What has been contended for by this blog is that Europe and North America are facing a dangerous and growing threat to Democracy with Equality. The menace here is Authoritarianism with Hierarchy. We should note that both of the those term are redundancies. That is because just as one cannot have Democracy without equality, neither will one have hierarchy without Authoritarianism.
The Authoritarianism with Hierarchy often campaigns as an ethnocracy. And ethnocracy occurs with an ethnic group takes such control of a nation that that ethnic group not only dominates the other ethnic groups, it gains a place of privilege in society including in determining the laws of a society. Jeff Halper lists the ethnicities around which an ethnic group can be defined: race, descent, religion, language or national origin.
In Russia, the ethnocracy is a façade meant to gain enough popular support to gain or maintain power. The real hierarchy in the Russia is a group of ruling elites including its totalitarian leader. That it is the rich who are shown a great deal of partiality by its government. Not surprisingly, Russia's present is our near future if our President has anything to say about.
What does President Trump want for America? For one thing, he wants to be America's CEO. This means that he is defining the role of President to be that of a totalitarian leader. Those who oppose or disagree him and his policies will be fired in a metaphysical but significant sense. And what his policies show is a favoritism toward the rich as seen in the cutting of their social responsibility ties to society, his economic policies, a weakened government's ability to hold the wealthy accountable, reduction in social safety nets, and in new immigration policies. And regarding immigration, we should note that Trump opens America's arms to passionately embrace those who are wealthy which includes those who can pay $5 million to enter the nation and wealth-endowed South African landowners. On the other hand, Trump has pretty much shut the door on most immigration from South of the border many of whom emigrate to America to escape life-threatening poverty and violence.
And so what does the New Testament book of James say about Trump's showing of partiality to the wealthy? The following gives us a hint. Here we should note that in his epistle, James is writing to Jewish Christians in the quote below which comes from chapter 2:
My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil [d]motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
Now we should note what James says to many who are rich because they have exploited people:
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.
Some opportunists from the Left want to believe that James was channeling Marx when speaking about the rich. He wasn't. After all Marx was most concerned about the redistribution of power from which the redistribution of wealth would naturally occur. James says nothing about the redistribution of power. But Christians who support Trump should take note of what James says regarding showing partiality to the wealthy as well as his condemnation of many who are rich.
And so even though we must exercise great caution when applying the standards that the New Testament does to believers in Christ to laws for society, the favoritism that Trump is showing to the wealthy should be disturbing to us believers. That is especially true when we see James's description of the rich. In the earlier quote, James describes the rich using the law to persecute Christians. In the latter quote, James describes the rich as exploiting workers.
Certainly we should not use these passages from James to stereotype the wealthy for there are enough counterexamples to the kind of rich people whom James described. But we see enough rich people in society who warrant James's comments about the rich. Now as whether or not Christians should engage in what some of my fellow Leftists advcocate, which is to 'eat the rich,' that is addressed in the part of James's epistles that follows the 2nd quote above. Spoiler Alert: The answer is NO!
But there is one more passage from the Bible that we should reflect on before supportingTrump's current economic policies. That passage is from Ezekiel 16:48-50 as the prophet speaks to Israel about its sins:
48 As I live,” declares the Lord God, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50 Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it
Note the reference to Sodom in the above passage. It is the same Sodom as the Sodom of Sodom and Gomorrah fame. And so the issue here, especially for us believers in Christ, is not whom you voted for. The issue is what policies are we actively or passively supporting. What policies are we speaking about or being silent on. The issue is in what direction do we want to see our nation going? The direction in which we want our nation to go is significantly reflected by how we want the vulnerable to be treated. Do we at least want them to be treated with the same importance as the rich have? Or do we want a hierarchy where one economic class, especially the class that can buy our government, is shown partiality at the expense of the rest of us? Do we want a government and nation that regards all citizens as being equally important or do we prefer to go the way of Sodom, as just mentioned, or of the Israelites whom Ezekiel was speaking to? Are we going to promote equality between all groups of people in America or are we going to show the partiality that James warned his fellow Jewish believers in Christ against.
Because of some of the democratic tools available to us, we have the power to influence the direction in which our nation will go and the importance that each group of Americans will be recognized as having. What are we going to do?
