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Socialism: The Hate Thy Neighbor Theology Exposed by Frederic Bastiat

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, that frameth mischief with a law ?– Psalm 94:20

Frederic Bastiat was a 19th century French journalist, who became famous for his public commentary on political economy.  From the time of the French Revolution of 1789 right on through a century of socialistic turmoil leading to the rise of the Third Republic of France, the French nation experienced one economic recession after another. Frederick Bastiat understood  the underlying problem was not primarily economics. To be sure, it was manifested in political economy. But all ethics have their origin in worldview and Bastiat was wise enough to understand that the new political plaything now taking the rather innocuous sounding name of  "socialism" was really an attack upon the Christian faith.

Bastiat became the leading defender of free market thinking and the outspoken advocate of Christian principle in the strife-torn revolutionary — socialistic France of the 19th century. He was not ashamed to reference the Lord’s oversight in the affairs of men and society, using the term "Providence" repeatedly despite the mockery and scorn heaped upon him by the atheistic-socialistic scholars of the day.  His observations, listed below, deserve special scrutiny as they identify, in a concise manner, part of the problem we call "Socialism". Here are a few of his observations (with my Notes attached):

1. It is evident that the socialists set out in quest of an artificial social order only because they deemed the natural order to be either bad or inadequate; they deemed it bad or inadequate only because they felt  man’s interests are fundamentally antagonistic, for all the otherwise they would not have had recourse to coercion. It  is not necessary to force into harmony things that are inherently harmonious.

Note: When Bastiat states that the Socialist believe man’s interests are fundamentally antagonistic, what he’s referring to is the fact that they believe — along with most government-school taught Americans, and even many so-called Christians  — that the natural order ( the physical world around us) and societal order ( mankind’s propensity to organize in communities) are ALWAYS given to strife, and therefore, "someone" ( usually the State) must, of necessity, restrict human freedom in order to bring about progress and peace. In other words, all socialists of all types believe that the social order — whatever it might be and however constituted — MUST BE REGULATED by the State or else "chaos" will reign throughout society.

Socialism is ALWAYS guided by the presumptuous attitude that all societies, all men everywhere, must be CONTROLLED, especially in matters pertaining to economics. (See Plato’s view, listed under Bastiat’s point 3, below.)

2. The Socialists conjure up a society out of their imagination and then conceive of a human heart to fit this society.  - Frederic Bastiat, Economic Harmonies, p. xxv

Note: Bastiat has hit the nail right on the head. Socialists, of all types, dream up a society as they believe it should be constituted but because they have no sound view of human nature ( fallen, sinful and made in God’s image) nor of the Lord, His Will, or His Kingdom, they must dream up a new kind of human being and sort of retrofit this "new creation" of social engineering to their utopian plan. This is the reason our society is overwhelmed by the presence of expensive, uncaring, and even brutal bureaucracies. It is also the reason our land swarms with social agencies of all sorts. It also explains why modern psychological, psychiatric, and sociological theories (of all sorts and approaches) inundates the land because it is precisely these "disciplines" which are needed to reshape human thinking and behavior. Additionally, they become the "thought police" as well as the "behavioral police" determining the nature of Good and Evil. In other words, they become the Standard; you dare not oppose them or you are considered unfit, and a "hater-of-mankind", as early church Christians were called in the Roman Empire.

3. Although they [the socialists] have a kind of sentimental love for humanity in their hearts,  hate flows from their lips. Each of them reserves all his love for the society that is dreamed up; but the natural society, that in which it is our lot to live cannot be destroyed soon enough to suit them, so that from its ruins may rise [their version of] the New Jerusalem.

Note: Bastiat has again hit the nail on the head. Socialism derives its greatest strength from "the best" and "the worst"of society. The worst kinds of individuals are those insidious individuals who understand the real agenda of radicalism and forward it is a function of their own personal advantage. However, socialism always gains its "public image" from its humanitarian appeals. It’s humanitarian appeals become the foundation for its political strengths and successes. Issues such as "feeding the poor", "defending the helpless against injustices", "providing health care for all people", "ending exploitation", "doing away with "special privilege" that would include an endless litany of privileges needing correction such as,

- private ownership of property,

- profitability and the profit system,

- inheritance,

- sexual fidelity with one’s spouse,

- child rearing under parental authority and guidance,

- business ownership,

- vocational choice/calling

- the right to contract

- true liberty

… the list is almost endless.

Socialism professes a love for humanity. However, the "love" they profess is only a love for that which they "imagine".in other words, they’re in love with their own preferences and self-professed ideals. it’s simply another version of what God warned Adam and Eve to avoid: to be as gods knowing good and evil.

Socialism ALWAYS professes love for mankind but ALWAYS nourishes HATE,stirring strife throughout society by creating factions among different groups who are taught by the Socialist propaganda HOW TO HATE EFFECTIVLEY.

Witness the following opinions of socialistic thinkers:

"The Revolutionary is a doomed man. He has no personal interests, no business affairs, no emotions, no attachments, no property and no name. Everything in him is wholly absorbed in the single thought and the single passion for revolution." - Sergei Nechayev, Forerunner of the Bolshevik ( communist) Revolution of 1917. It was his influence upon Vladimir Lenin which was to determine the revolutionary approach of the Bolsheviks.

