{"id":24152,"date":"2011-12-02T11:46:19","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T18:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/02\/is-a-non-darwinian-economy-covetous.html"},"modified":"2011-12-02T12:59:22","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T19:59:22","slug":"is-a-non-darwinian-economy-covetous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/02\/is-a-non-darwinian-economy-covetous.html","title":{"rendered":"Is a non-Darwinian economy covetous?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#39;ve seen this argument touted by any number of individuals &#8212; usually conservative Christian (or playing at it) and usually quite well off.  David Barton   They all suggest that a progressive tax structure, or a social safety net, or health care programs for the poor, are all theft, and support for them is covetousness.<\/p>\n<p>Might I point out that essentially arguing that &quot;what&#39;s mine is mine&quot; on the one hand and on the other condemning others for covetousness is hypocritical in the extreme?  Might I also suggest that these Christians might read a few passages on giving away of wealth, of caring for the poor, and of the grave, even mortal, dangers of being wealthy (James 5:1-6 is a good starting place <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=181463937\" >http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=181463937<\/a>)?<\/p>\n<p>(The response given is usually along the lines of, &quot;Hey, that&#39;s all about private charity; forced public charity is theft!&quot;  This is also often from the same people most vocal about imposing &quot;Biblical values&quot; on society.)<\/p>\n<p>The fallacy here is even deeper.  If someone is arguing, &quot;Hey, he&#39;s got money and I don&#39;t, so he should give me money,&quot; that does indeed sound like covetousness  If someone is arguing, &quot;We, as a society, have a moral and pragmatic obligation to provide assistance to those who need it, and a greater burden would appropriately fall on those who have benefited most from society,&quot; that is something altogether different. #ddtb<\/p>\n<p style='clear:both;'>\n<p style='margin-bottom:5px;'><strong>Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style='height:120px;width:120px;overflow:hidden;float:left;margin-top:0px;padding-top:0px;margin-right:10px;vertical-align:top;text-align:center;clear:both;'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img style='max-width:none;' src='http:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&#038;gadget=a&#038;resize_h=100&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreethoughtblogs.com%2Fpharyngula%2Ffiles%2F2011%2F11%2Fgodbillboard.jpeg' border='0' \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/freethoughtblogs.com\/pharyngula\/2011\/11\/30\/whose-side-is-god-on\/'>Whose side is God on? | Pharyngula<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the side of the investment bankers and plutocrats, of course! That&#39;s a sign that&#39;s gone up in Minneapolis. You want healthcare? You&#39;re going to hell,\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p style='clear:both;'>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#39;ve seen this argument touted by any number of individuals &#8212; usually conservative Christian (or playing at it) and usually quite well off. David Barton They all suggest that a progressive tax structure, or a social safety net, or health care programs for the poor, are all theft, and support for them is covetousness. Might &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/02\/is-a-non-darwinian-economy-covetous.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Is a non-Darwinian economy covetous?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,77,27],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-24152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-economy","category-religion","tag-ddtb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12799,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/09\/25\/potpourri_on_a_purplish_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":24152,"position":0},"title":"Potpourri on a Purplish Thursday","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 25-Sep-08 5:32am","format":false,"excerpt":"IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID! Like sands through the hourglass...\u00a0- A detailed timeline of the debacle, going back to the 20s. Such simplicity, such elegance...such nonsense.\u00a0- Solonor notes how we've been...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Business&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10178,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/17\/java_jive_just.html","url_meta":{"origin":24152,"position":1},"title":"Java Jive Just Good for &#8216;Jou","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 17-Aug-06 3:02pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Coffee: The Health Drink. Coffee is not usually thought of as health food, but a number of recent studies suggest that it can be a highly beneficial drink. Researchers...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Coffee&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Coffee","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink\/coffee"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10629,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/12\/07\/hence_the_usefulness_of_a.html","url_meta":{"origin":24152,"position":2},"title":"Hence the usefulness of Amazon wish lists &#8230;","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 7-Dec-06 7:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"People do worse at picking out gifts for others the closer they are to them (emphasis mine). Past research has argued that lack of diagnostic information causes this sort...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Love &amp; Marriage&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Love &amp; Marriage","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/love-and-marriage"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/xmas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":138354,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/20\/better-dead-than-red.html","url_meta":{"origin":24152,"position":3},"title":"Better Dead Than Red!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 20-Mar-19 11:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump has decided that fear-mongering about socialism is his path to the White House in 2020.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~Tweets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/capitalism-socialism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36065,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/26\/scrooge-redux.html","url_meta":{"origin":24152,"position":4},"title":"Scrooge, Redux","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-May-13 10:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As Dickens wrote it:\u201cAt this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,\u201d said the gentleman, taking up a pen, \u201cit is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135134,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/21\/rob-middle-class-give-rich.html","url_meta":{"origin":24152,"position":5},"title":"To rob from the middle class and give to the rich","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 21-Oct-17 12:16am","format":false,"excerpt":"I mean, that sounds like liberal rhetoric, but that's precisely what some in the GOP are considering with their plan to cut income and business taxes -- with the greatest benefits going to the most wealthy in our country -- and paying for some of the loss in federal revenue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/unnamed-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}