Government-Issued Morality

Imagine for a moment (a lot can be taught by using hypothetical thought exercises) that it is the holiday season and you are at your favorite shopping center preparing to brave the crowds to get your gift list filled. You notice a man running around the parking lot with a gun in his hand. He is stopping several people as they head toward the stores and relieving them of all their cash. Of course, it makes sense that he hits them up before they have a chance to shop and spend all that money on themselves for their needs. You watch him as he then takes all his ill-gotten booty and puts it into one of those buckets that has a bell ringer standing nearby. He pats himself on his back for what he believes is a good deed and then starts to head in your direction with intentions of helping you make a large donation. Has this man done good or evil?

Today all over the news was the statement from President Obama that the U.S. has a "moral obligation" to help poorer nations on this planet. He did not suggest that Americans give more to those charities that help people in foreign lands. He hasn't called for a new government program that Americans can donate money to that will be forwarded to international relief organizations. No, as usual he was calling for more U.S. tax dollars to be sent to the governments of these impoverished countries to help them help their people (if these governments were really in the business of helping their people, do they really need our help?).

The talking heads on the tube were all over this one interviewing people who were in favor of and against such an idea and I haven't heard the Bible quoted so much on television since the last Billy Graham Crusade I got stuck watching. Many were using the words of the Nazarene to justify the president's plan and some were quoting him for lessons against the moral hazards inherent in such programs of giving away money. Some were even calling this idea the proper charitable thing to do based on the teachings of the Bible.

There was one verse that so far I haven't heard thrown into the argument. It comes from that portion of the Bible that is also the Torah so both Jews and Muslims will be able to relate with it. From the book commonly called Exodus, chapter 20, verse 15:

"Thou shall not steal!"

You cannot consider yourself charitable or generous by giving away other people's money or property, particularly when you have stolen their wealth from them. Depending upon your personal religious beliefs or moral convictions, you might feel an obligation to help others but you cannot transfer that obligation to others not involved in the matter through coercion, physical force, or deception. Taxes are essentially robbed from the people by the explicit threat of force and are only supposed to be used to support the government of the U.S. for a specifically limited number of essential services it is required to provide for the several States and for the American people in general. They are not allowed by the Constitution to be used for any other cause no matter the need of the recipient.

But if robbery, as long as the loot is given to charity, is the new morality then I have lots of charitable causes to give to and as they always say, "Charity begins in the home." So keep an eye out as I'll be coming soon to a parking lot near you...