Teddy James
AFA Journal staff writer
June 2010 – Can an idea be dangerous? If yes, who gets to decide which ideas are dangerous and which ones are not? America was built on the idea that individuals are free to hold and follow the ideas they like and discard the ones they do not. For the common person, this is not a problem. But does it become a problem when ideas that have destructive histories are held by a country’s leadership?
Thomas Jefferson once said, “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” The idea that each person is responsible for himself is the foundation of American capitalism and the free market that capitalism utilizes. Do those in and around the White House still believe in the economic ideals of the Founding Fathers?
President Barack Obama’s top religious advisor, Jim Wallis, seems not to agree with any of the Founding Father’s views on our country’s economy. He was asked in a 2006 interview, “Are you calling for the redistribution of wealth?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Absolutely. That’s what the gospel is all about.”
During that interview he also stated, “An affluent church is an affront to the gospel. The Bible doesn’t mind prosperity as long as it is shared.” Wallis has been a long-time proponent of the “social gospel.”
Unfortunately, Wallis is not the only White House regular who believes in the redistribution of wealth. Former special advisor on green jobs Van Jones is also not a fan of the free market system. Jones, a self-proclaimed communist, at a convention highlighting green technology, declared that America should spread the wealth to Native Americans. He also stated, “We are going to push [the green economy] and push it until it becomes the engine for transforming the whole society.”
Neither of these men is in a position to make or enforce policy today. Wallis is simply a religious advisor, and Jones was forced out of his office when his name was found on a petition stating he believed the George W. Bush administration was responsible for the 9-11 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. No one holding such radical ideas is responsible for doing anything that will affect the citizens of America, right?
Think again. Ron Bloom is President Obama’s senior counselor for manufacturing policy. When the president announced the appointment, he said, “As my new point person on manufacturing, he’s going to help us craft the policies that will create the next generation of great manufacturing jobs and ensure American competitiveness in the 21st century.”
The free market system is credited with making America an economic superpower. However, Bloom may disagree. During a keynote speech at the 2008 Annual Distressed Investing Forum he said, “Generally speaking, we get the joke. We know that the free market is nonsense. We know that the whole point is to game the system to beat the market. We know this is largely about power. We kinda agree with Mao [Tse Tung] that power comes largely from the barrel of a gun.”
Bryan Fischer, host of AFA’s radio program Focal Point, said, “Wallis is right that Christianity does teach the redistribution of wealth. However, it teaches a voluntary redistribution of wealth. Individuals give voluntarily without coercion. They are motivated by personal compassion. The Bible opposes the involuntary redistribution of wealth because it violates the Eighth Commandment. What Wallis and Jones advocate is the violation of the Eighth Commandment by the government which is nothing more than legalized plunder. Their view is based on class warfare and envy, which in itself is a violation of the Tenth Commandment.
“By Bloom making his statement about power coming from a gun he is admitting the movement to redistribute wealth has nothing to do with compassion and everything to do with force. There is no compassion in socialism for people whose resources are plundered to be given to others.”
America was once nothing more than an idea. It was a vision of freedom and liberty. A place where every person was free to be who and what he wanted. Success was determined by the individual pursuing it, not a government controlling it. As long as those ideas survive, hope is still alive. 
