¶ 164. V. THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY
While our allegiance to God takes precedence over our allegiance to any state, we acknowledge the vital function of government as a principal vehicle for the ordering of society. Because we know ourselves to be responsible to God for social and political life, we declare the following relative to governments:
Basic Freedoms and Human Rights
We hold governments responsible for the protection of the rights of the people to free and fair elections and to the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, communications media, and petition for redress of grievances without fear of reprisal; to the right to privacy; and to the guarantee of the rights to adequate food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care.
Political Responsibility
The strength of a political system depends upon the full and willing participation of its citizens.
The United Methodist Church is an example of the proper relationship between church and government. The Church should be about the "Father's Business" as Jesus spoke to Mary and Joseph. The Father's Business concerns justice. Justice concerns equality. All persons are to be treated equally. Government exists to protects the rights of the citizens. This includes rights to adequate food, clothing, shelter, education, and health care.
There are those in our world who consider this an individual responsibility and government should not get involved. These ideas have given rise to the tea party, the Libertarian Party, and stalemates in national, state, and local governments. These movements favor right to work laws, at will employment, laissez faire approach to business and trickle down economics. At the same time, they promote outlawing abortion, same sex marriage, and the elimination of such government agencies as OSHA, EPA, and the IRS.
They exercise their right to free speech by proclaiming that anyone who disagrees with them is a socialist, a communist, or a Muslim. They seem to block any appointments or legislation that will fulfill the role of government in providing protection of individual rights.
The other end of the spectrum is not much better for they label their opposition as members of the Klan, being racist, and being extremists. They favor heavy taxation of the rich, more government regulation of business, abortion rights, and same sex marriage.
The opposing sides have made a line in the sand. As a result, our current Congress will go down in history as the least productive congress since our country has been in existence. They have failed to produce and pass a budget for the current fiscal year. They have failed to tackle serious issues in our country: immigration reform, tax reform, health care, job creation, etc.
The church should speak out loud and clear. Jesus told a parable about a rich man who had a bumper crop so the man decided to build bigger barns to hold all of his harvest. He did not share it with those who were in need. Hoarding is not acceptable to a follower of Jesus. Abusing others to make a buck is not acceptable either for Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the temple for they were selling inferior animals at outrageous prices to those who came to make sacrifices. Jesus also told us a parable about laborers in a vineyard. Those who were hired late in the day received the same wages as those who worked all day. Jesus also said to whom much is given, much is required.
Wealth brings responsibility. Bill and Melinda Gates give 95% of their wealth to benefit others. Listen to what they believe,
“We have been blessed with good fortune beyond our wildest expectations, and we are profoundly grateful. But just as these gifts are great, so we feel a great responsibility to use them well. That is why we are so pleased to join in making an explicit commitment to the Giving Pledge.”Bill and Melinda Gates donate their wealth to their Foundation. The Gates Foundation uses the money to tackle health problems around the world especially those afflicting children.
It would be wonderful if all of us followed the example of Bill and Melinda Gates but some of us horde rather than give. We seek to prevent assistance to those in need. Instead we tell them to get a job and use terms like "welfare state" and fraud to block aid to those in need. Yet, we agree that we should give tax breaks to large corporations to give them incentives to locate plants in our communities so it bring jobs. Yet, these corporations pay wages that are not liveable so the employees must work two or three jobs to make ends meet.
Yes, there many things to consider here for fraud happens. If not careful, we can teach people to rely on aid rather than seek employment. If we stop bickering and start brainstorming, we might find ways to fulfill the role of government to its citizens without breaking the bank of the government or the backs of those who pay taxes.
Think about it.
Roy
No comments:
Post a Comment