Seven
Grievous Sins America's Leaders Commit Against Their Own People, and
What the Bible Says About That
by
Rev. Paul J. Bern
As
the 2016 presidential race mercifully winds down, they are some
things that need to be said about those in charge, and why every
incumbent candidate or political party deserves to be voted out of
office. The US is in such a state of disarray as I write this that
we, the voters, need to start all over again on a clean sheet of
paper. I can think of lots of things I'd like to see happen. Get the
corporate and lobbyist money out of politics and outlaw the greed by
overturning Citizens United and imposing Congressional term limits.
Call off all the endless wars, close the bases and bring our troops
home. The American people will soon need them to protect us from the
government anyway. Cut the need for welfare and food assistance
programs by doubling the minimum wage to a realistic level and
offering free higher education without qualification. Offer low cost
single payer health care by putting the whole country on Medicare,
including those on Medicaid and Obama-care, and then abolish the
latter two. It's really not difficult to figure out what's needed,
all that's required is some implementation on the part of Congress
and our incoming president. If, that is, these crooks would get out
of the office of their 'lobbyist dujour' long enough to go to
the House or Senate floor and vote on something once in a while!
I
have assembled a list of every gut-wrenching, visceral injustice
currently being committed by the very people that have been entrusted
with the responsible and prudent leadership of what used to be the
greatest country in the world, the USA., with a few interjections
along the way from the Word of God regarding these matters. It has
been my observation for some time now that the underpaid US workers
that do have jobs, combined with the unemployed and sometimes even
homeless American population, none of whom are able to find any work
at all, are a ticking time bomb hidden in plain sight across America.
The following is a listing of the abuses being heaped upon us, when
in fact we deserve no such thing! The list doesn't include our most
grievous offenses, those of military and economic warfare against the
rest of the world. Sinful enough is our own behavior at home because
too many people aren't holding their legislators – and the
president – accountable enough. Let's go over a few examples:
1.
Sins against children
“Jesus
said to his disciples, 'Things that cause people to sin are bound to
come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around
his neck than for them to cause one of these little ones to sin. So
watch yourselves'.” (Luke 17: 1-3) Perhaps "sanctity of
life" ends at birth. According to Census Bureau figures, one out
of every five American children lives in poverty. For blacks and
Hispanics, it's one out of every three. UNICEF has reported that the
U.S. has a higher child poverty rate than every industrialized
country except Romania. We are near the bottom in all measures of
inequality that affect our children, including material well-being,
health, and education. One more fact before I move on: 1 out of every
4 American school children will rely on food stamps at some point
while they're growing up for their sustenance and nutrition. In
communities of color, this figure jumps to a truly shocking – and
outrageous – 1 out of 2.
2.
Sins against the poor
“Now
listen, all you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that
is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your
clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will
testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded
wealth in the last days! Look! The wages you failed to pay the
workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries
of the harvesters have reached the Lord Almighty. You have lived on
earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have flattened yourselves in
the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men
who were not opposing you.” (James 5: 1-6) The U.S. poverty
rate grew from 11.3% to 15.0%, a 30% jump, in just the last 11 years.
The impact was felt primarily by minorities and women. The median
wealth for single black and Hispanic women is shockingly low, at just
over $1000.00 (compared to $41,500 for single white women). Even more
shocking – For every dollar of non-home wealth owned by white
families, people of color have only one cent. Despite the continued
economic assault on already-poor Americans, the number of TANF
(Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) cases has dropped by 60
percent over the last 16 years.
3.
Sins against students
“Fathers,
do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the
training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6: 4) Students
at all levels have been losing their nation's support. States reduced
their education budgets by $12.7 billion in 2012, and here in 2016
the majority of states will be cutting spending even more. At higher
educational levels, Americans are paying much more than students in
other countries. Only 38% of college expenses come from public
funding, compared to 70% in other wealthier “first world”
countries. While other nations continue to offer free tuition, with
the recognition that education leads to long-term prosperity, the
U.S. system has become more incorporated, to the point that expensive
programs like nursing, engineering, and computer science have been
eliminated to cut costs. The profit motive has blocked the path to
academic excellence. But the worst part of America's treatment of
its students has been the greed-driven debacle of over $1 trillion in
predatory student loan debts, much of which can never be repaid. The
same graduates who are obligated to repay those debts are the ones
who can't find jobs, or who wind up working at jobs for which they
are grossly overqualified. When you enrage a nation's youth, the
seeds of insurrection have already been sown. All it will take is one
good storm to make those seeds sprout, and the 2nd
American Revolution will be underway. And yes, it is coming, you can
be sure of that.
