One of the most surreal aspects of modern American culture is the manner in which the vast majority of self-identified conservative Christians have simultaneously embraced three bizarrely (and embarrassingly) contradictory approaches to life:
- We’ve become stark raving Socialists in practice. From public schools, Social Security, and Medicare to the State-licensing/controlling of finance, industry, medicine, media, and education, the typical modern American “conservative Christian” has become a happy, proud, and often quite vocal enabler of deep, thick Socialism in every area of life.
. - We’ve become stark raving Statists as a result of our stark raving Socialism. In our happy (and often oblivious) submission to the state as god-in-practice – looking to the State as the primary authority on earth and therefore the “real world” provider of peace, prosperity, liberty, and security – we have become worshippers of the State. We have made America itself our most cherished idol.
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After generations of discipleship through State-run education systems and ever-increasing dependence upon State-managed programs, we have little if any appetite for the thought of actually eliminating the State-managed programs and systems upon which we and our families have allowed ourselves to become dependent.
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Rather than repent of our Socialism and America idolatry so that we might find true life, liberty, freedom, and prosperity for our families, communities, culture and civilization, we embrace and defend the very programs and systems that are literally designed to lead us, our children, and each successive generation of Americans deeper down the path of State-worship and State-dependence.
. - In spite of our stark raving Socialism and Statism, we frequently talk and sing about how free and awesome we are. Despite all of the obvious cultural wreckage piling up around us and in spite of the many increasingly ominous trends and trajectories defining our culture, we’re still all about American pride and exceptionalism as the answer to what ails us, and we are still very much inclined to boast about how awesome we are and how much the world needs us to show it the way.
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After lifetimes spent being discipled through State/Corporate-run pop-culture and education systems, we’ve become so comically delusional that we eagerly, happily, and oh-so-proudly sing about how free and great we are.
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Right on cue and at the drop of a hat.
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Like trained chimps.
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[insert “U! S! A!” chant here]
So here we are.
It’s ugly and sad, but like the Twelve Steppers say, the first step to fixing a problem is admitting that we have a problem.
And man, do we have a problem.
To give us a little more insight and clarity into the seriousness and pervasiveness of this problem, I’d like to respectfully submit for your consideration what I’m calling here the Ten Planks of American Socialism.
These are taken (and sometimes tweaked) directly from the infamous Ten Planks of Communism as defined in The Communist Manifesto, a book and message that most American professing conservative Christians claim to oppose, and vigorously so.
Yet, as we will see here, these claims of revulsion and opposition are, far more often than not, a ridiculous (and very dangerous) fiction.
The typical American “conservative Christian” is in fundamental agreement with most, if not all, of the Ten Planks of Communism…while pretending to be good Christian, freedom- and liberty-loving patriot (which is just what how American State needs them to view all of these things, of course).
So without further delay, and with an eye toward actually fixing the problems that are killing us, let’s consider…
The Ten Planks Of American Socialism
- The abolition of private property. In America, the State owns every home and building in the land. Don’t think so? Try not paying the rent – I mean “property tax” – that the State demands on the home that you think you own outright and see what happens. It shouldn’t take long to discover who really owns “your” home.
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Through property tax, Americans have become made renters/serfs of the American State.
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But wait!
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There’s more!
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The funds confiscated through these property rental fees (taxes) paid to the State are then used to fund the massive Socialist programs that define and dominate every area of life in America.
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How cool is that?!
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[insert “U! S! A!” chant here]
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(For more on this, please read How “free public schools” make us all renters from the State and Why home ownership will never be allowed in “the land of the free” and the home of the NSA.)
- A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. This is straight from The Communist Manifesto…and a well-established part of life (for now, anyway) in “the land of the free” and the home of the NSA.
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It is no coincidence that the introduction of the income tax in America came hand in glove with the establishment of the Federal Reserve. These two pillars of rank economic bondage and Corporate/Statist/Socialistic power must come down before anything resembling true free markets and true liberty will ever shine again in America.
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(For more on this, please read Fiat $lavery: We have been bought and paid for…with nothing.)
. - There must be an inheritance tax to help “make things fair”. This plank is one of the few that most professing conservative Christians in America still manage to oppose, though with each successive generation of State-educated children who grow into adulthood, even this plank of American Socialism is becoming more and more attractive to “conservative Christians” in the land.
. - The property of “certain people” can (and should) be confiscated by the State without due process. Welcome to the fruit of the “war on drugs” and other radical corruptions of law that have literally allowed the State to “legally” become a thief on a scale that takes the concept of organized crime to a massive new level.
. - The power to create magical money (and thereby credit) out of thin air should be centralized in the hands of an elite few chosen and empowered by the State. The black magic of fiat economics is the abominable engine that fuels and funds the entire Orwellian American system. Without the power of fiat currency, none of the programs and systems presently dragging the American people into darkness could exist.
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Wanna end the Welfare/Warfare State?
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End fiat currency. End fiat slavery. End the Federal Reserve.
. - Communication and transportation should be managed, supervised, licensed, and/or controlled by the State. ‘Cause that’s what freedom looks like, don’tcha know. Just ask the NSA. (And be sure to wave at the NSA while reading this, since here in “the land of the free” we all know that Big Brother is tracking everything that we do online…for our own good, of course.)
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(For more on this, please read Is privacy too much to expect in “the land of the free” and the home of the NSA?)
. - The State should supervise and ultimately control all agricultural and industrial use of its land (which is all land, as addressed earlier in Plank 1).
. - Every American must be encouraged (and, where needed, pressured) to work within the Corporate/State system. Working outside of the Corporate/State paradigm is to be impugned and obstructed at every turn through State regulation and State licensing requirements.
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Mothers must be pressured to join in the Corporate/State workforce. Children must be placed under the care and discipleship of the State in its public schools. Everyone must be groomed and guided toward cradle-to-grave service and submission to the American Corporate State.
. - The State should allocate resources and people in American communities through the use of public schools and various regulatory systems/requirements.
. - The State should provide free education for all children in government schools. This arguably most central and culture-shaping of all ten planks is taken word directly from The Communist Manifesto.
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[insert “U! S! A!” chant here]
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For more on this critical life- and culture-shaping subject, please read:
- Temples of the State: The VERY Religious Mission of American Public Schools,
- Ten problems with the “salt and light” excuse for feeding children to the State,
- Ten answers to those “What about socialization?” questions from public school advocates, and
- If a system can’t define “boy” and “girl”, we shouldn’t send boys or girls to that system for an “education”.
So there we have it: The Ten Planks of American Socialism.
I hope and pray that this presentation has been convicting where necessary and, at the end of the day, inspiring in recognition that God giving us clarity on these hard truths is an essential early step toward our repentance and restoration as a people, culture, and civilization.
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Intro to Fire: The Power and Purpose of the Common Believer
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