Finding the Invisible Devil (aka, the Inquisition)

• New Deal 3 Rs: Relief to the unemployed, Reform of business and financial practices, Recovery of the economy
• Roosevelt believed severity of Depression due to excessive business competition lowering wages/prices
• New Deal instituted banking reform laws, work relief programs, agricultural programs, and industrial reform
• Roosevelt rejected spending cuts believing big business were trying to ruin the New Deal
• This would cause another depression that voters would react against by voting Republican
• 1939 Gallup poll asked, ‘Roosevelt administration … delaying business recovery?’
• American people responded ‘yes’ by a margin of more than two-to-one (FUD >> intellect)

Who are the true believers in this devil?

• Many (perhaps most) historians say the effects of Roosevelt’s work restored hope & self-respect to millions of desperate people
• A 1995 survey of economic scholars asked whether “Taken as a whole, government policies of the New Deal served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression.” Of those in economics departments 27% agreed, 22% agreed ‘with provisos’ (what provisos the survey does not state) and 51% disagreed. Of those in history departments, only 27% agreed and 73% disagreed
• Fortune’s Roper poll found in May 1939 found that PUBLIC opinions on the issue were much different than the academic opinions (against New Deal efficacy), and were highly polarized by economic status and occupation.

The Inquisition

• McCarthy dropped out of junior high school at age 14, but thanks to 61% support from Republicans, was elected Senator.
• Primary targets of McCarthyism were government employees, entertainment industry, educators and union activists.
• Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence
• The level of threat posed by a person’s real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated.
• Conservative politicians referred to liberal reforms (child labor laws, women’s suffrage) as “Communist” or “Red plots”
• Executive Order 9835 authorized firing federal employees believed “disloyal to the Government of the United States”
• Once a person lost a job due to an unfavorable loyalty review, it could be very difficult to find other employment.
• Review Board chairman said “No responsible employer would be likely to take a chance in giving him a job”
• After the Hollywood mass firing, private loyalty-review boards and anti-communist investigators began to appear.
• From 1951 to 1955, the FBI operated a secret “Responsibilities Program” that distributed anonymous documents with evidence from FBI files of Communist affiliations on the part of teachers, lawyers, and others. Many people accused in these “blind memoranda” were fired without any further process
• The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 made it a criminal offense for anyone to teach anti-US government material.
• In the film industry, over 300 actors, authors and directors were denied work in the U.S.
• The number of people imprisoned is in the hundreds, and some ten or twelve thousand lost their jobs.
• Suspected homosexuality was also a common cause for being targeted by McCarthyism.

• Importantly, Joseph McCarthy though now the poster boy, was NOT alone in this viral infection of paranoid ill-informed ignorance.

• McCarthy, as a senator, had no direct involvement with the House Un-American Activities Committee and many other groups.
• William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder of the influential conservative political magazine National Review, wrote a defense of McCarthy, McCarthy and his Enemies, in which he asserted that “McCarthyism … is a movement around which men of good will and stern morality can close ranks.
• (Search YouTube and watch Noam Chomsky shred Buckley in a debate on politics, where Buckley’s command of historical knowledge proves weak)

The Ethics of Pro-Social Altruism

For all those who have exited the stone age of dog-eat-dog tribalism, and are ready to catch up to 2,000 yr old ethics, please stop waving your bible and read it.

First read: Acts Ch 2 verses 42, 44, & 45: (about the early Christians)

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (King James Version)

Next read Acts 4:32-37:

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. 33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. 34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. 36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, 37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (King James Version)

And Luke 1:49-53: (Mary describing the GOOD works of God:

52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

Matthew 19:16-24 (the same event is also described in Mark 10:17-25 and Luke 18:18-25):

20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. 23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The phrase “love thy neighbor”, repeatedly spoken by Jesus, is rather well known. Christian communists point out that Jesus considered this to be the second most important of all moral obligations, after loving God.

