Welfare and Marxism: A Deliberate Attack on Man's Will

America is facing potential economic ruin which could make the Great Depression look like a roller coaster ride. The so called Covid 19 pandemic has decimated a booming economy, bringing the unemployment rate up to a staggering 14.7 percent. This past week another 3.2 million unemployment claims were filed, brining the number of unemployed Americans to over thirty million. The federal government responded to this crisis by passing a six trillion-dollar stimulus bill, which provided families with twelve hundred dollars per adult and, an additional six hundred dollars per week on top of regular unemployment benefits. Many people are earning more on unemployment than they would be working. The government is insistent on passing a universal basic income as a means of helping American families through this alleged crisis. This has been a long-time goal of Democrats before Covid 19 came along. With the economy in shambles, and more people losing their jobs, will a growing welfare state solve the problem or put more Americans in poverty?

There is a correlation between government subsidies to the unemployed and the desire to work. According to a study entitled “Declining Desire to Work and Downward Trends in Unemployment and Participation,” there was a massive decline in a desire to work among those not participating in the labor force. People considered outside of the labor force are not looking for work and are therefore, not counted in the unemployment rate. Over fifty percent of this lost desire to be gainfully employed was the result of government paid benefits to those not seeking work, like disability insurance. The welfare reform of the 1990’s wasn’t necessarily a culprit because programs like the earned income credit were incentives to work in some cases. For some married mothers however, it created a seventy-one percent increase in a lost desire to find employment. The bottom line is people change their behavior when it comes to their income. If they are earning more through a government subsidy than they would through working, they are going to opt for the government payment. In another article entitled “Quantifying The Lasting Harm To The U.S. Economy From The Financial Crisis,” Robert Hall argues that the loss of benefits such as unemployment, and or disability insurance,  along with food stamps and other benefits is a contributing factor to the drop in labor force participation. This is true among those with no job or part time workers seeking full time work, or even two parent families with only one income. This is because the cost of taking work does not necessarily justify the loss of benefits. In other words, if they make more taking a government payment, they are not incentivized to find work.

Much of this can be traced to Lyndon Johnsons “Great Society” programs. Since this time, the federal government has spent over twenty-two trillion dollars on welfare programs that were designed to eradicate poverty. Johnson, according to Timothy Goeglein, believed that extending welfare benefits to broken families would rise them out of economic despair and lead them to prosperity. Citing the work of Labor Department Sociologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Johnson focused his efforts on black families as Moynihan argued they were experiencing severe economic hardship. The results were devastating as the benefits given were largely dependent upon whether the family was intact. The benefits also paid more than most people could earn at the time; therefore, it encouraged single mothers to remain unmarried while creating government dependence. Many people attribute Johnson’s welfare programs to high rates of poverty and fatherless homes found in the black community today.

America is founded on the ideal of individualism and reaping the benefits of your own labor. A booming economy offers opportunities for advancement and higher earnings. When people are motivated to work, they are doing so out of a desire to better themselves, which in turn, contributes to a better society for all. When working decreases your chances of upwards mobility and welfare is paying the bills, people will not be motivated to return to work. At a time when the unemployment rate is so high and so many businesses closing, is the promise of more welfare a wise move or a deliberate attempt to further crash the economy? Former Sociology professors from Columbia University Richard Cloward (deceased) and his wife, Frances Fox Piven, wrote in “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty” in 1966, that there is a disparity between those receiving welfare benefits and those eligible to receive them. They argued that welfare policy generally sought to shame those applying for benefits into not doing so to keep the numbers low and budgets balanced. Their proposed solution was to create a crisis by enrolling everyone in welfare, which would crash the economy and force the government to implement a universal basic income for all. This is what the government is calling for today.