4.
Sins against the middle class
“Do
not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land
of Egypt. Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do
and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger
will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will
become widows and your children fatherless. If you lend money to one
of my people who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him
no interest. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it
to him by sunset, for the cloak is the only covering he has for his
body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will
hear him, for I am compassionate.” (Exodus 20: 21-27) The
middle class, to say the least, is shrinking. In fact, America's
middle class is slowly being liquidated. In 2011, according to a Pew
Research analysis, 51% of the nation's households earned from
two-thirds to double the national median income. In the 1970s it was
61%. One-quarter of America's workers are now making less than
$22,000 a year, the poverty line for a family of four as of 2012.
Thirty million Americans are making between $7.25 (minimum wage) and
$10.00 per hour. With the transition of middle-class workers to
low-income status, entrepreneurship is disappearing. Innovation
doesn't come from the upper class. A recent study found that less
than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs came from very rich or very poor
backgrounds. Small business creators come from the hard-working,
risk-taking, nothing-to-lose middle of America, but their
entrepreneurial numbers are down – over 50% since 1977.
5.
Sins against the common good
“But
you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a
people, but now you are a people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1st
Peter 2: 9-10) A recent Tax Justice Network report placed total
hidden offshore assets at somewhere between $21 trillion and $32
trillion. With about 40% of the world's most mega-rich individuals in
the U.S., up to $12.8 trillion of untaxed revenue sits overseas.
Based on a historical 6% rate of return, this is a tax loss of up to
$300 billion per year, money that should be paying for the public
needs of education and infrastructure. Tax avoidance is so appealing
that 1,700 Americans renounced their citizenship last year. The
American Thinker Blog argued that "the U.S. tax code is so
oppressive that smart and successful people are compelled to renounce
their citizenship in order to keep more of their own hard-earned
wages." Hard-earned, in truth, by the thousands of contributors
to their financial success.
6.
Sins against nature
“Do
not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and
atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed,
except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land
where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the
Israelites.” (Numbers 35: 33-34) Has it ever occurred to anyone
that God lives on the land he creates? What we're doing to the land,
the water and the air, we do to God. A number of studies show that
investment in renewable energy will create many more jobs than the
fossil fuel industry. And the investment will certainly pay off over
the coming decades. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory analysis
determined that "renewable electricity generation from
technologies that are commercially available today... are more than
adequate to supply 80% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050."
But now the prospect of cheap natural gas is leading us back to a
dirty form of energy independence, with a continuing reliance on
fossil fuels, and on the “fracking” technology that despoils our
land and pollutes our water and air. The national commitment and
political will needed for the long-term health of our nation is more
elusive than ever.
7.
Sins against common sense
“Does
not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the
heights along the way, where the paths meet she takes her stand;
beside the gates leading into the city, at the entrances, she cries
aloud: To you, oh men, I cry out. I raise my voice to all mankind;
you who are simple, gain prudence, you who are foolish, gain
understanding. Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my
lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my
lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of
them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning, all of them are
right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge. Choose my
instruction instead of silver, knowledge more than choice gold, for
wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can
compare with her.” (Proverbs 8: 1-11) The economic deception
began, at least in the modern age, with Milton Friedman, who said
“The free market system distributes the fruits of economic progress
among all people... He moves fastest who moves alone." This
unflagging adherence to egocentric free enterprise individualism is
consistent with Social Darwinism, the belief that survival of the
fittest (richest) will somehow benefit society, and that the millions
of people suffering from financial malfeasance are simply lacking the
motivation to help themselves. Social Darwinism is a feel-good
delusion for those at the top. Or, as described by John Kenneth
Galbraith, a continuing "search for a superior moral
justification for selfishness." A mainstay of the Progressive
Movement is that a strong society will create opportunities for a
greater number of people, thereby leading to more instances of
individual success. This is the common sense attitude that has been
suppressed by conservatives for over 30 years. I'm hoping this
election year will change that paradigm. But if not, open revolt will
be the American people's only remaining option.
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