And in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus identifies himself with the hungry, the poor and the sick, and states that good or evil done upon “the least of [God's] brethren” will be counted as good or evil done upon God himself. It is argued that Jesus is saying that nations, rather than individuals, would be judged according to the characteristics of their societies. If that is the case, this could imply that political and economic systems were being heavily critiqued

Leviticus 25:35-38: “If one [...] becomes poor [...] help him [...] so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God [...] You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.” and Acts 4:32-35, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had [...] there were no needy persons among them [...] the money [...] was distributed to anyone as he had need.” As well as Acts 2:42-47, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching [...] to the breaking of bread [...] everyone was filled with awe [...] all the believers were together and had everything in common [...] they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they [...] ate together with glad and sincere hearts [...] ”

Historical Christian Socialism

There is in fact a rich history of Christian socialist teaching throughout the history of the church. In Catholicism, the Rerum Novarum encyclical letter of Leo XIII (1891) was the starting point of a teaching on social questions that was expanded and updated all through the 20th century. Though avoiding the word Socialism (as the Socialist movements of the day were anti-religious) the encyclical promotes a kind of corporatism based on social solidarity among the classes with respects for the needs and rights of all. In the more Catholic countries of Europe the encyclical’s teaching was the inspiration that led to the formation of new Christian-inspired Socialist parties.

A number of Christian socialist movements and political parties throughout the world group themselves into the International League of Religious Socialists. It has member organizations in 21 countries representing 200,000 members.

For more on this theology, read Frederick Denison Maurice (The Kingdom of Christ, 1838), Charles Kingsley (Water-Babies, 1863), Thomas Hughes (Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 1857), Frederick James Furnivall (co-creator of the Oxford English Dictionary), Adin Ballou (Practical Christian Socialism, 1854), and Francis Bellamy (a Baptist minister and the author of the United States’ Pledge of Allegiance). You can also simply reference the teachings of Liberation theology or of the Christian Socialist Movement (CSM).

The British Labour Party and Australian Labor Party have both been influenced by Christian socialism, and some figures from both parties could be considered to be Christian socialists, depending on the definition of “socialism” used. Former British Labour leader Tony Blair is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement although his adherence to Christian Socialist ideals is highly disputed. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd identified himself as an “old-fashioned Christian socialist” in a 2003 interview with the Australian Financial Review, later writing in 2006: “A Christian perspective, informed by a social gospel or Christian socialist tradition, should not be rejected contemptuously by secular politicians as if these views are an unwelcome intrusion into the political sphere.” However he also described socialism as an “arcane, 19th century” doctrine and stated that “I am not a socialist. I have never been a socialist and I never will be a socialist.”

But if you have graduated to context-relevant ethics created in this most recent century, and instead revere those Europeans who first settled America, or just prefer a more “American” (patriotic to the US) you need only look to the Plymouth Colony. They were a community practicing communist-like principles used by the “primitive” Christian Church as described in the Acts of the Apostles (“all things be held in common”) was used as a basis for the contract agreed upon by the venture and its investors. Although each family controlled their own home and possessions, corn was farmed on a communal plot of land with the harvest divided equally amongst the settlers. In fact, before Karl Marx ALL communism was rooted in religious principles. His only revelation was basing his theory on logic and historical science rather than 2,000 year old religion.

The Essence of Christian Socialist Ethics

In short, the views of these Christians can be summed up in three quotes:

1. If we all came of the same father and mother, of Adam and Eve, how can they say or prove that they are better than we, if it be not that they make us gain for them by our toil what they spend in their pride? (John Ball)
2. Socialism which means love, cooperation and brotherhood in every department of human affairs, is the only outward expression of a Christian’s faith. I am firmly convinced that whether they know it or not, all who approve and accept competition and struggle against each other as the means whereby we gain our daily bread, do indeed betray and make of no effect the “will of God.” (George Lansbury)
3. Capitalism is the way of the devil and exploitation. If you really want to look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ–who I think was the first socialist–only socialism can really create a genuine society. (Hugo Chávez)

Conclusion?

