The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Politics of Greed

Free Stuff

Our formerly great political system has deteriorated to the point where politicians are now appealing primarily to greed by attempting to purchase votes. Just consider the current promises that presidential candidates are making:

  • The forgiveness of all college loans.
  • A guarantee of free college education in the future.
  • The provision of reparations to all descendants of slaves.
  • A promise of reparations to same-sex couples.
  • A pledge of universal medical care.
  • The gift of a $1,000 savings account for each new baby.
  • The provision of free child care.
  • A guaranteed job for every person.
  • A guaranteed minimum income.

The Illusion of “Free Stuff”

This insane list goes on and on. All the candidates seem to be yelling. “Free stuff! Free stuff! Vote for me and get free stuff!”

And people are responding like cows running to a fresh bale of hay. It’s a sad scene of unmitigated greed.

And who is going to pay for all this “free stuff”? The answer of the mob is, of course: “Someone else, but certainly not us.”

It reminds me of what H. L. Menken once wrote when he characterized elections as “an early auction on stolen goods.” George Bernard Shaw put it this way: “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend upon the support of Paul.”

Modern day commentator, Louis DeBroux, has summed it up this way:

Of course, anyone with an IQ above room temperature knows nothing is free. Every good or service is produced at a cost, and producers demand to be paid. So [politicians], while promising you free stuff, are really promising to make your neighbor pay for it.

Every good or service is produced at a cost, and producers demand to be paid. So (politicians), while promising you free stuff, are really promising to make your neighbor pay for it. #Socialism Click To Tweet

Covering the Price Tag

So, if the greedy masses are not going to pay for all the “free stuff,” then how is it to be financed? The solutions being put forward are: “tax the rich,” “tax the corporations” and “print money.”

Did you know that you really cannot tax a corporation? That’s because when you put taxes on a corporation, the response is always one of three things or a combination of them:

  1. Freeze or lower wages.
  2. Reduce the dividends to investors.
  3. Raise prices to the consumers.

The most frequent choice is, of course, to raise prices. In any case, it is people who end up paying the taxes.

So, what about slapping a 70% tax on the rich — or even 90% as FDR did? This is always self-defeating because such high tax rates curtail investment, resulting in a reduction in business activity. And that, of course, means a massive loss of jobs. This is one of the main reasons that the economic downturn in 1929 morphed into The Great Depression.

The Socialist Congresswoman from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has dismissed all the concern about cost by simply proposing that we “print money.” That is the prescription for a run-away inflation which would destroy the value of all savings.

Political Protection

The politics of greed is the inherent weakness of pure democracy. It will always end up destroying the democratic system.

David Reagan: The politics of greed is the inherent weakness of pure #democracy. It will always end up destroying the democratic system. Click To Tweet

Our Founding Fathers were very aware of this problem because they believed in the biblical view of Mankind — namely, that people are born with a sin nature and therefore cannot be trusted.

As we all know, they rejected monarchy. What is amazing is that they also rejected Oligarchy (the rule of the privileged). The reason that is remarkable is because most of them were aristocrats. But the point is that they did not even trust themselves. Nor did they believe in pure democracy because they did not trust the Common Man. They knew that pure democracy always evolved into mobocracy.

So, they established a Representative Democracy whereby, hopefully, enlightened persons with high morals and great wisdom would be elected to represent the masses.

This is why they insulated the federal government from the direct vote of the people. They accomplished this by making only members of the House of Representatives eligible for direct election. Senators were appointed by state legislatures. And the President was selected by an Electoral College whose members were, in turn, selected in any manner a state might choose.

Socialism Cartoon

(https://politicallyincorrecthumor.com)

The Erosion of Political Protection

Over time, this system of political protection from mobocracy has eroded. Consider, for example the selection of members of the Electoral College. At the beginning, electors in about half the states were selected by the legislatures; in the other states they were selected by popular vote. A trend toward popular election picked up fast, and by 1832, only South Carolina was still appointing electors.

Today, despite the fact that all members of the Electoral College are selected by popular vote, there are increasing demands that the College itself be abolished so that the President can be elected directly.

Meanwhile, the same trend toward direct election characterized the selection of Senators, leading up to the adoption of the 17th Amendment in 1913 which mandates their popular election.

Other roadblocks to mobocracy and the politics of greed which our Founding Fathers instituted were states’ rights and the brilliant system of separation of powers and its built-in checks and balances — a concept based on the Scriptures (Isaiah 33:22).

States’ rights have almost disappeared over the years due to the centralization of power in the national government. And likewise, the separation of powers has been undermined by the focusing of power in the presidency.

The barriers to the mob mentality are the reason our Constitution has continued to exist to this day — longer than any other constitution in history. But those days appear to be numbered.

The “Progressive” Agenda

The “Progressives” want no barriers to “the will of the people,” regardless of how perverted that will may be. So they are advocating the abolition of the Electoral College and a scheme to pack the Supreme Court with judicial activists who have no respect for our Constitution.

Concerning the Supreme Court, it comes as a surprise to most people that the number of justices on the Court is not specified in the Constitution. Six times in America history Congress has changed the size of the Supreme Court by either increasing or decreasing the number of justices — each time for political reasons.

“Power to the people!” That’s the politically correct cry of today. It sounds so good, but it results in horrors like the French Revolution because there is no magical goodness in the people or in the majority vote.

The current attempts to abridge freedom of religion should be sobering to all those who think “the majority knows best.” The same is true of increasing attempts to broaden hate legislation to include any speech against abortion, same-sex marriage, homosexuality or any other perversion, like pedophilia, which the majority may decide to endorse.

Bernie Sanders

(https://tiktogram.com/tag/socialism)

The Nature of the Crisis

The question looming before the American electorate is whether or not we are willing to sell our souls and our freedoms for “free stuff.” I believe we are.

