- George Radanovich
An "ism" for the Kingdom
God is all about freedom, the kingdom is freedom and freedom defeats socialism.
An "ism" is a distinctive practice, system or philosophy that reflects an economic and/or a political ideology. "Isms" explain ideologies and ideologies are a belief about the world. Socialism, capitalism, communism and fascism are some of the more common "isms," but I found a website that identifies two hundred and thirty four of them. It's hard to believe that, among all of these, there is no "ism" that expresses a kingdom view of the world.
The ideology of capitalism put down roots in 18th century Europe and spread to the American colonies. Liberty and Virtue in the American Founding author Harvey Mansfield finds, in the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, "a wry exposition of the new virtue in the young commercial republic.....
......self-interested, pragmatic, industrious, focused on personal gain and private happiness....the founders do not speak much about civil society, education, marriage, family, and religion. Critics have contended that this is because they embraced a crude, mechanical view of moral and political life, one that assumed that virtue, to the extent that it was necessary, would take care of itself."
Peter Berkowitz, in Never a Matter of Indifference, speaks of the erosion of social and cultural institutions in more modern times:
"....They [the founders] recognized the connection between character and the institutions of civil society that sustain it, but they did not envision a political society in which the institutions of civil society, as a result of changes in culture and government, could no longer be counted on to discipline self-interest."
As cultural and social institutions erode, government expands, according to conservative commentator Stanley Kurtz:
"Changes in culture and government turned a liberal democracy into progressive liberalism, a kind of secular religion."
And finally, revolutionary author Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense what was true then and is true to this day,
"Writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between the two; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins."
The truth is, government has its origins in our Constitution and society is meant to have its origins in the Cultural Mandate, which can be found in the biblical book of Genesis. While the benefits of capitalism cannot be understated, this mandate has four directives to pursue in the pursuit of happiness.
God is all about freedom, the kingdom is freedom and freedom defeats socialism.
An "ism" for the kingdom could be called, say, Alignism, or in a play with words, it could be called Lionism to give it a regal feel.
Define it as a social, economic and political theory which advocates strong social institutions supporting worship, charity, procreation and free enterprise, with minimal governance in the pursuit of happiness.
Not only would this ideology acknowledge God and support free market capitalism, it would also support:
The orderly transfer of charity from government to the private sector.
Welfare spending has grown dramatically over decades to $1.03T in 2019 (US Senate) and now outpaces private charity, which was $427B for the same year (Giving USA), by a margin of 2-to-1.
Knowing that state sponsored charity (welfare) programs drive entire communities into a bleak and heartless dependency, a kingdom ideology would reduce federal welfare spending and reform the tax code to provide more substantial tax credits for charitable donations that strengthen the bond between parent and child. This would reverse the charity ratio and make the government welfare safety net just a fraction of charity.
Private sector initiatives that strengthen the bond between child and parent in every community.
The emotional detachment produced by broken and dysfunctional families is the common denominator of mass shootings, the high cost of public education, crime and incarceration, abortion and gender confusion. Statistics from The Fatherless Generation show that:
71 percent of children from broken homes drop out of high school.
85 percent of children who come from broken homes exhibit behavioral disorders making them 20 times more likely to have a behavioral disorder.
America’s out-of-wedlock birth rate is the highest in the world at 23 percent.
Children from broken homes are:
5 times more likely to commit suicide
32 times more likely to run away
10 times more likely to abuse a chemical substance
20 times more likely to end up in prison
Today, 40% of American children go to bed at night with only one parent in the home. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, 2.5 million children (one in thirty) are homeless and, according to the Orphan Society, 4.1percent of American children have no parents at all.
Aligning our nation with the kingdom for freedom is meant to be our national heritage. How can people see the bigger picture if you don't have an "ism" to describe it?
