In the Charles Dickens classic, two men approached a wealthy businessman on the streets of London asking for a small donation to help the poor. His reply was, “Are there no prisons? And the union workhouses – are they still in operation?” The collectors sadly gave an affirmative reply, prompting the miserly businessman to state, “Oh, from what you said at first I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course. I'm very glad to hear it… I help to support the establishments I have named; those who are badly off must go there.”
Prior to 1834, England’s poor laws had the philosophy that everyone was due a minimum subsistence and that the local communities/parishes were responsible for this. It was neighbors taking care of neighbors, and those who needed help received it until they could get back on their feet. In their utilitarian view, the central government instituted the New Poor Laws in 1834 that took a 180 degree turn on relief for the poor. To the central government this law made perfect sense. It created a central standardization and uniformity in the way to deal with poverty. By forcing the poor into the workhouse they believed that the poor would be more diligent in obtaining and maintaining employment. Of course, like all government socialization, they only compounded the problem. The New Poor Law removed poverty from the communities and created a welfare state, leading to a dehumanization of the poor. The communities or parishes had historically and legally been responsible for the poor and the poor had certain rights. Yet, with the creation of the welfare state, those rights were abrogated for the greater good of the people as a whole.
The evils of socialism are many, and certainly the inherent loss of individual freedom is at the top of the list of harms. Before any of us were born we fought against being forced to do good. We choose agency, even though we knew the hardships that being free would bring to our lives. We rejected the Evil One’s plan that would have forced us all to do everything right.
Davy Crockett – Member of Congress, hero of the Alamo – said, “We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money.”Yet now our government is attempting to create a society that forces us to give our substance for the “common good” of all. Besides the fact that the more government involvement creates more poverty, what this does to us as a people is allows us to abdicate our responsibility to take care of the down trodden – and this diminishes us, and our spirits.
The greatest harm of socialism – that thing that Satan wants the most – is for us to abdicate our charitable actions to the government. My view is that the “concept” and “objective” of socialism is to destroy the soul. The left keeps using the argument that if we truly cared about people we would want them to be ensured a sustenance from the government – like they did in England in 1834. But what socialism really is is us giving the government the ability to care for others so we don’t have to. I can’t think of anything that would be more detrimental to the soul than not giving of ourselves to others – no charity. We who abdicate, directly or indirectly, our charitable actions to the government are hurt deeper on a spiritual plain.
When we think of our neighbor down the street who just became unemployed, do our thoughts sound like: “that’s too bad, but luckily I’ve paid into the unemployment insurance fund ever since I’ve held a job, so thankfully I’ve done my part”? Or when someone is sick on the verge of dying do we say to ourselves, “sure hope he bought life insurance so his family is taken care of” and then go merrily along assuaging our consciences? Yet our divine responsibility is to cradle the stranger in our arms comforting them and easing them into the next life.
Socialism is evil because it takes away our ability to watch our neighbor suffer – or step in and raise the sufferer up, feeding him, clothing him, and giving him comfort. A true utopian society is not one where the government is there to help when there is need, but where neighbors/communities know each other and never would allow someone to starve OR lose their dignity.
As I understand it, Jesus taught that if a man asks you for your coat give him your cloak as well. What the government wants is that if a man asks you for your coat, give your coat and cloak to the government and they’ll give the man a sock. There is something that happens to a person and to a community when they all pitch in together to help someone – when they individually give of themselves. If we lose that sense of brotherhood, we’ve lost our souls.
