Socialist State

Dear Victorious,

(Can I call you Victor? Victorious sounds like such rhetoric!) Do you think America is becoming a socialist state under Obama's leadership?

Marko D. - Little Rock, AR

Dear Marko,

I guess you can call me Victor. No problem. (We both know it's a "pen name" anyway!) Is America becoming a socialist state under Obama? I don't really know. To be honest, I don't think anyone can really know. I suppose anything is possible at this point. But even if it is, I think the honest truth is most people won't mind all that much. America is saddled with a lot of debt and a lot of problems. If the government can make things seem to work without asking much personal sacrifice of any of us, I imagine that most people would go along with it.

The American standard would probably better embrace nationalizing our banks or large manufacturing --- than they would a cut in Social Security benefits or tangible increase in taxes. Most of us vote for things that impact us the most personally. We tend to be indifferent about the bigger picture things that don't appear to directly affect us. For this reason, I think it's possible we see more socialistic movements and policies. Frankly, if we had to pay enough taxes to support the level of government that we already have --- there would be a revolt in this country.

We all need to pray for God's will to be done here. I heard a commentator on talk radio this past week. He claimed that research of world history reveals no country ever fell when it was submitted to God. He said that no government ever failed while obeying God. I think this is probably true. But then I thought about how many countries and governments have fallen. And I wondered if the U.S. can be any different. Will we be the obedient country, fully submitted to God, which doesn't fall?