President Ronald Reagan once said that “For the conservative, freedom requires faith; it should never be decoupled from faith.” He understood that religious principles underscored our liberty because we should acknowledge that our rights are authored by our Creator—not man.
Liberals, especially this crop of socialist progressives running for the Democratic nomination, do not believe that our rights come from God. They believe that government grants us freedom, and they constantly work to use the values of the majority against the vulnerable, viewing the state as a way to force their values on the country as a whole.
Socialists often mask their materialism and desire for control under the veil of Christian charity. They argue that government controlling healthcare or granting “free” education fulfills the Christian mandate to be our brother’s keeper. Their worldview is focused entirely on the earthly present, not the future and certainly not the spiritual. If you ask Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton about the message of Jesus, they’d almost certainly tell you how we should tax the rich and redistribute wealth, not promote private charity and a culture of human dignity that transcends how much money exists in someone’s bank account.
Don’t get me wrong: I believe we have a moral obligation to help our fellow man, and I think that good policy can help raise the lives of millions and build a happy and just society. However, charity and good works are not the same as government enforced redistribution of wealth. Socialism is a false idol that thrives on taking our individual Christian obligation of helping our neighbors and replacing it with government.
Good public policy means the promotion of private charity and the creation of a stronger community. Unlike the radicals in the Democratic Party, I believe our rights pre-exists the government and that the Constitution works to protect your rights rather than taking them away.
Catholic leaders have agreed with this ideal.
Throughout history, they have supported the individual and private charity over government control of our economic morality. Pope Leo XIII wrote that [socialists] “assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law.”
John Paul II also argued that “Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated… [it] maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility that he exercises in the face of good or evil.”
These great moral leaders understood that liberty requires virtue and that speaking about individual freedom as a moral obligation brings us closer to both God and our community. Cutting a check to the IRS will never be a substitute for meeting your neighbors and serving others through private acts of kindness. We can only grow stronger as a nation if we work together to help those in need rather than looking for bureaucrats to solve problems.
If we want to live under a just and moral government, liberty should be our goal. The size of government is inversely proportional to individual liberty. Conservatives understand that as government grows our freedoms shrink. It’s time for Republicans to remember that America became the richest and most humanitarian country in history by recognizing our individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
That is the message that will defeat the Democrats in 2016 and restore faith in Washington.
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