the wage of sin

A few weeks I wrote about my strongly held conviction that a person cannot claim to be a Christian and at the same time espouse capitalisms virtues. A friend of mine agreed with my sentiment and said that he too wishes more Christians would contemplate the meaning of the phrase 'No man can serve two masters'. If you are a literalist and interpret the bible as the absolute word of god then the meaning is explicit you cannot serve both god and money. Despite the assurances of such seemingly nice people like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer faith in god does not empower a person to an abundance of wealth; following the alleged teachings of these two is a road fraught with moral ruin, people who want to get rich fall into temptation and into many harmful desires that plunge men into destruction. I bring up all this exciting talk that alludes to scripture because I read something in the newspaper that I found to be disgusting. Florida Governor Rick Scott pimped out a group of special Olympians for a photo op and then invoked his “emergency powers” to impose a 15 % cut to the rates charged by group homes and case workers who help the developmentally disabled. Scott’s spokesman, Brian Burgess, said the governor doesn’t want to harm the developmentally disabled. However, he said the state has put off tough choices for too long and the bill is due. It’s funny that the phrase tough choice is mentioned because at the same time the governor is proposing 1.5 billion in corporate tax cats and more than 1.4 billion in cuts towards property taxes. These so called “tough choices” are once again placed on the back of those who cannot afford them; the disabled. If slashing health and safety regulations, freeing corporations from any form of accountability, if disabling the safety nets for the poor and needy, if destroying the apparatus of the state hadn’t awoken one’s moral outrage then I hope at last for those people who support this criminal that this uncompassionate act is like a bucket of cold water, and makes them realize their moral rot is now intertwined with his. This is absolutely an issue of moral absolutism one made clear repeatedly by the book of Proverbs, which says the righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. The book of proverbs also reminds us that he who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors god; in what way does imposing a 15% cut to aid the developmentally disabled show anything other than contempt. Above all Jesus preached piety and liberation from poverty. Again this is a statement of moral absolutism; whatever mental gymnastics one has to perform to justify a life dedicated to personal wealth misses the point of Jesus’ central message and that was if you wish to be perfect, go sell, what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. At no point does the New Testament diverge from this central thesis about service to others. If you don’t believe in a god then ethically and morally one has a duty to ensure that everyone has a life free from poverty, oppression, and tyranny; and if you believe in a god it is a moral imperative. This would be called solidarity, a virtue articulated by Pope John Paul II which holds that for Christians it is essential to act in favor of the well being of all, particularly those who are most poor and marginalized from political influence. The Catechism of the Catholic Church also notes that Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this. A vote for Rick Scott, or any tea party candidate not only rejects this idea but is an affront to god. I admit to chuckling at the misplaced lunacy of the tea party rallies, never would I imagine that their rabid ideas would be treated with anything other than scorn and ridicule. Yet, I find myself in a world with no moral center, where the very idea of compassion for the poor is treated as some “liberal agenda”. I cannot understand how a person can claim to be a “compassionate conservative” and then support any policy of a party that acts in a way that is opposite to the very definition of compassion. We live in a world that now says cutting welfare funding is moral and compassionate, we live in a world that says fighting an endless war is not only moral but justifiable, and we now live in a world that says 1.5 billion in corporate tax cats is not only admirable but somehow virtuous. I can understand on some level why these tea party types are so angry, but they have allowed themselves to be bamboozled by the rich who are selling people on this stupid us versus them mentality. The government isn’t some spooky entity that is out to get any one; that is a game of false equivalency being played out by the founders of the tea party who have it in their best interest to further widen the gap between the wealthy and the poor. All Americans need to realize that the ultimate issue at hand is poor verses rich, and that all our power and resources should be used to combat this issue. When a Party claims to be grassroots but is funded by Charles and David Koch, and Richard Armey millionaires many times over one has to seriously reevaluate whether or not this party has the best interests of the great middle class at heart or if its funded by the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich. If we judge Florida governor Rick Scott, he is a failure on every level; before he became elected to governor he was a moral failure but at least his taint of corruption was isolated to himself. Now, that he has been duly elected to state government his sin has contaminated all those who had voted for him. This isn’t a sin that is going to wash away; millions of voters said that avarice is an admirable character trait and by electing a man without an ounce of moral character have not only ignored their ethical duty to their brothers but spit in the face of their moral obligation to god. Again the catechism reminds of the sinful inequalities that effect millions of men and women, these inequalities are an open contradiction to the gospel. Let me stress again that 1.5 billion in corporate tax cats are failure to be a Christian, punishing the poor and the needy is a failure to be a Christian. These are statements that are absolute and there can be no attempts to justify their existence if you are a Christian. The myth that one has to pull themselves up from their bootstraps is fairy tale that has outlived any usefulness that it might have had, if it even had any in the first place. Our duty as both a Christian and as a person must be to eradicate poverty and inequalities; we must help those who have hit rock bottom. We have been given the time, talent, and treasure to ensure that this duty can come to fruition. Again I can understand a person’s misplaced anger towards the government, but the government is a reflection of the people who are elected to it. If you have people running on a platform that government is inherently broken, then yes government is going to produce empty headed hate mongers like Michele Bachmann. Anger should be placed towards a government and elected bodies that allow these inequalities to exist in the first place. I said glibly that I couldn’t think of any solutions to these problems, but the truth is there are many things we can do. For starters we can do everything in our power to ensure that people like Rick Scott are never elected to any form of government, just because he is damned does not mean that rest of us should join him. The second thing is that we can elect a government that reflects the actual wishes of the middle class and attempts to combat on our behalf the war that is being waged on the middle class. The most important thing we can do is become advocates for the poor, and honestly pick up the cross of Christ and become true disciples. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation