The Socialist Religion
by Dr. Doug Cardell
Socialism is a religion. Dictionary.com defines religion as "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." Socialism meets this definition. It is a creation of a superhuman agency, the state. It has a set of beliefs that its adherents accept on faith. It has a code governing the conduct of human affairs, the state's edicts. The socialist religion is an antitraditional worldview. It is one of two world views that are logically mutually exclusive but often illogically blurred. The two choices can be summarized as follows: The traditional view is that people are naturally self-centered and require constraints to prevent their harming others. The antitraditional view imagines human beings to be innately good but corrupted by society and pushed by society to do evil. Therefore, they do not require constraints but freedom from societal coercion so that they may rise to ultimate goodness. The traditional view, as expressed by the major religions, believes that people are morally egocentric and require social structures to prevent them from harming others. It is the worldview that has dominated human history. It is also the basis of all the world's major religions. It extends this reasoning to include the belief that since all societal structures, governments, companies, social groups, and religion itself are composed of egocentric humans, they are corruptable. The antitraditional or socialist worldview is that since society is responsible for people's failings, creating a society that can perfect its members is the ultimate aim. In this society, everyone is equal in every respect. The supreme being, the state, will reorganize society to prevent some persons from rising above others. This view holds that anyone out-performing anyone else harms those who aren't performing as well, forcing them into anti-social actions. Societies that have adopted the socialist religion have usually pushed traditional religions out of the public square to eliminate competing worldviews. These two worldviews have very different views of justice and equality. The traditional view sees justice and equality as measured by opportunity, whereas the antitraditional view sees them as measured by the result. The traditional view holds that people are inherently unequal, making equal results impossible. They argue that equality of results is only achievable by unjust means. They point out that wise parents do not always treat their children equally. Wise parents recognize that what is best for one child may harm another. Treating everyone equally does not produce equally helpful results. A parent who insists that all their children earn a college degree in atmospheric physics may help those with a scientific leaning but may harm a budding artist, musician, or entrepreneur. Forced equality is bound to advantage some and disadvantage others, resulting in injustice. The antitraditional view is that their supreme being, the government, should decide what everyone should have and ensure they receive the same things. It seems to ignore the reality that different people want different things. As a parent, grandparent, and great-grandparent, I would be stunned to find that all of my progeny's Christmas lists were identical. Should the person who wants an electric guitar and the one who wants a doll house get a wooden London bus in the name of equality? Equality cannot be provided; it can only be allowed. That is what differentiates equality of opportunity and equality of results. Equality of opportunity allows free people to decide for themselves what will help them most; some will make mistakes, and some will fail. We all value different things, so providing equal results will harm most. Equality of results is impossible, but if possible, it would undoubtedly harm as many as it helped. There is a second dynamic at play as well. It appears that people have two inborn and contradictory urges. They want to be free, but they also want other people to conform to their ideas of appropriate behavior. They do not want others to control them, yet at the same time, they want to control the behavior of others. It seems that the core of all social structures is an attempt to balance these conflicting urges. The traditional view says you are free, but your freedom must not impinge on another's freedom. The antitraditional view is that you are free to do what the state decides you should do. The antitraditionalist or socialist applies these views to the economy, demanding that the state control the economy to ensure equality. The traditional view encourages creating value for others, while the socialist view encourages receiving from others. The traditionalist view is that it is more blessed to give than to receive, but the socialist view is the state will extract from each according to his ability and remit to each according to his need. The latter view requires religious faith that the supreme being, the state, can omnisciently decide each person's ability and need. The traditionalist wants to be free to choose his best manner of creating value, while the socialist wants to control others to create equality. The socialist view hinders overall group progress because it is more difficult to perceive the value created by the individual in a collective effort where everyone is performing the same action. If ten people are pushing a bus, it is hard to tell who is pushing hardest and who is loafing. When working in a group, more control of others is necessary to manage the group, while if one is working alone or with a self-selected group, keeping others from interfering is a matter of greater concern. The traditionalist view favors power distribution, while the socialist view endorses the centralization of power. The socialists use class warfare as a route to a socialist take-over and therefore try to divide people against each other by race, gender, income, wealth, and others. The traditionalist, knowing that people are egocentric, knows some will use power to benefit themselves at the expense of others and therefore limit the power of any person of enitiy, particularly government. Lord Acton expressed the traditionalist view, saying, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Researchers list the three primary human motivators: achievement, affiliation, and self-actualization. Self-actualization refers to working to realize one’s own potential and values. The socialist view enables affiliation but eliminates achievement and self-actualization. The traditionalist view supports all three, as evidenced in the major religions. The socialist ideal is societal-actualization, or putting into practice the dictates of society as represented by government. The government decides what values should be actualized and worked toward not the individual. No one is allowed to achieve to their full potential or to self-actualize. The traditionalist view also represents the traditional religious view. Therefore, the antitraditional or socialist view is the antitraditional religious view. It has all the characteristics of a religion, and society should treat it as such. Socialists should be free to pursue their religion in the same manner as Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Muslims. However, society should also impose the same limitations. Society should not allow public schools to teach the religion of socialism. It should not allow public funds to promote socialism. It should not allow a government endorsement of the socialist religion. It should prevent colleges and universities from using public funds to teach the socialist religion. So far, society has given the socialist religion a special privilege to pursue its aims without being subject to the rules governing other faiths. The Constitution forbids this religion, like all others, from becoming the established religion of the United States. A socialist government is unconstitutional. Socialism is a religion, and society should treat it as such. We must eliminate the special privileges that the socialist religion enjoys. 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