A Socialist Pope?

The title is borrowed from my dear friend, the fellow who runs the blog, Kelly the Little Black Dog. He makes a terrific point, one that is rarely discussed on right wing talk radio.

Will Republican Catholics show any self-consistency and rail against the Pope for his recent socialist manifesto?

… Benedict sketches a radically different world economy, in which access to food and water is a universal right, wealthy nations share with poorer ones and profit is not the ultimate goal of commerce. He advocates the creation of a “world political authority” to manage the economy.

I've thought about this every time the Church comes out and makes a pronouncement about economics. Back in the day, I dismissed them as being out of their element and just prattling on about areas where they were ignorant. Kelly's post made me think deeper and work to reconcile my faith with my politics. I haven't done so completely, but thanks to him, I'm working on it. Here's where my thinking has led.

Our highest calling is to love God and love one another. That's pretty clear, as it is expressly stated by Christ in the bible. That's it, that's the end, that's the whole enchilada (matzo cracker? - hey, Christ was a Jew, you know). Grabbing every last penny one can does not lead one to meet this requirement.

Memo to Joe Biden and Barack Obama - you're not even close, guys. You might want to donate a little more to charity. In fact, you might want to start by donating something other than everyone else's money. Stealing is still a sin, you know. Dittos for liberals in general, who donate less than conservatives. Nice talk, guys, but how about a little more action*?

I would also suggest that the Church's economic decrees are perfectly self-consistent. They are a call for us to be responsible for one another and ecnomics is just one such way. You can't preach against the abortion mills slaughtering people faster than the Nazi death camps, but not preach against the Mexican oligarchy starving the rural Indians through exploitation. You can't preach against the libertine lifestyle that leads to massive prison populations and untold misery, but not preach against the chemical companies that pollute the environment for the public while their CEOs live far away from the mess. It's all part of the same theme.

Socialism is motivated by a desire to care for one another equally. It's kind of hard to read the bible and come away with justifications for $41M bonuses for the CEO of HP.

That's about as far as my thinking takes me right now. I might explore this further on the blog. In the meantime, for my libertarian compatriots who love Ayn Rand, allow me to suggest a good way to go John Galt on a perverted society that grinds babies into fertilizer so they can go back out and slake their lusts upon one another yet again.

* - Now would not be a good time to sneer at the Christian Right. They're giving, you're not. Get over yourselves.