Heavenly Economies & Human Failure

"The fatal flaw of communism was that it sought a heavenly economy in an ungodly society, and that just won't work."

In 2018, I read this quote from my one year devotional Bible and found it "interesting." At the time I considered myself politically independent, leaning slightly left on social issues and leaning moderately right on financial/governmental concerns. All I knew was that politics stressed me out; I saw evil from both sides of American governance and wanted little to do with it. I tried to spend as little time as possible focused on political news and conversations.

At the time, I didn't know what to really say about this day's Bible commentary other than how interesting it was. Seven years later, I think I've figured out what it really, actually means to me-- me as in myself, not the writers, editors, or publishers of this devotional. As today is Easter (God has risen, indeed!), I thought I'd share this political, philosophical exploration with y'all.

Communism

Let's start with communism. Communism is a political/economical philosophy rooted in the absence of private property, money, and therefore, social classes. It is believed that this absence would equalize everybody, with no excessively wealthy or hoarding billionaires as well as no excessively poor individuals who could not survive. It is also believed to create self-governance, which would benefit all individuals instead of only a select few according to class, wealth, status, or so on.

Growing up in America in the 2000's, I easily understood my devotional's point. At first glance, communism sounds amazing. Equality is great, right? It would get rid of problems caused by the super wealthy 1%, "owners" of wealth, and class warfare. It could guarantee survival of all, not just those who come from wealth or high class families. We wouldn't be tethered to money, which has varying worths depending on times in history and location. From what I understand about communism, though, it has not truly, in longevity, succeeded as a form of governance in any current country. A quick Google search can show the downfalls of communist regimes with those in power becoming power-hungry, killing or arresting those who oppose them. Some instances have even resulted in accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and religious prosecution. These results are not as great as the concept initially sounds.

With its failures in mind, my devotional decides that communism isn't the problem; people who implement it are. It looks at its complicated history and agrees that in the past and forevermore on earth, those in power of communist regimes will always have that fatal flaw of ungodliness, whether that flaw results from the sins of greed, envy, or any other deadly sin, really. The resolution: we humans will never be able to achieve true, successful communism governance. Whether or not that is true for our future, I don't know. However, it has left an imprint in my psyche from the day I have read it.

Capitalism

In the USA, we survive under capitalism. Capitalism is often seen as the opposite of communism. Private ownership controls resources like land, money (or capital), and property. This is supposed to lead people to competition to gain more resources (or capital) by also making products of higher and higher quality or necessity so people will naturally want to purchase products from you; this makes the most competitive, brilliant (or in my opinion, lucky) business owners more and more wealthy while improving the lives of those who purchase resources from them.

There's some economics involved here: owners need to supply enough products to meet demands of the buyers/marketplace (too much and they won't gain enough of a profit, and too little and the potential buyers are left longing and dissatisfied); owners also can take advantage of their workers to gain even more profits, which is often seen as villainous; there may never seem to be enough resources to go around, so the poorest suffer exponentially more. I could go on. Trickle-down economics claims that as the owners become wealthier and wealthier, they share their wealth with the community through donations, foundation grants, and taxes. I'm not seeing this in today's America.

Philosophy & God's Economy

Living under Trump's new executive orders and tariffs, I've come to a more nuanced understanding of this devotional Bible. Long story short: like communism, capitalism has its affordances and constraints. There will always be people suffering and succeeding in both these economies as well as the countless others throughout the world. Every philosopher, king, governor, or power in place considers itself "godly," right, just, or the best. And every one has its failures, or else every country on earth would follow their models.

Now, I've come to understand the devotional as anti-communist, but not equally anti-capitalist (probably because it was published in America). I, on the other hand, have come to understand that no form of governance or economy will succeed in its pursuit of perfection. Not even capitalism. Because we all seek heavenly community, economy, and governance... and we all fall short in our human flaws and sins. We all live in ungodly societies. Mass murder, war, violence, disobedience, and evil continue to exist in all our cities, states, countries, and world. As long as it continues, which it always will as it has always done before, none shall have their perfect philosophy, economy, or form of governance. Our governments are imperfect like those who run them.

The Good News

I (and many others) are living in a scary time. People's rights are being taken away without reason or warning. War seems to never be paused or at an end. Climate change is ravaging countries all over the world with natural disasters. Americans, in particular, seem stuck in a 50/50 battle against each other, with it never being quite safe enough for one to reveal their positions (even those in the middle). As Trump has severely altered our departments of governance, the economy, and relationships with other countries and their people, I am starting to see more of why capitalism is just as unsustainable as communism.

I'm scared about how this will end or come to resolution during my lifetime. This disabled body and broken spirit were not made for long-running war, political dissent, and social warfare. However, in reading this devotional, I do remember one thing among all the failures from humans around the world at various points in time: while governments, economies, and leaders may fail, God does not. We may never reach perfection, but we can turn to God as we seek the best paths forward as we vote, pray, speak out, and act against violence, villainy, and vicious sin.

a visual example of trickle-down economics from https://fee.org/articles/the-new-trickle-down-theory-of-economics/from   

The more I pray and the more people I meet, the more I have turned from an independent to a left-leaning individual. I've become more socially left as I see crimes against humanity enacted on the least of us. I can no longer stay silent as I see evil, though I still barely have the stomach to stay up to date with negative news. Financially, I've realized that the trickle down economics preached by capitalism is also a human failing at a heavenly economy. We see the super wealthy become more and more wealthy while the poorest of us struggle and food, supplies, education, and medical care become inaccessible in America. If that's what freedom has provided us with, I think we need more laws and regulations to make sure the wealthy owners are not intentionally hurting their workers, customers, and the public.

I know God grants many people visions of truth and justice, and their visions may not look like mine. However, this is what I've come to believe and come to trust from God. I hope this blog post has enlightened you to new ways of thinking about our economy and Christianity, and strengthens your relationship with God. Happy Easter & God bless!

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