What does all this mean? I am personally averse to most religions, including Christianity. But there is definitely some grain of logic in the Christian socialist quotes above (at least, in their end result). If you are a Christian, and you are content to “join the crowd” in frenzied paranoia, essentially behaving like a mindless puppet under the hand of greedy rich business owners and bankers, then you should at least know that they are NOT actually promoting ideas that are consistent with those of Jesus and the early Christians.

If you are like me, and have already stepped away from the “opiate of the masses” bong, start watching videos by/about Noam Chomsky and exit Plato’s Cave completely.

“…This 1992 documentary explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, a world-renowned linguist, intellectual and political activist. Chomsky illustrates how the media tacitly manipulates public opinion to further the agendas of the powerful. A compelling examination of the suppression of news about the U.S.-supported Indonesian invasion and subjugation of East Timor brings home the point.” (Netflix description) – includes clips with Jean Piaget, Michel Foucault, etc.

The production quality of the above video is horrible (even if you rent it from Netflix, you can tell the budget was not flashy), but the words and ideas discussed, of how the media ‘machine’ serves the interest of the elite few, brought back strong memories for me of the Marxist ‘class struggle’ particularly in how “The income of the capitalists … is based on their exploitation of the workers (proletariat).” – (from wikipedia)

Once you have seen and understood the above, then the next video (below) no longer seems so ‘crazy’. However, it is also important to be able to discriminate between the ideas of ‘peak oil’, and the related discussion of politics and war in the middle east, which are typically labeled “conspiracy theories” by some constituencies. Peak Oil, like any good scientific theory, can and most assuredly will one day be proven quantitatively correct or incorrect to some degree of satisfaction. The less physical claims regarding socio-political motivations and the powerful effects of media over public opinion, are less verifiable, and therefore much more controversial.

Here is the video on peak oil, and related conspiracy theories (involving Middle East politics, and media coverage): Another really long URL (“Oil, Smoke, & Mirrors”, 2006)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence

“The modern controversy surrounding intelligence and race focuses on the results of IQ studies conducted during the 20th century, mainly in the

United States and some other industrialized nations. In almost every testing situation where tests were administered and evaluated correctly, the mean IQ of Blacks was approximately one standard deviation below that of Whites.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations

“The central thesis of IQ and the Wealth of Nations is that the average IQ of a nation correlates with its GDP. Above is a scatterplot with Lynn and Vanhanen’s calculated IQ values (without estimates) and GDP data.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/twins/twins2.htm

“To have any statistical validity, such studies must examine thousands of twin pairs. But enough studies have been done to show that identical twins are roughly 85 percent similar for IQ, fraternal twins about 60 percent. Crunching the numbers, behavior geneticists say about half the variation in IQ, whether among twins or non-twins, may be due to genes.”

http://www.txtwriter.com/Onscience/Articles/intelligence.html

“The heritability of I.Q. was different in different environments! The influence of genes on I.Q. was far less in conditions of poverty, where environmental limitations seem to block the expression of genetic potential. Specifically, for families of high socioeconomic status, H = 0.72, much as reported in previous studies, but for families raised in poverty, H = 0.10. The lower a child’s socioeconomic status, the less impact genes had on I.Q.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism “

Darwin felt that “social instincts” such as “sympathy” and “moral sentiments” also evolved through natural selection, and that these resulted in the strengthening of societies in which they occurred, so much so that he wrote about it in Descent of Man: “..at some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world.”…In Galton’s view, social institutions such as welfare and insane asylums were allowing “inferior” humans to survive and reproduce at levels faster than the more “superior” humans in respectable society, and if corrections were not soon taken, society would be awash with “inferiors.” …

Some economic critics of social Darwinism point to David Ricardo’s comparative advantage and claim that weaker members of society are valuable even if the stronger members are better at doing everything. However, social Darwinism does not necessarily assert the latter. Comparative advantage relies on the idea that trade and cooperation are more important than pure competitiveness, which might inhibit trade by erecting protective barriers.…Nietzsche thought that, in specific cases, sickness was necessary and even helpful.

