, noted Catholic priest Fr. John Corapi writes in his book, “Letters”, published in 2010:

At a time when it surely seems that capitalism has run amuck and poised the world on the edge of economic ruin, the temptation is very strong for the pendulum to swing too far left into the failed and immoral territory of socialism. Historically pure socialism has never worked, philosophically it cannot work, and morally it is inherently evil… The common error is to think that socialism helps the poor and disenfranchised… Rather, it reduces everyone to the same lowest common denominator of poverty and misery, while at the same time drying up the very sources of capital.

Socialism has never raised the standard of living or improved the moral complexion of a society. Instead, it lowers the economic and societal norms, as is occurring in Venezuela. The larger the social collective, the lower its common denominator will be.

We are now witnessing the fall of socialist Europe. Greece, their weakest link, becomes the lowest common denominator. Like mountain climbers tethered together by a rope, first Greece loses its grip and falls. The higher European nations are dragged off the cliff one by one. They are all equally flattened at the bottom of the mountain. Social justice and economic equality prevails.

The only positive outcome of this collapse is that it may temporarily slow the march toward global governance once the inevitable consequences become evident. One can only imagine the lowest common denominator environment in a global socialist regime. Perhaps Somalia will be the model for society in the dystopian future. The US must untie the rope before it is dragged into the abyss with the rest of the international socialist mountain climbers.

Greek labor unions are rioting on the streets of Athens. On May 5th, the protesters fire-bombed a bank, killing three people. After last week’s episode of an angry SEIU mob protesting at a private residence in Maryland, is it so hard to envision the union-driven anarchy in Athens repeated on our streets? A question for Janet Napolitano: Based on these recent events, who is more likely to be a “domestic terrorist”? A Tea Party protester or a union thug?

As Fr. Corapi states, socialism is “inherently evil”. How could God be a socialist? After all, He addresses the issue in two of his Ten Commandments:

#8: Thou shall not steal.

#10: Thou shall not covet your neighbor's house; thou shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

In other words, keep your damn hands off of other people’s property.

Angel