Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Government Gone Wild
Exclusive: Dave Welch urges Americans to reject 'the state is
God' mentality
Posted: August 04, 2009
1:00 am Eastern
By Dave Welch
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 one 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.
(Column continues below)
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)