Thus, he wrote:Wherever progress is to ensue, deviating natures are of greatest importance. Every progress of the whole must be preceded by a partial weakening. The strongest natures retain the type, the weaker ones help to advance it. Something similar also happens in the individual. There is rarely a degeneration, a truncation, or even a vice or any physical or moral loss without an advantage somewhere else. In a warlike and restless clan, for example, the sicklier man may have occasion to be alone, and may therefore become quieter and wiser; the one-eyed man will have one eye the stronger; the blind man will see deeper inwardly, and certainly hear better. To this extent, the famous theory of the survival of the fittest does not seem to me to be the only viewpoint from which to explain the progress of strengthening of a man or of a race

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_diversity

Genetic diversity is a characteristic of ecosystems and gene pools that describes an attribute which is commonly held to be advantageous for survival — that there are many different versions of otherwise similar organisms. For example, the Irish potato famine can be attributed in part to the fact that the genetic distance of all potatoes in the country was very low, making it easier for one virus to infect and kill much of the crop.

JUST IMAGINE IF WE PRACTICED EUGENICS. How long would it be, before chromosomal crossing would no longer provide for any possible offspring with immunities to certain diseases? For an example of this, merely read about tribal peoples who have had little gene pool flux with the larger human community for hundreds of years, and how their immunity faired.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States

There are numerous perceived direct and indirect causes of poverty in the United States. They include:

• The conservative Heritage Foundation speculates that immigration increases job competition among low wage earners, both native and foreign born. Additionally many first generation immigrants, namely those without a high school diploma, are also living in poverty themselves.
• Unfavorable economic conditions
• Mental illness and disability
• Lack of educational attainment and skill
• Substance abuse
• Birth of a child
• Domestic abuse
• Natural or other disasters
• Crime
• A survey done by Michigan State University found that a slight majority of American households with annual incomes of $70,000 or more believed that the two principal problems of poverty are lack of work ethic and a minimum wage that is too low.
• Institutional racism: The gross disparities among impoverished people in the United States along racial lines have led many to believe that historic and/or ongoing institutional racism is responsible for much of the poverty in the United States today.
• Limited job opportunities appear to exist for significant subgroups of some races and ethnic groups. This is reflected by the low-income nature of large sections of the economy, as divided along racial/ethnic lines: 21% of all children in the United States live in poverty, but 46% of African American children and 40% of Latino children live in poverty.
• Region. Many rural areas, especially in the South and Appalachia have a high poverty rate due to limited job opportunities, historical issues, and sometimes resistance to change, among other things.

SUMMING UP ALL THE ABOVE, REGARDLESS OF WHICH CAUSE IS CORRECT

(IN OTHER WORDS: TIME AND CHANCE HAPPENETH TO THEM ALL)

I would guess that a very small minority of those born super-rich die in poverty, and that a very small minority of those born in poverty die super-rich. For the most part, it is mere time and chance (the circumstances of who you are born to, in what type of SES status, neighborhood, and geographic region, which determines if you live your whole life in poverty.AND WE ALREADY KNOW, from the above discussion that it is a vicious cycle: SES status has a strong influence on IQ, and that your earning potential (and ability to escape poverty) is STRONGLY related to IQ. Those with similar SES status, and who live in near proximity (same type neighborhood, geography, etc.) are more likely to reproduce offspring with each other. That also locks in the genetic components of IQ. All of these factors combine to virtually lock people into poverty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laissez-faire

Laissez-faire “is a French phrase meaning “let do” or “hands off”. From the French diction first used by the 18th century physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it became used as a synonym for strict free market economics during the early and mid-19th century. It is generally understood to be a doctrine that maintains that private initiative and production are best allowed to roam free, opposing economic interventionism and taxation by the state beyond that which is perceived to be necessary to maintain peace, security, and property rights. In this view, it is not the job of the state to intervene in the economy in an attempt to reduce inequality, poverty or protect worker’s rights (except to the extent that they are covered under property rights).IS THIS THE ANSWER TO POVERTY?