Keep in mind that in the last presidential election, the future of our nation — the Millennials — overwhelmingly supported Bernie Sanders, an out-and-out Socialist, and when he failed to get the nomination, they voted for Hillary. Remember too, that Hillary received three million more votes than Trump. The only reason Trump is our President is because of the Electoral College which the Liberals and Socialists are determined to abolish.

The most sobering thing to keep in mind is that all the recent polls reveal that only 9% of Americans have a biblical worldview, and only 15% of professing Christians can be characterized as “Bible-believing.”

Our nation’s glory days are over. We are destined for destruction, and the fundamental reason is that we have forgotten about God.

You have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the rock of your refuge. (Isaiah 17:10)

David Reagan: Our nation's glory days are over. We are destined for destruction, and the fundamental reason is that we have forgotten about #God. Click To Tweet
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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

14 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

    “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, “I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

    “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

    “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (NIV)

  • My only comment is that true Christian’s stay focused on Lord Jesus and his coming and not relying on man to solve the world’s problems, which includes the political arena as well.

  • Apart from a major revival, I’m afraid that Dr. Reagan is correct. We have been rapidly going downhill since the 60’s, and today the leaders of that revolution are running our Congress. Talk about scary. The leaders of this slide are teaching our children at all levels, especially our universities. If the progressive democrats gain control of all three branches of our government, the slide will become a crash. We’re very, very close to the crash.

  • The words of Jesus sound a lot like progressive socialism, unlike some conservatives who chose to ignore the obvious implications of the Sermon on the Mount and feel threatened by the “greed” of those “others”. Could it be that some who consider themselves sheep will discover some day that Jesus considers them to be goats?

    • Ed, Jesus was teaching how the Church should operate, not fallen human government. The sin nature ruins any chance of Socialism working, as prolifically proven by history.

      • So True Nathan: The Church should stand on God’s word, not man’s word or deception.

        God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are His.”

    • Not just candidates for President are saying there should be “free stuff” . We have a President who is literally giving away the Treasury with 400 billion on top of 100 billion to farmers who lost money on his great trade deals! They are getting twice what they lost and only to insure that DT is reelected! That’s future taxpayer money. That kind of mendacity and misuse of power is exacerbated by his gigantic giveaway to the wealthiest and least deserving tax evaders in the country that continues apace. Ask yourself was Jesus Christ a capitalist or a socialist? He gave away his very life for others!!

  • The price of “free” is freedom itself. Once society succumbs to the short sighted allure of “free,” those who revel in its illusory dream will, should the Lord tarry, soon be awakened to the jarring reality that the rich have either been drained of their resources or simply disappeared and they themselves will be stuck with paying the rest of their lives for everyone else’s free college, healthcare, childcare, housing, utilities, etc., etc., etc.,. They will have become unwilling slaves to a malicious, immoral state that will send them to re-education camps and finally organ farms to harvest their organs before it allows them to change their minds. Right Chairman Xi!

  • Love your article. Yes this country and its institutions have forgotten about God. Yet the ROOT of this problem is the public schools who’s teachers are committed to teach anti God anti family anti gun anti democracy and pro euthanasia. Oh and I forgot sodomy and homosexuality to 12 and 13 year olds.

    For some reason this silent undermining of our children is the reason why we see so much hatred and violence today.

    Teachers and professors are used as tools to silently change our country. Why is no one talking about that? Exactly what Hitler did to the youth of that time. WAKE UP PARENTS

  • Free stuff sounds like political never kept promises. On the other hand lawlessness, crimes against humanity and the world, discrimination against fellow man seems to be what the Evangelical are in agreement with. Even the elect shall be deceived. Love one another as Christ has Love us.

  • As a father of several generations from 1 yr old to 38 yrs old, it is sad to see the results of my own generation’s greed and lack of fortitude to do what is righteous. I agree with Revered Wright who said “The chickens have come home to roost” but he was wrong about the reasons why. God is judging this country because we are fools and full of sin. God may stay his judgment for a little while because President Trump has supported Israel but, like Ninevah, judgment will come.

    I pray that those who still follow Yeshua will repent and pray. That the bride of Christ will wake up and look up and begin to preach the Word of God in its totality. As I heard Jim Cymbalis exclaim in a sermon in 2004, “Let’s get rid of the seeker sensitive silliness and get back to preaching and praying.”

    As we look forward to the return of the bridegroom for his bride, may our lamps be full of oil and may we be watchful. Maranatha, Come Lord Yeshua.

  • John Locke: SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT—-
    OF THE ENDS OF POLITICAL SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT
    If man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said; if he be absolute lord of his own Person and Possessions … and subject to no body, why will he ‘ Part with his freedom?… To which tis obvious to answer, that though in the state of nature he hath such a right, Yet the enjoyment of it is very uncertain and constantly exposed to t he invasion of others … the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe, very unsecure. This makes him willing to quit a condition, which however free, is full of fears and continual dangers … and is willing to join in society … for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties, and estates, which I call by the general name, property.

    The great and chief end therefore. of men’s uniting into commonwealths. and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property-

    But though men when they enter into society, give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature, into the hands of society,…Yet it being only with an intention in everyone the better to preserve himself his liberty and property …

  • True believers see the truth. We can all see that 2 Timothy 4:2 is happening. For the Time will come when people will not put with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

    the Bible says Bible prophecy is a lamp shining in a dark place. II Peter 1:19. That light should not be extinguished! It gives hope, encouragement, and helps us fight the good fight. It reminds us God is in control, that He has a special plan, and that He keeps His Promise. Our Assignment is to be Watchmen. Ezekiel 33. Live Holy in an Unholy Age till the Lord comes.

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