For the last couple nights I’ve been reading the Communist Manifesto. I suppose fewer people are compelled to read it than during the high tide of the Soviet Union, but it’s worth revisiting if only to gain some perspective on the current situation in America. Marx had “ten commandments”: ten objectives that would ensure an omnipotent, deified state:
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes [see
Kelo v. New London, eminent domain].
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance [so-called “death taxes”].
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank [the Federal Reserve].
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state [the FCC, Fairness Doctrine, TSA, DOT, etc].
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state [see Congress’s recent play for a share of GM, Ford, and Chrysler].
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies [Obama’s proposed national service corps, FDR’s civilian workforce initiatives].
9. Gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools [and mandatory at that, unless you can jump through certain hoops to satisfy the government].
Clearly, many of these steps have been completely implemented by the U. S. federal government, and most state and local governments, as well. Some of them have been partially implemented. My own opinion is that the first 9 are impossible to implement without #10.
What’s the point? Nothing really, except to get people thinking about where their leadership is taking them if good people don’t pay attention; get them thinking about what the next generation might be learning. If the state can control your business, your property, your kids—then it can eventually control your freedom of speech, assembly and worship.
On the other hand, if a vocal minority of atheistic Marxists can be so successful in implementing their game plan, think of what could happen if the silent majority of freedom-loving Christians resolved to live out their own set of commandments. One result would be a culture where people look to God, rather than the state, for “every good gift and every perfect gift” (
James 1: 17).
