Everybody knows that stealing stuff is wrong–even thieves. So, in this blog, I’m not going to cover the 7th Commandment–“Thou shall not steal”–talking about the typical “don’t steal” stuff. This year, I was asked to go deeper into the Ten Commandments and deeper I shall go.
My degrees lie in the realm of sociology. My undergrad is a BS in sociology with an emphasis in criminology. My Masters is in Applied Behavioral Science. Basically, I was taught to study criminal behavior. My junior year of college was when I really started digging into studying people, cultures, economic systems, and criminal behavior. One of my classes was a full up study of Karl Marx, Max Weber, Émile Durkheim and the like. It was Karl Marx that fascinated me the most, though not in a good way. After reading the “Communist Manifesto,” I was stunned that anybody–anywhere–could think socialism and communism were a good idea. It was the first time I had really be introduced to the thought processes behind these ideas and I knew immediately they were bad, bad, bad news.
I had read “Animal Farm” in high school, but I didn’t quite get the gist of it because I didn’t have a full understanding of socialism. I had a vague idea of the Cold War and that we were fighting Communist Russia, but I didn’t totally get it. I had read all about Joseph McCarthy and his fight to rid America of Communists, but none of it sunk in. Then when I took my class at Kansas State and started studying Karl Marx the light bulb clicked on and everything fell into place.
In college, we were given scenario-after-scenario of countries that had tried or were practicing socialism/communism. There isn’t a single one I’d want to ever live in. The Pilgrims even tried a form of socialism when they first came over and it failed miserably. William Bradford wrote in his “Of Plymouth Plantation” about how a “share the wealth, spread it all around evenly” economic system was set up and it was leading the Pilgrims down the path of starvation. The Pilgrims thankfully came to their senses and dropped the practice and their situation improved greatly.
Initially, the Pilgrims decided that everybody in the colony would get the exact same amount of all the goods that were grown or hunted, no matter what. If Pilgrim Bob barely tended his garden yet Pilgrim John next door cultivated his with pride, Pilgrim Bob would get a share of Pilgrim John’s hard work. As would be expected, people stopped working as hard. If you don’t get to keep what you have worked hard for, you stop being motivated. If you know that you are going to get a share even if you sit on your butt, you aren’t motivated to do anything. Thankfully, the Pilgrims switched to each person keeping what they worked for and once this happened, everything righted itself.
With all this evidence that socialism and communism never work, it’s stunning to me that there is a growing number of people in our country that embrace the socialist mindset. I mean, I sorta get it. Proponents of socialism wrap it in a pretty box with a big shiny bow on top. You can almost hear the movie announcer guy say, “In a world where everyone is given everything for free and all is fair.” It sure sounds nice…until you really check into it.
I will say that capitalism, if left unchecked, can be damaging, to be sure. The Industrial Age was ripe with greed and different popes have spoken out about how capitalism can lead to materialism and greed. Capitalism is not perfect and it’s not unAmerican to say so. We have to be able to evaluate ourselves so that we can make sure we are staying on a just and right path. All economic systems are man-made and therefore they are not perfect. However, there are some that are better–much better–than others.
“…on the level of individual nations and of international relations, the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs.“ Pope John Paul II
Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum spoke out against socialism and its denial of private property.
“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.”
I don’t think I need to go into all that Pope John Paul II had to say about communism. The man lived under it in Communist-occupied Poland. Let’s just say, he wasn’t a fan by any stretch of the imagination. The Catholic Church has flat-out condemned socialism and communism. The Church
We are in an age where people are screaming for free college tuition, free health care, free birth control, free everything. But, no good is ever truly free. That’s easy to understand. The money to pay for these things has to come from somewhere. It’s always in the form of taxes.
“Just take it from the rich!” people argue. While I agree that those that are wealthy should be generous with their abundance, I do not go so far to say that it is the State’s right to see them as a cash cow that can be bled dry for government programs. I, also, agree that some taxes are necessary but governments can take it too far. Our government has ballooned into a cumbersome, bureaucratic, inefficient mess that is trillions of dollars in debt.
With socialism, the government moves to deny private property and looks to redistribute wealth around so that all is “fair.” It is a transitional state into communism where the government controls everything and people are just a cog in the system. It is stealing to deny people the fruits of their labor and to take from someone what they have earned through hard work to give it to someone else–even if you think it is more than they need.
I will always advocate for the wealthy to be generous with their money and the Church will always encourage using our surplus to help others. We are best when we do it from our free will and not when the government starts dolling out what it deems as fair shares to everyone. When the government forces us to “give” our earnings, it robs us of the being able to give to our neighbors out of a desire to help. Contrary to popular belief, most people want to help those that are going through a rough time or need support.
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48
If we lived in a perfect world, Catholic Pilgrims, there would be no need for heroism, no call for sacrifice. Everyone would be taken care of perfectly, but we live in a fallen world. Love calls us to move outside of ourselves and give to those that need our help. When the government tries to redistribute wealth it robs all of us of two very fundamental things. One, it robs us of loving our neighbor. “The government will just take care of it, they’re taking my money anyway,” becomes the attitude. But, it also robs those that need help and assistance of being helped by their fellow man. It is a great gift to all. There is no genuine love coming from the government. The government is stealing from us all the gift of hard work, the right to our private property, and the warmth of human connection.
“But, if Christian precepts prevail, the respective classes will not only be united in the bonds of friendship, but also in those of brotherly love. For they will understand and feel that all men are children of the same common Father, who is God..” Pope Leo XIII
P.S. Read “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. I’m serious. Read it.
