Understanding the Cycles of Power and Poverty Through Nationalization

Since World War II, the United States’ federal government has been growing at the expense of individual liberty and freedom. The Great Society programs of the 1960s contributed to this expansion.

In exchange for votes, the liberals in the federal government offer more and more “freebies” to their constituents. Hence, the more dependent America becomes on big government, the less likely America would vote against it.

Government entitlements have had a disparate impact on minority communities. The nuclear family has almost disintegrated since the welfare state’s advent. Welfare benefits, which include food stamps, coupled with other services, such as Social Security, Obama care, affordable housing and public daycares have aided and abetted in the strengthening of the bureaucratic government agencies, leading to people becoming more and more dependent on many of these government services. As a result, policies have been enacted that have helped amplify the “single mothers’ phenomena.” (I am not a proponent of quickly getting rid of governmental programs).

In addition, we have seen the state-mandated redefinition of gender and family. These all indicate that the goal of the far left has always been the nationalization of family. The left wants to see every aspect of family dependent on and see it derive its identity from the government.

Such dependence on the government dissipates individuals and families’ need to depend upon biological family members and their church. For example, if the government gives a teenage single mother food stamps, free health care and affordable housing, then she will not need to go to her church and family for help. If a single mother could receive more money in food stamps and welfare checks without a spouse, why get married?

Since the federal government takes 15% of one’s salary for Social Security, instead of giving individuals the right to invest it privately, it gives the government the ability to utilize trillions of dollars in a (“legal”) Ponzi scheme. This is used to expand its bureaucratic programs even further. Every person should have the option to opt out so they can invest their own money if they so choose.

Furthermore, when a family in poverty qualifies to pay a few hundred dollars per month in a Section 8 apartment building, it demotivates the breadwinner of the family from improving himself or herself. This, in turn, continues to perpetuate generational cycles of poverty. Having people trapped in poverty and dependence on the government’s help certainly secures their political allegiance to big government candidates. Whoever controls the family controls society.

As such, the liberal state will usually be antagonistic to biblical churches, homeschooling parents and certain nongovernmental organizations. Such institutions are a threat to government control as they have the ability to replace government programs, influence children and improve communities. The state wants no rivals.

I believe if the prodigal son lived in America today, he would have never repented and come home to his father, as he could have easily gone to a local government building for aid (Luke 15).

The government has never really cared about doing what’s best for the people. An example of this is school choice. Instead of the state giving parents the option of using the thousands of dollars they pay annually in taxes to send their children to private schools, they force parents to continually subsidize failing public schools. Again, those affected by this are mostly poor, minority kids. The goal has always been for Big Brother to become bigger.

The far left creates a narrative of compassion for all the programs and policies mentioned above. But in truth, they are creating a nation of dependency, which gives them a more extensive voter base. It is always about money and power, nothing more and nothing less.

For example, while politicians skillfully craft a borderless amnesty plan for undocumented immigrants and advocate voting rights for noncitizens, their real motivation is not compassion but winning elections. We need a compassionate plan for immigration reform, one that doesn’t compromise our nation’s health and resources.

Additionally, when Big Brother dictates our health care system, they control a population’s future health and quality of life. When the government redefines marriage and family, they weaken nuclear families and, in essence, ensure they inch closer to replacing the family. Their goal is to nationalize families (via Marxism) and shift future generations toward a culture of government dependency (conceptually and financially). Indeed, the entity that defines the family influences society as a whole.

As Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9b). In the Bible we see humanity always attempting to be autonomous without divine constraints, thus becoming their own gods. From the tower of Babel; the pharaoh of Exodus; the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome to the beast of Revelation 13, there has always been a human proclivity away from God’s rule toward the Messianic state (Gen. 11; Dan. 7). What’s formed is a politically correct place without individuality and human freedom because conformity to the state’s belief and values trumps freedom of speech and religion.

In order to see systemic changes in our nation, churches and families need to prove their ability to stand in the gap in the areas where the government has taken over.

In this day and age, we see that the typical church has mostly abandoned cultural engagement. An essential role of the church is to strengthen the nuclear family in our congregations and empower parents to train their children with a biblical worldview. Strong biblical families are now the most excellent countercultural witness that will draw attention to the restorative power of the gospel.

Scripture teaches God has judged numerous nations, empires and leaders who became rivals to His kingdom and glory. Our nation has gone so far down the road toward socialism and the nationalization of culture that the only thing that could change this is a divine reset towards a decentralized way of life. Our communities must once again depend upon God, the church and the family for their very sustenance instead of the government. {eoa}

Purchase Joseph Mattera’s latest book, The Jesus Principles, available now on Amazon here.