Note: We should note here, as Bastiat noted concerning all socialists, the disdain with which this man viewed a society in which he lived. He always taught his followers they were building a new society. Of course, the old one had to be completely destroyed. He penned this instruction to his followers -  his description of such hatred:

"The Revolutionary knows that in the very depths of his being, not only in words but also in deeds, he has broken all the bonds which tie him to the social order and the civilized world with all of its laws, moralities and customs and  with all its generally accepted conventions. He is their implacable enemy, and if he continues to live with them it is only in order to destroy them more speedily." - Sergei Nechayev

"Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov had the courage to come out and say openly that famine would have numerous positive results, particularly in the appearance of a new industrial proletariat, which would take over from the bourgeoisie. Famine, he explained, in destroying the outdated peasant economy, would bring about the next age more rapidly, and usher in Socialism, the stage that necessarily followed capitalism. Famine would also destroy faith not only in the Czar, but in God also."  -Fellow revolutionary and friend of Vladimir Lenin describing Lenin’s "courage" in opposing any or all aid to victims of the 1891 Russian famine.

Note: Lenin believed the famine to be a necessary precursor to the rise of socialism. Lenin also believe that the destruction of faith in God was absolutely necessary for the attainment of socialistic goals.

Note: Socialistic planners of the  future ruin in America follow Lenin’s model. They believe in the necessity of mass genocide, upwards of 150 million Americans (or more) must be genocidally removed they say!  They posit the position that, if multitudes of Ameicans "rise up" against them, they will allow the consequent destruction of the economic system to usher in famine, and kill off the oppostion throught starvation, plague and strife.

"The greatest principle of all is that nobody, whether male or female, should be without a leader. Nor should the mind of anybody being habituated  to letting him do anything at all on his own initiative; neither out of zeal, or even playfully. But in war and in the midst of peace — to his leader he should direct his eyes and follow faithfully. And even in the smallest matter he should stand under leadership. For example, he should get up, or move, or wash, or take his meals… only if he has been told to do so. In a word, he should teach his soul, by long habit, never to dream of acting independently, and become utterly incapable of it."   - Plato, Greek philosopher, c. 380 BC

Note: Notice how the appeal for socialism by Plato in his  Republic subordinates ALL FREEDOM and ALL PERSONAL INITIATIVE. in all respects, the state REMAKES the individual in its own image and punishes the whole concept of individual maturity and responsibility, even as Bastiat stated.  Note too, the "long habit", "teaching his soul", "subordinating all freedom" behavioral conditioning of the individual.

4. Therefore, they [Socialists] have found fundamental antagonisms everywhere:

- Between the property owner and the worker

- Between capital and labor

- Between the common people and bourgeoisie

- Between the farmer and the city dweller

- Between the native born and the foreigner

- Between the producer and the consumer

- Between civilization and the social order

Note: Socialism of all types, in all eras, has exploited the weaknesses, flaws and especially, the points of envy in society. By pointing to private ownership, accumulation of wealth, business ownership, material blessings, inheritance and other advantages, the Socialist can arouse envy in others. By recasting these things in the mind as injustice and privilege, the Socialist conjures up factions. Factions create rivalries in society. Rivalries bring discord and the approach of chaos within society. Since people cannot live for long safely in a society dominated by chaos and discord, society at large cries for Big Brother to step in. Since Socialism thrives upon alleged or actual injustices, the Socialist always uses revolutionary fervor to bring about the All Powerful State.

Reaction to discord by the general population brings overbearing action by the State, in the hands of the socialists. Or as radical revolutionaries like to put it, “All the action is in the reaction.”

5.  If humanity is inevitably impelled toward injustice by the laws of value, toward inequality by the laws of rent, toward poverty by the laws of population, and toward sterilization by the laws of heredity, we cannot say that God’s handiwork is harmonious in the social order; as it is in the physical universe.  We must instead admit, with heads bowed in grief, that He has seen fit to establish His social order upon revolting and irremediable discord.  – Frederic Bastiat, Economic Harmonies, p. xxviii

Note: Here we find the heart of the matter with socialism, of all kinds. The socialist, as Bastiat points out, believes that any God who would be at the head of this created order (the world around us) must be imbecilic because He has built the creation upon revolting principles which must be “corrected”, a  thing the socialist is only too happy to perform. Of course, since any concept of “God”, by definition, could not include “imbecile” in His nature, there must NOT be a “God” in any sense of the term. Hence, the vast majority of socialists (except, for example, the so-called “Christian socialists”)  are atheists or agnostics.

The real point to see in #5 is this: when Adam and Eve were warned concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the warning saw them as attempting to become “as god” to “know good and evil.” Socialism is one major expression of that issue. Socialists, according to what Bastiat has written here, are always motivated to critique the social order as fundamentally “evil”. Therefore, they feel they know better than God. They feel they know what kind of social order they should bring about. Obviously, they conclude, somebody must do it. They then step up to the plate with their theories… and engineer strife among us and from positions of rule." To be as god, to know good and evil" meant  God charged mankind as those who charge Him with folly - and say they can "do better."

6. I raise my voice to make men hear these words which, if true, may silence all protesting voices: It is NOT true that the great laws of Providence are hastening society along the road to disaster.    – Frederic Bastiat, Economic Harmonies, p. xxix

Note: Amen.

-submitted, Wayne C. Sedlak, ICHR

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