Socialism, Crony- and Cartel-Captitalism

Most people today don't like to call Hitler's Nazi Germany "Socialist," but the word "Nazi" is actually the German abbreviation of "National Socialist." The essence of Crony-Capitalism is the merger of state and corporate power – the definition of Fascism. In Nazi Germany it was called Cartel-Captitalism, where the heads of large corporations weren't officially part of Hitler's Nazi government, but they belonged to the Nazi Party, and these cartel bosses were pledged and dedicated to support the Nazis' goals. If one of these wealthy Cartel-Captitalists decided to oppose the system, he would be immediately "eliminated" - as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky experienced in Russia.

What we have in Russia today is not "democracy," but rather Cartel-Captitalism or state-capitalism. In the U.S. and Western Europe today we have a somewhat softer, less distinguishable form of Socialism called Crony-Capitalism in which certain wealthy corporate leaders support "Progressive" (Leftist, Socialist) causes in exchange for huge government contracts and favors. The "Occupy Wall Street" protesters are upset about corporations that have way too much power, and the "Tea Party" people are upset about government that has way too much power, but neither side seems to understand the reality that large corporations lobby for the government to have more power and in return the government enacts laws and regulations favorable to those same large corporations. This is Crony-Capitalism.

None of these are true free-market economies in which freedom of religious expression and small businesses can thrive. Very often, Socialism, Crony- and Cartel-Captitalism exalt the state to an absolute authority over most or all areas of public life. They attempt to control the news media, education, religion, health care, local police and the military. Frequently, the revolutions don't come by a sudden, violent overthrow of the existing order, but rather by an incremental, stealthy takeover of the news media, education, religion, health care, local police and the military by weeding out people who oppose the "party line" and installing compliant people who will say and do anything for a paycheck or for a little piece of power and prestige.

Most secularized, gullible Americans have no problem with "Progressive" politics and social policies. They're willing to "just go with the flow" and enjoy the immediate gratification of "free sex and welfare checks." But conservative, traditional Christians who know their stuff see the state's grasping for power in all areas of public life as a form of pagan idolatry, and old-fashioned pagan idolatry often included sexual immorality (temple prostitution) with its religious ceremonies to lure people in and then entrap them by sexual addiction.

The people most often entrapped by these enticements are the poor who fall for the false promises of something for nothing: see The Abandonment of Traditional Values Has Hurt the Black Community. But eventually, when the welfare system becomes so bloated that the government can no longer support it, the state turns to eliminating these "excess categories" - see Planned Parenthood Was Created to 'Exterminate Blacks' and 'It's Working' and When Assisted Suicide Becomes Coercive. When the money runs out, so do their lives.

The essential element in Socialism, Crony- and Cartel-Capitalism is materialism. It ranges from complete atheism that only admits to what we can see, feel and measure as having real existence, to a vague deism - "You can believe whatever you want, maybe there's a god who started things up and then walked away, maybe Jesus existed or maybe he didn't, maybe he rose from the dead (if he even existed) or maybe not, and maybe other religions are just as valid, moral and peace-loving, so we should just play nice and get along with each other." And because materialism denies God as the foundation of all being and life, it is a philosophy of death. That is why it promotes abortion and euthanasia.

In contrast, traditional Christians believe with all their heart that God exists as Trinity before all eternity, that through Christ He created the universe and all things in it, that He interpenetrates the entire material universe and His Divine law is the DNA of the universe that holds it all together. We believe that Christ is fully God and fully man, born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, that He lived a virtuous and sinless life, died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day, and that He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. We believe that the purpose of our earthly life is to strive toward holiness and partaking of the Divine nature, to be fully united with Christ in His glory, and to share His glory with others.

And those gullible people who had bought into the Socialist lies and even participated in some of the rallies and protest marches, decrying traditional values and "the system" may sooner or later find out that they've been used, they were lured into becoming what Lenin called "useful idiots" who just swelled up the size of the crowds. They still retained from their post-Christian culture a sense of "justice" and "truth," but when the revolution finds out they are no longer useful, they too can be eliminated - see "The Revolution Devours Its Own Children".

You may respond, "Aren't you being a bit too melodramatic?" To that, I must reply that I've been there, done that. I've seen the Iron Curtain up close, living next to it for over a year while in the U.S. Army. Two of my fellow-soldiers were shot at by East German border guards. I felt the very real, tangible threat of Red Army attack while serving in the Army's military intelligence HQ during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Soviet tanks and artillery were lined up on the border, ready to roll.

Then I spent my years in university studying Russian and Soviet history, political science and Russian language: I read more Marx and Lenin than most Russians ever read in their lifetimes. I've studied just about all the Socialist revolutions and attempted revolutions throughout history, and I understand how they're pulled off. Next, my wife and I spent 20 years in missionary work in Central and Eastern Europe, including 17 years in Russia during and after the dissolution of the USSR.

What can we do about this current situation? We must do more than simply wring our hands in despair and complain about how terrible it is. Like the prophet Nenemiah, we must rebuild the broken-down foundations and city walls, we must "Restore Our Broken Society." It starts with becoming informed, then it continues by getting involved in spreading the message. And it finishes by rebuilding true Christian community.

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 13 Aug. 2016.)