Hattip to Neo-neo Con who suggested the connection to me with this post. Dostoevsky in his The Brothers Karamazov has a striking tale of the Grand Inquisitor. In that tale Christ comes back to earth in Sixteenth Century Seville and is arrested by the Inquisition. The Grand Inquisitor explains to Christ why He is going to be burned the next day. At first glance this all appears to be a fairly psychotic anti-Catholic diatribe, but I think it aptly describes not the Church, but modern socialism. We see it most clearly in this passage:
Socialism purports to be about relieving material suffering by using government power to alleviate, and eventually eliminate, poverty. Yet socialist states, even in milder variants, inevitably diminish freedom, treating the inhabitants of a country not as adults with free will, but children who must be led into better ways of life by their intellectual superiors who control the State. We see this clearly under the Obama administration as it seeks to transform America. Employers are to be made to pay for “free” contraception, moral objections notwithstanding. School lunches are to be set according to the dietary preferences of the First Lady. The government will completely control all health care through executive branch edict. Chaplains in the military are censored as to what they may say in regard to the HHS mandate.
Note also how the Grand Inquisitor indicates that they will give a license to sin. We live in a time when the State gives license to sin and wields power to convert sin into non-sin.
Finally we have the Grand Inquisitor fairly certain that there is nothing after death. I do not think that atheism and socialism are necessarily linked, but I do think that it is true that the more powerful the State the weaker religion tends to be, except among individuals and groups opposed to the State. The Italian Fascists used to have a saying, “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against theState”. When the State controls everything, or, has the power to control everything, even if the power is not exercised currently in particular instances, it cannot be allowed for individuals or institutions to stand outside of the State. Hence religion, unless it is tamed and neutered, can never be viewed as anything other than as a threat to true devotees of State power. Dostoevsky saw where we were heading, and where we have arrived, and left us a warning in his grim parable.
This is a good time to remind everyone what is the clear Catholic position on socialism In given in encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris by Pope Leo XIII:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_28121878_quod-apostolici-muneris_en.html
Thank you, Donald.
The regime will tax the Churches, and everything else. That means, for the 40% that pay income taxes and itemize deductions, you will not be able to deduct charitable donations.
They also plan to end your mortgage interest deduction.
You see, the government owns everything. It decides how much you will get to feed your family.
Live free or cry.
Q: How many examples do we have of nations moving to socialism?
A: Many.
Q: How many of those examples ended up providing an improved standard of living for the nation, eliminating poverty, or increasing productivity and innovation?
A: None.
John, A++!!!
Here are statistics for two recent socialist dreams: Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Venezuela Chavez rings in 2010 by state rationing of electricity.
Chávez appears to have huge support from the poor: The Venezuelan poor seem to love Chávez’s nanny state, and his extremely succesful public relations gimmicks. Fidel Castro is Chávez mentor in many ways, and Castro’s pupil is exceeding his master. Sadly, as Revista Veja shows, things are a lot worse since Chávez took power:
——————————— -Before Chávez— Now
People below poverty level——-43%————54%
Unemployment———————11%————16%
Income per capita—————-$4,650——–$4,190
Number of industries————11,000———5,000
Foreign investment————$2 billion——$1 billion
Inflation—————————–11%————17%
Public debt——————$27.5 billion—$44.8 billion
The (Nicaragua devolution into marxism) economic figures are depressing. From 1950-1975 under the dictator Somoza (whose departure was the one good thing the Sandinistas helped achieve) economic growth was the highest in Latin America: 6.8% per year. Per capita GNP in 1977, just before the Communists took over, was $2500 per person. In 1990, when the Sandinista regime fell, per capita GNP was $500 per person. That was the great achievement of liberation theology in Nicaragua.
Zimbabwe is even more tragic.
And, this regime’s record: 42 months of 8.2%+ unemployment; reduced labor force participation rate; median household income down 8.2% – about $4,000 less a year; Food and Gasoline prices sky rocketed – from $1.88 to (I paid) $4.21 last week; more people below the poverty level; millions more on food stamps; etc.
PhD statistics soar: The numbers of PhD working as janitors and waiters soar by 80% and 85%, respectively.
Thank you, Donald. That is surely an eye opener if I ever needed one to confirm my belief that Obama is BAD, BAD NEWS….. for America ……for the World….but worst of all FOR CHRIST’S BRIDE.
Thank you so much for this post. “..that we allow them to sin because we love them.”
Amazing! Maybe all we really need is LOVE?
Agape Love.
Selfish love.
Dostoevski is closing in on 2012 thought. Scary.
Read “The Dictator’s Learning Curve” by William Dobson for examples of how modern socialist countries, including Venezuela, have turned into tyrannies.
Hugo Chavez can be described as obnoxious and abusive and having done severe damage to Venezuela’s already-dysfunctional political economy. Cleaning up the mess he has made will require talents Venezuela’s elites have never manifested. He has damaged what was once one of Latin America’s most durable (if corrupt and incompetant) constitutional orders. However, the man is not Mussolini. There is ample, vigorous, and organized opposition. The regime is neo-Peronist, not neo-Communist or neo-Fascist. Same deal with Morales, Correa, Ortega, and the rest of Latin America’s rogue populist regimes.