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One of the most positive developments amidst the open cesspool in our nation's capital that has spewed enough political sewage in the last six months to qualify as a Superfund toxic waste site is the exposure of the "devil in the details" in President Obama's Red Tape Health Care plan. The mad dash to passage in order to avoid such exposure failed, and now the people are getting a frightening glimpse into the true heart of our Government Gone Wild – led now by fascists.
One look into H.R. 3200 and we see the final frontier of Orwellian tyranny proposed by democratically elected representatives of what was once a "shining city on a hill" for all who yearned to be free. It must be appallingly disconcerting for immigrants – legal and illegal – who have fled oppression for a chance at peace and prosperity, only to find that Lady Liberty is now holding a gun instead of a torch.
Yet, once again we have to ask ourselves just who are the culprits in this madness? A morally, philosophically and spiritually bankrupt Democratic Party? A floundering, weak and ineffective Republican Party? Politicians who wax eloquent on the campaign trail only to morph into an invertebrate when they enter the state or national capitals? Yes … and no.
Will the accused please rise – "We, the People"?
Alexis de Tocqueville prophetically observed in his landmark work, "Democracy in America," in 1835 that we would be in great danger once the people determined we could vote ourselves "largess" from the public treasury. Obamacare is a natural consequence of the progression of a people who for generations have spurned both Bible and Constitution by both seeking and accepting the forced taking of the property of our neighbor for our own benefit.
It is called redistribution of wealth, which is socialism – however, it must be imposed by force as government merges with commerce, which is fascism. Without a sweeping reformation of what we demand of our government, a Brave New America will be the legacy we leave for our children.
Pastor, theologian and author R.C. Sproul Jr. wrote in his excellent and very readable book "Biblical Economics" that:
Advocates of a transfer society in which the power of the state is used to force a redistribution of wealth constantly couch their platforms in two noble phrases: "social justice" and "the goal of economic equality." These twin concepts are noble in intention and might work in a sinless society, but to coerce economic equality in a sinful society is to perform social injustice. The redistributionist is guilty of calling evil good. His end is noble, but his means ignoble; his goal is altruistic, but his methods are tyrannical.What really is the difference between farm subsidies and government health care, other than that the government has not yet forced us to buy produce only from government cooperatives? The bottom line is that once we assumed that government, not God and God-given abilities, is our provider, it was only a matter of time before we declined into our current state of politicians engaging in a bidding war for providing services rather than adhering to their duty to uphold and defend the U.S. and state constitutions.
Sproul also reminds us that, "Government is force." Romans 13:4 compels us to respect that authority because it "… does not bear the sword for nothing." The key point is that every action of government is the use of force to either restrain or compel, to either protect or to take.
Because we have turned government into God, His judgment is just as sure as it has always been and just as unavoidable. Ancient Israel had turned to false gods – again – and in His perfect justice, in order to turn them back, he spoke through Isaiah:
For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water; The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder, The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the expert artisan, and the skillful enchanter. And I will make mere lads their princes, and capricious children will rule over them, and the people will be oppressed, each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; the youth will storm against the elder and the inferior against the honorable. (Isaiah 3:1-5)We stop Government Gone Wild by going back to the basics, as Sproul concludes with a challenge for the people – beginning in the churches – to appeal and repent to the sovereign Governor of the universe, returning to His ways. We must reject government largess in every form, including Cash for Clunkers or taxpayer-subsidized anything. Able-bodied citizens must avoid or walk away from dependency on a faceless bureaucracy that fosters slavery.
The benefits of a free market that produces prosperity are grounded in a faith in God, collective adherence to principles of equity and justice and willingness to labor for what we need and not demand it of our neighbor.
We must also be willing to let people suffer the consequences of slothfulness and sin for their own sake, as it is God's way of "course correction" for our lives when we wander away from Him. We must return benevolent giving of money, time and goods to assist the truly needy to a personal level. Only then is it compassion.
Finally, God promises in the same chapter of Isaiah that even in the midst of His judgment on the rebellious nation, those who follow Him will be rewarded:
Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their actions. (verse 10)
