You know what doesn't go so well together?
Human beings, Capitalism, and Christianity...
Yeah, okay... you can yell at me as much as you want for that but you cannot deny that capitalism (shut up, conservatives) is utterly in opposition to the ideas of Christianity. It is not very strange, when one thinks about it, that many "European Welfare States" are not called "Social Democracies," but rather, "Christian Democracies." That is what they are: capitalist countries that, infused with the christian ethic, actually care about its citizens and keep them from being exploited by the effects of the amoral market economy that is capitalism.
WE don't happen to look at it this way - oh, no... WE are Americans! We believe in FREEDOM and SMALL GOVERNMENT! We don't believe in taking care of one another like those free-loading European hippies (aka Christian Democrats).
Americans (at least the ones that I am thinking of and i'm not going to point fingers) are at the epicenter of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, the christianity they claim to adhere to so often (as we are a christian nation after all!) at least should infuse in them the ideals of community, of charity and helping thy fellow man, of caring for the poor and the needy, of NOT desiring to be rich and be materialistic. On the other hand, these same people favor an economic and political system that is utterly apathetic to the needs of anyone, that encourages people to only care about their own self-interests, that encourages the idea that if you are poor it is your own fault and it should be your own job to get out of it, and that ONLY worships the bottom line: $$$
In my opinion, if you are a true christian then you would call for not a small government but an efficient government, you would be MUCH more willing to give up tax dollars to serve the needs of the poor than to serve the needs of the Pentagon and their bombing campaigns against foreign generally muslim peoples, you would be for a very strong safety net (that is what jesus would do), as well as for universal health care. You would be in support of amnesty for illegal immigrants because they are human beings too and deserve to be treated as such. You would be in support of ending sanctioned torture of prisoners by the US Government.
If you read this and then go on preferring to call yourself a christian and then yell about how you don't want your tax dollars being taken away and given to some teenage welfare mom then i'd say this entire argument went just about right over your head.