Cloward and Piven, as they have come to be called, are known for their Marxist ideologies teaching at a university that is largely anti-capitalist in its philosophies. Marx hated capitalism and believed that it was the root cause of inequality among the masses. He believed a society could be made where everyone willingly worked for the betterment of others and not for themselves. The term social justice has become synonymous with much of Marx’s ideas pertaining to issues like the redistribution of wealth from the haves to the have nots. So much so that even many Christians have bought into Marxism’s deceptive nature. Richard Wurmbrand writes in his book, Marx and Satan, that many Christians have turned to Marx’s ideas as the best way to help the oppressed overcome poverty. This sentiment is echoed in a book called The Fragile Absolute, where Marxist Slavo Zizek argues that “Christianity and Marxism have a direct lineage and should be fighting from the same side of the barricade.” This of course lends to the idea that Jesus Christ and Marx both had the same goal, helping the poor. Even today, many churches are pushing for the ideals of social justice without giving any real explanation as to what they are arguing for. Jacob Brunton writes in the Cristian Intellectual that there is a push for socialism in the churches that purport to be theologically, Christian conservative. Why would this be the case when there is so much evidence that shows wealth redistribution and welfare policy destroys a desire to work and creates dependency?

The church was infiltrated by Marxists in the 1920’s and 30’s. This is largely substantiated in an article called “Behind the Barricades with Lenin? Making Sense of the Marxist Turn to Christianity in the Literature Classroom” by Mitchell Harris. (Note: This article was available to me as a student at Liberty University). Harris pointed out that many Marxists were joining the Christian religion because they viewed Jesus as the embodiment of struggle. It was not so much that they believed Jesus died on the cross for their sins but Christianity, in its historical context, was compatible with their message of class struggle. Or so they believe. Bella Dodd, a member of the National Council of the Communist Party USA, and graduate of Columbia University admitted to infiltrating the church in the 1930’s. She believed that Marxist philosophy was more concerned with helping the poor than the Christian Church was. Dodd later left the Communist party but admitted that the goal of infiltration was to not to destroy the institution, but faith itself. According to an article entitle The Greatest Conspiracy at freerepublic.com, Dodd intended to convince the Church that their beliefs were oppressive, arrogant and close minded in the sense that they claim to be the sole institution of truth at the expense of every other belief on Earth.

Marxist philosophy is a direct attack upon man’s freewill. At one time, according to Wurmbrand, Marx was devoutly Christian but later turned against God for unknown reasons. Many believe that Marxism is inherently atheist, this is not true. Marx wrote in a poem that he sought to avenge himself against the one who rules above (Wurmbrand). This indicates that he indeed believed in God but became angry with him. In another poem Marx wrote-

So, a god has snatched from me my all, In the curse and rack of destiny.

All his words are gone beyond recall, nothing left but revenge for me.

I shall build my throne high overhead, Cold, tremendous shall its summit be.

For its bulwark superstitious dread, For its marshal blackest agony.

Who looks on it with a healthy eye, shall turn back deathly pale and dumb,

Clutched by blind and chill morality, may his happiness prepare its tomb?

Marxism is a direct attack against God himself and all he created. Man was given free will as a gift from God so that we can choose between good and evil. Marxism, wealth redistribution, the welfare state and government dependency are all the result of an ideology built from a man who wrote in his own words he that was seeking revenge against God. Marxist philosophy has led to nothing but suffering and despair because it seeks to redesign what God created. Marx believed he could create a world where man surrenders his inner inclinations to work for his own betterment. “From each according to their ability to each according to their need.” This is not in man’s nature, and just as the fear of losing government benefits contributes to a loss desire to work, the realization that you are laboring for the benefit of someone else has the same effect. When the government is taxing the working class to give benefits to those who are not working, or even seeking work, there is only one result. Economic ruin. The idea of a universal basic income is the product of Marxist philosophers who are seeking to destroy capitalism and institute a socialist state. They are doing this despite the existing evidence that it does not lead to financial equality, but further contributes to economic decline. It is indeed intentional. Through the welfare state they are destroying man’s incentive to take care of himself to place their throne above Gods.